Ph.D. Candidate
Jacob Joyce has a Master’s in philosophy from Duquesne University and a Bachelor’s in philosophy from Roanoke College.
His dissertation research focuses on the metaphysics of the soul in the Leibniz-Wolffian tradition. He is interested in understanding how Leibniz influenced Christian Wolff and Alexander Baumgarten’s account of the soul. He is also interested in Kant’s criticism of this tradition in the Paralogisms.
Outside of this narrow research interest, Jacob often thinks about the limits of modern politics and ethics. He is interested in ways to move beyond the Enlightenment project without falling into ancient or medieval nostalgia. No resolution is immediately forthcoming, but it seems that a first step past modernity depends on us first understanding this account truth:
“The highest objects of knowledge are secrets from us; only occasionally does the truth shine on us, so that we suppose it is day; but it is at once withdrawn again from our view because of matter and our matter-bound life. We live in a deep dark night, only occasionally illumined by flashes of light”
He has a persistent interest in Thomistic metaphysics, Christian mysticism, and Gnosticism. Heidegger and Strauss are two major influences on his thinking at the moment.