Max Wade
| About Me | Research | Writing | Teaching |
Research
My academic research explores the development of natural philosophy from antiquity through its reception in the Middle Ages. In particular, I am interested in the way in which people historically understood the natural world, especially the relationship between broader cosmological commitments and their understanding of biology, physics, and technology. As such, my research works in the intersection of the history and philosophy of science and the broader environmental humanities. I am also interested in the history of metaphysics, especially the ontology of artifacts and some topics in social and political philosophy.
I have ongoing research projects on Plotinus’ metaphysics and theory of divination.
See the writing page for pieces written for a popular audience.
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Publications
“Plotinus on the Uses and Limits of the Craft Analogy.” Apeiron. [Currently under review.]
“Gersonides on the Heavenly Bodies’ Relation to the Agent Intellect” in Mind, Soul and the Cosmos in the High Middle Ages, eds. Jack Cunningham, Adam Foxon and Rosamund Gammie. Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind (SHPM), vol. 31. Springer, Cham. 217–233.
“Stoic Pantheism and Environmental Ethics in Pliny the Elder” in Pantheism and Ecology: Cosmological, Philosophical, and Theological Perspectives, ed. Luca Valera. Ecology and Ethics, vol 6 (2023). Springer, Cham. 15–27.
“Formless Matter in Gersonides’ Cosmology.” History of Philosophy & Logical Analysis 26, 1 (2023): 79–103.
“Eriugena on the Eternity and Creation of the World.” Thaumàzein 10, 2 (2022): 67–90.
Book Reviews
“Review of Aristotle’s Ontology of Artifacts by Marilù Papandreou” in The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition. [Forthcoming]
Conference Presentations
“‘The True Meeting of the Minds’: Plotinus on Assemblies, Decision-Making, and Collective Agency” at the 2025 annual meeting of the Ancient Philosophy Society (APS). Philadelphia, PA. Apr. 24–26, 2025.
“Existential Risk and the Anthropocene: Three Ancient Perspectives on Human Precarity” at the 2024 annual conference of the Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World (SPCW). Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Worcester, MA. Jul. 17–21, 2024.
“Plotinus and the Stoics on Kinds of Bodies and How They are Unified” at the 21st annual conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies (ISNS). Trinity College, Dublin: Dublin, Ireland. Jun. 19–22, 2024.
“Distinctive Features within Plotinus’ Elemental Theory” at the 2024 AIA/SCS Joint Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL. Jan. 4–7, 2024.
“Plotinus’ Platonic Appropriation of Aristotle’s Bronze Statue” at the 20th annual conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies (ISNS). Università degli Studi di Catania: Catania, Italy. Jun. 14–17, 2023.
“Relation and Resemblance: Gersonides and Crescas on the Sun’s Heating of the Air” at the New England Medieval Consortium 2022 Conference: Medieval Ecologies. Colby College: Waterville, ME. Oct. 8, 2022.
“Universal Mind or World Soul? Gersonides on the Agent Intellect” at the first International Medieval Mind Conference. Bishop Grosseteste University: Lincoln, United Kingdom. Jun. 30–Jul. 2, 2022.
“The Bones of Heaven: Formless Matter and the Rejection of Hylomorphism in Gersonides” at the Late Medieval Hylomorphism: Matter and Form 1300-1600 International Conference. KU Leuven: Leuven, Belgium. Jun. 9–11, 2022.
“Gaia and the Soul of Nature: Plotinus on the Generation of Plants and Minerals” at the ICHS USF Conference: Natural Resources and Flourishing in Ancient Greece. University of South Florida: Tampa, FL. Apr. 22–24, 2022.
“Society, Ethics and Reason in the Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob” at the Fordham Philosophical Society Graduate Conference. Fordham University: New York, NY. Feb. 2, 2022.
“Thomas Aquinas and the Legacy of Pre-Socratic Theories of Perception” at the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy inaugural conference. Notre Dame: South Bend, IN. Oct. 3–6, 2021.
Departmental Talks and Other Presentations
“Plotinus’ Ontology of Artifacts” at the Young Philosophers Series. Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA. Apr. 9, 2025
“Emma Goldman and Dora Marsden” at the PhilosopHERs Workshop. Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA. Dec. 6, 2023.
“Plotinus’ Theory of Intelligible Animals in Ennead VI.7.5–12” for the John Duffy Society (Harvard University Department of Classics). Harvard University: Cambridge, MA. Apr. 12, 2023.
“Teachers, Mystics, and Philosophers: Women in the Neoplatonic Academy” at the PhilosopHERs Workshop. Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA. Jan. 24, 2022.
“Philosophy and Astrology in the Middle Ages” at the Young Philosophers Series. Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA. Nov. 30, 2021.