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Mor Segev
Curriculum Vitae
March 27, 2015
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Philosophy Department
College of Arts and Sciences
University of South Florida
4202 E. Fowler Avenue, FAO 226
Tampa, FL 33620, USA
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: +1 (609) 865-6742
Employment
Assistant Professor, University of South Florida (2014-)
Education
Ph.D., Philosophy, Princeton University (2009-2014)
Dissertation: The Role of Traditional Religion in Aristotle
Advisers: John M. Cooper, Alexander Nehamas
M.A., Philosophy (Dean’s Honors), University of Haifa (2007-2009)
Thesis: The Teleological Significance of Dreaming in Aristotle
Adviser: Ariel Meirav
B.A., Philosophy, Tel-Aviv University (2003-2007)
Composition, Rimon School of Contemporary Music (2002-2004)
Areas of Specialization
Ancient Philosophy, Nineteenth Century German Philosophy (especially Schopenhauer and
Nietzsche)
Areas of Competence
Medieval philosophy (especially Maimonides), Early Modern Philosophy, Ethics, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Punishment
Publications
“The Teleological Significance of Dreaming in Aristotle”, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 43 (2012), 107-141
“ ‘Obviously all this Agrees with my Will and my Intellect’: Schopenhauer on Active and
Passive Nous in Aristotle’s De Anima III. 5”, British Journal for the History of Philosophy 22. 3 (2014), 535-556
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Awards and Fellowships
Charlotte Elizabeth Procter Honorific Fellowship (competitive university-wide dissertation
completion fellowship), Princeton University, 2013-2014
Financial Support for the Winter Semester, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, 2012
Stanley J. Seeger Award, Program in Hellenic Studies, Princeton University, 2011, 2013
Travel Grant, Princeton University (three times), 2011-2013
Graduate School Fellowship, Princeton University, 2009-2014
Graduate School Summer Stipend, Princeton University, 2009-2014
Dean’s List Award, University of Haifa, 2009
The Kogan Award for Excellence in Advanced Studies, University of Haifa, 2009
M.A. Scholarship for Academic Performance, Graduate Studies Authority, University of
Haifa, 2008
Presentations
“Contemplation in the Ideal City: The Case of Traditional Religion”
Expert Meeting: On the Relationship between Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and
Politics, Amsterdam University College, June 2015 (Upcoming)
“Traditional Religion and its Natural Function in Aristotle”
Tenth Annual Marquette Summer Seminar on Aristotle and the Aristotelian Tradition,
June 2015 (Upcoming)
“ ‘Obviously all this Agrees with my Will and my Intellect’: Schopenhauer on Active and
Passive Nous in Aristotle’s De anima III. 5”
University of South Florida, Jan. 2014
“Arthur Schopenhauer’s Reading of Aristotle’s De anima III. 5”
The 16th Annual Israeli Philosophical Association (IPA) Conference, Bar-Ilan University, Feb. 2013
Workshop on Medieval and Modern Interpretations of Aristotle’s De anima III. 5, TelAviv University, Jun. 2013
Comments on Victor’s Caston’s paper “Aristotle’s Two Intellects”
Workshop on Aristotle’s Psychology with Victor Caston, Humboldt-Universitaet zu
Berlin, Feb. 2013
“Aristotle’s Allegory of the Cave as a Double Criticism”
The 2nd Graduate Conference, Ancient Philosophy & Science Network (APSN), HumboldtUniversitaet zu Berlin, Jun. 2012
“Teleology in Aristotle’s Theory of Dreams”
The 4th Annual Conference of the Philosophy Department at the University of Haifa,
Jun. 2009
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Teaching
PHH 3062.902: Seminar in the History of Philosophy (Aristotle’s Politics), University of
South Florida, Spring 2015
PHH 2000.S15: Introduction to Philosophy, University of South Florida, Spring 2015
PHP 4000: Plato, Univeristy of South Florida, Fall 2014
PHH 3062: Ancient Philosophy, Univeristy of South Florida, Fall 2014
Philosophy 205 / Classics 205: Introduction to Ancient Philosophy, Princeton University
Led three weekly discussion sections and graded for Professor Hendrik Lorenz, Spring
2011
Philosophy 306 / Comparative Literature 393: Nietzsche (upper level course), Princeton
University
Led three weekly discussion sections and graded for Professor Alexander Nehamas, Fall
2010
Gave a guest lecture, entitled “Nietzsche’s Idea of the Eternal Recurrence”
The Department of Academic and Personal Assistance, The University of Haifa
Instructed weekly sessions with individual students for: “Introduction to Ancient Greek
Philosophy” (Professor Ariel Meirav) and "Problems in the Meaning of Life” (Professor
Iddo Landau), 2008-2009
Professional Service
Co-organizer and Reviewer for the Princeton Graduate Conference in Ancient Philosophy,
Spring 2012
Reviewer for the Princeton-Rutgers Graduate Philosophy Conference, Spring 2012
Philosophy Department Graduate Student Representative, Princeton, 2010-2011
Reviewer for the Princeton Graduate Conference in Ancient Philosophy, Spring 2010
Chair for the Princeton Graduate Conference in Ancient Philosophy, Spring 2010
Philosophy Reception committee, Princeton, 2009
Languages
Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Latin, German (Reading Proficiency)
Dissertation abstract
The Role of Traditional Religion in Aristotle
Aristotle criticizes the content of Greek religion severely. He thinks that it is demonstrably false.
Surprisingly, however, he also holds that traditional religion and its institutions are necessary if any
city, including the ideal city he describes in Politics VII-VIII, is to exist and thrive. My dissertation
aims to provide, for the first time, a coherent account of the socio-political role Aristotle attributes
to traditional religion despite his rejection of its content. In the De philosophia, a dialogue surviving
only in fragmentary quotations and paraphrases, Aristotle compares the gods of traditional religion
to Platonic Forms. He dismisses both as fictional entities – the products of an erroneous inference
from the existence of certain objects to the existence of eternal beings causing them and bearing
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similar properties. Yet, in the same work, Aristotle attributes to religious practices the capacity to
produce emotional states that are conducive to learning. This view anticipates his account of the role
of institutionalized traditional religion in his extant corpus. According to his theory there, religion
is necessary because it prepares the ground for what he considers the pinnacle of human endeavor:
attaining the knowledge of first philosophy, whose objects are real beings worthy of being called gods,
viz. the unmoved movers of the heavens. Religion performs that function by exposing citizens to
the traditional depictions of divinity. These, in turn, generate in the citizens with the right potential
the sense of “wonder” (thaumazein) about gods that guides them from such mythological conceptions
to an inquiry into the nature of the true god(s) of Aristotle’s Metaphysics. In addition, since the
anthropomorphic gods partake of the definitions of both “human being” and “god,” wondering about
their nature can initiate an inquiry into the relation between gods and humans. Both kinds of inquiry
are essential for getting as close as humanly possible to the condition of the divine, and the role of
traditional religion in achieving that goal, which Aristotle considers the highest human aspiration, is
therefore immensely significant, both for individual happiness and for the flourishing of the city.
Advisers: John M. Cooper, Alexander Nehamas
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