Last updated Apr. 26, 2020 — PDF version

Areas of Specialization

Ancient philosophy, especially ancient metaphysics and late antique Greek philosophy; medieval philosophy.

Areas of Research Competence/Interest

Contemporary metaphysics; philosophical theology; patristics; philosophy of mind; ethics, especially ancient theories.

Positions

2019–2021: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Austrian Academy of Sciences (Vienna, Austria)
Attached to the ERC project, Neoplatonism and the Abrahamic Traditions: A Comparative Analysis of the Middle East, Byzantium and the Latin West . Principle investigator: Dr. Dragos Calma (UCD, Ireland).
Researching the late Byzantine reception of Proclus’ metaphysics in (1) the commentator, Nicholas of Methone, and his context among other Byzantines on Proclus; and (2) the Palamite theological controversy.

Education

2014–2018: PhD Philosophy
Munich School of Ancient Philosophy
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Munich, Germany)
Supervisor: Prof. Peter Adamson — Secondary Supervisor: Prof. Jan Opsomer
Dissertation: 'The First Principle in Late Neoplatonism: A Study of the One's Causality from Proclus to Damascius'. Magna cum Laude.

2013–2014: MSc by Research in Philosophy
University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, United Kingdom)
Supervisor: Dr. Inna Kupreeva
Dissertation: 'Proclus and Plotinus on Self-Constitution in the One'

2012–2013: MSc in Ancient Philosophy
University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, United Kingdom)
Supervisor: Dr. Inna Kupreeva
Dissertation: 'Plotinus and Aristotle on the Simplicity of the Divine Intellect'

2006–2010: BA in Philosophy/Theology
Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, CA, United States)

Publications

The First Principle in Late Neoplatonism: A Study of the One’s Causality in Proclus and Damascius. Philosophia Antiqua. Leiden: Brill, Forthcoming. [Expected late 2020.]

‘Proclus on the Two Causal Models for the One’s Production of Being: Reconciling the Relation of the Henads and the Limit/Unlimited’, International Journal of Platonic Tradition 14, no. 1 (2020): 1–26. DOI: 10.1163/18725473-12341453

'Proclus' Doctrine of Participation in Maximus the Confessor's Centuries of Theology I.48–50', Studia Patristica vol. LXXV (2017): 137–48.

Publications under Review

‘Proclus in Maximus the Confessor’s Theory of logoi in Ambiguum 7, as Mediated Through John Philoponus and Pseudo-Dionysius’. Submitted May 2019; under review as a book chapter in the three-volume monograph series on the reception of Proclus’ Elements of Theology.

Publications in Process

Journal article: ‘Nicholas of Methone and Thomas Aquinas on Participation and Divine Causality in Proclus’.
Planned submission mid-2020.

Book chapter on Damascius’ use of dialectic and aporia in Aristotle.
Planned submission mid-2020.

Journal article: ‘Damascius on the Parmenides’ First Hypothesis’.
Planned submission mid-2020.

Journal article on Proclus’ reception in the late Byzantine theologial dispute between Gregory Palamas, Palamas’ supporters, and Palamas’ critics (14th cent. AD).
Planned submission late 2020.

Journal article: ‘The Metaphysics of Self-Constitution in Proclus’.
Planned submission in late 2020.

Journal article: ‘Proclus on Sensible Substance’.
Planned submission early 2021.

Journal article on Nicholas of Methone in relation to previous Byzantines on Proclus’ metaphysics.
Planned submission mid-2021.

Teaching Experience

Summer Semester 2018 (Apr.–Jul.)
'Ancient Philosophical Theology' (LMU Munich, BA Seminar)
Survey course on views about God/gods and divine causality from the Presocratics to Plato, Aristotle, late Hellenistc philosophers (i.e. Epicureans, Stoics), and late antique philosophers (Aristotelian commentators and Neoplatonists).

Winter Semester 2017–18 (Oct.–Feb.) — Co-Instructor with Máté Herner
'Mind and Soul in Platonism' (LMU Munich, BA Seminar)
Survey course on the nature of soul, soul’s relation to body, and the relation of soul and mind in the Platonic tradition—from Plato to Aristotle and Plotinus.

Select Presentations

July 2019: ‘The Ground of Being in the Parmenides’ First and Second Hypotheses: Damascius’ Inheritance of Proclus’ Reading of the First Hypothesis’ — Symposium Platonicum XII (Paris).

July 2019: ‘Thomas Aquinas and Nicholas of Methone on Divine Causality in Their Critiques of Proclus and Use of Ps.-Dionysius’ — Symposium Thomisticum IV (Collegio Irlandese, Rome).

June 2019: ‘Damascius’ Inheritance of Proclus’ Reading of the Parmenides’ First Hypothesis’ — panel, The Realm of the One (David Butorac, Sarah Klitenic Wear), at the Int’l. Society for Neoplatonic Studies 2019.

May 2019: ‘Nicholas of Methone on Participation in His Critique of Proclus’ — workshop, Vienna Colloquium in Byzantine Philosophy (University of Vienna).

January 2019: Commentary on Prof. Luca Gili, ‘Ammonius, Philoponus, and the Activity of Syllogizing’ — conference, Logic and Exegesis: The Logical Reconstruction of Arguments in the Greek Commentary Tradition (De Wulf-Mansion Centre for Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Philosophy—KU Leuven).

December 2017: On the elements in Plato’s Timaeus 52d–57d — research group presentation (Munich School of Ancient Philosophy—LMU Munich).

November 2017: Participation and Sensible Substance in Plotinus and Proclus — colloquium presentation (Munich School of Ancient Philosophy—LMU Munich).

Conferences Organized

October 5–6, 2017: 'Philosophy in Byzantium: The Order of Nature and Order of Humankind' (LMU Munich)
Co-organized with Peter Adamson and Dimitrios Vasilakis.

June 14, 2017: Conference panel for ISNS 2017, 'Form and Participation in Graeco-Arabic Neoplatonism' (Olomouc)
Co-organized with Bethany Somma.

Awards and Grants

2014–2017: Awarded fellowship grant for doctoral studies under the Munich School of Ancient Philosophy (LMU Munich).

2014: Awarded 'Highly Commended Dissertation Award' by the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences (University of Edinburgh) for the MSc by Research degree.

2013: Awarded distinction for the MSc in Ancient Philosophy degree.

Languages

Ancient Greek (reading proficiency), Latin (reading proficiency), German (intermediate speaking/reading proficiency), French (intermediate reading proficiency), Italian (basic reading proficiency).

References

Available upon request.