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Peter Adamson, professor of late ancient and Arabic philosophy at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, will present the 28th annual Mary Olive Woods Lecture at WIU Sept. 18.
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Adamson to Deliver Mary Olive Woods Lecture Sept. 18 at WIU

September 8, 2014

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MACOMB, IL - Peter Adamson, professor of late ancient and Arabic philosophy at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, will present the 28th annual Mary Olive Woods Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18 in the Western Illinois University Union Heritage Room. His lecture is titled, "Is the God of Islam the 'Necessary Existent?' Avicenna's Philosophical Theology."

Adamson received his bachelor's degree from Williams College (summa cum laude) in 1994 and his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 2000. He began his career at King's College London in 2000, and in 2009, became professor of ancient and medieval philosophy at King's College, before taking his current position in Munich in 2012.

Adamson is the host of a weekly podcast (historyofphilosophy.net), which presents the history of philosophy "without any gaps." The podcast has several thousand followers and more than four million downloads, and has led to the publication of "A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps: Classical Philosophy" (Oxford University Press, 2014). There are two subsequent volumes planned, one focusing on late ancient philosophy and one exploring philosophy in the Islamic world.

He has two other monographs, "The Arabic Plotinus: a Philosophical Study of the 'Theology of Aristotle'" (Duckworth, 2002) and "Great Medieval Thinkers: al-Kindi," (Oxford University Press, 2007) concerning the first philosopher of the Arabic tradition. He has published more than 40 articles devoted to numerous figures and themes of ancient philosophy and philosophy in the Islamic world. He has edited nine books, most on philosophy in the Islamic world, including (with R.C. Taylor) the "Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy."

Adamson received the Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2003, awarded for "outstanding research achievements of young scholars of distinction and promise based in UK institutions." In 2010, he received the Leverhulme Project Grant for a project entitled "Natural Philosophy in the Islamic World." In addition to his extensive publications, grants and widely heard podcast, he has appeared on BBC radio and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to discuss ancient and medieval philosophy.

The 28th annual lecture is sponsored by the Mary Olive Woods Foundation and the WIU Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. The Mary Olive Woods Foundation also provides several thousand dollars in student scholarships each year in addition to the annual lecture presentation.

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