Aristotle on animal thought

Joseph Karbowski

The Symposium of Aristotelian Studies was created to consolidate the tradition of Aristotelian studies of the Post-Gradute Programa Logic and Metaphysics (PPGLM/UFRJ). Our intention is for the Symposium to become a perennial activity spanning all through the academic year where our students and colleagues will be able to meet with some of the best specialists in Aristotle’s thought.

Professor Karbowski got his bachelor in Philosophy and Classical Languages, Summa cum Laude, at the University of Pittsburgh in April 2003 and his Ph. D in the University of California, Berkeley, in 2009. He was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Notre Dame from 2009 to 2017, a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Program in Environmental Policy and Culture of the Northwestern University from 2017 to 2018. He has been a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy of the University of Pittsburgh since 2018 and has recently been the recipient of a Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

He is the author of a book entitled Aristotle's Method in Ethics: Philosophy in Practice (2019, CUP), in which he develops a novel interpretation of Aristotle's conception of philosophy and shows how it influences his ethical method and epistemology, and of several papers on Aristotle which have appeared in Ancient Philosophy, Journal of the History of Philosophy, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, Apeiron, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy and Manuscrito.

His current research explores the intersection of ancient Greek epistemology, natural philosophy, psychology, and ethics, touching on issues pertaining to animal cognition and the role of images in thought. His next project is a on Aristotle's conception of human nature and its ramifications for his hylomorphism and theory of human reproduction.