Princeton University
Department of Philosophy
PhD, 2014
Mobile, Alabama, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy
  • Nicomachean Revision in the Common Books: the Case of NE VI (≈EE V) 2
    Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy. forthcoming.
    We have good reason to believe that Nicomachean Ethics VI. 2 is a Nicomachean revision of an originally Eudemian text. Aristotle seems to have inserted lines 1139a31-b11 by means of a marginal note, which the first editor then mistakenly added in the wrong place, and I propose that we move these lines so that they follow the word κοινωνεῖν at 1139a20. The suggested note appears to be Nicomachean for several reasons but most importantly because it contains a desire-based account of the practical …Read more
  •  775
    Scholars have often thought that a monistic reading of Aristotle’s definition of the human good – in particular, one on which “best and most teleios virtue” refers to theoretical wisdom – cannot follow from the premises of the ergon argument. I explain how a monistic reading can follow from the premises, and I argue that this interpretation gives the correct rationale for Aristotle’s definition. I then explain that even though the best and most teleios virtue must be a single virtue, that virtue…Read more
  •  992
    Aristotle on the Nature and Politics of Medicine
    Apeiron 54 (4): 441-449. 2021.
    According to Aristotle, the medical art aims at health, which is a virtue of the body, and does so in an unlimited way. Consequently, medicine does not determine the extent to which health should be pursued, and “mental health” falls under medicine only via pros hen predication. Because medicine is inherently oriented to its end, it produces health in accordance with its nature and disease contrary to its nature—even when disease is good for the patient. Aristotle’s politician understands that t…Read more
  •  139
    What is ‘the best and most perfect virtue’?
    Analysis 79 (3): 387-393. 2019.
    We can clarify a certain difficulty with regard to the phrase ‘the best and most perfect virtue’ in Aristotle’s definition of the human good in Nicomachean Ethics I 7 if we make use of two related distinctions: Donnellan’s attributive–referential distinction and Kripke’s distinction between speaker’s reference and semantic reference. I suggest that Aristotle is using the phrase ‘the best and most perfect virtue’ attributively, not referentially, and further that even though the phrase may refer …Read more
  •  1219
    The Metaphysics of Goodness in the Ethics of Aristotle
    Philosophical Studies 174 (7): 1839-1856. 2017.
    Kraut and other neo-Aristotelians have argued that there is no such thing as absolute goodness. They admit only good in a kind, e.g. a good sculptor, and good for something, e.g. good for fish. What is the view of Aristotle? Mostly limiting myself to the Nicomachean Ethics, I argue that Aristotle is committed to things being absolutely good and also to a metaphysics of absolute goodness where there is a maximally best good that is the cause of the goodness of all other things in virtue of being …Read more
  •  40
    Evil in Aristotle by Pavlos Kontos (review)
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 57 (2): 342-343. 2019.
    This is the first volume devoted to Aristotle's thoughts on evil or badness. The work calls attention to several relatively neglected areas of scholarship, and the contributions give any reader grounds for thinking that Aristotle has thoughts about to kakon that are sophisticated and worthy of deep philosophical engagement.The volume is divided into three parts: metaphysics and biology in the first, practical philosophy in the second, and the "presence of Aristotle in post-Aristotelian philosoph…Read more
  •  69
    Notes from Narnia (on the Human Body)
    Think 18 (52): 81-86. 2019.
    What is a human body? Some reasons are given for thinking that, in the primary case, it is a body that is both of and suitable to a rational animal.
  •  133
    Erratum to: The metaphysics of goodness in the ethics of Aristotle
    Philosophical Studies 174 (11): 2901-2901. 2017.
    This corrects a few typos in Baker (2017) 'The metaphysics of goodness in the Ethics of Aristotle' Philosophical Studies 174(7): 1839-1856.
  •  2940
    In Nicomachean Ethics 1. 7, Aristotle gives a definition of the human good, and he does so by means of the “ ergon argument.” I clear the way for a new interpretation of this argument by arguing that Aristotle does not think that the ergon of something is always the proper activity of that thing. Though he has a single concept of an ergon, Aristotle identifies the ergon of an X as an activity in some cases but a product in others, depending on the sort of thing the X is—for while the ergon of th…Read more