I am an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Utah Valley University, where I have been teaching since the summer of 2012. Prior to UVU, I spent one year as a visiting (graduate student) fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Religion at University of Notre Dame. There I worked on theodician issues in the 17th Century, especially concerning Descartes, Malebranche and Arnauld. I received my PhD in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin Madison in the Spring of 2012.
My main research interests are in the metaphysics and epistemology of René Descartes and other Cartesians, or thinkers engaging with Cartesian issues, e.g., Nicolas Malebranche, Elisabeth of Bohemia, and Antoine Arnauld. More information on my research interests is available here.
I regularly teach courses on 17th and 18th Century Philosophy, including a survey course and topics courses. Among the topics courses I’ve taught, some focus on the work of a particular historical figures, (e.g., Descartes, or Spinoza), while others examine a single topic/issue or a set of related issues in the period (e.g., method, mind and morality). More information on my teaching is available here.
Eric Stencil 