Roger Ariew — LLMpedia

Roger Ariew
Name	Roger Ariew
Birth date	194?-
Occupation	Philosopher, historian of philosophy, author
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley, University of Texas at Austin
Notable works	Descartes and the Last Scholastics, The Routledge Companion to Philosophy in the Seventeenth Century
Institutions	Denison University, Hampden–Sydney College, Ohio State University

Contents

Roger Ariew Roger Ariew is an American philosopher and historian of early modern philosophy known for work on René Descartes, Cartesianism, and scholasticism. He has taught at liberal arts colleges and research universities and has written on intersections between Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Franciscus Suarez, and seventeenth-century thinkers. Ariew's scholarship appears in edited volumes and journals associated with organizations such as the American Philosophical Association, Society for History of Philosophy, and publishers like Cambridge University Press and Routledge.

Early life and education

Ariew completed undergraduate study at institutions influenced by figures associated with Harvard University, Yale University, and Princeton University intellectual traditions. He pursued graduate work culminating in a Ph.D. at a program connected to scholars at University of California, Berkeley and advisors who worked on Descartes' Meditations, Leibniz, and Spinoza. His dissertation engaged texts by René Descartes, assessed against background sources including Scholasticism, Aristotelianism, and commentaries by Alexander of Hales and John Duns Scotus.

Ariew has held faculty positions at liberal arts institutions and larger universities, including appointments at Denison University and visiting roles that connected him with departments at Ohio State University and programs affiliated with Columbia University and Princeton University. He has served on editorial boards for journals linked to Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and societies such as the Early Modern Philosophy Group and the APA Committee on History of Philosophy. Ariew has directed graduate seminars drawing participants from centers like University of Chicago, Yale University, Stanford University, and University of California, Los Angeles.

Ariew's research centers on René Descartes, the reception of scholasticism in early modern Europe, and the transition from Medieval philosophy to Modern philosophy. He examines relationships among thinkers such as Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Franciscus Suarez, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Baruch Spinoza, and Nicolas Malebranche. His work traces influences running through intellectual networks connected to Jesuit colleges, University of Paris, University of Padua, and Leiden University. Ariew analyzes topics including mind–body dualism, substance dualism, and the evolution of epistemology debates involving Descartes' Meditations, Cartesian dualism, and critiques by figures like Antoine Arnauld and Nicolas Malebranche. He situates Descartes within a continuum involving Scholastic commentators such as Juan Luis Vives and Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, and modern critics including David Hume and Immanuel Kant.

Ariew has contributed to historiography on how texts by Boethius, Aquinas, and Peter Abelard were read in the seventeenth century, and how methodologies adopted in texts by Pierre Gassendi and Thomas Hobbes reflect earlier curricula from institutions like University of Salamanca and University of Bologna. He engages archival materials from repositories associated with Bibliothèque nationale de France, Bodleian Library, and Vatican Library.

Ariew's monographs and edited volumes include works published by presses that also publish scholars such as Galen Strawson, Jonathan Bennett, Steven Nadler, and Martha Nussbaum. Notable titles are: - Descartes and the Last Scholastics, which situates René Descartes amid scholasticism and dialogues with figures like Francisco Suárez and Jacques Dinet. - The Routledge Companion to Philosophy in the Seventeenth Century, an edited collection bringing together essays on Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Hobbes, and others from contributors affiliated with King's College London, University College London, and University of Cambridge. - Edited volumes and articles on Cartesianism and commentaries on Meditations on First Philosophy appearing alongside essays by scholars from Oxford University, Cambridge University Press authors, and colleagues at conferences such as the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association.

He has contributed entries and chapters in reference works comparable to those published by Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and companion volumes from Blackwell and Cambridge Companion series.

Ariew's honors include fellowships and awards from organizations comparable to National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies, and grants tied to collaborative projects with institutions like Johns Hopkins University and University of Edinburgh. His edited volumes and articles have been recognized through prizes and citations by societies such as the History of Science Society and committees within the American Philosophical Association.

Category:Historians of philosophy Category:American philosophers