For the next few years, I will be working almost exclusively on two large projects, a new Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy, and a monograph on the basic principles of metaphysics from the death of Aquinas (1274) up to the publication of Locke's Essay (1689) -- aka "The Grand Unified Theory."
This volume will update the Kretzmann et al. volume of 1982, and provide a more comprehensive picture of medieval philosophy in its different aspects, from East to West, and from the ninth century through the fourteenth. Here is my brief Introduction to the volume. Here is my chapter on Form and Matter.
The book -- in two volumes -- will be available in November 2009.
The book is under contract with Oxford University Press, and I will be sending them a complete manuscript by the end of 2009. Here is the latest table of contents.
"Medieval Social Epistemology: Scientia for Mere Mortals," Episteme (forthcoming).
Abstract. This paper was written for a special issue on the history of social epistemology. My argument is that the notion of a social epistemology can be found in later medieval thought in the attempt to construct a theory of scientia that weakens, along various dimensions, the very strict requirements of the Aristotelian framework as set out in the Posterior Analytics. The resultant accounts move away from epistemology conceived of as ideal theory, toward a conception that is relevant to ordinary folk in their everyday lives.
"On Existing All at Once," forthcoming in a volume of papers from the 2008 Berlin conference on divine eternality.
Abstract. It is important to distinguish between two ways in which God might be timelessly eternal: eternality as being wholly outside of time, versus the sort of timelessness that consists in lacking temporal parts, and so existing “all at once.” A prominent but neglected historical tradition, most clearly evident in Anselm, advocates putting God in time, but in an all-at-once sort of way that makes God immune to temporal change. This is an intrinsically plausible conception of divine eternality, which also might shed some light on the modern dispute over the endurance or perdurance of material objects.
Last revised September 28, 2009.