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EMILY C. KATZ

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Visiting Assistant Professor

Curriculum Vitae: CV 2015.pdf

Email: ekatz@msu.edu

Education & Research Interests 

Emily Katz received her PhD in Philosophy from Duquesne University in 2008. Her primary research interests are ancient Greek mathematics and metaphysics, Aristotle’s Metaphysics (in particular Books M and N), Aristotle's notions of separation and priority, and Aristotle’s treatment of his predecessors’ views (especially—but not limited to— their views about first principles and mathematical objects). She is also interested in the related question of how much we can understand about Aristotle’s predecessors and contemporaries from his discussions of their views. 

Publications

Emily has published articles on:

The twelfth aporia of Metaphysics B, showing that this is more than merely a puzzle about the hypostatization of mathematical objects; it is also a puzzle about the ontological status of mathematicals relative to sensibles. (Mathematical Substances in Aristotle's Metaphysics B.5: Aporia 12 Revisited. Accepted for publication in Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie)

The motivations for and nature of Aristotle’s refutation of separate mathematical substances, focusing on the opening argument of the M.2 critique. (An Absurd Accumulation: Metaphysics M.2 1076b11-36. Phronesis 59, 343-68)

Aristotle’s critique of his predecessors’ views of mathematical objects (Aristotle’s Critique of Platonist Mathematical Objects: Two Test Cases from Metaphysics M.2. Apeiron 46, 2013, pp. 26-47)

Priority relations in Metaphysics IX.9. (The Bad is Last but does not Last: Metaphysics IX.9. Co-authored with Ron Polansky. Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 31, 2006, pp. 233-242)

Current Projects

Emily is currently working on the structure of M-N, with the aim of showing that these two books form a unity, and that they carry out the three-part inquiry outlined in M.1. She is also working on ontological separation in the Metaphysics, ontological priority in Categories 5, 12, and 13, and, as a side project, the treatment of philosophy in the Rival Lovers.