Andreas Blank
Free University, Germany  
Academic Year, 2002-03
The Interaction between Physiology
and Philosophy of Mind in Leibniz

Andreas Blank earned his Ph.D. in 1998 at the Center for Philosophy and Philosophy of Science at the University of Konstanz. Since then, he has held Visiting Lecturer positions at the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Free University of Berlin. His research interests focus on seventeenth century metaphysics and philosophy of science and on the history of early analytic philosophy. He is the author of a monograph about the logical structure of Leibniz’s metaphysics (Der logische Aufbau von Leibniz’ Metaphysik, Berlin-New York: De Gruyter, 2001), as well as numerous articles on the philosophy of Leibniz and the early Wittgenstein. His current research projects concern the role of the Stoic conception of pneuma in the development of Leibniz’s theory of matter, and the influence of the constructivism in Neo-Kantian philosophy of science on Wittgenstein’s early philosophy of logic.

2008

Articles:

“Julius Caesar Scaliger on Corpuscles and the Vacuum.” Forthcoming in Perspectives on Science. “Composite Substance, Common Notions, and Kenelm Digby’s Theory of Animal Generation.” Science in Context 20 (2007), 1–20.
“Wittgenstein on Action, Expectation, and Internal Relations, 1930–1932.”
Inquiry 50 (2007), 270–287. “Formal Concepts and Material Points in the Early Wittgenstein.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 37 (2007), 245–262.
“Dalgarno, Wilkins, Leibniz and the Descriptive Nature of Metaphysical Concepts.” In Leibniz and the English Speaking World. Edited by Pauline Phemister and Stuart Brown. Dordrecht: Springer, 2007, 51–61.

Presentations:

“Clauberg, Arnauld, and Locke’s Critique of Maxims”, Invited Lecture, Conference on Locke and Port Royal, Maison Francaise d’Oxford, Oxford, UK,
2 May 2008 “Sennert, Boyle, and Leibniz on Organisms and Subordinate Forms”, Invited Lecture, Colloque Leibniz et les machines de la nature, ENS & Sorbonne, Paris, France, 14–15 March 2008 “Existential Dependence and the Question of Emanative Causation in Protestant Metaphysics, 1570–1620”, Invited Lecture, Early Modern Philosophy Colloquium, University of Chicago, USA, 7 March 2008 “Jean Riolan the Elder on Animal Generation and the Question of Pantheism”, Invited Lecture, Nature et surnaturel. Philosophies de la nature aux 16e et 17e siecles, Université du Luxembourg, 22–23 February 2008

2011
Biomedical Ontology and the Metaphysics of Composite Substances, 1540–1670. Munich: Philosophia, 2010.


“Daniel Sennert on Poisons, Epilepsy, and Subordinate Forms.” Perspectives on Science 19 (2011): 192–211.

“Material Souls and Imagination in Late Aristotelian Embryology.” Annals of Science 67 (2010): 187–204.

“Julius Caesar Scaliger on Plant Generation and the Question of Species Constancy.” Early Science and Medicine 15 (2010): 266–286.

“Sennert and Leibniz on Animate Atoms.” In Machines of Nature and Composite Substances in Leibniz. Edited by Justin E. H. Smith and Ohad Nachtomy. Dordrecht: Springer, 2011, 115–130.

“On Interpreting Leibniz’s Mill.” In Interpretation. Ways of Thinking about the Sciences and the Arts. Edited by Peter Machamer and Gereon Wolters. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010, 111–129.

2012

Articles:

“Wittgenstein on Verification and Seeing-As, 1930–1932.” Inquiry 54 (2011): 614–632.

“Sennert and Leibniz on Animate Atoms.” In Machines of Nature and Composite Substances in Leibniz. Edited by Justin E. H. Smith and Ohad Nachtomy. Dordrecht: Springer, 2011, 115–130.

Talks:

“Derogatory Judgments and Late Aristotelian Theories of Noncomparative Justice”, Department of Philosophy, University of Hamburg, Germany, April 2012

“Domingo de Soto on Noncomparative Justice and the Benefit of Doubt”, Department of Philosophy, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, March 2012

“Mary Astell on Self-Esteem”, Conference on ‘Philosophizing Women and Theories of Affectivity in the 17th Century”, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary, March 2012

2015

“Domingo de Soto on Justice to the Poor.” Intellectual History Review 25 (2015): 133–146.

“Mary Astell on Flattery and Self-Esteem.” The Monist 98 (2015): 53–63.

“Domingo de Soto on Doubts, Presumptions, and Noncomparative Justice.” History of Philosophy Quarterly 32 (2015): 1–18.

“Wittgenstein on Aspect Blindness and Meaning Blindness” (with Ohad Nach-tomy). Iyyun. The Jerusalem Philosophical Quarterly 64 (2015): 43–62.

“Nicolaus Taurellus on Forms and Elements.” Science in Context 27 (2014): 659–682.

“Material Causes and Incomplete Entities in Gallego de la Serna’s Theory of Animal Generation.” In The Life Sciences in Early Modern Philosophy. Edited by Ohad Nachtomy and Justin Smith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, 117–136.

2016

Book:

Ontological Dependence and the Metaphysics of Individual Substances, 1540–1716. Munich: Philosophia, 2015

Articles:
“Leibniz, Locke, and the Early Modern Controversy over Legal Maxims.” History of European Ideas 41 (2015): 1080–1092.

“Zabarella and the Early Leibniz on the Diachronic Identity of Living Beings.” Studia Leibnitiana 47 (2015): 86–102.

“Leibniz and the Early Modern Controversy over the Right of International Medi-ation.” In “Das Recht kann nicht ungerecht sein …” Beiträge zu Leibniz’ Philosophie der Gerechtigkeit. Edited by Wenchao Li (Studia Leibnitiana Sonderheft 44). Stuttgart: Steiner, 2015, 117–135.
“Presumption and Leibniz’s Metaphysics of Action.” In Leibniz’s Metaphysics and Adoption of Substantial Form. Edited by Adrian Nita (New Synthese Historical Library). Dordrecht: Springer, 2015, 89–106.

Oh, and perhaps you could update my professional affiliation?: University of Paderborn, Germany

2017

Animals. New Essays. Edited by Andreas Blank, Munich: Philosophia, 2016, 446 pp. Includes contributions by Kristin Andrews, Gary Chartier, Tobias Cheung, Stephen Clark, Devin Henry, Hiro Hirai, Peter Machamer, Ariel Meirav, Eric Olson, Pauline Phemister, Mark Rowlands and Justin Smith.

“Striving Possibles and Leibniz’s Cognitivist Theory of Volition.” Journal of Early Modern Studies 5 (2016): 29–52.

“D’Holbach on Self-Esteem, Justice, and Cosmopolitanism.” Eighteenth-Century Studies 49 (2016): 439–453.
 
“Ontologie und Metaphilosophie in Leibniz’ Mühlenargument.” ["Ontology and Metaphilosophy in Ledibniz's Mill Argument"] In Harmonie und Realität. Beiträge zu Leibniz’ später Philosophie. Edited by Thomas Leinkauf and Stefan Meier-Oeser (Studia Leibnitiana Sonderheft 51). Stuttgart: Steiner, 2017, 161–177.
 
“D’Holbach über Wahrhaftigkeit als politische Tugend.” [“D’Holbach on Truthfulness as a Political Virtue.”] In Aufrichtigkeitseffekte. Signale, soziale Interaktionen und Medien im Zeitalter der Aufklärung. Edited by Simon Bunke and Katerina Mihaylova. Freiburg: Rombach, 2016, 177–194.

“Renaissance Aristotelianism and the Conciliatory Approach to Individuation in the Early Leibniz.” In Leibniz’ Rezeption der Aristotelischen Logik und Metaphysik. Edited by Juan-Antonio Nicolás and Niels Öffenberger. Hildesheim: Olms, 2016, 257–272.