Stewart Duncan
Biographic Data
| ID | 3873228 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stewart Duncan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stewart |
| FAMILY NAME | Duncan |
| SIGNATURE | DUNCAN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Florida |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 7 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Early Modern Accounts of Epicureanism
This chapter explores the early modern influence of ancient Epicureanism, which was both profound and diffuse. It begins with the pivotal figures of Pierre Gassendi and Ralph Cudworth: the former’s comprehensive research made the Epicurean system newly accessible to a modern audience and formed a basis for his own physical theory; the latter treated Epicureanism as a dangerous foe in need of extensive refutation. The chapter then surveys three ma…
Hobbes on the Signification of Evaluative Language
Hobbes, in both the Elements of Law and Leviathan , argues that a wide variety of terms – including ‘good’, ‘bad’, and the names of virtues and vices – have a double and inconstant signification. This paper explores and explains that theory of Hobbes’s. (Two other interpretations are discussed: Pettit’s discussion in terms of indexicals, and Alexandra’s in terms of sense and reference.) This inconstancy of signification has considerable potential…
Toland and Locke in the Leibniz-Burnett Correspondence
Thomas Burnett of Kemnay (1656-1729), who corresponded with Leibniz for several years, is perhaps best known to historians of philosophy as one of those via whom Leibniz tried to communicate with Locke. But he was more generally a source of intellectual news for Leibniz – principally about new work in English, but also about events wherever Burnett’s travels took him. Among other correspondence, between November 1695 and September 1701 Burnett wr…
Materialism and the Activity of Matter in Seventeenth‐Century European Philosophy
Early modern debates about the nature of matter interacted with debates about whether matter could think. In particular, some philosophers (e.g. Cudworth and Leibniz) objected to materialism about the human mind on the grounds that matter is passive, thinking things are active, and one cannot make an active thing out of passive material. This paper begins by looking at two 17‐century materialist views (Hobbes's, and one suggested but not endorsed…
Leibniz's Mill Arguments Against Materialism
Leibniz's mill argument in 'Monadology' 17 is a well-known but puzzling argument against materialism about the mind. I approach the mill argument by considering other places where Leibniz gave similar arguments, using the same example of the machinery of a mill and reaching the same anti-materialist conclusion. In a 1702 letter to Bayle, Leibniz gave a mill argument that moves from his definition of perception (as the expression of a multitude by…
Hobbes, Signification, and Insignificant Names
The notion of signification is an important part of Hobbes's philosophy of language. It also has broader relevance, as Hobbes argues that key terms used by his opponents are insignificant. However Hobbes's talk about names' signification is puzzling, as he appears to have advocated conflicting views. This paper argues that Hobbes endorsed two different views of names' signification in two different contexts. When stating his theoretical views abo…
Leibniz on Hobbes’s materialism
Leibniz's Mill Arguments Against Materialism
Leibniz's mill argument in 'Monadology' 17 is a well-known but puzzling argument against materialism about the mind. I approach the mill argument by considering other places where Leibniz gave similar arguments, using the same example of the machinery of a mill and reaching the same anti-materialist conclusion. In a 1702 letter to Bayle, Leibniz gave a mill argument that moves from his definition of perception (as the expression of a multitude by…
Leibniz on Hobbes’s materialism
Hobbes, Signification, and Insignificant Names
The notion of signification is an important part of Hobbes's philosophy of language. It also has broader relevance, as Hobbes argues that key terms used by his opponents are insignificant. However Hobbes's talk about names' signification is puzzling, as he appears to have advocated conflicting views. This paper argues that Hobbes endorsed two different views of names' signification in two different contexts. When stating his theoretical views abo…
Leibniz's Mill Arguments Against Materialism
Leibniz's mill argument in 'Monadology' 17 is a well-known but puzzling argument against materialism about the mind. I approach the mill argument by considering other places where Leibniz gave similar arguments, using the same example of the machinery of a mill and reaching the same anti-materialist conclusion. In a 1702 letter to Bayle, Leibniz gave a mill argument that moves from his definition of perception (as the expression of a multitude by…
Materialism and the Activity of Matter in Seventeenth‐Century European Philosophy
Early modern debates about the nature of matter interacted with debates about whether matter could think. In particular, some philosophers (e.g. Cudworth and Leibniz) objected to materialism about the human mind on the grounds that matter is passive, thinking things are active, and one cannot make an active thing out of passive material. This paper begins by looking at two 17‐century materialist views (Hobbes's, and one suggested but not endorsed…
Toland and Locke in the Leibniz-Burnett Correspondence
Thomas Burnett of Kemnay (1656-1729), who corresponded with Leibniz for several years, is perhaps best known to historians of philosophy as one of those via whom Leibniz tried to communicate with Locke. But he was more generally a source of intellectual news for Leibniz – principally about new work in English, but also about events wherever Burnett’s travels took him. Among other correspondence, between November 1695 and September 1701 Burnett wr…
Hobbes on the Signification of Evaluative Language
Hobbes, in both the Elements of Law and Leviathan , argues that a wide variety of terms – including ‘good’, ‘bad’, and the names of virtues and vices – have a double and inconstant signification. This paper explores and explains that theory of Hobbes’s. (Two other interpretations are discussed: Pettit’s discussion in terms of indexicals, and Alexandra’s in terms of sense and reference.) This inconstancy of signification has considerable potential…
Early Modern Accounts of Epicureanism
This chapter explores the early modern influence of ancient Epicureanism, which was both profound and diffuse. It begins with the pivotal figures of Pierre Gassendi and Ralph Cudworth: the former’s comprehensive research made the Epicurean system newly accessible to a modern audience and formed a basis for his own physical theory; the latter treated Epicureanism as a dangerous foe in need of extensive refutation. The chapter then surveys three ma…
Philosophy (7 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Historical Philosophy and Science (6 works) · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought (6 works) · Materialism (4 works) · Law (3 works) · American Constitutional Law and Politics (2 works) · Classical Philosophy and Thought (2 works) · Computer Science (2 works) · History (2 works)