Klaus Corcilius

Klaus Corcilius

Klaus Corcilius

Type
Associate Professor Fellow
Department
Philosophy
2013-14

In his book project, "Aristotle’s Conception of Animal and Human Agency," Klaus Corcilius (Philosophy) reevaluates Aristotle’s theory of animal and human agency. Corcilius argues that this theory is embedded in Aristotle’s natural philosophy and that Aristotle is able to defend the existence of autonomous human and animal agency in a causally closed universe. The project sets out to achieve two goals. It offers a full interpretation of Aristotle’s biological theory of animal agency common to brute animals and humans, and it shows how major themes and questions of human agency and ethical conduct fit into this theory. Building on his previous work on animal locomotion and human action in Aristotle, Corcilius proposes a new, simple, and unified view of Aristotle’s conception of animal and human agency and its place both in the physical world and the ethical universe.