Ashley Attwood is a PhD Candidate in Philosophy at Stanford University. She specializes in Ancient Greek philosophy, with a focus on Aristotle's philosophy of science. Her research focuses broadly on the intersections between history and science, with a specific focus on the role predecessors or a tradition play in collectively shaping the development of thought and theory.
SHC Project
Aristotle and his Predecessors: the Argument De Anima I
Attwood's dissertation examines the role a historical survey of predecessors plays in Aristotle's own investigation into the nature and essence of the soul. The project seeks to develop a novel reading of Aristotle's De Anima I which not only highlights methodological and metaphysical upshots, but also captures the unique way in which Aristotle approached scientific inquiry concerning the soul. It then treats Aristotle himself as a predecessor, specifically of Descartes, as it traces the changes in explanatory and metaphysical commitments that ultimately undermined the scientific legitimacy of any investigation of the soul and further gave rise to the notoriously intractable mind-body problem.