Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Theoretical Philosophy / History of Philosophy

Dr. Can Laurens Löwe

Loewe_Foto

 

Can Laurens Löwe is a post-doctoral research associate of the DFG-funded project "Human Abilities", directed by Dominik Perler (HU Berlin) and Barbara Vetter (FU Berlin). He obtained his B.A. in philosophy (with a minor in art history) at the HU Berlin, and he then pursued graduate work at KU Leuven where he obtained his PhD in philosophy in 2016 with a dissertation on Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy of action. After receiving his PhD, he worked as a post-doctoral researcher at KU Leuven on a project on medieval theories of efficient causation, funded by the Flemish Research Council (FWO). From 2018 until May 2020 he was a post-doctoral research associate at Purdue University. His area of expertise is Latin medieval metaphysics, in particular theories of human agency and causal powers in high and late scholasticism. He is also interested in contemporary metaphysics as well as in ancient philosophy, in particular in Aristotle. He is currently working on a book project on powers of the soul in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century thought.

 

Academic CV

Publications

Research Projects

Recent Talks

Teaching

Contact Details

Office Hours

 

Academic CV

 

since 05/2020

Post-Doctoral Research Associate of the DFG-funded project "Human Abilities" (www.human-abilities.de), conducted by Dominik Perler (HU Berlin) and Barbara Vetter (FU Berlin)

 

08/2018-05/2020

Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the Department of Philosophy, Purdue University

 

05/2016–07/2018

Post-Doctoral Research Associate of the Flemish Research Council (FWO) at the Department of Philosophy, KU Leuven.

 

04/2016

Ph.D. in Philosophy, KU Leuven

 

2011

M.Phil. in Philosophy, KU Leuven

 

2010

M.A. in Philosophy, KU Leuven

 

2009

B.A. in Philosophy (major) and Art History (minor), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

 

Publications

 

Monograph:

  • Thomas Aquinas on the Metaphysics of the Human Act. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (forthcoming).

 

As editor:

  • Ed. Powers and Essences in Medieval Philosophy: Special Issue of Vivarium (forthcoming)

 

Articles:

  • “Bonaventure on the Soul and Its Powers.” In Powers and Essences in Medieval Philosophy (Special Issue of Vivarium), ed. Can Laurens Löwe (forthcoming).
  • “Thomas Aquinas on Our Freedom to Use Our Habitus.” In The Ontology, Psychology and Axiology of Habits (Habitus) in Medieval Philosophy (= Vol. 7 of Historical-Analytical Studies on Nature, Mind and Action), ed. Magali Roques and Nicolas Faucher. Cham: Springer, 2018, pp. 167–184.
  • “John Duns Scotus versus Thomas Aquinas on Action-Passion Identity.” British Journal for the History of Philosophy 26 (6) (2018): pp. 1027–1044.
  • “Aristotle and John Buridan on the Individuation of Causal Powers.” Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy 6 (2018): pp. 189–222.   
  • “Peter Auriol on the Metaphysics of Efficient Causation.” Vivarium 55 (4) (2017): pp. 239–272.
  • with Jan Heylen. “Zelfpredikatie: middeleeuwse en hedendagse perspectieven.” Tijdschrift voor Filosofie 79 (2017): pp. 239–258.
  • “The Blessed Virgin and the Two Time-Series: Hervaeus Natalis and Durand of St. Pourçain on Limit Decision.” Vivarium 55 (1–3) (2017): pp. 36–59.     
  • “Sein, Sache, Ordnung: Thomas von Aquin über Wahrmacher und die Beziehung des Wahrmachens.” Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 99 (2) (2017): pp. 156–193
  • “Mind over Matter: Aquinas’s Transformation of Aristotle’s Definition of ‘Change’.” Archives d'Histoire Doctrinale et Littéraire du Moyen Âge 82 (2015): pp. 45–68.
  • “Gregory of Rimini on the Intension and Remission of Corporeal Forms.” Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales 81 (2) (2014): pp. 273–330.

 

Reviews:

  • Antonia Fitzpatrick. Thomas Aquinas on Bodily Identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. Archa Verbi (forthcoming).
  • Thomas M. Osborne Jr. Human Action in Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham. Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2014. Tijdschrift voor Filosofie 76 (3) (2014): 597–600.

 

Current Research Projects

 

  • Latin Medieval Theories of the Powers of the Soul (ca. 1250-1350) (book project)
  • Latin Medieval Theories of the Powers of the Soul: A Reader (reader project)
  • Thomas Aquinas on the Soul’s Powers and Their Dependence on the Soul and Duns Scotus’s Critique (article)
  • Thomas Aquinas on Mental Causation (article)

 

Recent Talks (2018-2020)

 

 

  • “Aquinas on Contact of Power (tactus virtutis).” APA Central Division Meeting. Chicago, February 27th, 2020.
  • “Bonaventure on the Soul and Its Powers.” Mind and Body: Aspects of Medieval Natural Philosophy. University of Łódź. June 14th, 2019.
  • “Aquinas on Practical Judgment.” Midwestern Medieval Philosophy Colloquium. University of Notre Dame, April 5th, 2019.
  • “Response to Daniel Simpson’s paper “Supercharged Substances: Ockham on Substantial Powers”.” APA Central Division Meeting. Denver, February 21st, 2019.
  • “Thomas Aquinas on Human Action as a Power Exercise.” Cornell Summer Colloquium in Medieval Philosophy. New York City, June 7th, 2018.
  • “Thomas Aquinas, Henry of Ghent, and Thomas of Sutton on Powers and Their Grounds.” APA Central Division Meeting. Chicago, February 22nd, 2018.
     

Teaching

 

Purdue University

Spring 2020

  • PHIL 110: Introduction to Philosophy

Fall 2019

  • PHIL 302: History of Medieval Philosophy

Spring 2019

  • PHIL 110: Introduction to Philosophy

Fall 2018

  • PHIL 502 (Studies in Medieval Philosophy): Powers of the Soul in Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Thought

 

KU Leuven

Fall 2017­–Spring 2018  

  • Research Seminar: Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Philosophy (gemeinsam mit Jan Opsomer): Ancient and Medieval Theories of Universals
  • Bachelor’s Paper with Seminar: Ancient and Medieval Philosophy (gemeinsam mit Jenny Pelletier)

Fall 2016

  • Medieval Philosophy Advanced Course: Powers in Medieval Philosophy

Fall 2015

  • BA Seminar: Medieval Philosophy (Texts): Free Will in the Middle Ages

Spring 2013

  • BA Seminar: Ancient Philosophy (Texts): Metaphysics in Antiquity

 

Contact Details

Office: Charlottenstraße 81, room 1.3.13

E-Mail: can.laurens.loewe@hu-berlin.de

Phone: (+49) (0)30 2093 70496

Address: Kollegforschungsgruppe "Human Abilities", Charlottenstraße 81, 10969 Berlin

 

Office Hours

By appointment. Please send me an e-mail in advance.