Leonardo Moauro
Advanced Studies in the Humanities +1 (301) 300-0816
Schönhauser Allee 10/11, 4th floor, 10119 Berlin website
Areas of Specialization | Early Modern Philosophy, Ethics
Areas of Competence | Ancient Philosophy, Applied Ethics
Current Position
Postdoctoral Fellow with the Human Abilities Centre October 2023
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin
Education
Ph.D. Philosophy
UC San Diego, San Diego, CA September 2015-September 2023
Dissertation: Perfection and Desire in Spinoza’s Theory of Value. Committee: Donald
Rutherford (chair), Samuel C. Rickless, David O. Brink, Monte Johnson, Catherina Gere.
M.A. Philosophy
Tufts University, Medford, MA September 2012-May 2015
B.A. Political Theory, B.A. Ethics & Political Philosophy, Honors
Brown University, Providence, RI September 2007-May 2011
Publications
1. “The Limits of Spinoza’s Perfectionism” (forthcoming in Ergo)
2. “Perfection” and “Blessedness” [both with Donald Rutherford]. In The Cambridge
Spinoza Lexicon, edited by Karolina Hübner and Justin Steinberg (forthcoming)
3. “Spinoza on Freedom, Feeling Free, and Acting for the Good.” Argumenta (2023): 1-
16. DOI: http://doi.org/10.14275/2465-2334/20230.moa
4. “Does Locke Have an Akrasia Problem?” [with Samuel C. Rickless] (2019). Journal
of Modern Philosophy, 1(1), 9. DOI: http://doi.org/10.32881/jomp.39
Submitted for Publication
1. “Spinoza on How Desires Determine Value Judgments” (revised and resubmitted)
For Spinoza, desires must play a role in the metaphysics of value, not just the epistemology of value.
2. “Lockean Akrasia Revisited” [with Samuel C. Rickless] (under review)
For Locke, akrasia arises when our judgments of present happiness and of future happiness conflict.
Curriculum Vitae | Leonardo Moauro
In Preparation
1. Spinoza’s Value Projectivism (14,500 words)
2. Spinoza’s Antirealist Science of Value (13,000 words)
3. Spinoza on the Finite: Realism and Idealism (10,000 words)
Fellowships, Awards, Grants
2022-23 De Karman Dissertation Fellowship, awarded by the Josephine De Karman
Fellowship Trust [Amount: $25,000]
2022 Graduate Student Best Essay Prize, “Spinoza on Freedom, Feeling Free,
and Acting for the Good,” UC San Diego
2020 Summer Graduate Teaching Scholar, UC San Diego [Amount: $1,200]
2020, 2021 Dissertation Fellowship, UC San Diego
2016, 2017 Research Assistantship on Pierre Gassendi’s Syntagma Philosophicum with
Donald Rutherford, UC San Diego
Selected Talks (‘*’ for invited, ‘**’ for refereed)
2023 “Spinoza’s Value Projectivism,” History of Philosophy Roundtable, UC San Diego
2022 “Spinoza on Affect and Judgments of Value,” History of Philosophy Roundtable,
UC San Diego
2021 “Locke on Human Freedom,” The International John Locke Society, Università di
Napoli Federico II**
2021 “Perfectionism in Spinoza’s Ethical Theory,” History of Philosophy Roundtable,
UC San Diego
2020 “Moral Theory and Ideology Critique,” The UCSD Workshop on Philosophical
Issues in Contemporary Social Crises, UC San Diego
2020 “The Value of the Affects in Spinoza,” Virtual Seminar in Early Modern
Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania**
2020 “Spinoza on Judgments of Good and Evil,” Seminario di filosofia morale e storia
della filosofia moderna, Università Roma Tre*
2019 “An Adequate Explanation of the Inadequate in Spinoza,” History of Philosophy
Roundtable, UC San Diego
2019 “Transient Causation Among Finite Modes in Spinoza,” Collegium Spinozanum,
University of Groningen**
2017 “A New Role for Moral Theory in Ideology Critique?” Graduate Philosophy
Conference, UC San Diego
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Curriculum Vitae | Leonardo Moauro
Professional Service
2023- Referee for the Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy
2023- Translator for the Journal of Spinoza Studies (English-Italian)
2022 Co-Organizer, Modern Philosophy Graduate Workshop, UC San Diego
2021-22 Liaison, UCSD Philosophy Professionalization Series, UC San Diego
2021 Co-Organizer, Spinoza on Freedom Workshop, UC San Diego
2020-22 Advisory Board Member, Summer Program for the Advancement of Women
in Philosophy, UC San Diego
2017-19 Graduate Student Representative, Philosophy Department, UC San Diego
Teaching Experience
Instructor of Record | UC San Diego Philosophy
2022 Ethics and Society II
2021 Science, Society, and Values
2020 Introduction to Philosophy
Co-Instructor of Record | UC San Diego Academic Connections
2019 Introduction to Philosophy
2018 People, Emotions, Government
Teaching Assistant | UC San Diego Philosophy
2022 Philosophy in the Americas
2022 The Meaning of Life
2019, 2021 Philosophy and the Rise of Modern Science
2019 Introduction to Logic
2018, 2021 Ethics and Society II
2016, 2023 Introduction to Ethics
2015, 2016 Ethics and Society I
Teaching Assistant | UC San Diego Revelle Humanities Program
2018 Modern Culture
2018 Enlightenment, Romanticism, Revolution
2017, 2019 Rome, Christianity and the Middle Ages
2017 Renaissance, Reformation and Early Modern Europe
2017 Foundations of Western Civilization
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Curriculum Vitae | Leonardo Moauro
Graduate Coursework (‘*’ for audited, otherwise completed for credit)
History of Philosophy
Ancient Theories of Wisdom (Rutherford and Johnson)
Perfectionism: Ancient and Modern (Rutherford and Brink)
Locke (Rickless)
Spinoza and Leibniz (Rutherford)
The Constitution of Experience (Tolley)
Leibniz (Rutherford)*
Kant (Watkins)*
Eighteenth Century European Moral Sentimentalism (Rickless)*
Individual, Community, and the Common Good (Brink, Rutherford, and Tolley)*
Ethics and Moral Psychology
Compensation and Restitution (Bazargan-Forward)
Blame (Brink and Nelkin)
Emotion (Fulkerson)
Normativity and Prudence (Brink)*
M&E and Other
Philosophical Approaches to Racism (Hardimon)
The Philosophy of Philosophy (Sher)
Truth in Ethics (Sher)
Varieties of Reference (Grush)
Languages
Native English, Italian
Reading Spanish (intermediate), French (basic)
Translating Latin, Ancient Greek
References
Donald Rutherford | Prof. Emeritus, Philosophy, UC San Diego • [email protected]
Samuel C. Rickless | Professor of Philosophy, UC San Diego • [email protected]
David O. Brink | Distinguished Prof. of Philosophy, UC San Diego • [email protected]
Monte Johnson | Professor of Philosophy, UC San Diego • [email protected]
