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Professor Deborah Brown

Professor

School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
deborah.brown@uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 52804

Overview

Research Interests

  • Early Modern Philosophy
    Early Modern Philosophy covers the period of philosophical thought roughly from 1650-1800, and encompasses radical changes in philosophical and scientific thinking and their intersection. Research interests include early modern and medieval theories of mind, action, metaphysics and epistemology, as well as social and political thought. Key figures of the early modern period include Descartes, Hobbes, Malebranche, Hume and the Cambridge Platonists and of the later medieval period, Aquinas, Ockham, Scotus, Buridan and Suárez.
  • Logic and the Philosophy of Science
    Logic and the Philosophy of Science examines fundamental issues in formal and informal reasoning, the nature of scientific reasoning, and other issues concerned with scientific method, scientific knowledge, the rise of modern science, the nature of scientific entities and metaphysical concepts that underlie science. Research interests include the emergence of the notion of force and theories of inertia, causation, emergent properties, functions and mereology.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts, The University of Queensland
  • Master of Arts, University of Toronto
  • PhD, University of Toronto

Publications

View all Publications

Grants

View all Grants

Supervision

View all Supervision

Publications

Book

  • Descartes and the ontology of everyday life

    Brown, Deborah J. and Normore, Calvin G. (2019). Descartes and the ontology of everyday life. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198836810.001.0001

  • Descartes and the Passionate Mind

    Brown, D. J. (2006). Descartes and the Passionate Mind. New York: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511554513

Book Chapter

  • Foundations of Human and Animal Sensory Awareness: Descartes and Willis

    Brown, Deborah and Key, Brian (2023). Foundations of Human and Animal Sensory Awareness: Descartes and Willis. Reading Descartes. (pp. 81-99) Florence: Firenze University Press. doi: 10.36253/979-12-215-0169-8.06

  • Agency, force, and inertia in Descartes and Hobbes

    Brown, Deborah (2021). Agency, force, and inertia in Descartes and Hobbes. Reconsidering causal powers: historical and conceptual perspectives. (pp. 94-120) edited by Benjamin Hill, Henrik Lagerlund and Stathis Psillos. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198869528.003.0005

  • Descartes’ dualism of mind and body in the development of psychological thought

    Brown, Deborah and Key, Brian (2020). Descartes’ dualism of mind and body in the development of psychological thought. Oxford research encyclopedia of psychology. (pp. 1-22) edited by Wade E. Pickren. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.486

  • The metaphysics of Cartesian persons

    Brown, Deborah (2019). The metaphysics of Cartesian persons. Mind, body, and morality: new perspectives on Descartes and Spinoza. (pp. 17-36) edited by Martina Reuter and Frans Svensson. New York, NY, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781351202831-3

  • Animal souls and beast machines: Descartes’s mechanical biology

    Brown, Deborah J. (2018). Animal souls and beast machines: Descartes’s mechanical biology. Animals: a history. (pp. 187-209) edited by Peter Adamson and G. Fay Edwards. New York, United States: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780199375967.003.0013

  • Power and passion in Hobbes, Descartes and Spinoza

    Brown, Deborah (2017). Power and passion in Hobbes, Descartes and Spinoza. The Routledge companion to seventeenth century philosophy. (pp. 334-353) edited by Dan Kaufman. New York, NY, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315771960-12

  • Being, formal versus objective

    Brown, Deborah (2016). Being, formal versus objective. The Cambridge Descartes lexicon. (pp. 60-65) edited by Lawrence Nolan. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511894695.027

  • Passion

    Brown, Deborah (2016). Passion. The Cambridge Descartes lexicon. (pp. 563-569) edited by Lawrence Nolan. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511894695.192

  • On bits and pieces in the history of philosophy

    Normore, Calvin G. and Brown, Deborah J. (2014). On bits and pieces in the history of philosophy. Composition as identity. (pp. 24-43) edited by Cotnoir, A. J. and Baxter, Donald L. M.. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

  • The Sixth Meditation: Descartes and the embodied self

    Brown, Deborah (2014). The Sixth Meditation: Descartes and the embodied self. The Cambridge Companion to Descartes' Meditations. (pp. 240-257) edited by David Cunning. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CCO9781139088220.013

  • Descartes and content skepticism

    Brown, Deborah (2013). Descartes and content skepticism. Descartes' Meditations: a critical guide. (pp. 25-42) edited by Karen Detlefsen. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781139030731.005

  • Understanding interaction revisited

    Brown, Deborah (2013). Understanding interaction revisited. Debates in modern philosophy: essential readings and contemporary responses. (pp. 54-63) edited by Stewart Duncan and Antonia LoLordo. New York, NY, United States: Routledge.

  • Agency and attention in Malebranche's Theory of Cognition

    Brown, Deborah (2012). Agency and attention in Malebranche's Theory of Cognition. Emotion and cognitive life in medieval and early modern philosophy. (pp. 217-233) edited by Martin Pickavé and Lisa Shapiro. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199579914.003.0012

  • Descartes on True and False Ideas

    Brown, Deborah J. (2008). Descartes on True and False Ideas. A Companion to Descartes. (pp. 196-215) edited by Janet Broughton and John Carriero. Carlton VIC, Australia: Blackwell Publishing. doi: 10.1002/9780470696439.ch12

  • Augustine And Descartes On The Function Of Attention In Perceptual Awareness

    Brown, D. J. (2007). Augustine And Descartes On The Function Of Attention In Perceptual Awareness. Consciousness: From Perception To Reflection In The History of Philosophy. (pp. 153-175) edited by S. Heniämaa, V. Läthennemaki and P. Remes. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4020-6082-3_7

  • Is Descartes' Body a Mode of Mind?

    Brown, D. J. (2007). Is Descartes' Body a Mode of Mind?. Forming The Mind: Essays on the Internal Senses and the Mind/Body Problem from Avicenna to the Medical Enlightenment. (pp. 263-281) edited by Henrik Lagerlund and Olaf Pluta. The Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4020-6084-7_13

  • Objective being in Descartes: that which we know or that by which we know?

    Brown, D. J. (2007). Objective being in Descartes: that which we know or that by which we know?. Representation and objects of thought in medieval philosophy. (pp. 135-153) edited by Henrik Lagerlund. Hampshire, United Kingdom: Ashgate Publishing.

  • Descartes on the unity of the self and the passions

    Brown, D. J. and de Sousa, R (2003). Descartes on the unity of the self and the passions. Passion and Virtue in Descartes. (pp. 153-173) edited by Williston, Byron, Gombay and Andre. United States: Humanity Books.

  • Traces of the body: Cartesian passions

    Brown, D. J. and Normore, C. (2003). Traces of the body: Cartesian passions. Passion and Virtue in Descartes. (pp. 83-106) edited by Williston, Byron, Gombay and Andre. United States: Humanity Books.

  • The Rationality of Cartesian Passions

    Brown, D. J. (2002). The Rationality of Cartesian Passions. Emotions and Choice from Boethius to Descartes. (pp. 233-251) edited by Henrik Lagerlund and Mikko Yrjönsuuri. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic. doi: 10.1007/978-94-010-0506-7_11

  • The right method of boy-loving

    Brown, Deborah (1997). The right method of boy-loving. Love analyzed. (pp. 49-63) edited by Roger E. Lamb. Boulder, CO United States: Westview Press. doi: 10.4324/9780429493485

Journal Article

Conference Publication

  • Hume and the nominalist tradition

    Brown, Deborah (2012). Hume and the nominalist tradition. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. doi: 10.1080/00455091.2012.972125

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Education to improve Collaborative Complex Decision Making in Intensive Care

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Scepticism of other minds in the animal pain debate

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Hume's Scepticism, Ancient Scepticism and the Nature of Sceptical Assent

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Teaching for Thinking: Collaboration and Critical Thinking

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • What vaccine hesitancy can teach us about fostering public trust in healthcare artificial intelligence (AI)

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Giving Our Girls A Voice: Using Dialogic Teaching to improve gender equity in classrooms.

    Master Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • The Role of Intuition in English and Literature Classrooms

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Creating curious classrooms through student questions

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Human freedom: spinoza, descartes and kant

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

Completed Supervision

This staff member is a UQ Expert for media in the following fields:

Philosophy - early modern, Metaphysics, Philosophy of mind and language

They are happy to lend their expertise to your articles or broadcasts and share their research discoveries and insights with the community via media channels.

For additional assistance with story ideas, general advice and information or help with seeking further experts, please email the UQ Media Team or telephone (07) 3365 1120.

Links

ORCID: 0000-0001-5707-7605

Scopus ID: 55975209500

Google Scholar ID: XVZKRaAAAAAJ

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