Previous Education
BA, St. John’s College, Santa Fe
MA, Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago
Interests
Kant, Post-Kantian German Idealism, Phenomenology, Ancient Greek Philosophy
Recent Courses
PHIL 29200-01/29300-01 Junior/Senior Tutorial
Topic: Heidegger’s Critique of German Idealism
Martin Heidegger claimed that the entire western philosophical tradition reached its ‘culmination’ (Vollendung) in the philosophy of German Idealism. In this course we will take this diagnosis seriously, work to understand its presuppositions and implications, and attempt to assess its cogency.
Our procedure will be to conduct an intensive study of Heidegger’s interpretations of Kantian and Hegelian metaphysics. We will read in their entirety Heidegger’s major works on Kant’s theoretical philosophy from the 1920s through the 1960s, as well as his central writings on Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit and Science of Logic. In addition to supplementary readings from Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel, we may also read excerpts from Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Christian Wolff, and Alexander Baumgarten. It is possible we may also cast occasional side-long glances at the status of metaphysics in thinkers who either decisively influenced Heidegger’s critique of the tradition or were decisively influenced by it (e.g. Nietzsche, Derrida).
Meets with Jr/Sr section. Open only to intensive-track and philosophy majors. No more than two tutorials may be used to meet program requirements.