Deborah Boyle
Associate Professor
Deborah Boyle’s primary research interests are in the history of modern philosophy. Her most recent research focuses on the writings of seventeenth-century women philosophers, including Mary Astell, Anne Conway, and Margaret Cavendish. She is currently writing a book on the philosophical thought of Cavendish.
Education
1999 - Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh
1993 - M.A., Philosophy, University of Pittsburg
1989 - B.A., Philosophy, Wellesley College
1987-88 - Oxford University, Somerville College (junior year abroad)
Research Interests
- History of modern philosophy
- Descartes and Hume
- 17th century women philosophers, Anne Conway and Margaret Cavendish
Publications
"Mary Astell and Cartesian 'Scientia.'" Forthcoming in The New Science and Women's Literary Discourse: Prefiguring Frankenstein, ed. Judy Hayden (Palgrave Press).
Descartes on Innate Ideas. London: Continuum, 2009.
"Spontaneous and Sexual Generation in Conway's Principles." In The Problem of Animal Generation in Modern Philosophy, ed. Justin E. H. Smith, 175-193. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
"Fame, Virtue, and Government: Margaret Cavendish on Ethics and Politics." Journal of the History of Ideas 67, no. 2 (April 2006).
"Margaret Cavendish's Nonfeminist Natural Philosophy." Configurations 12 (2004): 195-227.
"Hume on Animal Reason." Hume Studies 29, no.1 (April 2003): 3-28.
"Decartes on Innate Ideas." The Modern Schoolman 78 (November 2000): 35-50.
"Descartes' Natural Light Reconsidered." Journal of the History of Philosophy 37, no. 4 (October 1999).
