Faculty Bio

Dr. Duncan Maclean

Assistant Professor, Philosophy

I was born and raised in Belleville, Ontario. After a stint working the lifts at Sunshine and planting trees across Canada, I attended Brock University, where I studied the history of Philosophy. I pursued graduate degrees in Philosophy at McMaster University, where I wrote an MA thesis on the aporia (or puzzle) of essence in Aristotle’s Metaphysics. For my PhD dissertation, I wrote about the metaphysics of probabilistic laws of nature. Once done, I moved with my family to Calgary and taught Philosophy at several Alberta universities before starting a tenure-track position in Philosophy at St. Mary’s University in 2021. In my current research, I am working with Aristotle’s philosophy, to see how it may contribute to discussions in contemporary environmental philosophy, such as environmental ethics and the metaphysics of ecosystems and organisms. In the summer of 2023, I taught a course on the ethics of climate change at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul.

I ski and hike and camp and am developing a taste for German expressionist films. I am also the pre-law pathway faculty mentor: if you want to study Law someday, get in touch with me to talk about it.

Specialization/Research Interest:

I regularly teach Introduction to Philosophy, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, and Logic. I also teach core courses in the Liberal Studies degree program.

Education

PhD Philosophy, McMaster University
MA Philosophy, McMaster University
BA Philosophy, Brock University

  • ‘Aristotle and the Biodiversity Crisis’, forthcoming in The Canadian Journal of Environmental Philosophy
  • ‘Armstrong and van Fraassen on Probabilistic Laws of Nature’, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 42, No. 1: March 2012
  • Book Reviews: Frank A. Lewis, How Aristotle gets by in Metaphysics Zeta (Oxford, 2013) in Philosophy in Review, Vol. 35, No. 3 (2015) Timothy Childers, Philosophy and Probability (Oxford, 2013) in Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review, Vol. 53, No. 2, (2014) Anna Marmadoro (ed.), The Metaphysics of Powers: Their Grounding and their Manifestations (Routledge, 2010) in Philosophy in Review, Vol. 32, No. 5 (2012) Toby Handfield (ed.), Dispositions and Causes (Oxford, 2009) in Philosophy in Review, Vol. 31, No. 3 (2011)
  • Presentations: ‘Aristotle’s Politics and Environmental Philosophy’, Classical Association of Canada, Université Laval, Québec, May 14-16, 2024 ‘Aristotle and Ecological Goods’, Classical Association of Canada, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, May 10-13, 2023 ‘Aristotelian Environmental Virtue Ethics’, Natural Resources and Flourishing in Ancient Greece, University of South Florida, April 22-24, 2022 ‘Aristotelian Reflections on the Biodiversity Crisis’, Western Canada Philosophical Association, University of Victoria, November 12-14, 2021 ‘An Aristotelian Response to the Biodiversity Crisis’, International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences of Biology, Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory - Online, July 2021 ‘Aristotle on Teaching and Learning’, Cracker Barrel Round Table Presentation at the Symposium on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Banff, Alberta, November 7-9, 2019 ‘Aristotle’s Metaphysics of Education’, Classical Association of Canada, May 8-10, 2018, University of Calgary, Calgary ‘A Dilemma Concerning the Socratic Biography’, Canadian Philosophical Association, May 31, 2016, University of Calgary, Calgary ‘A Dilemma Concerning the Socratic Biography’, Classical Association of Canada, May 12, 2016, Université Laval, Québec ‘A Snare in the Philosophy of Socrates?’ Atlantic Region Philosophers’ Association, October 30, 2015, St. Thomas University and the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton ‘Undermining and the Problem of Fit’, Canadian Philosophical Association, June 4, 2013, University of Victoria, Victoria ‘Armstrong’s Theory of Probabilistic Laws’, Canadian Philosophical Association, May 31, 2011, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton ‘Armstrong’s Principle of Instantiation’, Atlantic Region Philosophers’ Association, October 16, 2010, University of King’s College, Halifax ‘The Best Systems Analysis and the Problem of Undermining’, Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, May 28, 2009, Carleton University, Ottawa ‘Mumford’s Challenge to Scientific Essentialism’, Canadian Philosophical Association, May 2006, York University, Toronto ‘Essence in Aristotle’s Metaphysics: Universal and Particular’, Canadian Philosophical Association, May 2004, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg