Alongside my position at King's I'm an emeritus professor at Birkbeck College, where I taught for many years. Before that I was a Lecturer in the Cambridge Faculty of Philosophy, and before that I was an Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut. I'm a Fellow of the British Academy and Chair of the British Society for the History of Philosophy.

Research interests

My current research focuses on early modern philosophy (with an eye to its relevance to us). I've written about problems in political and social philosophy, feminist philosoophy, the philosophy of psychology, epistemology, ethics and the philosophy of art, and have concentrated especially on the work of Spinoza, Hobbes, Descartes, Malebranche and Margaret Cavendish. I'm embarking on a new project about the painter Nicolas Poussin.

Teaching

I don't teach regularly, but co-teach courses in the history of philosophy on an occasional basis.

Expertise and public engagement

I have made contributions to radio programmes and podcasts and am glad to talk to public audiences about Philosophy.

Selected publications

'Spinoza on Learning to Live Together (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Passion and Action: The Emotions in Early Modern Philosophy, viii + 318pp., Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1997.

‘Margaret Cavendish on the Philosophy and Politics of War’, forthcoming in Oxford Handbook of Margaret Cavendish ed. Jacqueline Broad and Julie Crawford.Spinoza and the Poetic Imagination’ Australian Philosophical Review 2024

‘Learning to Live More Equitably’, Southern Journal of Philosophy, 61 (1): 29-50, 2023.