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Education :
Northwestern University, Ph.D., December 1998; M.A., December 1995 - Dissertation: “Freedom Beyond the Will: A Critical Study of Hegel and Nietzsche”
Cambridge University, Herchel Smith Scholar in philosophy, 1989-90
Williams College, B.A., June 1989, magna cum laude, in philosophy and mathematicsProfessional Experience :
Williams College - Associate Professor, 2004-present, Assistant Professor, 2000-2004, Visiting Assistant Professor, 1998-2000
Northwestern University - Instructor, 1995-97; Teaching Assistant, 1993-96Areas of Specialization and Competence :
AOS: 19th and 20th Century Continental Philosophy, Kant
AOC: Modern Philosophy, Aesthetics, Social and Political Philosophy, Logic
- PHIL 102(F,S) Introduction to Metaphysics and Epistemology (W)
- PHIL 392(S) Hegel and Systematic Philosophy
PHIL 102(F,S) Introduction to Metaphysics and Epistemology (W)
Metaphysics and epistemology are the two core pursuits of theoretical philosophy (as opposed to practical philosophy, the focus of Philosophy 101). Metaphysics is concerned with the ultimate character of reality. The metaphysician seeks to develop knowledge (as opposed to mere opinion or belief) of all things natural, human, and divine. She asks, for example: Are we free, or are our acts determined? Is there a God? If so, what must God be like? Epistemology is concerned with how we determine the difference between knowledge and mere opinion. The epistemologist thus asks: What does it mean truly to know something? How can we acquire such genuine knowledge? Answers to these epistemological questions are essential if we are to have any confidence in the methods and results of our metaphysical investigations. This course will emphasize the established historical classics that provide the basis for understanding contemporary work on metaphysics and epistemological issues; we will consider, among others, the work of Descartes, Hume, and Kant. Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: class discussion, frequent short papers (totaling 20-30 pages). No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 19 per section (expected: 19 per section). Preference given to first-year students and sophomores.
First Semester: GERRARD, MLADENOVIC Second Semester: DUDLEY, GERRARD, MLADENOVICPHIL 392(S) Hegel and Systematic Philosophy
Hegel defines philosophy, in the opening sentence of the Introduction to his Phenomenology of Spirit, as "the actual cognition of that which in truth is." Philosophy, in other words, is metaphysics. But if metaphysics is to be secure, it must be preceded by epistemology, by an account of the proper method for achieving "actual cognition." Hegel's Phenomenology thus examines the most important epistemological options, including rationalism, empiricism, and Kantian transcendental idealism. Hegel argues that each of these options fails, on its own terms, to provide the requisite basis for knowledge. He also claims, however, that consideration of these failures shows the way to success: absolute knowledge can be had, but only if philosophy is developed into a presuppositionless and systematic science. With this conclusion the Phenomenology gives way to the Logic, which initiates Hegel's own attempt to develop a truly systematic philosophy and thus achieve metaphysical cognition. In this course we will endeavor to understand and evaluate Hegel's project, one of the most ambitious, influential, and important in the history of philosophy. Format: seminar. Requirements: final paper, several shorter assignments, attendance and participation Prerequisites: Philosophy 102. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 10-15).
DUDLEYPublications :
Book: Hegel, Nietzsche and Philosophy: Thinking Freedom (Cambridge University Press, 2002).
Articles: “Impure Reason: Hegel on the Irrationality of the Rational,” The Owl of Minerva 35:1 (Fall/Winter 2003-04).
“Systematic Philosophy and Idealism,” The Owl of Minerva 34:1 (Fall/Winter 2002-03): 91-105.
“Ancient Skepticism and Systematic Philosophy,” in Hegel’s History of Philosophy: New Interpretations, ed. David A. Duquette (Albany: SUNY Press, 2002): 87-105.
“Freedom in and through Hegel’s Philosophy,” Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review XXXIX (2000): 683-703.
“A Limited Kind of Freedom: Hegel’s Logical Analysis of the Finitude of the Will,” The Owl of Minerva 31:2 (Spring 2000): 173-198.
“A Case of Bad Judgment: The Logical Failure of the Moral Will,” The Review of Metaphysics 51 (December 1997): 379-404.
“Freedom and the Need for Protection from Myself,” The Owl of Minerva 29:1 (Fall 1997): 39-67.
“Telling the Truth: Systematic Philosophy and the Aufhebung of Poetic and Religious Language,” in Hegel and Language, ed. Jere Surbur (Albany: SUNY Press) [forthcoming].
“Fruchtbare Ästhetik? Fragen an die Grundlagen und die Reichweite der Ästhetik Franz von Kutscheras,” with David P. Schweikard and Martin Richter, in Die Philosophie Franz v. Kutscheras in der Diskussion, ed. Christoph Halbig and Christian Weidemann (Münster: LIT Verlag, 2004) [forthcoming].
“Freedom in and through Nietzsche’s Tragic Genealogy,” International Studies in Philosophy [forthcoming].Reviews:
Review of Frederick Neuhouser’s Foundations of Hegel’s Social Theory: Actualizing Freedom, The Philosophical Quarterly 52 (October 2002): 646-649.Review of Hegel and the Tradition: Essays in Honour of H.S. Harris, eds. M. Bauer and J. Russon, Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain 43/44 (2001): 72-79.
Book Note on Friedrich Nietzsche’s Untimely Meditations, tr. R. J. Hollingdale, ed. Daniel Breazeale, Ethics (January 2000): 463.Review Essay of Clark Butler's Hegel's Logic, The Owl of Minerva 31:1 (Fall 1999): 59-66.
“Should Nietzsche Have Been a Democrat?” a review of Lawrence Hatab's A Nietzschean Defense of Democracy, Philosophy and Social Criticism 24:4 (July 1998): 113-119.
Presentations :
“Big Games: The Spiritual Significance of Sports”
Williams College, June 2004
“Freedom in and through Nietzsche’s Tragic Genealogy”
North American Nietzsche Society, APA Eastern Division Meeting, December 2003“The Systematic Context and Structure of Hegel’s Social Theory: A Response to Frederick Neuhouser”
Hegel Society of America, APA Eastern Division Meeting, December 2003“Unreine Vernunft: Hegel über die Unvernünftigkeit des Vernünftigen,”
Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität, November 2003“Fruchtbare Ästhetik? Fragen an die Grundlagen und die Reichweite der Ästhetik Franz von Kutscheras,”
Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität, November 2003 (with David Schweikard and Martin Richter)“Impure Reason: Hegel on the Irrationality of the Rational”
Warwick University, March 2003
Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP), October 2002“Telling the Truth: Systematic Philosophy and the Aufhebung of Poetic and Religious Language”
Hegel Society of America, October 2002“Freedom in and through Hegel’s Philosophy”
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, December 2002
Dartmouth College, April 2002
Williams College, April 2002“Is the Death Penalty a Justifiable Form of Punishment?”
Gaudino Forum, Williams College, February 2002“Re-Membering Faith in the Age of Reason”
Williams Club, NYC, March 2001“Ancient Skepticism and Systematic Philosophy”
Hegel Society of America, October 2000“Can Math Save the World? (Or Is It Just Fun?)”
Williams College Math Colloquium, September 2000“Freedom and Hegel’s System”
Hegel Society of America, APA Central Division Meeting, April 2000“The Case Against Human Cloning”
Williams College Debate Union, May 1999“A Case of Bad Judgment: The Logical Failure of the Moral Will”
Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP), October 1996“Freedom and the Need for Protection from Myself”
Williams College, February 1998
Depaul University Conference on “Kant’s Legacy,” May 1995
View CV
