Michael Bennett McNulty

he/him

mcnu0074@umn.edu

Philosophy

805 Heller Hall

271 19th Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Curriculum Vitae

Collegiate Affiliation

Philosophy

Philosophy of Science

Early Modern History

German, Nordic, Slavic & Dutch

Links

Homepage

Philpeople Profile

My chief research program aims to systematize and to explain Immanuel Kant's views on the inexact sciences — chemistry, psychology, anthropology, and biology — by contextualizing his views with respect to the science of his day. More generally, I am interested in theoretical philosophy and its interplay with mathematics and natural science during the early modern and early analytic periods. In the classroom, I aim to create inclusive learning environments in which students actively practice and develop skills of critical reasoning, argumentation, and writing.

Educational Background & Specialties

Open Close

Educational Background

Ph.D.: Philosophy, University of California, Irvine, 2014
B.A.: Philosophy and Mathematics, Macalester College, 2008

Specialties

Immanuel Kant
History and Philosophy of Science
History and Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
Early Modern Philosophy
Philosophy of Sport

Publications

Open Close

Publications

McNulty, Michael Bennett. "Beyond the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science: Kant’s Empirical Physics and the General Remark to the Dynamics." Kant's Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science: A Critical Guide (2022).
McNulty, Michael Bennett. Kant's Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science: A Critical Guide. Cambridge University Press, 2022.
McNulty, Michael Bennett. "Review of Watkins, Eric. Kant on Laws." The Philosophical Review 130 (2021): 591–6.
McNulty, Michael Bennett. "The Science of the Soul and the Unyielding Architectonic: Kant Versus Wolff on the Foundations of Psychology." The Force of an Idea: New Essays on Christian Wolff's Psychology (2021): 251–69.
McNulty, Michael Bennett. "Continuity of Change in Kant's Dynamics." Synthese 196 (2019): 1595–1622.
McNulty, Michael Bennett. "Chemical Dissolution and Kant’s Critical Theory of Nature." Kant-Studien 109 (2018): 537–55.
McNulty, Michael Bennett. "Kant on Empirical Psychology and Experimentation." Natur und Freiheit: Akten des XII. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses (2018): 2707-2714.
McNulty, Michael Bennett. "Margaret Cavendish on the Order and Infinitude of Nature." History of Philosophy Quarterly 35 (2018): 219-239.
McNulty, Michael Bennett. "Review of Massimi, Michela and Angela Breitenbach (eds.). Kant and the Laws of Nature." Kantian Review 23 (2018): 338–43.
McNulty, Michael Bennett. "Review of Thorndike, Oliver. Kant’s Transition Project and Late Philosophy: Connecting the Opus postumum and Metaphysics of Morals." Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (2018).
McNulty, Michael Bennett, Marius Stan. "From General to Special Metaphysics of Nature." The Palgrave Kant Handbook (2017): 493–511.
McNulty, Michael Bennett. "What is Chemistry, for Kant?." Kant Yearbook 9 (2017): 85–112.
McNulty, Michael Bennett. "Chemistry in Kant's Opus Postumum." HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 6 (2016): 64-95.
McNulty, Michael Bennett, Michael Ernst, Jeremy Heis, Penelope Maddy, James Owen Weatherall. Mathematical Depth. Oxford University Press, 2015.
McNulty, Michael Bennett. "Rehabilitating the Regulative Use of Reason: Kant on Empirical and Chemical Laws." Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 54 (2015): 1-10.
McNulty, Michael Bennett. "Kant on Chemistry and the Application of Mathematics in Natural Science." Kantian Review 19 (2014): 393-418.

Activities

Open Close

Activities

Professional

Co-Founder, Minnesota Center for Canon Expansion and Change 2021–Present
Program Committee, Midwest Study Group of the North American Kant Society 2018–Present
Program Committee, 'Kant and Before' Subcommittee, 14th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for History of Philosophy of Science 2020–2022
Organizer and Local Host, 2017 Meeting of the Midwest Study Group of the North American Kant Society October 2017
Panel Organizer, 11th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for History of Philosophy of Science June 2016

Outreach

Philosophy and American Football, Presentation at Edina High School November 2018
"Boycott Football for Good — It’s the Ethical Thing to Do," Op-Ed in the Star Tribune December 2017
Philosophical Thought Experiments, Presentation at Southwest High School May 2017

Awards

Open Close

Awards

McKnight Land-Grant Professor, 2022–2024
Research Fellow, Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, 2019–2020
Faculty Development Leave, College of Liberal Arts, 2019–2020
Journal of the History of Philosophy Master Class Award, Summer 2017

Courses

Open Close

Courses

PHIL 8090: Seminar in History of Modern Philosophy: Kant's Anthropology
PHIL 3005W: General History of Western Philosophy, Modern Period
PHIL 8090: Seminar in History of Modern Philosophy: Kant's Philosophy of Science
PHIL 4055: Kant
PHIL 1912: Sports, Reason, and Society
PHIL 1201: Critical Reasoning
PHIL 4320: Kant's Practical Philosophy
PHIL 3601: Scientific Thought
PHIL 5601: History of Philosophy of Science