D. Gregory MacIsaac is Associate Professor of Humanities at Carleton University. He has taught in the B.Hum program since 1998. He grew up in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, entering the Foundation Year Programme at the University of King\u2019s College \u2013 Dalhousie (Halifax) in 1988. He took his B.A. degree in 1992 from the Dalhousie Department of Classics, in Ancient Languages and Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, and his M.A. (1994) and Ph.D. (2001) at the Department of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame (Indiana), with a thesis on the soul in Proclus, under the direction of Stephen Gersh.<\/p>\n
He spent the academic year 1994-95 visiting the Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte (Higher Institute of Philosophy) at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, studying Neoplatonism and Contemporary Continental Philosophy. In 2005-06 he was a Chercheur \u00c9tranger at the \u00c9cole Pratique des Hautes \u00c9tudes and C.N.R.S., Paris. In 2011-12 he was a visiting research at the Plato Centre, Trinity College Dublin, and at the Institute of Classical Studies, University of London. In 2019-20 he was Chercheur Associ\u00e9, at the Laboratoire ‘Logiques de l’Agir’, Universit\u00e9 de Franch-Comt\u00e9, Besan\u00e7on, France.\u00a0In 2025-26 he will be a Scholar in Residence at the Centre for the Study of Platonism in the Faculty of Divinity, and a Visiting Scholar in the Faculty of Classics at the University of Cambridge (U.K.).<\/p>\n
Professor MacIsaac spent twenty years working on aspects of the soul’s knowledge in the Neoplatonist Proclus. For the past ten years he has been working on Plato, with a major research project on the dialogues Theaetetus<\/em>, and Parmenides<\/em>.<\/p>\n In the Bachelor of Humanities, Professor MacIsaac\u2019s main duty is HUMS 2000, the second-year Core-Humanities Seminar,\u00a0Reason and Revelation<\/em>. This is an intensive course on Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, covering authors from Plato to Dante. Professor MacIsaac also teaches HUMS 3500, Ancient and Medieval Intellectual History<\/em>, whose topic is often the dialogues of Plato. He has also taught\u00a0a number of fourth-year Research Seminars on topics such as Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Eriugena, Hegel, and Heidegger. Prof. MacIsaac currently teaches HUMS 1200, Humanities and Classical Civilization<\/em>, the required first-year Humanities writing course.<\/p>\n Prof. MacIsaac is an award-winning teacher. At Carleton he has won:<\/p>\n HUMS 2000 Reason and Revelation (F\/W)<\/p>\n HUMS 1200A Humanities and Classical Civilization (F)<\/p>\n \u201cThe False Appearance of the Sophist Himself in the First Six Definitions of Plato\u2019s Sophist,\u201d Plato Journal<\/em> 25 (2024) pp.95-117.<\/p>\n \u201cPlato\u2019s Account of Eleaticism: A New Interpretation of Parmenides,\u201d in the Proceedings of the Symposium Platonicum XII, on Plato\u2019s Parmenides<\/em> (Sankt Augustin: Academia Verlag, 2022) pp.67-74.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Role of the Digression on the Man of the Law Courts and the Philosopher (172b-177c) in the Argument of Theaetetus,\u201d Dionysius 38 (2020) pp.8-21<\/p>\n “Geometrical First Principles in Proclus’\u00a0Commentary on the First <\/em>Book<\/em> of Euclid’s Elements<\/em>,”\u00a0Phronesis<\/em> 59 (2014) pp.44-98.<\/p>\n \u201cNon enim ab hiis que sensus est iudicare sensum. Sensation and Thought in\u00a0Theaetetus<\/em>, Plotinus and Proclus,\u201d\u00a0International Journal of the Platonic Tradition<\/em> 8 (2014) pp.192-230.<\/p>\n \u201cPhilosophy as the Exegesis of \u2018Sacred\u2019 Texts,\u201d in\u00a0Philosophy and the Abrahamic Religions: Scriptural Hermeneutics and Epistemology<\/em>, ed. T. Kirby, R. Acar and B. Bas (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013) pp.95-134.<\/p>\n \u201cThe\u00a0Nous\u00a0<\/em>of the Partial Soul in Proclus\u2019\u00a0Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato<\/em>,\u201d\u00a0Dionysius\u00a0<\/em>29 (2011) pp.29-60.<\/p>\n \u201c\u039d\u03cc\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, Dialectique et Math\u00e9matiques dans le\u00a0Commentaire aux \u00c9l\u00e9ments d\u2019Euclide<\/em>\u00a0de Proclus,\u201d in\u00a0\u00c9tudes sur le Commentaire de Proclus au premier livre des\u00a0<\/em>\u00c9l\u00e9ments\u00a0d\u2019Euclide<\/em>, ed. A. Lernould (Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2010) pp.125-138.<\/p>\n \u201cPlatonic Deconstruction:\u00a0 A Review-article of\u00a0Neoplatonism after Derrida.\u00a0 Parallelograms.<\/em>\u00a0 By Stephen Gersh,\u201d\u00a0Dionysius<\/em>, 27 (2009) pp.199-232.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Soul and the Virtues in Proclus\u2019\u00a0Commentary on the Republic of Plato<\/em>,\u201d\u00a0Philosophie Antique<\/em>, 9 (2009) pp.115-143.<\/p>\n \u201cThe origin of determination in the Neoplatonism of Proclus,\u201d in\u00a0\u00a0Divine Creation in Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Thought. \u00a0Essays presented to the Rev\u2019d Doctor Robert D. Crouse\u00a0<\/em>, ed. Willemien Otten, Walter Hannam, Michael Treschow (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2007) pp.141-172.<\/p>\n \u201cNeoplatonism and the Hegelianism of James Doull,\u201d\u00a0Animus<\/em>, 10 (2005) pp. 30-43.\u00a0 Online philosophy journal, Memorial University of Newfoundland.<\/p>\n \u201cProjection and Time in Proclus,\u201d in\u00a0Medieval Philosophy and the Classical Tradition in Islam\u00a0<\/em>, Judaism, and Christianity, ed. John Inglis (London: Curzon Press, 2002) pp.83-105.<\/p>\n \u201cPhantasia<\/em>\u00a0between Soul and Body in Proclus,\u201d\u00a0Dionysius\u00a0<\/em>, 19 (2001) pp.125-136.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Final Section of Proclus\u2019 Commentary on the Parmenides: A Greek retroversion of the Latin translation, by Carlos STEEL and Friedrich RUMBACH, with an English translation by D.Gregory MACISAAC,\u201d\u00a0Documenti e studi sulla tradizione filosofica medievale\u00a0<\/em>(Brepols, 1997) pp.211-267.<\/p>\n Book: Plato, Sophistry, and the Mixing of Forms:\u00a0Theaetetus,\u00a0Parmenides, and\u00a0Sophist<\/em>. This is an extended commentary on three dialogues of Plato.<\/p>\n Book: The Humanities Writing Guide<\/em>. This is a textbook that teaches first-year students how to write an exegetical Humanities essay.<\/p>\n Article: “Plato’s Account of Sophistry in\u00a0Sophist<\/em>”<\/p>\n Article: “Plato’s Account of Presocratic Materialism in Theaetetus<\/em>”<\/p>\n Article: “Plato’s Account of Eleaticism in\u00a0Parmenides<\/em>“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"people-type":[3],"yoast_head":"\n\n
Research Interests<\/h3>\n
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2024-2025 Courses<\/h3>\n
Publications<\/h3>\n
Work in Progress:<\/h4>\n