Associate Professor of Philosophy

Affiliated Faculty, Cinema

CONTACT INFORMATION

Office: 020 Bryant Hall
email: tpyenter@olemiss.edu

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

Ph.D., Philosophy, Yale University, 2012
B.A., History and Philosophy, Bethel University, 2001 (summa cum laude; Honors Program)

Non-degree work in history and religious studies, Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Oxford University, 1999

I was a graduate teaching fellow at the Yale Teaching Center and a research fellow at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. I have previously taught courses at Montana State University-Bozeman, Bethel University, and Yale University.

TEACHING AND COURSES OFFERED

I teach the following courses at least annually.

Philosophy 101: Introduction to Philosophy
Philosophy 302: History of Philosophy II
Philosophy 602: Studies in Modern Philosophy

I teach a rotating selection of upper-level and graduate-level courses. Recent and upcoming courses include the Scottish Enlightenment, Kant, Hume, the metaphysics of space, and the philosophy of film.

RESEARCH

My primary research project examines theories of demonstration, which are often implicit and assumed, in early modern British philosophy through Hume. This includes a cluster of articles about the standards for demonstration in Hume, how understanding his complaints about demonstrations helps us appreciate difficult or dismissed passages in Hume, and the nature of adequate ideas and their role in demonstrative reasoning from Boyle to Hume. I also write about early modern metaphysics and methodology, especially relating to the principle of sufficient reason in Clarke, Leibniz, and Spinoza.

I have a long-running interest in film and television, and some of my work falls at the intersection of cinema studies and philosophy, including forthcoming essays on Buster Keaton and on teaching the good life through cinephillia.

For more recent and more detailed information, including links to new work, please see my website.