Research
My research interests lie at the intersection of metaphysics and philosophy of mind and engage with a range figures including Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Buridan, Peter Olivi, Walter Chatton, Adam Wodeham, and especially William Ockham. In philosophy of mind, my work focuses on two broad areas of interest: medieval theories of intentionality, and medieval theories of consciousness and self-knowledge. In metaphysics, my work to date has focused on medieval theories of propositions and on discussions of the nature of motion and change. More recently, however, my interests have been turning to various facets of Ockham’s broader metaphysical and meta-metaphysical commitments.
Links to most of my papers are available on my PhilPapers profile.
(Some) Current Projects
Monograph Project: Ockham on Metaphysics and Methodology
A monograph project exploring Ockham's metaphysical program: both its methodology and basic commitments. I begin by arguing that Ockham’s metaphysical program is not driven, as scholars have so often assumed, by his reductionist semantics. Rather, I want to argue that it is driven by a deep concern for metaphysical explanation. I then show that, viewed within this context of this kind of concern, Ockham’s famed reductionism is qualified in important, and hitherto unnoticed, respects. The book is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on issues in Ockham’s meta-metaphysics and, in particular, demonstrates his commitment to metaphysical explanation. The second part explores the proper understanding of his reductionism in the context of metaphysical explanation. The third and final part examines an important challenge to Ockham’s reductionism raised by his contemporaries, as well as ways in which Ockham modifies his account to address it.
Translations Project: Medieval Philosophers on Self-Knowledge: 1200-1350
A book-length translation project (with Therese Cory (Notre Dame)). The project involves preparing English translations of a dozen or so key 13th & 14th-century Latin texts on self-knowledge. The text selections are organized either as “trendsetters” or “responses”. The "trendsetting" texts focus on authors who are in some way representative of a major development in medieval debates about self knowledge; the "responses" selections represent various reactions to these trendsetting developments. The volume will also include an extensive introduction developing our own substantive thesis about the trajectory of Scholastic thought on self-knowledge in the 13th and 14th centuries. (Under contract with Oxford University Press)