I am a Serra Húnter Fellow at the University of Barcelona who works on ancient Greek philosophy, primarily Plato and Aristotle. Previously I have held positions at Humboldt University in Berlin, Northwestern, and UC Berkeley. I have spent a term at Clare Hall, Cambridge and a year at UW Madison, supported by a Solmsen Fellowship. I have also been awarded a Spencer Foundation Grant and an Alice Kaplan Humanities Institute Fellowship. My PhD is from UCLA.
My comprehensive book on Plato's Phaedo has recently been published with Cambridge University Press. It works through the dialogue in order, providing new interpretations of a number of the dialogue's famous ideas, including the nature and existence of "Platonic" forms, the immortality of the soul, the method of hypothesis, the theory of causation, and the contemplative ethical ideal. It also carefully considers less discussed parts of the dialogue, including its cosmology, literary structure, portrayal of character, and engagement with ancient medicine and religion.
I have also recently co-edited with Richard Kraut the Cambridge Companion to Plato, 2nd Edition (CUP, 2022). Before that I edited Theory and Practice in Aristotle's Natural Science (CUP, 2015).
My articles are on Plato's ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, and the literary structure of his dialogues, as well as on matter in Aristotle's natural philosophy and syllogisms in his logic. They are in venues such as Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Journal of the History of Philosophy, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, Classical Philology, and The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Science.
For further information see my pages on Publications, Plato's Phaedo, and Teaching.
CV [November 2023]
david.ebrey@gmail.com
