"Hupolêpsis and Hormê: The Stoic Theory of Motivation."

"Augustine on Pulling the Trigger." ABSTRACT. The main philosophical puzzle in Confessions 8 is how someone can want to do something but nevertheless fail to do it. This is, I argue, a problem about what we now call "commitment" and, as such, it is distinct from (but related to) classical problems of weakness of will. […]

"Conception and Assent in Post-Classical Arabic Philosophy."

Substantial Confusion: Why Stoic ousia is Not Matter Abstract. There is an underlying debate in the literature over how to understand and translate the term ousia for the Stoics. So far, this debate has taken place primarily in the margins and footnotes of debates about other matters. And yet the interpretive stakes are quite high — […]

Aristotle on Necessity “from an assumption”   Abstract: Aristotle thinks there are different ways to be necessary. One way, often called “hypothetical” or “conditional” necessity, is associated with his commitment to teleology: something is hypothetically necessary when it is needed for some end or purpose to be achieved. It is standard orthodoxy that Aristotle’s main […]

Prof. Barney will talk on Protagoras and the Measure Thesis.