•  12
    The Metaphysics of Consciousness (edited book)
    Cambridge University Press. 2010.
    What is consciousness? What is the place of consciousness in nature? These and related questions occupy a prominent place in contemporary studies in metaphysics and philosophy of mind, often involving complex interdisciplinary connections between philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, biology and cognitive neuroscience. At the same time, these questions play a fundamental role in the philosophies of great thinkers of the past such as, among others, Plotinus, Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, W…Read more
  •  4
    By his own account, Leibniz first encountered the True Intellectual System of the Universe of the Cambridge Platonist Ralph Cudworth during his visit to Rome in the spring of 1689, although the work itself had been published just over a decade earlier in 1678. Leibniz would later report to Cudworth’s daughter, Damaris Masham, that he had been delighted to see the wisdom of the ancients “accompanied by solid reflections”. He had certainly taken the book seriously, devoting sufficient attention to…Read more
  •  7
    Book reviews (review)
    with Michael John Petry, Andrew Pyle, G. H. R. Parkinson, Charles Webster, Nicholas Jolley, Jean‐Michel Vienne, Desmond Clarke, David McNaughton, Vere Chappell, W. H. Brock, and A. F. Griaznov
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 2 (2): 161-199. 1994.
  •  5
    Book reviews (review)
    with T. L. S. Sprigge, Gregorio Piaia, Guido Giglioni, John W. Yolton, Franck Lessay, Richard Kroll, Alan P. F. Sell, J. P. Day, and Ross Harrison
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 4 (1): 165-206. 1996.
  •  2
    Book reviews (review)
    with J. A. Sheppard, Jean‐Louis Breteau, Karl Schuhmann, Dermot Moran, Laura Benítez Grobet, Steven Nadler, Andrew Pyle, John Marshall, Alan P. F. Sell, Emily Michael, Ralph Walker, Graham Bird, Giuseppe Micheli, Gianluigi Oliveri, and Mario Ricciardi
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 6 (3): 473-514. 1998.
    Duns Scotus, Metaphysician. William A. Frank and Allan B. Wolter. Purdue University Press 1995, pp. 224 £27.50 Hb. ISBN 1–55753–071–8 £13.19 Pb. ISBN 1–55753–072–6 Plato in Renaissance England. Sears Jayne. Dordrecht, Boston & London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995, pp. 197 Dfl. 190.00, $122.00, £80.00 hb. ISBN 0–7923–3060–9 Mechanismus und Subjektivität in der Philosophie von Thomas Hobbes. Michael Esfeld. Frommann‐Holzboog, Stuttgart‐Bad Cannstatt 1995, pp. 434. ISBN 3–7728–1699–1 Descartes,…Read more
  •  8
    Relational Space and Places of Value
    History of Philosophy & Logical Analysis 14 (1): 89-106. 2011.
    Drawing on a Leibnizian panpsychist ontology of living beings that have a body and a soul, this paper outlines a theory of space based on the perceptual and appetitive relations among these creatures’ souls. In parallel with physical space founded on relations among bodies subject to efficient causation, teleological space results from relations among souls subject to final causation and is described qualitatively in terms of creatures’ pleasure and pain, wellbeing and happiness. Particular plac…Read more
  • The Metaphysics of Consciousness: Volume 67 (edited book)
    Cambridge University Press. 2010.
    What is consciousness? What is the place of consciousness in nature? These and related questions occupy a prominent place in contemporary studies in metaphysics and philosophy of mind, often involving complex interdisciplinary connections between philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, biology and cognitive neuroscience. At the same time, these questions play a fundamental role in the philosophies of great thinkers of the past such as, among others, Plotinus, Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, W…Read more
  • Leibniz's monadological positive aesthetics
    In Pauline Phemister & Jeremy William Dunham (eds.), Monadologies, Routledge. 2018.
  •  1
    Monadologies (edited book)
    Routledge. 2018.
  •  30
    The Leibniz-Stahl controversy (book review)
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 26 (6): 1238-1241. 2018.
  •  29
    Substance and force: or why it matters what we think
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 25 (3): 526-546. 2017.
    Leibniz believed the ‘true concept of substance’ is found in ‘the concept of forces or powers’. Accordingly, he conceived monadic substances as metaphysically primitive forces whose modifications manifest both as monads’ appetitions and perceptions and as derivative forces in monads’ organic bodies. Relationships between substances, and in particular the ethical relationships that hold between rational substances, are also foregrounded by Leibniz’s concept of substances as forces. In section one…Read more
  •  13
    Process-relational Philosophy (review)
    Process Studies 39 (1): 195-199. 2010.
  • Process-Relational Philosophy: An Introduction to Alfred North Whitehead (review)
    Chromatikon: Annual Review of Philosophy 39 (1): 195-199. 2010.
  •  19
    Leibniz on Apperception, Consciousness, and Reflection
    The Leibniz Review 2 10-11. 1992.
    I have awaited Professor Kulstad’s new book since Philosophia first announced its forthcoming publication in 1989. The wait perhaps increased my expectations, but now, with book in hand, I am in no way disappointed. The book concerns Leibniz’s views on apperception, consciousness and reflection. These concepts play important roles in Leibniz’s metaphysics. Scholars on the continent at the turn of the century recognized this, but anglo-american Leibnizians generally did not, although recently the…Read more
  •  13
    In the present book, Pauline Phemister argues against traditional Anglo-American interpretations of Leibniz as an idealist who conceives ultimate reality as a plurality of mind-like immaterial beings and for whom physical bodies are ultimately unreal and our perceptions of them illusory. Re-reading the texts without the prior assumption of idealism allows the more material aspects of Leibniz's metaphysics to emerge. Leibniz is found to advance a synthesis of idealism and materialism. His ontolog…Read more
  •  18
    Leibniz and Ecology
    History of Philosophy Quarterly 18 (3). 2001.
  • Early Critics: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
    In S. J. Savonius-Wroth, J. Walmsley & P. Schurmann (eds.), Continuum Companion to Locke, Continuum. pp. 97-100. 2010.
  • Substance and Individuation in Leibniz (review)
    Times Literary Supplement 5074 30. 2000.
  •  1
    Monads and Machines
    In J. E. H. Smith & Ohad Nachtomy (eds.), Machines of Nature and Corporeal Substances in Leibniz, Springer. pp. 39-60. 2011.
  •  3
    Real Essences in Particular
    Locke Studies 25. 1990.
  • Leibniz's Metaphysics (review)
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 4 (1): 180-88. 1996.
  • Leibniz, Freedom of Will and Rationality
    Studia Leibnitiana 23 (1): 25-39. 1991.
    Dieser Aufsatz hält es für angeraten, einen bisher vernachlässigten Aspekt der Leibnizschen Gedanken bezüglich der Willensfreiheit, nämlich die Rolle der Rationalität, näher zu betrachten. Von den drei für die Freiheit notwendigen Bedingungen gehört nur die Rationalität all denjenigen Menschen, die frei sind, und ihnen ausschließlich an. Kontingenz und Spontaneität können die Handlungen unfreier Menschen kennzeichnen. Die Rolle der Rationalität erscheint in klarem licht, wenn man sie in die Reih…Read more
  • John Locke: Essay on Human Understanding (review)
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 6 (3): 493-95. 1998.