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Stephen Menn

Academic title(s): 

Professor and James 麻豆AV Professor; Associate member, History and Classics

Stephen Menn
Contact Information
Address: 

855 Sherbrooke St. W.
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 2T7

Phone: 
514-398-7452
Email address: 
stephen.menn [at] mcgill.ca
Office: 
Leacock 921
Office hours: 

Mondays 4-6

Degree(s): 

M.A (Mathematics), Johns Hopkins University, 1982

M.A. (Philosophy), Chicago, 1984

Ph.D. (Mathematics), Johns Hopkins University, 1985

Ph.D. (Philosophy), Chicago, 1989

Research areas: 
Ancient Philosophy
History and Philosophy of Mathematics
Medieval Philosophy
Biography: 

I am a professor of philosophy at 麻豆AV and also an associate member of the department of History and Classical Studies; I do about two thirds of my teaching at 麻豆AV in Philosophy, one sixth in Classics, and one sixth in Islamic Studies. I am also an honorary professor of philosophy, and a member of the faculty of the Graduate Program in Ancient Philosophy, at the Humboldt University in Berlin, where I held a regular chair from 2011 to 2015. I normally spend every summer in Berlin, where summer is a regular semester, and I usually teach one course there each summer semester, in English, as well as supervising graduate students at both universities. Many聽of my papers can be found on .听

I first studied mathematics, taking an MA in 1982 and a PhD in 1985, both from the Johns Hopkins University, and then philosophy, taking an MA in 1984 and a PhD in 1989, both from the University of Chicago; along the way I also took courses in classics, Arabic and Sanskrit. I taught at Princeton University from 1989 to 1992 before joining the faculty at 麻豆AV. My main areas of research are in ancient Greek philosophy (with current special interests in Aristotle and in neo-Platonism), in medieval Arabic and Latin philosophy, and in the history and philosophy of mathematics.

I am currently revising a book-manuscript entitled聽The Aim and the Argument of Aristotle's聽Metaphysics, a draft of which can be found on the .听I am also revising a draft of a book called聽Feuerbach's Theorem: an Essay on Euclidean and Algebraic Geometry. I am also working, with Calvin Normore, on a book to be called聽Nominalism and Realism, from Boethius to Hobbes,听and am editing and translating the pseudo-Aristotelian On Melissus, Xenophanes and Gorgias for the Loeb Classical Library volume "Aristotle": Minor Works, edited by Robert Mayhew.听I am also publishing a series of articles on the logical syntax of being and unity (notably on the origin and development of the idea that existence is a second-order predicate) in medieval Arabic and Latin philosophy, which I hope eventually to collect as a book. I am also engaged in shorter research projects on pre-Socratic philosophy (Anaxagoras and especially Empedocles), on Aristotle's聽Analytics,听Physics, and聽Poetics, on neo-Platonic metaphysics, on ancient music theory and arithmetic, and on Arabic modal syllogistic.

Teaching areas: 

Ancient Philosophy (I have taught all 8 of our courses in ancient philosophy, plus seminars on a wide range of ancient topics)
Medieval Philosophy (both Arabic and Latin)
History and Philosophy of Mathematics

Indian Philosophy

Greek Literature

Awards, honours, and fellowships: 

Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

Selected publications: 
  • Plato on God as Nous, published by Southern Illinois University Press for the聽Journal of the History of Philosophy聽Monograph Series, 1995; reissued by St. Augustine's Press, 2002 (modern Greek translation, 螣 螤位维蟿蠅谓 纬喂伪 蟿慰谓 螛蔚蠈 蠅蟼 螡慰蠀, tr. Pantelis Golitsis, University Press of Crete, 2015)
  • Descartes and Augustine, Cambridge University Press, 1998; revised paperback edition, 2002
  • Anton Wilhelm Amo's Philosophical Dissertations on Mind and Body, edited and translated, with an introduction, by Stephen Menn and Justin E. H. Smith, Oxford University Press, 2020
  • Simplicius, On Aristotle, Physics 1-8, General Introduction to the 12 Volumes of Translations, in the series Ancient Commentators on Aristotle, ed. Richard Sorabji and Michael Griffin, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022
  • Simplicius, On Aristotle,听Physics 1.1-2, translation and notes, in the series Ancient Commentators on Aristotle, ed. Richard Sorabji and Michael Griffin, Bloomsbury Publishing,听2022
  • "Descartes and Some Predecessors on the Divine Conservation of Motion,"听Synthese聽83, May 1990, pp.215-38
  • "Aristotle and Plato on God as Nous and as the Good,"听Review of Metaphysics聽45, March 1992, pp.543-73
  • "The Problem of the Third Meditation,"听American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, Autumn 1993, pp.537-59
  • "The Origins of Aristotle's Concept of聽Energeia:听Energeia听补苍诲听Dunamis,"听Ancient Philosophy聽14, Spring 1994, pp.73-114
  • "The Editors of the聽Metaphysics,"听Phronesis聽40, July 1995, pp.202-8
  • "The Greatest Stumbling Block: Descartes' Denial of Real Qualities," in聽Descartes and his Contemporaries: Meditations, Objections and Replies, ed. Roger Ariew and Marjorie Grene, University of Chicago Press, 1995, pp.182-207
  • "Metaphysics, Dialectic, and the聽Categories,"听Revue de M茅taphysique et de Morale聽100, July-September 1995, pp.311-37
  • "Physics as a Virtue,"听Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy聽11 [nominally 1995, actually 1996], pp.1-34
  • "Su谩rez, Nominalism, and Modes," in聽Hispanic Philosophy in the Age of Discovery, ed. Kevin White, Catholic University of America Press, 1997, pp.226-56
  • "Classical Metaphysical Thought," in the聽Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy, ed. Donald Zeyl, Greenwood Press, 1997, pp.335-42
  • "Descartes, Augustine, and the Status of Faith," in聽Studies in Seventeenth-Century European Philosophy, ed. M.A. Stewart, OUP, 1997, pp.1-31
  • "The Intellectual Setting [of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy]," in聽The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy, edd. Daniel Garber and Michael Ayers, CUP, 1997, pp.33-86
  • "Collecting the Letters,"听Phronesis聽43, November 1998, pp.291-305
  • "The Stoic Theory of Categories,"听Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy聽17, 1999, pp.215-47
  • "On Dennis Des Chene's聽Physiologia,"听Perspectives on Science聽8, 2000, pp.119-43
  • "Plotinus on the Identity of Knowledge with its Object,"听Apeiron聽34, September 2001, pp.233-46
  • "Metaphysics聽Z10-16 and the Argument-Structure of聽Metaphysics聽Z,"听Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy聽21, Winter 2001, pp.83-134
  • "Longinus on Plotinus,"听Dionysius聽19, December 2001, pp.113-24
  • "Aristotle's Definition of Soul and the Programme of the聽De Anima,"听Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy聽22, Summer 2002, pp.83-139
  • "Plato and the Method of Analysis,"听Phronesis聽47, June 2002, pp.193-223
  • "罢丑别听Discourse on the Method聽and the Tradition of Intellectual Autobiography," in聽Hellenistic and Early Modern Philosophy, ed. Jon Miller and Brad Inwood, CUP, 2003, pp.141-91
  • "Metaphysics: God and Being," in聽The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Philosophy, ed. A.S. McGrade, 2003, pp.147-70
  • "Aristotle," in the聽Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd聽edition, ed. Donald Borchert, Macmillan, 2006
  • "On Plato's 螤慰位喂蟿蔚喂虂伪,"听Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy聽21 [nominally 2005, actually 2006], pp.1-55
  • "贵芒谤芒产卯'蝉听Kit芒b al-岣�耻谤没蹿聽and his Analysis of the Senses of Being,"听Arabic Sciences and Philosophy聽18, March 2008, pp.59-97
  • "Aporiai 13-14," in聽Aristotle's Metaphysics Beta听(Proceedings of the XVIth Symposium Aristotelicum), ed. Michel Crubellier and Andr茅 Laks, OUP, 2009, pp.211-65
  • "Zeller and the Debates about Aristotle's聽Metaphysics," in聽Eduard Zeller: Philosophie- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte im 19.听Jahrhundert, ed. Gerald Hartung, Walter de Gruyter, 2009, pp.93-121
  • "罢丑别听Timaeus聽and the Critique of Pre-Socratic Vortices," in聽One Book, the Whole Universe: Plato's Timaeus Today, ed. Richard Mohr and Barbara Sattler, Parmenides Publishing, 2010, pp.141-50
  • "Simplicius on the聽Theaetetus听(In Physica聽17,38-18,23 Diels),"听Phronesis聽55, 2010, pp.255-70
  • "On Socrates' First Objections to the Physicists (Phaedo聽95e8-97b7),"听Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy聽38, Summer 2010, pp.37-68
  • ","听Aestimatio聽7 [nominally 2010, actually 2011], pp.193-228
  • "On Myles Burnyeat's聽Map of Metaphysics Zeta,"听Ancient Philosophy聽31, Spring 2011, pp.161-202
  • "F芒r芒b卯 in the Reception of Avicenna's Metaphysics: Averroes against Avicenna on Being and Unity," in聽The Arabic, Hebrew and Latin Reception of Avicenna鈥檚 Metaphysics, edd. Dag Hasse and Amos Bertolacci, Walter de Gruyter, 2011, pp.51-96
  • "Self-Motion and Reflection: Hermias and Proclus on the Harmony of Plato and Aristotle on the Soul," in聽Neoplatonism and the Philosophy of Nature, ed. James Wilberding and Christoph Horn, OUP, 2012, pp.44-67
  • "Metaphysics聽A7-A8 989a18: Critique of Earlier Philosophers on the Good and the Causes," in聽Aristotle's Metaphysics Alpha听(Proceedings of the XVIIIth Symposium Aristotelicum), ed. Carlos Steel, OUP, 2012, pp.201-224
  • "Aristotle's Theology," in the聽Oxford Handbook of Aristotle, ed. Christopher Shields, OUP, 2012, pp.422-64
  • "La sagesse comme science des quatre causes?", translated by Louis-Andr茅 Dorion, in聽Physique et M茅taphysique chez Aristote, ed. Maddalena Bonelli, Vrin, 2012, pp.39-68
  • "Ya岣芒 ibn 鈥汚d卯,听On the Four Scientific Questions Concerning the Three Kinds of Existence, introduction, edition, translation and notes," with Robert Wisnovsky,听M茅langes de l'Institut Dominicain d'脡tudes Orientales聽29 [nominally 2012, actually 2013], pp.73-96
  • "Avicenna's Metaphysics," in聽Interpreting Avicenna, ed. Peter Adamson, CUP, 2013, pp.143-69
  • "Plato's Soteriology?", in聽Philosophy and Salvation in Greek Religion, ed. Vishwa Adluri, Walter de Gruyter, 2013, pp.191-216
  • "The Desire for God and the Aporetic Method in Augustine's聽Confessions," in聽Augustine's Confessions: Philosophy in Autobiography, ed. William Mann, OUP, 2014, pp.71-107
  • "Democritus, Aristotle, and the聽Problemata," in聽The Aristotelian Problemata: Philosophical and Scientific Investigations, ed. Robert Mayhew, Brill, 2015, pp.10-35
  • "How Archytas Doubled the Cube," in聽The Frontiers of Ancient Science: Essays in Honor of Heinrich von Staden, ed. Klaus-Dietrich Fischer and Brooke Holmes, Walter de Gruyter, 2015, pp.407-35

  • "Ya岣芒 and Ibr芒h卯m ibn 鈥汚d卯,听On Whether Body is a Substance or a Quantity, introduction, edition, translation and notes," with Robert Wisnovsky, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 27听(2017), 1-74

  • "On the Title of Porphyry's Categories Commentary 螤蟻慰虁蟼 螕蔚未伪虂位蔚喂慰谓," Phronesis聽62 (2017), 355-62

  • "Andronicus and Boethus: Reflections on Michael Griffin's Aristotle's Categories in the Early Roman Empire," Documenti e Studi sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale, 2018, pp.13-43

  • "Eudoxus' Theory of Proportion and his Method of Exhaustion," in Logic, Philosophy of Mathematics, and their History: Essays in Honor of W.W. Tait, edited by Erich Reck, College Publications, 2018, pp.185-230

  • "Physics I,1: the Path to the Principles," in Aristotle's Physics Alpha: Symposium Aristotelicum, edited by Katerina Ierodiakonou, Paul Kalligas, and Vassilis Karasmanis, OUP, 2019, pp.19-52

  • "On the Digression in the Theaetetus," Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, v.57, Winter 2019, dedicated to John Cooper, pp.65-120

  • "From De Anima III,4 to De Anima III,5," in Aristote et l'芒me humaine. Lectures de De Anima III offertes 脿 Michel Crubellier, edited by Gweltaz Guyomarc'h, Claire Louguet, and Charlotte Murgier, Peeters, 2020, pp.95-155

  • "Aristotle on the Many Senses of Being," Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, v.59, Winter 2020,听pp.187-263

  • "Al-F芒r芒b卯: Metaphysics," online in the聽Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2021

  • "Aubenque's Metaphysics," Les 脡tudes Philosophiques, 2022/2, issue Pierre Aubenque: In memoriam, pp.29-55

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