About this Event
Join us for the October edition of Humanities in the Village, an event series in partnership with the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute at Johns Hopkins University, which aims to make scholarship publicly accessible.
We're thrilled to welcome Patrick Connolly as the featured guest, in celebration of his new book Newton’s Metaphysics of Substance: God, Bodies, Minds! Connolly’s groundbreaking work offers a systematic interpretation of Isaac Newton’s views on the ontology of substance and related issues of modality, causation, and dependence. Alongside and sometimes in dialogue with his work in mathematics and physics, Newton developed a coherent and unified account of God, material bodies, human minds, and the relations between them. Drawing on a large number of published and unpublished sources, Partrick traces the development of Newton’s views, situates them within the wider context of early modern philosophy, and highlights their value and originality.
Professor Tim Jankowiak will join Patrick Connolly for this exciting conversation.
Whether it's your first time at the series or you've been attending for years, we hope you'll join us to usher this exciting new book into the world!
Order NEWTON’S METAPHYSICS OF SUBSTANCE: GOD, BODIES, MINDS here!
Patrick Connolly’s research focuses on a number of issues at the intersection of philosophy, theology, and the natural sciences in early modern Europe and North America. Much of his work has focused on John Locke, Isaac Newton, and related thinkers. Connolly has worked to develop an approach to Locke that understands the Lockean theory of mind as an exercise in cognitive psychology: an examination of human cognitive functioning and mental abilities. He has also explored Locke’s engagement with natural philosophy on topics like mechanism, causation, laws of nature, and gravitational attraction. In addition to exploring Newton’s own thought, Connolly has examined the philosophical reception of Newton by late seventeenth and early eighteenth century thinkers such as Richard Bentley, George Cheyne, and Susanna Newcome.
Current projects include a monograph on Isaac Newton’s metaphysics and editorial work for a volume in the Clarendon Edition of the Works of John Locke. He is also editing the Oxford Handbook of Locke.
Connolly earned a BA from Georgetown University in philosophy and history and an MA and PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Tim Jankowiak's research focuses primarily on Kant's metaphysics, epistemology, and theory of mind. His recent work has contributed to debates about Kant's views on sensation's contribution to cognition, the object-directedness of mental states, and how these issues relate to Kant's broader metaphysics. Professor Jankowiak also has strong interests in contemporary debates about consciousness and, more recently, in the foundations of physics.
Professor Jankowiak regularly teaches upper division courses in the history of philosophy (Phil 328 and Phil 427) and the philosophy of mind (Phil 315). He has also recently been teaching for the TSEM program (a new course on philosophical theories of the self), the Honors College (including a seminar on the history of panpsychism), and the Global Humanities M.A. program. In 2026-2027, he'll be introducing new curriculum on advanced logic (Phil 310) and the philosophy of physics (Phil 320).
Since 2023, Professor Jankowiak has also been serving as Assistant Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.
Since 2026, he has been the Vice President of the North American Kant Society.
In his non-academic life, Professor Jankowiak is an accomplished oil painter, specializing in representational and sometimes hyperrealist art. His work has been recently been included in national juried exhibitions.
Event venue & nearby stays
Bird in Hand Coffee & Books, 11 East 33rd Street, Baltimore, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.