Tammy Nyden-Bullock

B.A. in Philosophy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 1993
M.A. in Philosophy, Baylor University, 1995
Ph.D. in Philosophy, Claremont Graduate University, 2003

Spinoza's Radical Cartesian Mind (Thoemmes-Continuum, May 2007)

I am currently examining a political movement in seventeenth-century Holland called "Radical Cartesianism." This movement applies ideas from the New Philosophy (particular those of Hobbes and Descartes) to the political and theological debates of the time. On the basis of self-interest and a Cartesian understanding of the passions, Radical Cartesianism argues for religious, intellectual, and economic freedom, toleration and democracy.

Spinoza was closely associated with members of the Radical Cartesian movement and his political philosophy presents the first philosophical systematization of its central ideas. This book reconstructs the development of Spinoza's thinking about the human mind, error, truth, and falsity and explains how this development allowed Spinoza to provide the philosophical foundations for Radical Cartesian political theory. I argue that Spinoza's rejection of Cartesian epistemology involves much more than the metaphysical problem of dualism—it involves, ironically, Spinoza's attempt to make coherent a political theory bearing Descartes' name.

Articles:

"Parallelism à la Mode"

Spinoza scholars agree that the Parallelism Doctrine (the view that the order and connections of ideas is the same as that of things) is foundational to Spinoza's philosophical system. This paper argues that Parallelism is a relatively late innovation in Spinoza's thought. I show that the Short Treatise, considered an early version of the Ethics, does not contain parallelism and lacks the ontology to do so. I contend that such a study of Spinoza's development can greatly help us understand Spinoza's mature system, giving us insight into how parts of the system fit together. This study in particular shows that it was the introduction of a third kind of mode that made parallelism possible, thus allowing Spinoza to make consistent his unique understanding of the mind-body union.

"Naturalizing Necessity: Nietzsche's Theory of Causality"

Nietzsche, like Spinoza before him, uses a naturalized psychology to explain how humans can increase their activity and power by acknowledging and accepting necessity. For Spinoza necessity is, among other things, causal necessity, that being the the efficient causality of mechanistic science. Nietzsche, on the other hand, rejects this modern view of causality and replaces it with the perspective of dynamic causality. This paper examines Nietzsche's criticism of modern causality and his alternative view of necessity.

Introduction to Philosophy
Ethics and Contemporary Moral Issues
Early Modern Philosophy
Philosophy of Science
Senior Seminar in the History of Philosophy

Participant in "Alchemy and Matter Theory", a one-day workshop at Notre Dame University, October 7, 2005.
The Kristeller-Popkin Travel Fellowship. Sponsored by the Journal of the History of Philosophy, 2005. Funding for travel and archival research in The Netherlands, June 2005.
National Endowment of the Humanities Summer Institute: "The Intersection of Philosophy, Science, and Religion in the Seventeenth Century." July 2004.
Netherland-America Foundation FellowÑAwarded Through the Fulbright Program. Funding for travel, archival research and living expenses in The Netherlands, August 2001 to April 2002.
"The Early Enlightenment in the Dutch Republic, 1650-1750." Member of research program at Erasmus University of Rotterdam, August 2001 to April 2002.

"Radical Cartesian Politics: Velthuysen, De la Court, and Spinoza" Studia Spinozana, 15, forthcoming.
"Sankara, Spinoza, and Santaraksita," Studies on Santaraksita, eds. Marie Friquegnon and Philippe Turenne, Global Scholarly Publications, forthcoming.
Bibliographies on Pierre Bayle, Giordano Bruno, Chuang-tzu, Hsun-tzu, Mencius, Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, and Isaac Newton, World Philosophy, rev. ed., Salem Press, 2000.
"Salvation in a Naturalized World: The Role of the Will and Intellect in the Philosophies of Nietzsche and Spinoza," NASS Monograph # 7, ed. Steven Barbone, North American Spinoza Society, 1999.

Presentations:

"Spinoza's Radical Cartesian Roots: De la Court and Dutch Politics", Iowa Philosophical Association Conference, November 2005.
"Sankara, Spinoza, and Santaraksita." International Conference on Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, Fordham University, November 1, 2003.
"The Metaphysical Appendix and its Place in the Development of SpinozaÕs Theories of Error and Falsity." International conference on "le contexte intellectual du spinozisme" organized by Le Groupe de recherches spinozistes (CERPHI) and lÕAssociation des Amis de Spinoza. Sorbonne, Paris, France, March 30, 2002.
"Individuals and Singular Things: SpinozaÕs Unified Account of Individuation and Identity." University of Turku, Finland, November 7, 2001.
"Self-identity in Spinoza" Claremont Early Modern Studies Graduate Symposium, March 6, 1999.
"Salvation in a Naturalized World: The Role of the Will and Intellect in the Philosophies of Nietzsche and Spinoza" North American Spinoza Society, May 1998.
"Salvation in a Naturalized World" Syracuse University Graduate Philosophy Conference, March 7, 1998.

Professional Memberships:

American Philosophical Association
North American Spinoza Society
North American Nietzsche Society
American Association of University Women
De Vereniging Het Spinozahuis