Tammy Nyden
Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Department of Philosophy
Grinnell College Grinnell, IA 50112-1690
(641) 269-4764 fax
(641) 269-4414
nydenbul@grinnell.edu

On research leave during the 2008-2009 school year.

Education:

B.A. in Philosophy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 1993
M.A. in Philosophy, Baylor University, 1995
Ph.D. in Philosophy, Claremont Graduate University, 2003

Teaching and Research Interests:

Early Modern Philosophy (Particularly Spinoza, Cartesianism and the Dutch Enlightenment)
Philosophy and History of Science

Other Philosophical Interests:

Asian Philosophies
Nietzsche

Current Projects:

De Volder and the New Physics at the University of Leiden

Burchard de Volder was the first physics professor to introduce experimental methodologies to the university classroom. The fact that he did so at the University of Leiden, one of the most important institutions in seventeenth-century scientific education, made him largely responsible for the dissemination and acceptance of Newtonian physics. This study examines the institutional and cultural conditions that fostered De Volder’s commitment to experiment in both his philosophy and pedagogy. This project examines De Volder’s writings and correspondence, records of his teaching methods and lectures, and primary and secondary material on the teaching and reception of the new physics in Leiden.

Space, Time, and Motion

I am currently working with Sujeev Wickramasekara (physics department) to develop a team-taught course that examines the history and philosophy of physics by recreating the way physics was taught in two "timeslices": The University of Leiden between 1670-1761, where Cartesian and Newtonian physics were first taught in a University; and Princeton University between 1935-1955, when the likes of Albert Einstien and Kurt Gödel graced the halls of the new Institute for Advanced Study. During the course we will use period textbooks and recreate demonstrations and experiments using the technology and mathematics of the time. The course will examine how factors such as institutional and national culture can affect the pedagogy, methodology, and content of physics, as well as how science changes over time.

Selected Publications:

Spinoza's Radical Cartesian Mind (Continuum, 2007)

This book examines a political movement in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic called "Radical Cartesianism." This movement applies ideas from the New Philosophy (particular those of Hobbes and Descartes) to the political and theological debates of the time. On the basis of self-interest and a Cartesian understanding of the passions, Radical Cartesianism argues for religious, intellectual, and economic freedom, toleration and democracy.

Spinoza was closely associated with members of the Radical Cartesian movement and his political philosophy presents the first philosophical systematization of its central ideas. This book reconstructs the development of Spinoza's thinking about the human mind, error, truth, and falsity and explains how this development allowed Spinoza to provide the philosophical foundations for Radical Cartesian political theory. I argue that Spinoza's rejection of Cartesian epistemology involves much more than the metaphysical problem of dualism—it involves, ironically, Spinoza's attempt to make coherent a political theory bearing Descartes' name.

"Radical Cartesian Politics: Van Velthuysen, De la Court, and Spinoza," Studia Spinozana, Volume 15, 1999.

Courses at Grinnell:

Introduction to Philosophy
Early Modern Philosophy
Philosophy of Science
Senior Seminar in the History of Philosophy (Spinoza)
Early Modern Natural Philosophy: The Scientific 'Revolution'
Space, Time, and Motion (Fall 2009)

Awards and Activities: