Many of our faculty specialize in philosophical traditions spanning Ancient Greece, Medieval Europe and the Middle East, to early modern and 19^th century Europe, America, and Africa.

Ancient and Medieval Traditions

Dr. Richard C. Taylor is an expert on Medieval Philosophy in the Abrahamic Traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and Ancient Philosophy and Later Greek Philosophy and their influence. You can read more here about his work on Islamic Philosophy and also through the Raynor Memorial Libraries. Dr. Owen Goldin has published extensively in Ancient Philosophy. You can read some of his work through e-Publications Marquette. Dr. David Twetten works on Ancient and Medieval Philosophy and Greek, Latin, and Arabic Thought, focusing especially on Aquinas, Albert the Great, Averroes, on the topics of metaphysics, cosmology, philosophical theology, philosophy of language, causality, and free will. Read his definition of theism here. Dr. James B. South works on late medieval and renaissance philosophy, aesthetics (especially popular culture), ordinary language philosophy, and the intersection of philosophy of mind and ethics with psychoanalytic thought. He is currently working on a monograph seeking to show certain inadequacies in virtue theory as it is currently theorized. Learn about his recent book on Westworld and philosophy at Wiley Publications.

Early modern and enlightenment philosophy:

Dr. Ericka Tucker specializes in Early Modern philosophy and contemporary Social and Political philosophy. In Early Modern philosophy, she works on Spinoza and Hobbes. In contemporary philosophy, she explores the prehistory of important concepts such as recognition, relation autonomy and social selves. She is currently working on a book on Spinoza's democratic theory. Learn more about her research on her profile page and read her recent article discussing Spinoza’s views on political emotion in the Trump era at Hope, Hate and Indignation: Spinoza on Political Emotion in the Trump Era.  Dr. Daniel Collette also works in early modern philosophy, with a current focus on early modern metaphysics and skepticism. He specializes in the philosophy of Blaise Pascal, and also publishes on Descartes, Hobbes, and Jacqueline Pascal. Dr. Mike Olson researches philosophical and scientific studies of human nature in the Enlightenment, including how the empirical studies of early modern biology and chemistry, for example, variously buttressed and contested philosophical ideas about our nature as moral, political, and epistemic actors. Dr. W. Clark Wolf works primarily on issues in the epistemology and metaphysics (including social ontology) of G.W.F. Hegel and Immanuel Kant. His additional interests include phenomenology, philosophy of language, and metaethics. Read his most recent article at Taylor Francis online.

Dr. Javier A. Ibanez-Noe also works on German philosophy, with a concentration on Kant, Nietzsche, and Heidegger.