Faculty

Benjamin Allen

Contact Info:
Department of Philosophy
Miner Hall, room 114
Tufts University
Medford, MA 02155

617-627-2874
Email Prof. Allen

Office Hours:
Tues., Thurs., 2:30-3:30 or by appt.

Lecturer
Ancient Philosophy

Biography

Benjamin Allen studied philosophy at Yale, the University of Kentucky and Rutgers. Now he mainly studies Greek philosophy. He's been researching two paradoxes of Zeno, the Racetrack and the Achilles, with a particular focus on the oral, question-and-answer form of the original paradoxes, and on Aristotle's use of diagrams in responding to them.

More broadly, he is especially interested in three subjects. First is Zeno, those who influenced him, and those he influenced. Second is the philosophical significance of different methods of speaking and writing (among them ancient question-and-answer arguments and ancient diagram arguments). Third is the infinite, and the way in which infinity manifests itself in multifarious ways.

Education

Ph.D., Rutgers University
MA, University of Kentucky
BA, Yale University

Course Summary for Fall '09 Intro Classes

Evil. Beauty. Death. Time. Infinity.
We will examine five philosophically perplexing topics, topics that many of us have wondered about at one time or another. In each case, we'll start from scratch, trying to survey the range of questions that might confront a philosophical investigator. Then we'll proceed to read a series of writings by philosophers on the given theme. The goal is to learn to think and write philosophically about ideas that we have already encountered, but may not have examined.