I am a Professor of Greek Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, jointly appointed in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies (AMNE) and Philosophy. I'm also joint general editor of the Ancient Commentators translation project.
I study the philosophers of the ancient Graeco-Roman world, especially the vibrant intellectual traditions that emerged around Plato and Aristotle during their lives and later, during the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. I am interested in the practice of philosophical education (paideia) in late antiquity, and the role that philosophy – ancient and modern – can play in cultivating individual and collective flourishing.
My recent books study the ancient reception of two classic "first books" in philosophy, Aristotle's Categories and Plato's Alcibiades, which were respectively foundational for the rudiments of logic and virtue. My current research focuses on the Neoplatonic “scale of virtues” in late antiquity. Recently, I’ve also begun to work in cross-cultural philosophy, with a working group on Buddhist-Platonist philosophical dialogue.
I'm also currently working on several projects in teaching & learning, learning technology, and community-engaged learning.
background
I grew up in Vancouver, Canada, and completed my undergraduate degree in Classics (2004) at UBC’s Department of Classical, Near Eastern & Religious Studies. I subsequently completed my master’s degree (2006) and doctorate (2009) at the University of Oxford. I began teaching at UBC in 2010.
Land and Place
I am very grateful for the opportunity to work at my university’s Vancouver Point Grey campus, which is situated on the traditional and ancestral land of the Musqueam people, which has never been ceded.
Projects
Delphic Philosophy: An Approach to Greek Philosophy (videos and resources)
Buddhist-Platonist Dialogues in cross-cultural philosophy
Selected papers
Painting and Dancing: Scales of Virtue and Inspiration in Late Ancient Platonism (preliminary draft in progress, Academia.edu)
Concentration in Action in Greek Neoplatonism and Buddhaghosa, in Amber Carpenter & P.J. Harter (eds.), Crossing the Stream, Leaving the Cave: Buddhist-Platonist Philosophical Inquiries (Oxford University Press, 2024).
Introduction to Olympiodorus on Plato First Alcibiades 10–28 (Bloomsbury Academic, 2016).
Ammonius and His School, in Andrea Falcon (ed.), Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Aristotle in Antiquity (Brill, 2016), 394–414.
BOOKS
Aristotle's Categories in the Early Roman Empire. Oxford University Press, 2015. (OUP • Google Books Preview)
Olympiodorus of Alexandria: Life of Plato and Lectures 1-9 on the First Alcibiades. Bloomsbury Academic, 2014. (Bloomsbury • Google Books Preview)
Olympiodorus of Alexandria: Lectures 10-28 on the First Alcibiades. Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. (Bloomsbury • Google Books Preview)
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Sharing a newly open-access version of my introduction to the Platonist philosophers of late ancient Alexandria, fr… https://t.co/vXUT5VrgmR
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RT @DrJSellars: New from the Ancient Commentators, a guide to the vocabulary of the ancient commentators based on indexes from the… https://t.co/S94wLrpjPQ