Department of Philosophy
Home Address:
Purdue University: LAEB
9730 E 1000 S
West Lafayette, IN 47907
Clarks Hill, IN 47930
(765) 494-4288, -4275
(765) 523-3586
E-mail: jacover@purdue.edu
Fax: (765) 496-1616
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. in Philosophy, Syracuse University,
Fall 1989.
Dissertation: "Leibniz on Time and Causality"
M.A. in Philosophy, Syracuse University,
Fall 1984.
Thesis: "Causal Theories of Time: Leibniz and Reichenbach"
B.A. in Philosophy, Syracuse University,
Fall 1981.
B.S. in Biochemistry, University
of California, Davis, Spring 1979.
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION:
History of Early Modern Philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science.
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS:
1995- Associate Professor, Department
of Philosophy, Purdue University, IN
1989-95 Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy,
Purdue University, IN
1986-89 Instructor in Philosophy, Hobart and William Smith
Colleges, Geneva, NY
1983-86 Senior Teaching Staff, Department of Philosophy,
Syracuse University, NY
1979-80 Staff Research Associate, Department of Biochemistry
and Biophysics, University of
California, Davis, CA
AWARDS AND GRANTS:
University Faculty Scholar, Purdue University, 1999-2004.
Fellow, Center for Humanistic Studies, Spring 1997, Purdue
University.
Faculty Incentive Research Grant, 1994, Purdue Research
Foundation.
International Travel Grant, 1994, Purdue Research Foundation;
toward air travel to the Sixth
International Leibniz Congress, Hannover, Germany.
Summer Faculty Research Grant, 1992, Purdue Research Foundation.
National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council,
1991; grant toward expenses to participate in the 9th
International
Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science; Uppsala, Sweden.
International Travel Grant, 1991, Purdue Research Foundation,
toward air travel to International
Congress LMPS (Sweden).
Publication Subsidy Grant, Office of the Vice-President
for Research, Syracuse University, 1989-90; for an
anthology on early
modern philosophy.
Summer Research Fellowship, 1989, Department of Philosophy,
Syracuse University.
Curriculum Development Grant, College of Arts and Sciences,
Syracuse University, 1987; to complete manuscript
of an introductory
philosophy text (w/ R. Garns).
Winner, 1986 Leibniz Society of North America Essay Competition.
University Senate Research Fellowship, Syracuse University,
Summer 1985.
Masters Award in the Humanities (all-University prize
for best Masters Thesis), Syracuse University, 1984.
S. M. Marcus University Scholar, Syracuse University,
1981.
California State Scholar, University of California, Davis,
1977-79.
PUBLICATIONS:
BOOKS:
Substance and Individuation in Leibniz, co-authored
with J. OíLeary-Hawthorne. Cambridge University Press,
1999.
x + 307 pp. A research monograph.
Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues, co-edited
and -authored w/ M. Curd. New York: W. W. Norton &
Company,
1998. xx + 1379 pp. A comprehensive anthology of twentieth-century
philosophy of science
with 386
pp. of extended commentary divided among nine chapters.
Central Themes in Early Modern Philosophy, co-edited
w/ M. Kulstad. Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett
Publishing
Company, 1990. xiii + 336 pp. A collection of new essays in
the history of early modern
metaphysics
and epistemology.
Theories of Knowledge and Reality: An Introduction
to the Problems and Arguments of Philosophy, co-authored
w/ R.
Garns. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1990; Second Edition,
1994, xiv + 399 pp. A
textbook.
ARTICLES:
"Spinozaís Extended Substance: Cartesian and Leibnizian
Reflections," forthcoming in C. Huenemann and R.
Genarro,
eds., New Essays on the Rationalists (Oxford, 1999).
"A World of Universals," Philosophical Studies
91 (1998), 205-219, w/ J. OíLeary-Hawthorne.
"Miracles and Christian Theism," in M. Murray, ed.,
Reason for the Hope Within (Eerdmans, 1998), 345-74.
--A significantly revised version of this paper appears as "Miracles and
(Christian) Theism," in Eleonore
Stump & Michael Murray, eds., Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions
(Blackwell, 1999), 334-352.
"Framing the Thisness Issue," Australasian Journal
of Philosophy 75 (1997), 102-08, w/ J. OíLeary-Hawthorne.
"Non-basic Time and Reductive Strategies: Leibnizís
Theory of Time," Studies in History and Philosophy of
Science 28 (1997), 289-318.
"Materialism and Human Freedom," in Faith, Freedom
and Rationality, ed. by J. Jordon and D. Howard-Snyder
(Rowman & Littlefield, 1996), 47-71, w/ J. OíLeary-Hawthorne.
"Haecceitism and Anti-Haecceitism in Leibnizís Philosophy,"
Noûs 30 (1996), 1-30, w/ J. OíLeary-Hawthorne.
--This
paper, selected as "among the ten best articles to appear in print in 1996,"
is reprinted in Patrick Grim
et. al., eds., The Philosopherís Annual: 1996 (Atascadero:
Ridgeview Publishing Company, 1998), 161-88.
"Prospects for a Leibnizian Causal Theory of Time,"
Leibniz und Europa: VI Internationaler Leibniz-Kongress.
Vorträge (Hannover: G.-W.-Leibniz Gesellschaft, 1995),
72-79.
"Are Leibnizian Monads Spatial?" History of Philosophy
Quarterly 11 (1994), 295-316, w/ G. Hartz.
"Reference, Modality and Relational Time," Philosophical
Studies 70 (1993), 251-77.
"Leibnizian Essentialism, Transworld Identity, and
Counterparts," History of Philosophy Quarterly 9 (1992),
425-45, w/ J. Hawthorne.
"Absolute/Relative," entry in The Handbook of
Metaphysics and Ontology. 2 Vols. H. Burkhardt and B. Smith,
eds. (Munich: Philosophia Verlag, 1991), 2-5.
"Leibniz on Superessentialism and World-Bound Individuals,"
Studia Leibnitiana 22 (1990), 175-85, w/ J. Hawthorne.
"Reduction and Relations in Leibniz," Pacific
Philosophical Quarterly 70 (1989), 185-211.
"Space and Time in the Leibnizian Metaphysic," Noûs
22 (1988), 493-519, w/ G. Hartz.
--This paper
is anthologized in Leibniz: Critical Assessments, ed. R. Woolhouse
(London: Blackwell, 1994),
76-103.
"Causal Priority and Causal Conditionship," Synthese
71 (1987), 19-36.
CRITICAL REVIEWS/ARTICLES, NOTICES
Critical Review, of LEIBNIZ AND CLARKE:
A STUDY OF THEIR CORRESPONDENCE, [Oxford], by Ezio Vailati,
Leibniz Society Review 8 (1998), 105-12.
Critical Review Article, responding to LEIBNIZíS
THEORY OF RELATIONS [Steiner Verlag], by Massimo Mugnai,
in Leibniz Society Review 5 (1995), 1-10. (Authorís reply: LSR
5 (1995), 11-14.)
Critical Notice of UNREALITY: THE
METAPHYSICS OF FICTIONAL OBJECTS [Cornell], by Charles Crittenden,
in
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 54 (1994), 225-29.
Critical Review of LEIBNIZ'S METAPHYSICS:
A HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE STUDY [Princeton], by
Catherine Wilson, in Leibniz Society Review 3 (1993), 7-12.
(Authorís reply: LSR 4 (1994), 5-8.)
Critical Review of THE PHILOSOPHY
OF LEIBNIZ: METAPHYSICS AND PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE [Oxford], by
Benson
Mates, in Noûs 24 (1990), 169-74, w/ G. Hartz.
BOOK REVIEWS
Book Review of LEIBNIZ AND CLARKE:
A STUDY OF THEIR CORRESPONDENCE [Oxford], by Ezio Vailati,
Journal
of the History of Philosophy 37 (1999), 533-35.
Book Review of LEIBNIZ AND THE RATIONAL
ORDER OF NATURE [Cambridge], by Donald Rutherford, in
Philosophical
Books 38 (1997), 185-88.
Book Review of HAECCEITY: AN ONTOLOGICAL
ESSAY [Kluwer Academic Publishers], by Gary Rosenkrantz,
in Australasian
Journal of Philosophy 74 (1996), 397-98.
Book Review of THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION
TO LEIBNIZ [Cambridge], ed. Nicholas Jolley, in Philosophical
Books
(1996), 176-78.
Book Review of DESCARTES, SPINOZA,
LEIBNIZ: THE CONCEPT OF SUBSTANCE IN 17TH-CENTURY
METAPHYSICS [Routledge], by R. S. Woolhouse, Review of Metaphysics
XLIX (1996), 687-89.
Book Review of GOD AND NATURE:
SPINOZA'S METAPHYSICS [Brill], ed. by Yirmiyahu Yovel, in Shofar
12
(1993), 98-100.
Book Review of G. W. LEIBNIZ'S MONADOLOGY:
AN EDITION FOR STUDENTS [Pittsburgh], by Nicholas Rescher,
in Leibniz
Society Review 1 (1991), 7-8.
Book Review of SPINOZA AND MORAL FREEDOM
[SUNY], by S. Paul Kashap, in The Philosophical Review 100
(1991), 160-64.
PRESENTATIONS:
"Sufficient Reason and the Identity of Indiscernibles in Leibniz,"
University of Utah, February 1999.
"Perception, 'Judgment', and Error in Leibniz," commentary on
Keya Maitra's "Leibnis's Account of Error,"
Eastern Division APA meeting,
Washington DC, December 1998.
"Thomistic Universals," commentary on Brian Leftow's "Aquinas'
Theory of Universals," at the 3rd Annual Midwest
Metaphysics Conference (MMM),
University of Notre Dame, July 1998.
"Leibniz and the Threat of 'Spinozism': How Many Things
Are There?" Center for Humanistic Studies,
Purdue University, April 1998.
"Bisterfeld, Leibniz, and Trinitarian Links to Universal Harmony,"
commentary on M. Rosa Antognazza's
"Immeatio and Emperichoresis:
The Theological Roots of Harmony in Bisterfeld and Leibniz," Pacific
Division
APA meeting, Los Angeles, March
1998.
"Spatial Souls, Extended Souls," in conjunction with Stewart
Goetz's "Spatially Located Souls," at the 2nd Annual
Midwest Metaphysics Conference
(MMM), University of Notre Dame, August 1997.
"Miracles and Christian Theism," at the New England Seminar on
Christian Apologetics, Gordon College (MA),
July 1997.
"Ignoring Skepticism: Leibniz's Science of Intelligibles," commentary
on Wesley DeMarco's "Skepticism in the
Leibnizian Epistemology," Central
Division APA meeting, Pittsburgh, April 1997.
"Descartes, Attributes, and the Rational Distinction," commentary
on Lawrence Nolan's "Descartes' Theory of
Universals," Pacific Division
APA meeting, Berkeley, March 1997.
"A World of Universals," at the Midwest Metaphysics Conference
(MMM), University of Notre Dame, July 1996.
"Spinoza's Method in the Treatise and the Ethics," commentary
on Diane Steinberg's "Method and the Structure
of Knowledge in Spinoza," Central
Division APA meeting, Chicago, April 1996.
"Leibniz, Modality and the History of Philosophy," presented
at the Conference Philosophy and its History: Truth
and Context, Southern Illinois
University, February 1996.
"Modal Individuation in Leibniz," presented at the conference
Leibniz in the 1790s, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University, March 1995.
"Prospects for a Leibnizian Causal Theory of Time," presented
at the VI International Leibniz Congress, Hannover,
Germany, July 1994.
"Innate vs. Constructed Ideas in Descartes," commentary on William
Beardsley's "Descartes on Constructed Ideas,"
Central Division APA meeting,
Kansas City, May 1994.
"Human Freedom and Substance Dualism," presented to the Society
of Christian Philosophers at the Pacific Division
APA meeting, Los Angeles, March
1994.
"Leibniz on Time," presented at Ohio State University, Department
of Philosophy, Leibniz Seminar, November 1993.
--Short version of this
paper also presented at Northern Kentucky University, Philosophy Department,
November 1993.
"Haecceitism and Anti-Haecceitism in Leibniz's Philosophy," Purdue
University, Department of Philosophy
Colloquium Series, September
1993.
--Earlier version also presented
at the 1993 Midwest Seminar in History of Early Modern Philosophy, Washington
University, St. Louis, April
1993.
"Are Leibnizian Monads Spatial?" presented in colloquium on Early
Modern Philosophy, at the Central Division APA
Meetings, Chicago, April
1993.
"History of Philosophy and Doing Philosophy Historically," presented
at Berea College, September 1992.
"Modality and Leibnizian Space-Time," presented at Spring Meeting
of the Indiana Philosophical Association,
March 1992.
--Earlier version also presented
at Wayne State University, Philosophy Department Colloquium Series,
January 1992.
"Reference, Relationalism, and Times," presented at the Mid-South
Philosophy Conference, Memphis State
University, March 1992.
--Earlier version also presented
at the Arkansas Philosophical Association Meeting, University of Arkansas,
November 1991.
"Non-Basic Time and Reductive Strategies: Leibnizian Foundations,"
presented at the 9th International Congress
of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy
of Science, Uppsala, Sweden, August 1991.
"Spatial Recurrence," presented in colloquium on Space and Time
at Pacific Division APA Meeting, San Francisco,
March 1991.
"Savitt on Time Asymmetry," commentary on Steven Savitt's "Epistemological
Time Asymmetry," Central Division
APA Meeting, New Orleans, April
1990.
"Leibniz on Immanent Causality: How God Sustains the World (Without
Really Trying)," Purdue University,
Department of Philosophy Colloquium
Series, March 1990.
--Also presented at Syracuse University,
Philosophy of Religion Group, July 1990.
"Transworld Identity and Leibnizian Essentialism," Fall Meeting
of the Indiana Philosophical Association,
November 1989.
"Reduction and Relations in Leibniz," presented in colloquium
on Early Modern Philosophy at Pacific Division APA
Meeting, Berkeley, March 1989.
--Earlier versions also presented
to the Departments of Philosophy at University of California, Riverside;
California State University, San
Jose; and Purdue University, Spring 1989.
"Leibniz on Inter-Monadic Relations," presented at the Fall Meeting
of the New York State Philosophical
Association, November 1988.
"Space and Time in the Leibnizian Metaphysic," presented to the
Leibniz Society at the Pacific Division APA
Meeting, Los Angeles, March 1986.
OTHER PRESENTATIONS:
"Is Christianity Intellectually Credible?", faculty panel w/
open forum, Purdue University, January 1994.
"The Current Status of 70S Crosslinking," symposium on ribosome
biochemistry, UC Davis, February 1980.
WORK IN PROGRESS:
Leibniz's Rational Metaphysics of God and Creatures (working
title). In progress, for the Purdue University Press
History of Philosophy Series.
Target delivery Spring 2000. A book on Leibniz's Discourse on
Metaphysics.
"Leibnizís Modal Metaphysics," forthcoming in The Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy, December 1999.
"Cartesian Attributes and Relative Identity."
"Infinite Analysis and the Problem of Lucky Proof," w/ John Hawthorne.
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE:
UNIVERSITY
Faculty Censure and Dismissal Proceedings Committee
(1997-2000).
-- Hearing Panel (Spring,
Fall 1998 - Spring 1999 ).
Aquatic Center/Recreational Sports Center Advisory
Committee (1998- ).
SCHOOL
Center for Humanistic Studies Selection Committee
(1997- ).
-- Chair (1998-99).
Dean's Search Advisory Committee (1996).
Educational Policy Committee (1994-96).
Curriculum Committee (1991-94).
Grievance Committee (1990-92).
-- Steering Committee (1990-92).
-- Co-Chair of Hearing Panel (Spring
1991).
Honors Program Committee (1991-92).
DEPARTMENT
Director of Graduate Studies (1999- ).
Placement Director (1995-96, 1998-99).
Graduate Committee (1994-1996, 1998- ).
Undergraduate Committee (1989 - 94).
Academic Appeals Committee (1989 - 94).
-- Chair (1991 - 92).
Joint Committee for Reform of the Graduate Program
--Syracuse University (1988-89)
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
REFEREE AND READER
Noûs, Journal of Philosophical Research,
Journal of the History of Philosophy, International Studies in
Philosophy, Man and World, Archiv
für Geschichte der Philosophie, Faith and Philosophy, Journal
of the
History of Ideas, Wadsworth Publishing, W.
W. Norton & Company, University of Pittsburgh Press, Hackett
Publishing Company, Purdue University Press.
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES:
Philosophy of Science Association, American Philosophical
Association, Leibniz Society of North America,
Indiana Philosophical Association, Society of Christian
Philosophers, G.-W.-Leibniz Gesellschaft e. V.
SESSION CHAIR
-- APA "Author Meets Critics" session on Dennis Des Cheneís Physiologia:
Natural Philosophy in Late
Aristotelian and Cartesian Thought (Central Division,
Spring 1999, New Orleans).
-- Session of the Leibniz Society of North America (with Central Division
APA, Spring 1999, New Orleans).
-- APA Colloquium on Descartes (Pacific Division Meeting, Spring 1999,
Berkeley).
-- Session of the Leibniz Society of North America (with Central Division
APA, April 1997, Pittsburgh).
-- APA Colloquium on Semantic Realism (Pacific Division Meeting, March
1995, San Francisco).
-- APA Colloquium on Reference (Eastern Division Meeting, December
1994, Boston).
-- Session of the Leibniz Society of North America (with Pacific Division
APA, March 1992, Portland).
-- APA Colloquium on Early Modern Philosophy (Eastern Division Meeting,
December 1991, New York).
OFFICER:
Leibniz Society of North America: Executive Committee
(1995- ).
--Secretary/Treasurer (1995- ).
Indiana Philosophical Association: President
(1996-97).
--Vice President (1995-96).
--Secretary/Treasurer (1994-95).
OTHER:
Editorial Board, Purdue University Press (1999-
).