Research

1. The focus of my research is Aristotle's philosophy of nature and science. I have presented papers on the 5th century mathematician and Pythagorean, Archytas of Tarentum, on Aristotle's De Caelo, and on Aristotle's definition of nature. 

2. My current research concerns the history of mechanics in antiquity, in particular the pseudo-Aristotelian Mechanics, Archimedes' On Equilibrium of Planes 1, Heron of Alexandria's Mechanics in Arabic, and Pappus of Alexandria's Book 8 of his Sunagoge.

 3.. In search of a wider base of study of Aristotle's philosophy of nature and seeking a truer account of the meaning of mechanism in antiquity, I wrote a book on the influence of pre-Platonic mathematical mechanics on Aristotle.  Relevant publications:



                          A FEW ARTICLES ON ARISTOTLE

1. “Modes of Explanation in the Aristotelian Mechanical Problems.” Early Science and Medicine 14 (2009): 22-42. article.pdf

2. “Dunamis and the Science of Mechanics: Aristotle on Animal Motion.” Journal of the History of Philosophy 46, no. 1 (2008): 43-68. article

3. “A Husserlian Perspective on Empirical Mathematics in Aristotle.” Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 80 (2006): 91-100. article

4. “Traits Proper to the Soul Itself: A Posteriori Reasoning in Aristotle’ De Anima,” an examination of Prof. Kurt Pritzl's interpretation of De Anima. paper.pdf

5. “Form and Succession in Aristotle's Physics.” In Boston Studies in Ancient Philosophy, vol. 10, edited by John Cleary, 1-23. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1996. article

6. "Eudoxan Astronomy and Aristotelian Holism in the Physics," article

Modes of Explanation.pdf
Dunamis & Sc Mech.pdf
10-Husserlian Pespective.pdf
Pritzl ppr July 13m15 Draft Web.pdf
Form & Succession.pdf
De Groot-Eudoxan Astronomy & Aristotelianism Holism in the Physics.pdf
Motion & Energy Blackwell Comp.pdf

3. I am interested in the science and philosophy of Magna Graecia (southern Italy & Sicily) in the fifth to third centuries BC. On the history of science side, this study has led me to consider the evidence of Lucanian vases in favor of the thesis that an unwritten scientific literacy was shared among different peoples living adjacent to one another in southern Italy and Sicily. Relevant publications:

 

  Papers on science in Magna Graecia

 

1. “Why Epistemology in Not Ancient: From Device and Drama Into Philosophy,” Epochê 19, no. 2 (Spring, 2015): 181–190. DOI: 10.5840/epoche2014123132. article

2. “The Tradition of Mathematical Learning in Magna Graecia.” In Philosopher Kings and Tragic Heroes: Essays on Images and Ideas from Western Greece, ed. Heather L. Reid and Davide Tanasi, 45–60. Sioux City IO: Parnassos Press, 2016. article

3. "Motion and Energy," A Companion to Science, Technology, and Medicine in Greece and Rome, ed. Georgia L. Irby, vol. 1, 43–59. Wiley-Blackwell, 2016.  article

4. "Theatricality in Pottery Design and Machines," in Politics and Performance in Western Greece: Proceedings of the 2nd Interdisciplinary Conference on the Hellenic Heritage of Magna Graecia. Parnassus Press, 2017, 113–132.

Why Epistemology Epoche.pdf         

Math Tradition of MG.pdf
Motion & Energy Blackwell Comp.pdf

4. My dissertation research focused on Aristotle and his Greek commentator, John Philoponus, on the subject of light. Pursuing this topic led into the heart of Neoplatonic metaphysics. The book based on this research, Aristotle and Philoponus on Light, was published in 1991 and was recently reissued by Routledge UK (2015) . Both of my books are available on Amazon and as e-books.

ARTICLES

1. “Philoponus on De Anima II.5, Physics III.3, and the Propagation of Light.” Phronesis 28, no. 2 (1983): 177‑96, article.

2. “Philoponus on Separating the Three‑dimensional in Optics.” In Nature and Scientific Method: Essays in Honor of William A. Wallace, edited by Daniel Dahlstrom, 157‑74. Washington, D.C.: CUA Press, 1991. book chapter

5. I am interested in classic American philosophy, where I judge C. S. Peirce and William James to be major figures. My own publications to date on American philosophy have been on the influential though minor figure, Chauncey Wright. I edited a book of papers on American philosophy. See also my introduction to the book.

Book 

Nature in American Philosophy

ARTICLES

1. “Homegrown Positivism: Charles Darwin and Chauncey Wright.” In Nature in American Philosophy, edited by J. De Groot, 53-71. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2004. Homegrown Pos.pdf

2. “Chauncey Wright.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Plato.Stanford.edu. (July 2, 2004, substantive revision 2009 and 2015). wright article on line , wright.pdf

The book is available on Amazon and from the publisher, CUA Press.