Francis P. Coolidge, Jr

Dr. Francis Coolidge has taught in the philosophy department at Loyola since August of 1987. In service of my research he has written a number of articles on Plato and one on Descartes (published in a variety of journals including Ancient Philosophy and International Philosophical Quarterly). Dr. Coolidge has also presented papers at meetings of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, the Metaphysical Society of America, and the Southwestern Philosophical Society. His recent research interests include metaphysics and what (following Plato) we could call “divine madness” in Western and Eastern thought. In the Phaedrus, Socrates proposes that the highest form of divine madness is eros. Dr. Coolidge has argued that there are seven stages of eros in the history of Western philosophy and culture. For his discussion, see the article, “On Divine Madness, its Relations to the Good, and the Erotic Aspect of the Agapeic Good,” Tidjschrift voor Filosofie 65 (2003), p. 93-119.

He is currently writing a book that develops the erotic relations between Western philosophy (indebted to Plato) and the Eastern philosophies of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism. A sketch of this project is contained in the article, “The Erotic Origins and Resolutions of the Question: ‘Why is there Something rather than Nothing’,” Journal of the Southwestern Philosophical Society 22. 1 (2006), p. 121-28.