"I have a class to teach in about five minutes, and I have to arrive early to glare disapprovingly at the stragglers."
My primary areas of research are Late Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy, and Philosophy and Popular Culture. Much of my research to date in the history of philosophy has focused on issues associated with questions about cognition in later medieval philosophy, for example, intentionality, sensation and knowledge of the singular. The reason for this focus is my suspicion that the precise contours of Descartes' indebtedness to Late Scholastic thought are still not well understood due to a failure to appreciate some distinctive turns made in discussions concerning the intellect in the 15th and 16th centuries. My writing on popular culture--tv shows, music, comic books, etc.--allows me to explore some interests I have in contemporary philosophy, including the social context in which philosophy finds itself. Recent published work includes an essay on Zabarella and regressus theory (in the Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal), an essay on comic book heroes and modernity in a volume of essays edited by William Irwin and Jorge Gracia, an essay on the Beatles andthe practice of philosophy, and the volumes James Bond and Philosophy (co-edited with Jacob Held), Buffy Goes Dark (co-edited with Lynn Edwards and Elizabeth Rambo) and Mad Men and Philosophy (co-edited with Rod Carveth)
I regularly teach undergraduate courses in Social and Political Philosophy. My interests there are directed at the development of the modern tradition of poltical thought from Machiavelli to Mill and the criticism of that tradition begun by Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and others. I also regularly teach a course on the history and philosophy of crime and punishment. I have recently developed several new courses. One, "Philosophy and Popular Culture," explores several philosophical issues associated with popular culture, while also looking closely at various ways of thinking about the discipline of philosophy. Another, "Philosophy and Film," takes as its central text Stanley Cavell's Cities of Words. Another, "Conceiving the Subject," look at various texts from 20th century literature and thought to see how we can best approach the vexed question of the notion of 'the subject.' I am especially concerned in this course with making problematic the notion of 'authenticity' by focusing on several challenges stemming from the work of Freud, Wittgenstein, Adorno, and others. On the graduate level, I often teach a Plato course, specialized courses in Late Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy ("Franciscan Philosophy," "Humanism and Platonism in the Renaissance"), and a course on Marx and Moral Theory.
"Uh ... is this all research, or just some kind of stress test for the table?"
Work in progress includes essays about Thomas Aquinas on sensation, Nicoletto Vernia and regressus theory, and a long essay on intentionality in Zabarella and Suárez. My current book length project in progress is a monograph on Francisco Suárez. The primary topic of the book is his account of the soul, and I am mainly addressing three issues. I want to provide an accurate interpretation and philosophical assessment of his thought on sense, intellect, will, and body. In doing so, though, I stress the role that 15th and 16th century Aristotelianism plays in his rhetorical and argumentative strategies. That is, unlike most scholarship on Suárez, I am downplaying the traditional medieval influence (e.g., Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus) on his thought in an attempt to appreciate more clearly some central, and puzzling, features of his work. In particular, by focusing on the question of the immortality of the soul and the way that Suárez understands and reacts to Italian philosophers of the generation immediately preceding him (e.g., Cajetan, Nifo, Pomponazzi), I show that reading Suárez through more remote predecessors significantly distorts his thought. Finally, the book looks forward to the trajectory of early modern thought, hoping to clarify in a more historically nuanced way just what influence 15th and 16th century thought had on Descartes, Hobbes, Malebrache, Arnauld, and others. Once I have completed this book, I plan to turn to additional work on the Renaissance underpinnings of early modern thought, and in this connection, the roles of Platonism and Humanism will loom large.
"You know, inspirational music ... a montage, me sharpening my pencils, me reading, writing, falling asleep on a big pile of books with
my glasses all crooked, 'cause in my montage I have glasses."
I am the editor of the journal Philosophy and Theology
I am on the editorial board of Slayage:The International Online Journal of Buffy Studies
"I go online sometimes, but ... everyone's spelling is really bad, and it's ... depressing."
The Marquette Philosophy Department Web Site
Scholasticon: A web site devoted to later Scholastic Philosophy
The Renaissance Society of America
The Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy
The Medieval Academy of America
Société Internationale pour l'Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale
Whedonesque: A web site dedicated to news about Joss Whedon's shows/movies
PopPolitics.com: A site that explores the intersections of pop culture and politics
American Association of University Professors
And, for your Philosophy Gift-Giving needs:
The Unemployed Philosophers' Guild
"Yes, he's clearly a bad influence on himself."
Top Five Aimee Mann Songs 5) Lost in Space |
Top Five Comic Book Heroes 5) Jessica Drew (Spiderwoman) |
Top Five Xena Episodes 5) The Ides of March |
Top Five Woody Allen Movies 5) Crimes and Misdemeanors |
Top Five Current TV Shows 5) Damages |
Top Five Current Comic Books 5) Y the Last Man |
Top Five Terry Pratchett Novels 5) Wyrd Sisters |
Top Five CDs in Heavy iPod Rotation 5) Matthew Sweet & Susannah |
Top Five Burt Bacharach Songs 5) One Less Bell to Answer |
"740? Verbal?! I'm... pathetic! Illiterate! I'm Cletus, the slack-jawed yokel."
James B. South
Department of Philosophy
Marquette University
PO Box 1881
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881
E-mail:james.south@marquette.edu
Phone: (414) 288-6857
Fax: (414) 288-3010
The quotations are, of course, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Last updated 08/11/2010
