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- (909) 607-7732
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Scott Hall 220
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With ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ Since: 2009
PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
BA, Baghdad University
Islamic Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Islamic Theology
Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language, and Logic
- Life Fellow at Clare Hall College, University of Cambridge, 2014
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, Introduction to the Humanities Program: Stanford University, 2008-09
- Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, 2007-08
- Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001
- The Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Program, 2003
Edited Volumes
- Illuminationist Texts and Textual Studies, co-edited with Ali Gheissari and John Walbridge, Brill, forthcoming.
- Aristotle and Arabic Tradition, co-edited with Josh Hayes, Cambridge University Press, 2015.
- Refinement and Commentary of Suhrawardī’s Intimations: A Thirteenth Century Text On Natural Philosophy and Psychology, co-edited with Hossein Ziai, Mazda Publishers, 2002.
Articles in Refereed Journals
- “Taftaz�nī on the Liar Paradox: Truth, Goodness, and the “Irrational Root� (al- Jadhr al-aṣamm), co-authored with David Sanson, Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy, vol. 4, January 2017.
- “Avicenna on Animal Self-Awareness, Cognition and Identity,� Cambridge Journal of Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, February 2016.
- “Ibn Sīn� on Floating Man Arguments,� Journal of Islamic Philosophy, September 2015.
- “The Early Arabic Liar: The Liar Paradox in the Islamic World from the Mid- Ninth to the Mid-Thirteenth Centuries CE� co-authored with David Sanson, Vivarium Journal 47, 1999: 97-127.
Chapters in Edited Volumes
- “Suhrawardī and Ibn Kammūna on the Impossibility of Having Two Necessary Existents,� in Illuminationist Texts and Textual Studies, edited by Ali Gheissari, John Walbridge, and Ahmed Alwishah, Brill, forthcoming
- “Avicenna On Self-Cognition and Self-Awareness,� in Aristotle and Arabic Tradition, edited by Ahmed Alwishah with Josh Hayes, Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Translations
- Translation of the Arabic testimonia on Thales in Richard McKirahan, The Milesians Thales. De Gruyter, 2014.
Encyclopedia Entry
- “Ibn Kammūna Saʿd Ibn Manṣūr� an entry in The Biographical Encyclopaedia of Islamic Philosophy, edited by Oliver Leaman. Continuum, 2006.
Monograph
- Avicenna’s Philosophy of Mind and Body (Oxford University Press, under review)
- “Doubt in Islamic Theology and Philosophy,� at Doubt and Faith in Islam and Judaism Symposium, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, February 2, 2018.
- “Avicenna on Animal Self-Awareness, Cognition and Identity� at 9e colloque international de la Société Internationale d’Histoire des Sciences et de la Philosophie Arabes et Islamiques (S. I. H. S. P. A. I.), Paris, Univ. Paris Diderot- Paris 7, October 10, 2014.
- “Ziai on the Distinction between Peripatetic and Illuminationist Epistemology� at 10th Biennial Iranian Studies Conference, Montreal, Canada, August 8, 2014.
- “Divine Knowledge and Human Self-Awareness� Clare Hall Colloquium Cambridge University, May 6, 2014
- “Avicenna On Self-Cognition and Self-Awareness� at the conference of British Association for Islamic Studies, Edinburgh, April 10, 2014.
- “Avicenna on God’s Knowledge of the Universe and Human Cognition� at the conference of Ancient Cosmos: Concord Among Worlds, Durham University, Department of Classics and Ancient History, September, 20-22, 2013.
- “Avicenna and the Sameness Thesis in Human and Divine Intellect� at Moody Conference in Medieval Philosophy, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, March 9, 2013.
- “Dialectical Disputation in Quran� at the Conference of Contemplating the Qur’an (Tadabbur al-Qur’an), Howard University School of Divinity, March 24-25, 2013.
- “Avicenna on Animals Self-Awareness� at the 30th annual joint meeting of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP) with the Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science (SSIPS), Fordham University, October 20, 2012.
- Dialectical Disputation in Quran and the Greek Logic� at Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Early Modern Period: an Intramural Symposium for the Claremont Colleges, March 9, 2012.
- “Avicenna and Hume on Self-Knowledge� at the 29th annual joint meeting of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP) with the Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science (SSIPS), Fordham University, October 23, 2011.
- “Avicenna on Human Existence and Self-Awareness,� paper presented at the International Colloquium of the SIHSPAI: Philosophy and Science in Classical Islamic Civilisation, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, December 4, 2010.
- “Avicenna on Divine Self-Awareness and Human Self-Awareness� The 28th annual joint meeting of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP) with the Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy (SSIPS), October 17, 2010.
- “The Study of Islamic Philosophy in US,� Philosophy Department, Baghdad University, Art College, Iraq, January 2010.
- “Avicenna on Mental Language� at the 27th annual joint meeting of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP) with the Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science (SSIPS), Fordham University, 2009.
- “What is God? An Investigation of the Divine Attributes In Islamic Theology and Philosophy,� Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Stanford University, 2008.
- “Learning in the Religious Traditions,� Honors program, University of California, Riverside, 2006.
- “Avicenna’s Concept of Intention,� The International Conference on Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, Fordham University, NY, 2006.
- “Avicenna on ‘I exist’ and Self-Awareness,� Moody Conference in Medieval Philosophy, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, 2006.
- “Self-Knowledge in Islamic Philosophy,� The Human Condition Conference, Victoria University, Victoria, Canada, 2005.
- “The Arabic Liar Paradox,� Moody Conference in Medieval Philosophy, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, 2004.
- “Avicenna and Descartes on ‘I exist.’� The International Conference on Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, Fordham University, NY, 2003.
- “Avicenna on the Faculty of Representation.� The 20th Annual Ancient and Medieval Philosophy Dialogue Among Civilizations Conference, Binghamton University, NY, 2001.
- Served as external referee for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, an online resource, 2010:
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½, 2015-present
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½, 2009-15
- “Spinoza and Leibniz on Reality,� Spring 2011
- “God and Philosophy, Reason in Conflict,� Fall 2011 (with Yuval Avnur), Spring 2015
- “Islam vs. Islam,� Fall 2010, Fall 2014
- “Philosophy of Religion,� Spring 2009, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015
- “Introduction to Philosophy,� Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2013
- “History of Ethics,� Spring 2009
- “Islamic Philosophy,� Fall 2009, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013
- “Philosophical Questions� (A First-year Seminar), Fall 2012, Fall 2015
Claremont Graduate University, School of Religion
- “Ghazali: Philosophy and Theology,� Fall 2011
Stanford University, Introduction to the Humanities
- “Humanistic Perspectives on Science,� Winter and Spring 2009
- “Fate of Reason,� Winter and Spring 2008
UCLA, Philosophy Department
- “Topics in Islamic Philosophy,� Spring 2004, 2007
PhD Advising
I have supervised two successful PhD dissertations at Claremont Graduate University, School of Religion: Sana Tayyen “Ghazali, Aquinas, and Lita’arafu: The Interaction between Reason and Revelation for Interreligious Understanding,� 2014.
Ozgur Koca “Said Nursi’s Synthesis of Ashʿarite Occasionalism and Ibn ‘Arabī’s Metaphysical Cosmology: “Diagonal Occasionalism,� Modern Science, and Free Will,� 2014.
Recent Courses
- Introduction to Philosophy (PHIL7)
- History of Ethics (PHIL31)
- Philosophy of Religion (PHIL52)
- Islamic Philosophy (PHIL84)
- God and Philosophy (PHIL96)
- Islam vs. Islam (PHIL155)
- Spinoza and Leibniz on Reality (PHIL186S)