I am a historian of ancient philosophical and scientific ideas and the way they shaped and continue to shape our Western intellectual tradition. One focus of my research is the history of Platonism, but I have also strong interests in Pre-Platonic philosophy as well as moral philosophy and Greek literature. Educated at the Universities of Marburg and Cambridge (Ph.D., Classics, 1984), I first held a Junior Research Fellowship at Caius College, Cambridge, taught briefly at UT Austin and then, for six years, at the Freie Universität Berlin. I am emeritus professor of Classics at Princeton University, where I taught from 1996 to 2017, serving also as Master of Forbes College from 2006 to 2010 and academic director of the Program in Hellenic Studies from 2010 to 2017.
My main publications deal with the reconstruction and interpretation of a sixth century anti-Aristotelian treatise on the eternity of the world, written by the Alexandrian philosopher John Philoponus, and the meaning and function of deities in Euripidean tragedies. More recently, I have edited volumes on such diverse topics as mysticism, Aristotle's cosmology, and the cult of Dionysus. My current research interests concern the so-called “Presocratics” and the beginnings of Western philosophical thought as well as the development and influence of ancient conceptions of evil. I also try to further our understanding of Egyptian philosophical thought (as preserved in the enigmatic Corpus Hermeticum) and its profound influence in late antiquity.
In addition to my research and teaching, I am serving as co-editor of two monograph series, Philosophia Antiqua (Brill) and Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum (STAC, Mohr-Siebeck). I am also co-editing APEIRON, an international journal for the history of science and philosophy.
Books
- Philoponus: Against Aristotle on the Eternity of the World. London: Duckworth 1987, 188pp.
- John Philoponus’ Criticism of Aristotle’s Theory of Aether. Peripatoi 16, Berlin, New York: De Gruyter 1988, 274pp.
- Simplicius against Philoponus on the Eternity of the World. London: Duckworth 1991, pp. 95-135. (Co-authored with David Furley).
- Hyperesie und Epiphanie. Ein Versuch über die Bedeutung der Götter in den Dramen des Euripides. Zetemata 109, Beck Verlag, München 2002, 231pp.
Edited Volumes (published and in progress)
- Euripides and Tragic Theatre in the Late Fifth Century. Co-edited with Martin Cropp, Kevin Lee, David Sansone, Eric Csapo and Donald Mastronarde. Illinois Classical Studies 24/25, Champaign, Il., 2000.
- Religion, Mysticism, and Ethics: A Cross-traditional Anthology. Co-edited with Daniel Zelinski. Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 9. Saur Verlag Munich, 2007.
- New Perspectives on Aristotle’s De caelo. A collection of interpretative articles on Aristotle’s cosmological treatise. Co-edited with Alan Bowen. Philosophia Antiqua 117, Brill, Leiden 2009, 321pp.
- Dionysos und die vordionysischen Kulte. A posthumous edition of Vyacheslav Ivanov’s manuscript on Dionysiac Religion. Co-editor with Michael Wachtel. Mohr Siebeck 2012, 416pp.
- A Handbook of Neoplatonism. Oxford University Press (in preparation).
Selected Articles and Reviews
- "Philosophy in the Age of Justinian." In M. Maas (ed.), The Age of Justinian, Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 316–40.
- "Proclus: A Life." In P. d'Hoine and M. Martijn (eds.), All From One: A Guide to Proclus, Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 1–26.
- "Neoplatonism." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- "Three Neoplatonic Introductions to Philosophy: Ammonius, David, and Elias." Hermathena cxlix, 1990, pp. 33–51.
- "Impetus Theory and the Hermeneutic of Science in Simplicius and Philoponus." Hyperboreus 5,1999, pp. 107–124.
- "On Generation and Corruption I. 7: Aristotle on poiein and paschein." In F. de Haas and J. Mansfeld (eds.), Aristotle’s On Generation and Corruption I, Proceedings of the Symposium Aristotelicum 1999, Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 219–242.
- "Socrates and Euripides." In S. Rappe and R. Kamtekar (eds.), A Companion to Socrates, Wiley-Blackwell 2006, pp. 21–35.
- "Piety as Service, Epiphany as Reciprocity: Two Observations on the Religious Meaning of the Gods in Euripides." Illinois Classical Studies 24-25, 1999-2000, pp. 235–256.
- "The Rise and Fall of the Socratic Notion of Piety." Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy 18, 2003, pp. 1–28.
- "Dionysos in the Mirror of Philosophy: Heraclitus, Plato, Plotinus." In R. Schlesier (ed.), A Different God? Dionysus and Ancient Polytheism, De Gruyter, 2011, pp. 205–232.
- "A World of Thoughts: Plotinus on Nature and Contemplation (Enn. III 8. [30] 1-6)." In R. Chiaradonna and F. Trabattoni (eds.), Physics and Philosophy of Nature in Greek Neoplatonism, Proceedings of the European Science Foundation. Brill, 2009, pp. 121–143.
- "The Will and its Freedom: Epictetus and Simplicius on what is up to us." In P. Destrée, R. Salles, and M. Zingano (eds.), What is up to us? Studies on Agency and Responsibility in Ancient Philosophy. Sankt Augustin, Academia Verlag, 2014, pp. 329–50.
- "The Genesis of a Genesis: Corpus Hermeticum, Tractate III." In L. Jenott and S. Kattan Gribetz (eds.), Jewish and Christian Cosmogony in Late Antiquity, Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism. Mohr Siebeck, 2013, pp. 124–149.
- "Cynicism: Or, Philosophy as a Way of Strife." In V. Caston (ed.), Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 57, Oxford University Press, 2020, pp. 341–368.
Ancient Philosophy and Science, Pre-Platonic philosophy, Plato, Aristotle, Greek Tragedy, Late Antiquity, Neo-Platonism, Hermetism in antiquity