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Juan Rivera-castro S.J.

Visiting Assistant Professor

Departments

  • College of Arts and Sciences
  • Philosophy

Bio

JUAN C RIVERA-CASTRO, S.J., is a Jesuit priest. He holds a Ph.D in philosophy from Boston College, Newton, MA, Church Licentiate in philosophy from the Pontifical University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain, and a Master in Divinity from the Clough School of Theology and Ministry in Boston, MA.
 
He specializes in issues concerning Arthur Schopenhauer’s metaphysics of the thing in itself, his use of the Platonic Ideas, and his dialogue with and adaptations of the Neoplatonic tradition with a particular focus on Plotinus. He is interested in the history of philosophy, philosophy of mind, comparative philosophy, and the contemporary role of philosophy.
 
Courses Taught
  • Philosophy of the Human Person

Areas of Expertise

  • Arthur Schopenhauer
  • Metaphysics
  • Epistemology

Publications

“Schopenhauer’s Philosophy of Mysticism Revisited: Justification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Plotinus” International Journal of the Philosophy of Religion, 100, 2026.

“From Will to Ultimate Reality: The Plotinian Influence in Schopenhauer’s Doctrine of the Thing in Itself,” Review of Metaphysics, 78, 2025.

 “Tocqueville, Catholicism, and the Solution for Democratic Despotism,” Telos: Critical Theory of the Contemporary, 209, 2024.