Research

Published & Forthcoming Work

Books:

Crafting Race in Plato and Aristotle (edited volume), co-editor with Patricia Marechal. Forthcoming from Oxford University Press.

A volume of essays from established and emerging scholars on the subject of race in the writings of Plato and Aristotle. It aims to cover how these philosophers theorized and created (or failed to create) notions of racial difference, as well as consideration of methodological questions and the legacies of these ideas.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters:

“Identity and Difference in Kind: The Metaphysics of Pleasure at the Beginning of Plato’s Philebus”, forthcoming in Philosophers' Imprint

Pre-proof draft here.

“A Story of Corruption: False Pleasure and Plato’s Methodological Critique of Hedonism in the Philebus”, Ancient Philosophy 44, no.2, 363-384, fall 2024

“Plato, Sophist 259c7-d7: Contrary Predication and Genuine Refutation”, forthcoming in The Classical Quarterly.

Open-access article here.

“Plato’s Scientific Feminism: Collection and Division in Republic V’s ‘First Wave’” (with Rachana Kamtekar), forthcoming in Routledge Handbook of Women and Ancient Greek Philosophy, eds. Sara Brill and Catharine McKeen, Routledge Publishing

Link to volume here.

“Division and Proto-Racialism in the Statesman”, in misReading Plato: Continental and Psychoanalytic Glimpses Beyond the Mask, eds. Matthew Clemente, Bryan J. Cocchiara, and William J. Hendel, Routledge Publishing, 188-201.

“Plato on Natural Kinds: The Promethean Method of the Philebus”, in Apeiron: A Journal for Ancient Philosophy and Science, 2022, volume 55, no.2, 305-327

“Ethical Narratives and Oppositional Consciousness”, in APA Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy, Spring 2021, volume 20, no.3, 11-15

Newsletter here

“The Cause of Cosmic Rotation in Aristotle’s Metaphysics xii 6-7”, in Ancient Philosophy, 2022, vol. 40, no.2, 349-367

Reviews:

Review of Kevin Corrigan, A less familiar Plato: from Phaedo to Philebus, Cambridge University Press, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review (here).

Work in Progress

Freeing the Mind: Plato on Psychological Liberation.
- What does it mean to free the mind? One way to understand this is as a question about the subjective transformations involved in socio-political struggles for liberation. Another way is to turn to a tradition in philosophy across the globe, which sees enlightenment as a kind of liberation from the ordinary human condition. My book gives an account of how Plato's ideas about psychological liberation, or the freeing of the soul, pursues both of these types of projects in tandem--and without, importantly, sacrificing the former to the latter, as he often thought to do. The book studies principally Plato's Phaedo, Republic, and Theaetetus, while drawing other dialogues (like Meno, Protagoras, and Gorgias), to articulate Plato's understanding of philosophical conversation as a liberatory practice for the soul embedded in human society. It discusses topics such as Plato's use (and misuse) of slavery as a metaphor, his historical position as an Athenian elite, whether he has a genuine theory of ideology, and how his conception of philosophy as a social practice might be the basis for a distinctive social philosophy. Email for chapter drafts.

I am also working on papers on psychological liberation in Plato, which are related to the book project. Please email for drafts.
- A paper on the summoning of intelligence as psychological liberation in Republic VII
- A paper on dialectic and psychological liberation in the discussion of non-being in the Sophist

I have substantial research interests in the intersection of Plato's epistemology and metaphysics with his analysis of pleasure in the Philebus. In addition my published work, I am working on two further manuscripts (email for drafts):
- A paper on pure pleasure in Plato’s Philebus.

Finally, I am working with Patricia Marechal on a contribution to our co-edited volume, titled "Ancient Greek Philosophy of Race". The purpose of the essay is to to clear the path for work on race and racism in Plato and Aristotle by showing that such an approach neither is anachronistic and nor illegitimately projects modern concepts into the ancient past.

τὰ ἄνω

Dissertation

Classifying Difference and Value: The Metaphysics of Kinds and the Search for the Good in Plato’s Philebus

Abstract: Plato’s Philebus is a late dialogue that records a dispute between a hedonist (Philebus/Protarchus) and an advocate of the superiority of knowledge to pleasure (Socrates). This dissertation argues that it advances Plato’s late method and metaphysics in the context of the ethical project at the heart of the dialogue: acquiring knowledge of the nature of the good human life. It demonstrates how Plato uses his method of collection and division, its corresponding metaphysics of kinds, and a teleological natural philosophy to continue his exploration of a science or expertise in morality familiar from dialogues like the Republic and Protagoras. Moreover, it puts Plato in conversation with topics in contemporary metaphysics, philosophy of science, and social philosophy.
Committee: Rachana Kamtekar (Chair), Tad Brennan, Scott MacDonald, Julia Annas (external)
Available in the Cornell digital repository: https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/110625

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