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History of Philosophy

The Department of Philosophy at Texas A&M has a wide variety of resources for students of the history of philosophy. Faculty have research interests in Ancient Greek Philosophy, the Early Modern Period, German Idealism, 19th Century European Philosophy, American Pragmatism, 20th Century Continental Philosophy, and the History of Analytic Philosophy. This breadth of interest reflects itself in our course offerings and research supervision, which offer students opportunities both to develop a broad understanding of the history of philosophy and also to inquire deeply into their subjects of choice. Beyond the classroom, Texas A&M regularly hosts conferences in the history of philosophy and supports graduate student and faculty travel to other conferences. Faculty and students have organized a number of reading and translation groups in their areas of research and several faculty maintain research resources on websites.

FACULTY DOING RESEARCH IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY INCLUDE:

  • José Luis Bermúdez although best known for his work in the philosophy of thought and language, has worked throughout his career in the history of philosophy. He is currently writing a book on Aristotle’s De Anima for Oxford University Press, supported by a Texas A&M Arts and Humanities Research Fellowship. He is available to work with students who are interested in reading the classical Greek philosophers (including the pre-Socratics) in the original Greek.
  • Robert Burch has a broad interest in the history of philosophy and has published articles on figures such as Leibniz, Hume, Kant, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger.  His work has focused, however, on the history of logic and American philosophy.  Recently, he has written a number of articles on topics in Peirce’s logic: beta graphs, existential graphs, and the reduction thesis.
  • Daniel Conway specializes in 19th-Century Philosophy in Europe and North America. His current research is devoted primarily to Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and their respective confrontations with the signature projects of modernity. He has directed dissertation research on Hobbes, Spinoza, Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche.
  • Stephen Daniel works primarily on 17th and 18th century philosophy. He has written four books, authored more than sixty articles, and edited three volumes on modern philosophy. His recent publications include articles on George Berkeley, G. W. Leibniz, John Toland, and Jonathan Edwards, and two edited collections of essays on Berkeley. He was president of the International Berkeley Society from 2006 to 2016, and is currently editor of Berkeley Studies and Texas A&M University…” Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence. His current research includes work on Descartes, Locke, and Berkeley.
  • Theodore George focuses on continental European philosophy since Kant, with emphasis in the history of philosophy on Hegel and German Idealism and Romanticism.
  • Claire Katz specializes in 20th Century Continental Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy, Jewish Philosophy, and the Philosophy of Education.  She is the author of Levinas, Judaism and Feminine: The Silent Footsteps of Rebecca(Indiana, 2003) and the editor of Routledge’s four volume Emmanuel Levinas: Critical Assessments.
  • Dwayne Raymond
  • Robin Smith (Emeritus, retired) has research interests in ancient Greek philosophy, the history and philosophy of logic, and the philosophy of language.  He is particularly interested in Aristotle’s concept of science, Aristotle’s logic, and modern formal interpretations of Aristotle’s logic.  His publications include translations with commentary of Aristotle’s Topics, Book I and VIII (for the OUP Clarendon Aristotle Series); Aristotle’s Prior Analytics (Hackett, 1989); and Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics (Hackett, in progress), as well as various articles.  Smith regularly organizes ancient Greek reading groups for interested graduate students.  Recent texts have included Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Plato’s Republic, Plato’s Euthyphro, and Aristotle’s Metaphysics.
  • Kristi Sweet‘s interests in the History of Philosophy coalesce around the work of Immanuel Kant. She has published two books on Kant, one on his practical philosophy, and one on understanding the third Critique by way of the role it plays in his critical system. She has broader expertise, too, in Enlightenment thought, the post-Kantian German Idealist tradition, as well as in Ancient Greek thought. She leads a text-intensive reading group on Plato and Aristotle for graduate students.

Within the Philosophy Department, a number of faculty with other specializations also have interests in the history of philosophy. Michael Hand maintains an interest in the history of logic and mathematics. Christopher Menzel studies the history of 20th Century Anglo-American Philosophy and has recently done work with the history of modal logic and figures such as Arthur Prior. Roger Sansom is interested in the history of 20th Century Analytic Philosophy.

Outside the department, faculty at Texas A&M with interests in the history of philosophy include political theorists in the Department of Political Science, the interdisciplinary Early Modern Studies Working Group, and professors in the departments of English, History, and International Studies.