Alan Nelson Professor

Alan Nelson works primarily in early modern philosophy. He has concentrated on Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz, but in recent years he has also been developing interpretations of British philosophers. He periodically teaches graduate seminars on Wittgenstein, Davidson, and other 20th century philosophers. Representative publications include: "Cartesian Actualism in the Leibniz-Arnauld Correspondence," Canadian Journal of Philosophy (1993); "How Could Scientific Facts be Socially Constructed?" Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science (1994); "Micro-chaos and Idealization in Cartesian Physics," Philosophical Studies (1995); "The Falsity in Sensory Ideas: Descartes and Arnauld," Interpreting Arnauld, ed. by Kremer (1996); "Descartes' Ontology of Thought," Topoi (1997); "Circumventing Cartesian Circles," (with Lex Newman) Noûs (1999); "Cognition and Modality in Descartes," (with David Cunning) Acta Philosophica Fennica (1999); "Two Concepts of Idealisation in Economics," The Economic World View, ed. by Maki (2001); "The Rationalist Impulse," "Leibniz on Modality, Cognition, and Expression," and "Proust and the Rationalist Conception of the Self," A Companion to Rationalism, ed. by Nelson (2005); "Proofs for the Existence of God," (with Larry Nolan) A Guide to Descartes' Meditations ed. by Gaukroger (2005); "Innate Ideas," A Companion to Descartes ed. by Broughton and Carriero (forthcoming). Nelson is currently at work on a book on Leibniz, an article on early modern logic, and another on the metaphysics of extension. [Complete CV]

phone: (919) 962-3030
email: anelson@unc.edu