Area of Specialisation: Early Modern and Enlightenment ...



Alexander DouglasCURRICULUM VITAEUniversity of St. AndrewsFife, KY16 9ALScotland, UKPhone (work): +44 (0)1334 464 437Mobile: +44 (0) 7526 931 021E-mail: axd@st-andrews.ac.ukWebsite: Areas of Specialization: Early Modern Philosophy (especially Descartes, Spinoza, and Dutch Cartesianism); Philosophy of Economics.Areas of Competence: History of Logic; British Idealism; Philosophy of Psychology; Philosophy of Social Science.Current PositionLecturer in Philosophy, University of St. Andrews (Sep 2016 – )Sub-Honours ConvenorSub-Honours Arts AdvisorEquality and Diversity Board MemberEmployment HistoryLecturer in Philosophy, Heythrop College, London (Sep 2013 – Sep 2016).Jacobsen Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Studies, London. Affiliated with King’s College, London (Oct 2011 – Sep 2013).Education2010 D.Phil. in Philosophy, Birkbeck College, London (awarded 28/02/2011).Thesis title: ‘Spinoza’s Vindication of Philosophy: Reshaping Early Modern Debate about the Division between Philosophy and Theology’.Supervisor: Prof. Susan James. Examiners: Prof. Catherine Wilson, Prof. Justin Champion.2006BA (Honours Philosophy) / BMus, Australian National University. Thesis Title: ‘The Ethics of Immortality: Spinoza on Life and the Problem of Death’. Publications:BooksDouglas, A.X. The Philosophy of Debt (London: Routledge, 2015).Douglas, A.X. Spinoza and Dutch Cartesianism: Philosophy and Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).Journal Articles:Douglas, A.X. ‘How to Make the Passions Active: Spinoza and R.G. Collingwood’, Philosophy (forthcoming).Douglas, A.X. ‘Spinoza, Money, and Desire’, European Journal of Philosophy (2018).Douglas, A.X. ‘Quatenus and Spinoza’s Monism’, Journal of the History of Philosophy 56:2 (2018).Douglas, A.X. ‘Descartes’ Critique of the Syllogistic’, History of Philosophy Quarterly 34:4 (2017).Douglas, A.X. ‘Contrived Desires, Affluence, and Welfare: J.K. Galbraith’s Pigovian Redistribution Argument Reconsidered’, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 23:4 (2015).Douglas, A.X. ‘Was Spinoza a Naturalist?’, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 96:1 (2014).Douglas, A.X. ‘Christoph Wittich’s Anti-Spinoza’, The Intellectual History Review, Vol. 24, No.2 (2014).Douglas, A.X. ‘Spinoza and the Dutch Cartesians on Philosophy and Theology’, Journal of the History of Philosophy, Vol. 51, No. 4, (2013).Douglas, A.X. ‘Collingwood’s Reading of Spinoza’s Psychology’, Collingwood and British Idealism Studies, Vol.18, No.1 (2012).Book Chapters:Douglas, A.X. ‘The Possibility of a Philosophy of Psychology in Descartes’ in Descartes and Cartesianism, ed. C. Wilson and S. Gaukroger (Oxford University Press, 2017).Douglas, A.X. ‘The Affects’ in Spinoza: Basic Concepts, ed. A. Santos Campos (Imprint Academic, 2015).Encyclopedia Articles:Douglas, A.X. ‘Spinoza’s Metaphysics’, Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences, ed. D. Jalobeanu and C. T. Wolfe (Springer, 2020).Douglas, A.X. ‘Spinoza and Social Science’, Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences, ed. D. Jalobeanu and C.T. Wolfe (Springer, 2020).Book Reviews:Mind 127:507 (2018): M. LeBuffe, Spinoza on Reason (Oxford University Press, 2017).The Leibniz Review, 26 (2016): E. Curley, The Collected Works of Spinoza Volume 2 (Princeton University Press, 2016).Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, August 20, 2015: E. Yakira, Spinoza and the Case for Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2014).Mind 123:491 (2014): Reason, Religion, and Natural Law, ed. J.A. Jacobs (Oxford University Press, 2014).Philosophy 89:3 (2014): Metaphysical Grounding: Understanding the Structure of Reality, ed. F. Correia and B. Schnieder (Cambridge University Press, 2012).Journal of Early Modern Studies, 1:1 (2012): Review Article: ‘A Worldlier Spinoza. Susan James’ Spinoza on Philosophy, Religion and Politics’.Philosophy 87:3 (2012): A. Balthas, Peeling Potatoes or Grinding Lenses: Spinoza and Young Wittgenstein Converse on Immanence and its Logic (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012).British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 20:1 (2012): M. Osler, Reconfiguring the World: Nature, God, and Human Understanding from the Middle Ages to Early Modern Europe (John Hopkins University Press, 2010).British Journal for the History of Philosophy 7:3 (2009): J.T. Cook, Spinoza’s Ethics: A Reader’s Guide (Bloomsbury, 2007).Conference Presentations and Public LecturesInvitations:Douglas, A.X. Title TBA. Aristotelian Society Lectures. Invitation for 17 February 2020 (talk to be published in the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society).Douglas, A.X. ‘The Incoherence of Equilibrium, and the Politics of Distribution’ . Lecture at the University of St. Gallen. 7 May 2019.Douglas, A.X. ‘The Ethics of Debt and Finance’. Lecture at the Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 11 April 2019.Past Talks/Interviews (to start of 2019):Douglas, A.X. ‘Being Governed by Economics’. Discussant: R. Sugden. Philosophy Public Lecture Series, University of East Anglia, 22 January 2019.Douglas, A.X. ‘Spinoza on Christ’s Passion’, Institute of Intellectual History Lecture Series, St Andrews, 13 November 2018.Douglas, A.X. ‘Monetary Policy, Time-Inconsistency, and Distributive Justice’, Workshop on Monetary Policy and Distributive Justice, Law and Philosophy Research Group, Univeristat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, 6 July 2018.Douglas, A.X. ‘Spinoza’s quatenus and the British Idealists’. Spinoza and British Idealism, University of St. Andrews, 8-9 June 2018.Walsh, K., P. Milican, A.X. Douglas, and C. Moriarty. Reason, Forum for Philosophy, London School of Economics, 21 May 2018 (podcast available: )Douglas, A.X. ‘Spinoza on Money’, Lecture at University of Groningen, 26 April 2018.Douglas, A.X. ‘How to Make the Passions Active: Spinoza and R.G. Collingwood’, Royal Institute of Philosophy London Lecture Series – 16 February 2018 (publication forthcoming in Philosophy; video available: ).Journalism, Public Engagement, and Impact Outputs:Douglas, A. ‘What Do I Owe? The Philosophy of Debt’, Iwoca Insights (trade journal for the small-business lender, Iwoca), April 2019. Part One of Three ().Brown, E., Douglas, A., Selgin, G., Butler, E. ‘Is the Green New Deal too ambitious?’, In the Balance, BBC World Service broadcast, April 2019 (audio available: ).Douglas, A. ‘Philosophy and Hope’, The Philosopher, Issue 107, Winter 2019.Douglas, A. and Hawley, K. Written evidence submitted to the UK Parliament ‘Fake News’ Inquiry, 19 April 2017.Douglas, A. ‘Should there be second referendums? Ask Duke Ellington’, The Conversation, April 3, 2017.Douglas, A. and S. Jacobsen. Interview series on the philosophy of economics, Conatus News, February 2017 – present.Douglas, A. and D. Edmonds. ‘Should we care about debt?’, Philosophy 24/7 (podcast available: ).Douglas, A. ‘The dirty politics of scapegoating – and why victims are always the harmless, easy targets’, The Conversation, November 22, 2016.Douglas, A., V. Munoz-Dardé, J. Wolff, L. O’Brien, R. Wedgwood, P. Snowden, J. Hornsby, ‘What do philosophers think about the EU Referendum arguments?’, interviews for The Philosophers’ Magazine, 21 June 2016 (video available: ).Douglas, A. ‘The EU Referendum, or Can Britain Be Its Best Self?’, Policy Note 113, Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, April 2016.Douglas, A. ‘The Philosophy of Debt’, The Philosophers’ Magazine, Issue 72, 2016.Douglas, A. ‘Greece, honour, and the ancient ties of wergeld’, The Conversation, July 3, 2015.TeachingApril 2018Erasmus Visiting Lecturer, University of Groningen2016 – University of St. Andrews:Philosophy and Economics (designed, co-convened, and delivered):Newly-created interdisciplinary honours-level module jointly taught with the Economics faculty. Introduces students to some of the key debates within Philosophy of Economics. The course covers issues of methodology in micro and macroeconomics as well as many ethical and political issues related to the study and application of economics and its relation to public policy.Toleration in the Early Modern Period (designed, co-convened, and delivered):Newly-created honours-level module. Introduces students to the range of discussion around religious toleration in the early modern period, with some historical background provided. Primary sources include Augustine, Bodin, Erasmus, Sebastian Castellio, Montaigne, Hobbes, Spinoza, Margaret Cavendish, Locke, the Earl of Shaftesbury, and Mary Astell.Research Methods in Philosophy (History) (designed and delivered):A seminar/workshop-based module at MLitt level, to help postgraduate students develop the skills they need to pursue research in history of philosophy. In addition to running mock conference sessions, we read recent articles on method in history of philosophy, covering questions of method, canonicity, race, gender, etc.The Enlightenment (designed, convened, and delivered):First-year undergraduate module covering key topics in the philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment. I cover the topics: Hume and natural religion, economic freedom, race, gender and sexuality.Continental Philosophy from Descartes to Leibniz (designed, convened, and delivered):Honours-level module covering key metaphysical and epistemological issues from the philosophy of Descartes and their development by Spinoza, Leibniz, and other early modern philosophers. I have modified the course to include some early modern women philosophers – Anne Conway is the main addition so far.Philosophy of Religion (designed and delivered)Honours-level module covering varying topics on the philosophy of religion. I covered ontological and cosmological arguments for the existence of God, in various historical and contemporary forms.2013 – 2016Heythrop College, University of London.Contemporary Philosophical Problems (designed and delivered):Level 6 BA course aimed at providing an advanced comprehension of complex concepts and arguments in contemporary philosophy. The course was jointly taught by several Heythrop lecturers and covered various topics. I primarily taught modules on philosophical issues in economics. History of Modern Philosophy (designed, convened, and delivered):Full-year level 5 BA course aimed at teaching students to understand and critically engage with the philosophical ideas of key early modern philosophers from Descartes to Kant. The course was primarily focused on metaphysical and epistemological issues and covered Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, some French Enlightenment thinkers, Hume, and Kant, as well as other figures in less detail. I modified the course to include the study of more women philosophers.Philosophy of Psychology (designed, convened, and delivered):Level 5 & 6 BA course aimed at helping students to engage critically in several important ongoing debates within the philosophy of psychology. Various psychological models of cognition – folk psychology, computationalism, modularity models, connectionistism, etc. – were covered. Students were required to consider various problems in interpreting these and in reconciling them with different philosophical views on intentionality, causation, explanation, etc., as well as with empirical research in social science, empirical psychology, and neuroscience.Mind and Psychology (designed, co-convened, and delivered):Level 7 MA course jointly taught by Dr. Michael Lacewing and me. Dr. Lacewing covered topics in the philosophy of mind. My section was aimed at the same goals as the BA course above, though at a more advanced level and with fewer introductory and more research-level texts.Research Skills In Philosophy (delivered):Level 7 MA/MPhil course designed to help students with the ambition to enter PhD programs develop advanced research and writing skills.Knowledge and Reality (designed and delivered):Level 4 BA course in which students critically engage with historical and contemporary debates in epistemology and metaphysics. The course was jointly taught by various lecturers. I covered some of the Reality (metaphysics) section, introducing debates on causation, space and time, personal identity, and free will.Logic SocietyI ran tutorials on a voluntary attendance basis for the Heythrop Logic Society – a group formed by students who wish to study logic at a more advanced level than the curriculum currently permits.2008 – 2013 Sessional Lecturer, Birkbeck College.2009 – 2011Tutorial Assistant, Heythrop College, London.2009 – 2011 Lecturer, London Jewish Cultural Centre (this position involved designing and running lecture courses for non-specialists in philosophy).Administrative roles:2016 – Sub-Honours Convenor, University of St. AndrewsTasks: Monitoring academic performance for all sub-honours (first- and second-year) undergraduate students.Convening all sub-honours Philosophy modules.Sitting on the Academic Disciplinary Panel, Examinations Board, and Equality and Diversity Committee.Line-managing graduate students involved in undergraduate teaching.2016 – Sub-Honours Arts Advisor, University of St. AndrewsTasks: Meeting with new undergraduate students to advise them on module selection.Meeting with second-year undergraduates to discuss their progress and advise on course progression.Providing pastoral care, career advice, and performance-monitoring to students throughout the year.Grants, Fellowships, and AwardsApplications RejectedBritish Academy Mid-Career Fellowship, 2018-19, project title: ‘Early Modern Philosophy of Action and the Critique of Social Science’.Applications SuccessfulMind Association Major Conference Grant (?2000), for Spinoza and British Idealism, June 2018 (with Hannah Laurens).Scots Philosophical Association Conference Support (?1500), for Spinoza and British Idealism, June 2018 (with Hannah Laurens).Erasmus Teaching Fellowship (€2000 travel and maintenance stipend).Jacobsen Fellowship in Philosophy (?50,400).Mind Association Major Conference Grant (?2000), for Spinoza and Nietzsche in Dialogue, May 2013.Royal Institute of Philosophy Jacobsen Fellowship 2008.Harold Hyam Wingate Scholarship 2008.Birkbeck International Research Studentship 2006-monwealth Research Studentship 2006-8.Membership of Academic and Research OrganisationsCentre for Ethics, Philosophy, and Public AffairsGlobal Institute for Sustainable Prosperity (Research Scholar)Conferences OrganizedInternationalSpinoza and British Idealism’, University of St Andrews, 8-9 June 2018 ( ).‘Spinoza and Nietzsche in Dialogue’, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, 13-14 May 2013.National (UK)Kings-Birkbeck Annual Early Modern Philosophy Workshop, 15 March 2013.Service to the ProfessionI am a co-founder of the London Spinoza Circle ( ).I act as a regular referee for various history of philosophy and philosophy of economics journals.I have been commissioned to write reviews for Mind, The Leibniz Review, and other journals. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download