Curriculum Vitae

 

Jeffrey K. McDonough

 

curriculum vitae

 

Department of Philosophy, 202 Emerson Hall, Harvard University

Cambridge, MA 02138

jkmcdon@fas.harvard.edu

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~jkmcdon/

Employment:

 

  • Young J. Lee and Young Ju Rhee Professor of Philosophy, 2025-present

 

  • Chair, Harvard Department of Philosophy, 2025-present

 

  • Harvard University, Full Professor, 2013-2025 

 

  • Harvard University, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities (untenured), 2011

 

  • Harvard University, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, 2005-2011

 

 

Education:

 

  • University of California, Irvine:  Ph.D. in Philosophy, 2004

 

  • Syracuse University:  M.A. in Philosophy, 2001 

 

  • Santa Clara University:  B.A. magna cum laude with honors in Philosophy, 1995

 

 

Honors and Awards:

 

  • Walter Channing Cabot Fellow for “achievements and scholarly eminence in the fields of ‘literature, history or art’,” Harvard University, 2023-24. 

 

  • Mercator Fellowship (visiting professorship), Center for Women Philosophers and Scientists, Paderborn Universität, 2022-23.

 

  • Grant from Jorge Paulo Lemann Funds for course innovation and entrepreneurship 2019. 

 

  • Exploratory Seminar Award, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study 2017. 

 

  • Alvin Plantinga Fellowship at the Notre Dame Center for Philosophy of Religion 2015-16

 

  • Alvin Plantinga Lecture, The University of Notre Dame, 2015. 

 

  • Provostial Funds for Humanities Award 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2025

 

  • International Lecturer to Finland, The Finnish Doctoral Program in Philosophy, The University of Turku, 2012. 

 

  • Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers 2010-11

 

  • Templeton Research Fellowship in Early Modern Philosophy and Theology declined 2010

 

  • National Humanities Center Fellowship declined 2010

 

  • Leibniz Society Essay Competition Winner 2008

 

  • The Colin and Ailsa Turbayne International Berkeley Essay Prize 2007

 

  • Leibniz Society Essay Competition Winner 2007 

 

  • Journal of the History of Philosophy, Kristeller-Popkin Travel Fellowship 2007 

 

  • The Clark Fund Research Grant 2007

 

  • UC Irvine School of Humanities Summer Dissertation Fellowship 2004 

 

  • UC Irvine School of Humanities Graduate Student Travel Grant 2004

 

  • University of California Regents Dissertation Fellowship 2004

 

  • University of California Irvine Graduate Student Research Grant 2002

 

  • University of California Irvine, Humanities Graduate Essay Award for “A Rosa multiflora by Any Other Name:  Taxonomic Incommensurability and Scientific Kinds,” 2002      

 

  • University of California Regents Fellowship in the Humanities 2001-2

 

  • Southwestern Philosophical Society Essay Prize for “Defending the Refutation of
  • Idealism,” 2000

 

  • Syracuse University Graduate School Outstanding Teaching Award, 2000

 

  • Syracuse University Graduate Student Fellowship 2000

 

  • Syracuse University Summer Research Fellowship 2000

 

  • Syracuse University Graduate School Travel Grant 1999, 2000

 

  • Syracuse University, Department of Philosophy, Travel Grant 1998, 1999, 2000

 

  • Hume Society Graduate Student Essay Award/Travel Grant for “Hume’s Account of Memory,” 1999

 

  • Santa Clara University, Department of Philosophy, Sourisseau Prize for Outstanding Graduating Senior Philosophy Major, 1995

  • Alpha Sigma Nu, 1995

  • Phi Beta Kappa, 1995

Books:

 

  • Émilie Du Châtelet in Relation to Leibniz and Wolff: Similarities and Differences (Cham, Switzerland: Springer), 2025. (Edited with Clara Carus, with introduction and contribution) 

 

  • G.W. Leibniz: Journal Articles on Natural Philosophy, Richard Arthur, Chief Editor (Oxford University Press), 2023. (Contributing editor and translator)

 

  • Saints, Heretics, and Atheists: A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (Oxford University Press), 2022. 

 

  • Leibniz’s Miracle Creed (Oxford University Press), 2022. 

 

  • Teleology: A History (Oxford University Press, 2020). (Edited, with introduction and contribution) 

 

 

Articles and Chapters:

 

  • “Causation as Composition: Mary Shepherd and the Metaphysics of Efficient Causation,” Keota Fields, ed., Essays on Mary Shepherd: Causation, Mind, and Perception (Oxford University Press), forthcoming.

 

  • “Émilie Du Châtelet Against Spatial Metaphysics,” Fatema Amijee, ed., The Bloomsbury Companion to Emilie Du Châtelet (Bloomsbury Academic Press), forthcoming. 

 

  • “Introduction,” in Clara Carus and Jeffrey K. McDonough, eds., Émilie Du Châtelet in Relation to Leibniz and Wolff: Similarities and Differences (Cham, Switzerland: Springer) (with Clara Carus), 2025. 

 

  • “Du Châtelet, Wolff, and Leibniz on Divine Eternity,” in Clara Carus and Jeffrey K. McDonough, eds., Émilie Du Châtelet in Relation to Leibniz and Wolff: Similarities and Differences (Cham, Switzerland: Springer), 2025. 

 

  • “Space, Monads, and Incompossibility,” Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy, 2021. 

 

  • “Causal Powers and Ontology in Descartes, Malebranche, and Leibniz,” in Causal Powers: A History, ed. Julia Jorati (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2021. 

 

  • “Somethings and Nothings: Śrīgupta and Leibniz on Being and Unity,” Philosophy East and West (70:4), October 2020. (with Allison Aitken)

 

  • “Introduction to Teleology: A History,” in Teleology: A History, ed. Jeffrey K. McDonough (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2020. 

 

  • “Not Dead Yet: Teleology and the ‘Scientific Revolution,” in Teleology: A History, ed. Jeffrey K. McDonough (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2020.

 

  • “Leibniz’s Formal Theory of Contingency,” Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy: From Leibniz to Kant, eds. Katherine Dunlop and Samuel Levey, 2018:17-43. (With Zeynep Soysal)

 

  • “Leibniz on Freedom and Contingency,” in The Oxford Handbook of Leibniz, ed. Maria Rosa Antognazza (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), pp. 86-99.

 

  • “Leibniz’s Optics,” in The Oxford Handbook of Leibniz, ed. Maria Rosa Antognazza (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), pp. 425-437

 

  • “Leibniz on Pre-established Harmony and Causality,” in Lire Leibniz, trans. Christian Leduc, eds. Mogens Laerke, Christian Leduc, and David Rabouin, (Vrin, 2017), pp. 105-122. 

 

  • “Berkeley on Ordinary Objects,” The Bloomsbury Companion to Berkeley, eds. Bertil Belfrage and Dick Brook (New York: Bloomsbury, 2017), pp. 385-396. 

 

  • “Leibniz and the Foundations of Physics: The Later Years,” The Philosophical Review (125:1) 2016: 1-34. 

 

  • “Leibniz’s Formal Theory of Contingency Developed,” Internationaler Leibniz-Kongress X vorträge, eds. Ute Beckmann, et. al, (New York: Georg Olms Verlag), 2016: vol. 1, pp. 451-466. (with Zeynep Soysal)

 

  • “Leibniz on Monadic Agency and Optimal Form,” Studia Leibnitiana Sonderhaft, Leibniz and Experience, ed. Arnauld Pelletier (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag) 2016 :93-118. 

 

  • “Freedom and the Ability to Sin,” Logoi, (appox. 1000 words), 2016. 

 

  • “Leibniz, Spinoza and an Alleged Dilemma for Rationalists,” Ergo (2:15) 2015: 367-392. 

 

 

  • “Leibniz’s Conciliatory Account of Substance,” The Philosopher’s Imprint (13:6) 2013: 1-23. 

 

  • “The Heyday of Teleology and Early Modern Philosophy,” in Early Modern Philosophy Reconsidered, ed. John Carriero, Midwest Studies in Philosophy (35) 2011: 179-204.

 

  • “Leibniz’s Optics and Contingency in Nature,” Perspectives on Science (18:4) 2010: 432-455. 

 

  • “Leibniz and the Puzzle of Incompossibility: The Packing Strategy,” The Philosophical Review (119:2) 2010: 135-163.

 

  • “Leibniz on Natural Teleology and the Laws of Optics,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (78:3) 2009: 505-544. 

 

  • “Berkeley, Human Agency, and Divine Concurrence,” Journal of the History of Philosophy (46:4) 2008: 567-590.   

 

  • “Leibniz’s Two Realms Revisited,” Nôus (42:4) 2008:  673-696. 

 

  • “Leibniz: Creation and Conservation and Concurrence,” Leibniz Review (17) 2007: 31-60. 

 

  • “A Rosa multiflora by Any Other Name:  Taxonomic Incommensurability and Scientific Kinds,” Synthese (136) 2003: 337-358. 

 

  • “Hume’s Account of Memory,” British Journal for the History of Philosophy (10:1) 2002: 71-87. 

 

  • “Defending the Refutation of Idealism,” Southwestern Philosophy Review (17:1) 2000: 35-44. 

 

  • “Rough Drafts without Tears: A Guide to a Manageable Procedure for Improving Student Writing,” Teaching Philosophy (23:2) 2000: 127-137.

 

  • “Numbers, Minds, and Bodies:  A Fresh Look at Mind-Body Dualism,” Philosophical Perspectives:  Language, Mind and Ontology (12) 1998:  349-371 (with John Hawthorne).

 

 

Publications – Entries, Reviews, Miscellaneous: 

 

  • “Review of ‘Richard Arthur’s Leibniz on Time, Space & Relativity,’” The Philosophical Review, 2023.

 

 

  • “Monad,” Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Taylor and Francis, 2017), approx. 2000 words (with Tran (Jen) Nguyen). 

 

  • “Descartes’ ‘Optics’” in The Cambridge Descartes Lexicon, ed. Larry Nolan (Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press), (approx. 3,750 words), 2016.

 

  • “Descartes’ ‘Dioptrics’” in The Cambridge Descartes Lexicon, ed. Larry Nolan (Cambridge: 

    Cambridge University Press), (approx. 1,000 words), 2016. 

 

  • “Reply to ‘A Leibnizian Way out of the Rationalist’s Dilemma’ by Chloe Armstrong,’” an 

    invited, two-part reply, for a featured discussion of my paper “Leibniz, Spinoza and an Alleged Dilemma for Rationalists,” posted on The Mod Squad: A Group Blog on Modern Philosophy, February 2016.

 

  • “Leibniz, Berkeley, Kant; Frege, Bees, Toasters and Julius Caesar,” an interview by Richard Marshall for 3:AM Magazine, September 19, 2014. (approx.. 5,600 words)

 

  • Review of “Steven Nadler.  Occasionalism: Causation Among the Cartesians,” The Philosophical 

    Review (122:1) 2013 (with Colin Chamberlain).   

 

 

  • Review of “Daniel Garber.  Leibniz: Body, Substance, Monad,” Journal of the History of Philosophy, (49:3) 2011: 380-381. 

 

  • Televised documentary, “Western Philosophy and China,” one episode of a nine episode series, Tai Chi and WuDang Mountains, directed and produced Zhou Jing, Beijing, China Central Television.   First broadcast on the Chinese International Channel (CCTV-4) October 1-8, 2010.  (To be rebroadcast on CCTV-7, CCTV-NEWS and CCTV-HD.) 

 

 

Invited Commentaries:

 

  • “Comments on Anat Schechtman’s ‘Leibniz on Quantitative Infinity’,” Manuscript Workshop, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, May 2023. 

 

  • “Comments on Robert Mason’s “Leibniz’s Infinite Analysis Theory of Contingency,” Seventh Berlin-Groningen-Harvard-Toronto-Sydney Workshop on Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy, Harvard University, September 2018. 

 

  • “Comments on Owen Pikkert’s ‘The Modal Status of Leibniz’s Principle of Sufficient Reason,’” Sixth Berlin-Groningen-Harvard-Toronto Workshop on Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy, University of Groningen, July 2017. 

 

  • “Comments on Julia Jorati’s “’How to be More Spontaneous: Leibniz on the Best Type of Agency’” for Activity, Spontaneity, and Agency in Later Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy – An International Conference, University of Toronto, June 9-10, 2016 

 

  • “Comments on Robert Adams’s ‘Leibniz and Pantheism’,” The Twelfth Annual NYU Conference on Issues in Modern Philosophy: God, NYU, New York, New York, November 2015. 

 

  • “Comments on “Msgr. Dr. Tomas Halik’s Return of Religion as Opportunity: ‘Anatheism’ and Post-Modern Philosophy and Theology’,” Colloquium event, Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study, November 2015.

 

  • “Comments on Adam Harmer’s ‘Leibniz Against the World Soul: Three Versions’,” Leibniz Society of North America Meeting, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, October 2015. 

 

  • “Comments on Justin Smith’s Divine Machines: Leibniz and the Sciences of Life,” The American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division Meeting, Seattle, WA, April 2012.

 

  • “Comments on Daniel Garber’s Leibniz: Body, Substance, Monad,” The American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division Meeting, Washington D.C., December 2011

 

  • “Comments on Daniel Garber’s ‘Metaphysics and Theology: The Role of the Monadology in Leibniz's Theodicy’,” Leibniz's Theodicy: Context and Content, Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana, September 2010.

 

  • “Comments on Roger Ariew’s ‘Descartes and Leibniz as Readers of Suarez’,” Francisco Suarez:  Last Medieval or First Early Modern?, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, September 2008.

 

  • “Comments on ‘Berkeley on the Activity of Spirits’ by Sukjae Lee,” Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Baltimore, MD, December 2007.    

 

  • “Comments on ‘Second-Order Predication and the Metaphysics of Properties,’” by Andy Egan,” Student Philosophy Conference, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, California, February 2003. 

 

  • “Comments on ‘Levels and Scientific Explanations,’ by Bill Seeley,” 2000 Mid-South Philosophy Conference, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, February 2000.

 

 

Presentations: 

 

  • “Time for Émilie Du Châtelet,” Émilie Du Châtelet on Time and Time Again (with Katherine Brading), Harvard History of Philosophy Workshop, Feb 2024; Conference in Honor of Alan Nelson, UNC, May 2024; Du Châtelet’s Metaphysics and her Metaphysical Influences, University College Dublin, March 2025 (Keynote); Du Châtelet on Space and Time, American Philosophical Association Pacific Meeting, April 2025. 

 

  • “Leibniz on Freedom and Contingency,” Master Class, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, July 2023. 

 

  • “Leibniz on Space, Time and Monads,” Master Class, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, July 2023. 

 

  • “Presentation of Leibniz’s Miracle Creed: The Principle of Optimality in Leibniz’s Physics and Philosophy,” Colloquium, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China July 2023; Colloquium, Universität Hamburg, April 2023; Meeting of Groupe de Recherche sur Leibniz, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France, November 2022. 

 

  • “The Foundations of Science,” series of ten lectures on the philosophy science given at the RCF Experimental School, Beijing, China, July 2023. 

 

  • “Émilie Du Châtelet Against Spatial Metaphysics,” Émilie Du Châtelet in Relation to Leibniz and Wolff – Similarities and Differences, University of Paderborn, Germany, September 2022; Seminar Workshop Laboratoire SPHère, University of Paris – CNRS, Paris, France, November 2022; Brussels Seminar in Early Modern Philosopy X, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, June 2023. 

 

  • “Shepherd and Hume on Miracles,” “Epistémologie et métaphysique: Extending New narratives in Philosophy,” University of Paris Nanterre – Paris, France, March 2023. 

 

  • “Causation as Composition: Mary Shepherd and the Metaphysics of Causation,” Philosophy Colloquium, Paderborn University, December 2022; Mary Shepherd on Mind, Causation and Perception, Université Paris Nanterre, Paris, France, November 2022. 

 

  • “Monads, Space, and Incompossibility,” Infinity and Beyond Workshop, University of Turku, Finland, June 2019; Leibniz Society of North America Conference, Emory University, May 2019; Tahoe Early Modern Workshop, Tahoe, Colorado, June 2018. 

 

  • “Causal Powers and Ontology in Descartes, Malebranche and Leibniz,” Powers Workshop, The Ohio State University, March 2019. 

 

  • “The Legacy of Leibniz’s Physics: A Story of Sibling Rivalry, Triumph and Neglect,” Mechanics and Matter Theory in the Enlightenment, Duke University, November 2018 (Public Lecture); Teleological Explanations Between Leibniz and Kant, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, June 2018. 

 

  • “Not Dead Yet: Teleology and the ‘Scientific Revolution,” Teleology – the History of a Concept, Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study, Harvard University, September 2017; Causa Sive Ratio – Causality and Reason in Modernity, Universita degli Studi di Milano, November 2017. 

 

  • “Spinoza on Personal Immortality,” Dutch Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy University of Groningen, February 2017 (keynote); History of Metaphysics – Time Workshop, University of Toronto, April 2017; Early Modern Workshop, Dartmouth College, May 2017; God and the Philosophers in the Seventeenth Century, A Workshop Hosted by The Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History, Cambridge, MA, April 2016.

 

  • “Leibniz’s Formal Theory of Contingency,” Libori Summer School, Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, University of Paderborn (keynote), July 2017; Chicago Modern Philosophy Roundtable, Roosevelt University, Chicago, March 2016; American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 2016. 

 

  • “Leibniz and the Foundations of Physics: The Later Years,” Colloquium, Dartmouth College, March 2015; New England Conference on Early Modern Philosophy, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, June 2014; Spinoza and Leibniz Workshop, University of Toronto, March 2013; Harmony and Reality in the Late Philosophy of Leibniz, Leibniz Research Centre and The University of Münster, Germany, November 2012.

 

  • “Leibniz on Incompossibility,” Seminar, Dartmouth College, March 2015.

 

  • “Suarez on Divine Efficient Causation,” Workshop on Theories of Causality and Occasionalism, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, June 2015. 

 

  • “Berkeley’s Rejection of Occasionalism,” Conference on Theories of Causality and Occasionalism, Istanbul, Turkey, June 2015. 

 

  • “Leibniz, Spinoza and a Rationalist Dilemma,” Work in Progress Seminar, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 2014; Atlantic Canada Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Dalhousie University, Halifax, July 2014; Spinoza and Leibniz Workshop, University of Toronto, March 2013. 

 

  • “The Concept of Teleology: A History,” Workshop in Early Modern Philosophy, Lake Tahoe, Tahoe, California, June 2014. 

 

  • “Leibniz on Monadic Teleology and Optimal Form,” Interrelations of the Life Sciences and Mathematical Sciences in Early Modernity, University of Cincinnati, May 2012; Leibniz and Experience, Leibniz Universität, Hannover, Germany, June 2012; South Central Seminar in the History of Early Modern Philosophy, Texas A&M, College Station, October 2011(Keynote Speaker); “Leibniz on Monadic Teleology and Optimal Form,” Colloquium Talk, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany, May 2011; Departmental Colloquium, University of Turku, Finland, April 2011; Early Modern Workshop, Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, London UK, March 2011; More Too Funky Causation, The Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University, February 2011 (Keynote Speaker); American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, December 2010.

 

  • “Introducing Leibniz,” “The World of Mathematical Physics,” “The World of Living Organisms,” “The World of Immaterial Minds,” “The World of Divine Choice,” Five Lectures on Leibniz and Early Modern Philosophy, hosted by The Finnish Doctoral Program in Philosophy, University of Turku, June 2012. 

 

  • “The Early Leibniz on Minima, Change, and the Topology of Motion,” Folds, Networks, Fissures: Topological Thinking in Philosophy, Art and Literature, A Radcliffe Institute Exploratory Seminar, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, December 2011. 

 

  • “The Heyday of Teleology and Early Modern Philosophy, Colloquium Talk, Texas A&M, College Station, October 2011; Public Lecture, Turku Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, University of Turku, Finland, April 2011; The Scottish Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, March 2011; part of a Symposium on Teleological Thinking in Scientific Explanations with Devin Henry and James Lennox, American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, December 2010; Spinoza Workshop, University of Ghent, December 2010.

 

  • “Leibniz’s Irenic Account of Substance,” Leibniz’s Final Philosophy, The Fifth Annual Conference of the Leibniz Society of North America, UCSD, San Diego, California, June 2011; Departmental Colloquium, University of Helsinki, Finland, April 2011.

 

  • “Leibniz on Teleology and Optimal Form,” A “mini-conference” on Formal Teleology, Department of Philosophy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, April 2010. 

 

  • “Leibniz’s Conciliatory Account of Substance,” History of Philosophy Workshop, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, March 2010; Oxford Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Oxford University, October 2010; Themes in Modern Philosophy, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, April 2009; Midwest Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, University of Chicago, May 2009.

 

  • “Leibniz and the Puzzle of Incompossibility:  The Packing Solution,”, A “mini-conference” on Spinoza and Leibniz on Reason, Necessity, and Possibility hosted by The Society for Early Modern Philosophy, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, October 2009; The Fourth Biennial Margaret Dauler Wilson Philosophy Conference, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, June 2008; New York/New Jersey Consortium in the History of Modern Philosophy, John Jay College, New York City, April 2008; The Second Annual Conference of the North American Leibniz Society, Princeton University, Princeton NJ, September 2008.

     

  • “Leibniz’s Optics and Contingency in Nature,” SPAWN Conference: Nature and Purpose in Early Modern Philosophy, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, August 2009; Seventh Congress of HOPOS the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, June 2008.

 

  • “Leibniz: Creation and Conservation and Concurrence,” First Annual Conference of the Leibniz Society of North America, Rice University, Houston, January 2008; New England Colloquium in Early Modern Philosophy, Yale University, New Haven 2007; Midwest Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, University of Chicago, Chicago March 2007.

 

  • “Berkeley, Human Agency, and Divine Concurrence,” Philosophy Department Colloquium, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, October 2007; Thomas Rukavina History of Philosophy Lecture, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, January 2007; American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Meeting, Washington, D.C., December 2006; Oxford Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Oxford University, October 2006

 

  • “Leibniz’s Two Realms Revisited,” presented to the Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University, Oxford UK, January 2007; Sixth Congress of HOPOS the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, Paris, France, June 2006; Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, Toronto, Canada, May 2006

 

  • “Leibniz on Internal Teleology and the Laws of Optics” (Job Talk), San Francisco State University, Western Ontario University, Harvard University, Washington University of St. Louis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Florida State University at Gainesville, Syracuse University, January-February 2005

 

  • “Leibniz on Internal Teleology and the Laws of Optics,” Fifth Congress of HOPOS the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, San Francisco, CA, June 2004; The 2nd Biennial Margaret Dauler Wilson Conference, Grafton, Vermont, June 2004.

     

  • “Teleology in Leibniz’s Natural Philosophy:  The Connection between Divine Providence and Variational Principles in Leibniz’s Physics,” The Worlds of the Eighteenth Century – The Western Society for Eighteenth Century Studies Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA, February 2004.

 

  • “Newton’s Scholium on Time, Space, Place and Motion,” UCSD Graduate Student Philosophy of Science Conference, San Diego, CA April 2003; NYU-Columbia Graduate Student Philosophy Conference, New York City, New York, March 2003; 20th Anniversary MEPHISTOS Conference on the History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science, Technology and Medicine, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, March 2002

 

  • “A Puzzle about Negation and at Least One Solution,” University of California, Irvine Graduate Student Colloquium, Irvine, California, September 2002.

     

  • “Aristotelian Teleology in Leibniz’s Physics,” Margaret Dauler Wilson Memorial Conference 2002, Flagstaff, Arizona, June 2002.

 

  • “Defending the Refutation of Idealism,” Southwestern Philosophical Society 2000 Conference, Austin Texas, November, 2000. 

     

  • “A New Model for Scientific Kinds,” 2000 Mid-South Philosophy Conference, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, February, 2000.

 

  • “Hume's Account of Memory,” 26th Hume Society Conference, University College, Cork, Ireland, July 1999; Harvard/M.I.T. Sixth Annual Graduate Conference in Philosophy, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March, 1998 

 

  • “On Being Moved by Life and Fiction,” Brown University Graduate Student Conference, Brown University, Providence Rhode Island, February, 1998.

 

  • “Incommensurability and Rational Theory Choice,” Eastern Pennsylvania Philosophical Association Meeting, Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, October, 1997.

 

 

Courses Taught:

 

  • Philosophical Theories of Humor, Junior Tutorial Seminar, Harvard University, Spring 2025. 

 

  • Empiricists, Scientists, and Charlatans: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Harvard University, fall 2024. 

 

  • Topics in the Philosophy of Science, Harvard University, fall 2024. 

 

  • Saints, Heretics, and Atheists: An Historical Introduction to the History of Philosophy of Religion (in the general education program), Harvard University, spring 2010, spring 2012, spring 2014, spring 2015, spring 2016, spring 2017, spring 2019, spring 2024

 

  • British Empiricism, Harvard University, fall 2006, spring 2009, spring 2013, spring 2021

 

  • Continental Rationalism, Harvard University, fall 2005, fall 2009, fall 2013, fall 2016, fall 2019

 

  • Medieval Philosophy, Harvard University, spring 2006, fall 2012, fall 2014, fall 2017, fall 2021 

 

  • Philosophy in Translation: Latin (various works), Harvard University, fall 2009, fall 2011, spring 2012, fall 2012, spring 2014, fall 2014, spring 2018, spring 2019, spring 2020, spring 2022, fall 2023

 

  • Early Modern Seminar (various topics), Harvard University, spring 2015, spring 2013, fall 2013, fall 2011, spring 2010, fall 2016, spring 2020, spring 2022, fall 2023

 

  • Group Tutorial on Metaphysics, Harvard University, fall 2008 

 

  • Introduction to the History of the Philosophy of Religion, Harvard University, spring 2007

 

  • Group Tutorial on Locke’s Essay, Harvard University, spring 2006 

 

  • Group Tutorial on Augustine and Anselm, Harvard University, fall 2005 

 

  • Medieval Philosophy, University of California, Irvine, spring 2004

 

  • Logic, Syracuse University, summer 2001

 

  • Ethics and Value Theory, Syracuse University, summer 2000

 

  • Theories of Knowledge and Reality, Syracuse University, fall 1998, spring 1998, fall 1999, spring 1999

 

 

Thesis and Fellowship Advising: 

 

  • Postdoctoral Advisor, Clara Carus, Feodor Lynen-Forschungsstipendium, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, 2023-present. 

 

  • HRCP Advisor, Thomas Juhasz, Project aiming to increase accessibility to G.W. Leibniz’s primary texts using Natural Language Processing Models and Artificial Intelligence, 2024-present.

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee External Member, Yuan Tao, TBD, Max-Plank Institute Berlin, 2021-present. 

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee Member, Nimet Cebeci, TBD (on Abu al-Hasan Al-Ash’ari philosophy), 2022-present.

 

  • Senior Thesis Joint Advisor, Tyler Heaton, Thesis on Dionysius the Areopagite, 2024-25.

 

  • Postdoctoral Supervisor, Mariana Beatriz Noe, John and Daria Postdoctoral Fellow for the Harvard History of Philosophy Workshop, 2023-25

 

  • Postdoctoral Supervisor, Mattia Brancato, “Teaching science in the Colonial Era: knowledge weaponization and cultural integration from Europe to the Jesuit missions,” Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship, 2023-25 

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee Member, Alexander Vega, Ascending toward the Truth: Augustine’s Engagement with Academic Skepticism and his Alternative Norms for Wholehearted Belief, 2021-25. 

 

  • Doctoral Defense Committee, Louis Pijaudier-Cabot, “Espace et modalités. Une interprétation cosmologique de la théorie des mondes possibles de Leibniz et ses antécédents modernes (1574-1716),” École Normale Supérieure, December 2024.

 

  • External Examiner, “Mary Shepherd’s Philosophy of Cause and Effect,” by Sandra Lindblom, Cambridge University, 2024. 

 

  • External Viva Examiner, “Leibniz’s Cosmogonies,” by Asne Grogaard, Oxford University, 2023.

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee External Advisor, Michael Veldman, “Force, Cause, and Explanation: Euler and the Metaphysics of Science,” Duke University, 2022- 2024

 

  • Senior Thesis Joint Advisor, David Vega, “Christian Natural Slavery, or, How to Manage Inequality,” 2023-24.

 

  • External Viva Examiner, Asne Grogaard, Leibniz’s Cosmogonies, Oxford University, 2023. 

 

  • Senior Thesis Advisor, Christopher Kralik, From the Gardens of Saint-Germain to GPT-3: Descartes and Turning in a New Age, 2022. 

 

  • Senior Thesis Advisor, Erin Alami, Lost and Found in Divine Humanity: Mystical Union and Ethical Attention with Meister Eckhart and Simone Weil, 2022. 

 

  • Host, Liu Peng, Visiting Scholar in Philosophy, Beijing Normal University, 2021-2022.

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee External Member, Jun Young Kim, A Combinatorial Theory of Compossibility in Leibniz’s Metaphysics, University of Chicago Illinois, 2021. 

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Advisor, Jen (Tran) Nguyen, Leibniz on Place, 2021. 

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee Member, Hadel Jarada, Determinism and Freedom in Islamic Theology: The Hanafi-Maturidi Tradition, 900-1350, 2021.

 

  • Senior Thesis Advisor, Margot E. Shang, Telling It as It Is: The Limitations and Potential of Astell’s Right to Education, 2021. 

 

  • Postdoctoral Advisor, Lucia Oliveri, DAAD PRIME Fellowship, 2019-2021. 

 

  • Postdoctoral Advisor, Clara Carus, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Fellowship, 2019-2020. 

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee Member, Allison Aitken, Everywhere Relations, 2020. 

 

  • Senior Thesis Advisor, Jonathan Perez-Reyzin, “A Justified Trip: The Epistemic Status of Psychedelic States,” 2020. 

 

  • Dissertation Opponent, Velii Virmajokis, “CEMENTING SCIENCE: Presentism and Causal Thinking in Historiography of Science,” University of Turku, Turku, Finland, 2019. 

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee Member, Tobias Flattery, “A Leibnizian Package Deal: Causal Independence and Existential Independence,” Notre Dame Philosophy Department, 2019. 

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee Member, Rosanna Picascia, “Defending the Authority of Scripture: Testimony as a Source of Knowledge in Classical Indian Philosophy of Religion,” 2019. 

 

  • Senior Thesis Advisor: Natasha Sarna, “Milton’s Heterodoxy,” 2018.

 

  • Research Advisor, Miguel Palomo, “Correspondencia Leibniz-Huygens y los orígenes de la ciencia moderna,” Real Colegio Complutense Fellow, 2017. 

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee Member, Lauren Kopajtic, “Adam Smith on Self-Command,” 2017. 

 

  • Mellon Mays Faculty Mentor, Tez Clark, two-year research project on philosophical intuitions and methodology under the auspices of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellowship program, 2016-2017.

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee Member, Richard Cole, “The Jew Who Wasn’t There: Studies on Jews and their Absence in Old Norse Literature,” 2015. 

 

  • Senior Thesis Faculty Advisor, Ian MacGillivray, “Augustine’s Exegetical Methodology,” 2015.

 

  • Senior Thesis Faculty Advisor, Aviva Hakanoglu, “The Art of the Fugue: Leibniz’s

    Idea of Perfection through Bach’s Masterpiece,” 2014.  

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee Member, Collin Chamberlain, “Mind-Body Problems in Descartes and Malebranche,” 2014

 

  • Senior Thesis Faculty Advisor, Ariana Cernius, “Who has Claim?  The Moral, Legal and Political Implications of Art Repatriation,” 2013. 

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee Member, Allison Kuklok, “Locke on Real Essences and Secondary Qualities,” 2013. 

 

  • Mellon Mays Faculty Mentor, Michaela Tiller, two-year research project in early modern philosophy under the auspices of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellowship program, 2010-2012. 

 

  • Doctoral Thesis Committee Member, Douglas Marshall, “Does a sphere touch a plane at a point?: Historical and conceptual investigations into the applicability of geometry in the study of nature,” 2011. 

 

  • Senior Thesis Faculty Advisor, Edward Minasian, “Leibniz on Divine Concurrence,” 2007 

 

  • Senior Thesis Faculty Advisor, Ryan Thornton, “Duplex est Cognitio: Knowledge of universals and singulars in John Duns Scotus,” 2006 

 

 

Service – University and Departmental:

 

   Current and continuing: 

 

  • Chair, Harvard Philosophy Department, 2025-present

 

  • Syndic, Harvard University Press, 2025-Present

 

  • Director, Harvard History of Philosophy Workshop, 2007-present.  

 

  • Chair, Harvard Philosophy Department Website Committee, 2018-present.

 

  • Member, The Standing Committee on Medieval Studies, 2024-present.

 

 

   Past (academic year indicated by year of fall semester):

 

  • Member, The Standing Committee on Medieval Studies, Prize Committee, 2025. 

 

  • Chair, Ancient Philosophy Search Committee, Harvard Philosophy Department, 2024

 

  • Member, Ancient Philosophy Search Committee, Harvard Classics Department, 2024

 

  • Placement Director, Department of Philosophy, 2016-17, 2020-21, 2023-2024.

 

  • Committee Member, Tenure promotion Committee, Harvard Divinity School, 2023-24

 

  • Affiliate, The Standing Committee on Medieval Studies, 2019-2024

 

  • Member, Harvard Tenure Review Committee, 2023.

 

  • Chair, Harvard History of Philosophy Workshop Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy Search Committee, 2022-2023. 

 

  • Faculty Advisor, Harvard Review of Philosophy, 2018-2023.

 

  • Member, Hoopes Prize Committee, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021

 

  • Member, Philosophy Department Graduate Admissions Committee, 2005-

 

  • Committee Member, Division of Arts and Humanities Committee on Appointments and Placement (CAP), 2020-2021.

 

  • Committee Member, Senior Lecturer Promotion Case, 2022

 

  • Chair, Alternative Career Strategies, Department of Philosophy, 2020-2021.

 

  • Representative, Philosophy Department HELPr (ombudsman-like representative for the Harvard Philosophy Department), 2019-21 

 

  • Committee Member, Division of Arts and Humanities CAP Sub-Committee, 2019-2021.

 

  • Member, Harvard's Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, 2019-2021.

 

  • Committee Member, Associate Promotion Review Committee, 2019-2020

 

  • Member, Philosophy Department Colloquium Committee, 2019. 

 

  • Member, Boden/Bechtel Undergraduate Prize Committee, 2019. 

 

  • Member, Standing Committee on Medieval Studies, 2018- 

 

  • Member, Junior Faculty Search Committee, Harvard University, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2017

 

  • Committee Member, Senior Promotion Review Committee, 2017

 

  • Committee Member, Assistant Professor Review Committee, 2017

 

  • Committee Member, Senior Lecturer Review Committee, 2017

 

  • Faculty Facilitator, Opening Days Orientation Program, 2014, 2016, 2017 

 

  • Faculty Advisor, On Thin Ice Undergraduate Organization, 2015

 

  • Chair, Graduate Admissions History Committee, 2015 

 

  • Examiner, Senior Thesis, Committee for the Study of Religion, 2015 

 

  • Faculty Moderator, Harvard College Faith and Action & Harvard Community of Humanists, Atheists, and Agnostics Debate, 2014 

 

  • Member, Associate Promotion Review Committee, 2014

 

  • Member, Graduate Curriculum Committee, 2014

 

  • Member, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, 2013

 

  • Member, Curriculum Committee of the Humanities Project, 2012-2013

 

  • Member, Committee on Teaching Commitments, Harvard University, 2011

 

  • Member, Committee on Premiere Dissertation Completion Fellowships:  The Whiting and the Eliot, Harvard University, 2010

 

  • Member, Foreign Language Requirement Committee, Harvard University, 2008-9

 

  • Examiner, Philosophy Senior Thesis Oral Exams, Harvard University, 2005-7, 2008-12

 

  • Faculty Advisor, Colloquium Committee, Harvard University, 2006

 

  • Graduate Student Representative, University of California, Irvine, 2004

 

  • Chair, Internal Speakers Committee, Syracuse University, 2000

 

  • Contributor, Graduate Student Instructor’s Manual, Syracuse University, 2000

 

  • Member, Internal Speakers Committee, Syracuse University, 1999

 

  • Chair, External Speakers Committee, Syracuse University, 1998 

 

 

Service – Professional:

 

   Current and continuing: 

 

  • Director, Harvard History of Philosophy Workshop, 2007-present.

 

  • Subject Editor (17th Century Philosophy), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2021-present.

 

  • Editorial Board Member, Journal of Contemporary Chinese Philosophy, 2023-present.

 

  • Affiliate Member of the Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Boston University, 2013-present.

 

 

   Past (academic year indicated by year of fall semester): 

 

  • Vice President, Leibniz Society of North America, 2020–24 

 

  • Reviewer, The Israel Science Foundation, 2024.

 

  • Reviewer, National Humanities Center Fellowships, 2024. 

 

  • Submissions Judge, Leibniz Society of North America Essay Competition, 2024. 

 

  • Member, Selection Committee for Paris conference joint meeting of the Leibniz Society of North America and Société d’etudes leibniziennes de langue française, 2024

 

  • Host, The Seventeenth Annual Conference of the Leibniz Society of North America, 2023.

 

  • Host, (with Clara Carus), Workshop on Émilie Du Châtelet in Relation to Leibniz and Wolff – Similarities and Differences, Paderborn University, 2022

 

  • Host, (with Clara Carus), Workshop on the Philosophy of Émilie du Châtelet, Harvard University, 2020

 

  • Member, External Review Committee, Brigham Young University, 2020

 

  • Reviewer, Promotion Review to Senior Lecturer, [Confidential], 2019 

 

  • Member, External Review Committee, University of Kansas, 2019. 

 

  • Reviewer, Promotion Review to Full Professor, [Confidential], 2019. 

 

  • Outer Board Assessor, Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme, 2019, 2021. 

 

  • Reviewer, National Humanities Center Fellowship Applications, 2018, 2019,

 

  • Submissions Judge, Dutch Society for Early Modern Philosophy Conference, 2018, 2019

 

  • Host, Seventh Berlin-Groningen-Harvard-Toronto-Sydney Workshop on Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy, Harvard University, September 2018

 

  • Host, Early Modern Work in Progress Workshop, Tahoe, California, 2014, 2018 

 

  • Host, Teleology – The History of a Concept, An Exploratory Seminar, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, 2017

 

  • Host, (co-organized with Ansgar Lyssy), Teleology within Physics Workshop, 2017 

 

  • Reviewer, Tenure Promotion Reviews, [Confidential], 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018

 

  • Host (with Alisa Bokulich), Boston Colloquium on Émile du Châtelet, 2016

 

  • Reviewer, Senior Promotion Review, [Confidential], 2015, 2018 (x2)

 

  • Submissions Judge, International Berkeley Society Submissions, 2015 

 

  • Grant Reviewer, Swiss National Science Foundation, 2015

 

  • Organizer, Conference on Renaissance-Early-Modern Philosophy, Harvard University, 2015

 

  • Organizer, Conference on Islamic-Arabic Philosophy, Harvard University, 2014 

 

  • Consulting Board Member, The [Amartya] Sen Institute for Dialectical Studies, 2014

 

  • Submissions Judge, Southwest Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, University of New Mexico, 2013

 

  • Submissions Judge, Leibniz Society of North America, International Conference, 2013

 

  • Affiliate Member of the Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Boston University, 2013

 

  • Member of the Board, Executive Committee of the North American Leibniz Society, 2010-13

 

  • Organizer, Later Latin Reading Group, Harvard University, 2005-10, 2012-2014

 

  • Organizer, New England Colloquium in Early Modern Philosophy, 2005, 2008, 2010-11, 2012

 

  • Evaluator, Israel Science Foundation, 2012

 

  • Submissions Referee, Southwest Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, 2012

 

  • Submissions Judge, Leibniz Society of North America Essay Competition, 2012, 2015

 

  • Member of the Board, Advisory Committee for The International Society for Occasionalism, 2012

 

  • Submissions Referee, New England Conference in Early Modern Philosophy, 2010

 

  • Participant, Cambridge Roundtable on Science, Art & Religion, 2005, 2009

 

  • Journal referee, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, Berkeley Studies, Constellations, Ergo, History of Philosophy Quarterly, Intellectual History Review, Journal of Modern Philosophy, Journal of the American Philosophical Association, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Perspectives on Science, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Philosophy of Science, Sophia, The Philosophy Compass, The Philosophical Review, The Journal of the History of Philosophy, The Leibniz Review, British Journal for the History of Philosophy

 

Research Languages:  Latin, German, French