A PDF of this document is available here.
EUGENE MARSHALL
Department of Philosophy Office: 603-646-2298
Dartmouth College Home: 603-653-0160
6035 Thornton Hall #204 eugenemarshall@gmail.com
Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 http://eugenemarshall.net/
AREAS OF SPECIALTY
History of Modern Philosophy
AREAS OF COMPETENCE
Ancient Philosophy, 19th Century German Philosophy, Ethics, Moral Psychology
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Dec. 2006 University of Wisconsin
M.A. May 2004 University of Wisconsin
B.A. May 2000 Univ. of Missouri-St. Louis – Philosophy
B.A. May 2000 Univ. of Missouri-St. Louis – Psychology
DISSERTATION
Akrasia in Spinoza’s Ethics (Successfully defended on December 6, 2006)
Steven Nadler, Chair; Paula Gottlieb, Dennis Stampe, Russ Shafer-Landau, Patrick Riley, committee
PUBLICATIONS
◦ “Spinoza on the Problem of Akrasia,"
European Journal of Philosophy (forthcoming)
◦ “Adequacy and Innateness in Spinoza,”
Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy (forthcoming)
◦ “Spinoza's Cognitive Affects and their Feel”
British Journal for the History of Philosophy 16 (1) 2008: 1-23.
UNDER REVIEW
◦ “The Association of Ideas in Spinoza”
◦ “Concord and Discord in Spinoza’s Social Model of the Mind”
WORK IN PROGRESS
◦ Spinoza's Moral Psychology, manuscript in progress
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Visiting Professor 2007-2009 Dartmouth College
Visiting Lecturer 2006-2007 Bridgewater State College
Instructor 2006-2007 University of Rhode Island
Teaching Assistant 2001-2004 University of Wisconsin
PAPERS GIVEN
◦ “Harmony and Discord in Spinoza’s Social Model of the Mind”
Colloquium Paper, APA Pacific Division Meeting, March 2008
◦ “A Spinozist Solution to the Problem of Weakness of Will”
Sapientia Lecture Series, Dartmouth College, December 2007
◦ Comment on M. Krizan, “Conception, Deception & Reflection: Spinoza on Finite Modes,”
Central APA Division Meeting, April 2007
◦ “Affects, Ideas, and Feelings in Spinoza's Psychology”
Symposium Paper, Eastern APA Division Meeting, Dec. 2006
◦ “Spinoza on Akrasia”
Colloquium Paper, Central APA Division Meeting, April 2006
◦ “An Analysis and Reconstruction of Berkeley’s Argument against Abstraction”
Wisconsin Philosophy Association, April 2004
◦ "Reason or Intuition? On the Second Kind of Knowledge in Spinoza's Ethics"
Colloquium Paper, Eastern APA Division Meeting, Dec. 2003
◦ "Maimonides' Account of Divine Providence in The Guide to the Perplexed"
The International Conference on Ancient & Medieval Philosophy, Nov. 2003
◦ "Two Accounts of Pleasure in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics"
DePaul University Graduate Student Conference, April 2003
◦ “Hume’s Identity Crisis”
The Illinois Philosophical Association, Nov. 2002
◦ “From the Perspective of Life: Nietzsche’s Fundamental Argument”
The Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Oct. 2001
◦ “The Sublime and the Tragic in Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche”
The 23rd University of Illinois Graduate Philosophy Conference, April 2001
◦ “The Epistemology of Hegel’s Introduction to his Phenomenology of Spirit”
The New Mexico/West Texas Philosophical Society, April 2000
COURSES TAUGHT
SPECIAL TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY: SPINOZA -- PHILOSOPHER, RADICAL, HERETIC (Dartmouth College)
This course looks at Baruch Spinoza, 17th Century Dutch Jew, rationalist philosopher, and one of the founders of the Enlightenment. We shall first look at the historical context of Spinoza's work and then read excerpts from his Theological-Political Treatise. The class will culminate in a careful reading of his masterwork The Ethics.
MODERN PHILOSOPHY: 19TH CENTURY CONTINENTAL (Dartmouth College)
This course begins with a review of some of the central implications of
Kant’s Critical philosophy, both for the theory of knowledge and for
practical philosophy. It then considers reactions to Kant from fellow
idealists, such as Hegel; materialists such as Feuerbach and Marx; and
anti-rationalists such as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.
MODERN PHILOSOPHY: HUME AND KANT (Dartmouth College)
An in-depth introduction to the theoretical and practical philosophies
of David Hume and Immanuel Kant. Topics include: Hume’s scepticism
about induction and the law of cause and effect; Kant’s effort to
“save” metaphysics from Hume’s sceptical attack; Kant’s account of the
a priori forms (space and time, the categories) by means of which we
construct our experience; his attempt to save freedom from Hume’s
compatibilism; his grounding of practical philosophy in the idea of
transcendental freedom.
INTRODUCTION TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY (Dartmouth College)
A study of the main types of ethical theories. Attention will be paid to the
relevance of major historical positions to contemporary issues.
REASON AND ARGUMENT (Dartmouth College)
An introduction to informal logic with special attention to the
analysis of actual arguments as they arise in daily life as well as in
legal, scientific, and moral reasoning. Along with the analysis and
criticism of arguments, the course will also consider the methods for
constructing arguments that are both logically correct and persuasive.
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY (Dartmouth College)
Focus will be on such questions as: Is knowledge possible? What is the nature of the soul? What is human happiness? What are moral and political values? Do human beings have free will? Ought we to fear death? We may read Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicureans, Stoics and Skeptics.
MODERN PHILOSOPHY: CONTINENTAL RATIONALISM (Dartmouth College)
Focus is on the major works of Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz, with some responses from their contemporaries (e.g., Arnauld, Gassendi, Mersenne). Central themes include substance, matter, mind, the laws of nature, space and time, God, truth, necessity and contingency.
SPECIAL TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY: WEAKNESS OF WILL (Dartmouth College)
We shall investigate various historical and contemporary theories of weakness of will, as well as discuss related issues concerning rationality, motivation, and desire. Authors read will include Aristotle, Hume, Hare, Davidson, Watson, Mele, and Michael Smith.
MODERN PHILOSOPHY: BRITISH EMPIRICISM (Dartmouth College)
Focus is on the major works of Locke, Berkeley and Hume, though possibly with attention to some others (e.g. Bacon, Hobbes, Reid). Central themes include substance, perception, secondary qualities, cognition, meaning, causation, identity and reality.
FOUNDATIONS OF LOGICAL REASONING (Bridgewater State College)
This course introduces basic critical thinking skills and informal logic. Units include the nature and structure of argument, truth and validity, fallacies, and methods of proof, deduction, and refutation.
INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS (University of Rhode Island)
This course has three units: metaethics, ethical theories, and applied ethics, though ethical theories takes up the bulk of the course. Throughout, an eye for application and practical use is maintained.
REASONING AND RELIGION (Bridgewater State College)
This course introduces the skills of critical reasoning by developing an understanding of argumentation and by applying them to issues in philosophy of religion, such as God’s existence and the problem of evil.
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY (Dartmouth College and University of Rhode Island)
This course has four units: philosophy of religion, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and ethics. Throughout, I emphasize philosophical method and reflective, critical thinking.
CONTEMPORARY MORAL ISSUES (University of Wisconsin)
This course begins with ethical theory and moves to just war theory and the morality of terrorism. Authors read include Michael Walzer, James O’Brien, Thomas Nagel, Phillip Pettit, and Camus.
TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS
HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY (with Dennis Stampe)
Professor Stampe discussed central issues in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind, with close readings of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Kant.
EXISTENTIALISM (with Ivan Soll)
Professor Soll discussed central themes in the works of Camus and Sartre were discussed. Works read include Myth of Sysyphus, The Stranger, Transcendence of the Ego, Nausea, The Wall, and Being and Nothingness.
CONTEMPORARY MORAL ISSUES (with Dan Wikler)
Professor Wikler discussed abortion, stem cell research, affirmative action, and just war theory/terrorism. Authors read include Pojman, Tooley, Dworkin, Thompson, and Pettit.
CONTEMPORARY MORAL ISSUES (with Lester Hunt)
Professor Hunt discussed rights, freedom, speech codes, pornography, drug legalization, and gun control. Authors read include Locke, Rousseau, Mill, Feinberg, Rachels, and Longino.
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY (with Martha Gibson)
Professor Gibson covered four themes: epistemology, philosophy of religion, ethics, and free will. Authors read include Plato, Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Moore, Sober and Dretske.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
◦ Organizer, APA Pacific Mini-conference on Spinoza's Psychology, 2008
◦ Project Assistant, The 2004 NEH Institute for Early Modern Philosophy: The Intersection of Philosophy, Science and Theology in the Seventeenth Century
◦ Member, American Philosophical Association
◦ Member, North American Spinoza Society
SERVICE
◦ Thesis Advisement Advising two Dartmouth senior majors’ honors theses, on Nietzsche
LANGUAGES
◦ German Advanced reading knowledge, intermediate speaking ability
◦ Latin Advanced reading knowledge
◦ French Advanced reading knowledge, intermediate speaking ability
◦ Ancient Greek Elementary reading knowledge
HONORS
◦ Nominated by my Department for a University-Wide Award for Teaching Excellence, 2006
◦ Recipient of Graduate Student Travel Stipend, 2006 APA Eastern Division Meeting
◦ Recipient of Graduate Student Travel Stipend, 2006 APA Central Division Meeting
◦ Recipient of Wisconsin Vilas Travel Grant, 2006 APA Central Division Meeting
◦ Recipient of Graduate Student Travel Stipend, 2003 APA Eastern Division Meeting
HOBBIES
Running, cycling, cooking, traveling abroad.
RESEARCH REFERENCES
STEVEN NADLER
Professor and Chair
(608) 263-3741
smnadler@wisc.edu
Dept. of Philosophy
University of Wisconsin
600 N. Park St.
Madison, WI 53706
DONALD RUTHERFORD
Professor of Philosophy
(858) 534-3070
drutherford@ucsd.edu
Philosophy Department, 0119
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0119
DANIEL GARBER
Professor and Chair
(609) 258-4307
dgarber@princeton.edu
Department of Philosophy
Room 212 - 1879 Hall
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
PAULA GOTTLIEB
Professor of Philosophy
(608) 263-0253
plgottli@wisc.edu
Affiliate Professor of Classics
University of Wisconsin
600 N. Park St.
Madison, WI 53706
TEACHING/SERVICE REFERENCES
AMY ALLEN
Associate Professor and Chair
(603) 646-2827
Amy.R.Allen@Dartmouth.edu
Department of Philosophy
Dartmouth College
6035 Thornton
Hanover, NH 03755-3592
AEON J. SKOBLE
Chair, Department of Philosophy
(508)531-2460
askoble@bridgew.edu
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Bridgewater State College
341 Tillinghast Hall
Bridgewater, MA 02325
GRADUATE COURSES TAKEN
Grade Point Average: 4.0
COURSES TAKEN IN THE HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY
◦ Leibniz (Steven Nadler)
◦ Berkeley (Keith Yandell/Steven Nadler)
◦ Spinoza’s Ethics (Steven Nadler)
◦ Hume (Berent Enç)
◦ Locke and Leibniz (Alan Sidelle)
◦ Kant and Representation (Martha Gibson)*
COURSES TAKEN IN METAPHYSICS
◦ Philosophical Methods (Alan Sidelle)
◦ Free Will (Dennis Stampe)
◦ Personal Identity (Lawrence Davis, University of Missouri-St. Louis)
◦ Causation (Carolina Sartorio)*
COURSES TAKEN IN 19TH CENTURY GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
◦ Nietzsche (Ivan Soll)
◦ Nietzsche’s Ethics (Lester Hunt)
◦ Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit (Peter Fuss, University of Missouri-St. Louis)
◦ Marx & Marxism (Luis Madureira, Comparative Literature at Wisconsin)*
COURSES TAKEN IN ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
◦ Aristotle’s Ethics (Paula Gottlieb)
◦ Socratic Ethics (Terry Penner)
◦ Aristotle’s Metaphysics (Paula Gottlieb)
OTHER COURSES
◦ Maimonides’ Guide to the Perplexed (Steven Nadler)
◦ The Aesthetic Experience (Noel Carroll and Ivan Soll)
◦ Advanced Modal Logic (Michael Byrd)
* Denotes audited class
AKRASIA IN SPINOZA’S ETHICS
EUGENE MARSHALL
Despite not discussing it directly, Spinoza has a fascinating account of akrasia. To locate it, however, some work is required, since the theory is only implicit in his affective psychology and his discussion of bondage. Only by a careful investigation of his thoughts on ideas, affects, and desire, among other things, may we uncover Spinoza’s thoughts on the question of weakness of will. This excavation will be well worth the labor involved. For Spinoza’s account of akrasia is a marvelously interesting theory. First of all, his theory is of historical significance, because it involves certain central and novel views that are normally thought to originate in Hume. So it seems that Spinoza, whom Hume read, should perhaps be given some of the credit for these novelties. Second of all, Spinoza’s theory combines several intuitive aspects of positions generally thought to be mutually exclusive. In this regard, Spinoza’s theory of akrasia is conceptually unique, a coherent hybrid view that may capture the good of the opposing views while avoiding their pitfalls. Third and finally, his theory of akrasia is plausible and philosophically satisfying. It captures those intuitions we want a theory of akrasia to capture. It presents akratic action as it must be understood – as freely and intentionally performed action against our better judgment.PAULA GOTTLIEB And it explains the irrationality of akrasia. Very few theories of akrasia manage to do all of these things and, thus, Spinoza’s own account could be seen as a useful contribution to our philosophical understanding of the phenomenon of weakness of will.
The thrust of this work can be stated, first briefly and then in more detail, as follows: Spinoza has an interesting and viable account of akrasia. That account is a weak judgment internalism that resembles Aristotle’s and Alfred Mele’s, though it also appeals to certain Humean intuitions. Specifically, according to Spinoza, akrasia occurs for an agent S just when the power of S’s irrational desire for y, which involves an irrational judgment that y is a good course of action, will surpass the power of S’s rational desire for x, which involves a rational judgment that x is the better course of action; this account of akrasia is plausible and superior to its competitors, in that it better accommodates our intuitions concerning akratic conduct.
This account captures the heart of strict akrasia - that we can affirm contradictory judgments and feel conflicting desires. And so, strict akrasia is easily explainable. Of course, it is still irrational, because it involves acting against our better judgment which, for Spinoza, means acting against our universal principles in favor of some inadequately known particular.
In the first chapter, I introduce six major theories of akrasia, those of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, David Hume, Donald Davidson, and Alfred Mele. I then place these six theorists into classes: strong internalism, weak internalism, and externalism. This categorization will be made based on how each theory answers the following question: What is the relation between practical judgments and motivation? Doing so will allow us to compare and contrast Spinoza with these other thinkers in informative ways. In the second chapter, I cover some background in Spinoza’s epistemology and psychology, placing his thought in its historical context. In the third chapter, I look at Spinoza’s concept of bondage and find his account of akrasia. In the fourth and final chapter, I take the Spinozist theory just presented and compare it to the other six theorists discussed. I then review where Spinoza falls in the three-fold classification. At that point, I will be able to formulate Spinoza’s theory of akrasia more carefully and discover what fundamental assumptions lie behind it. Once the theory has been formulated, I will investigate whether akrasia, in Spinoza’s theory, meets the criteria any successful account must meet – that akratic action is freely and intentionally performed against our better judgment. Finally, I shall issue an evaluation of the worth of Spinoza’s theory of akrasia.