Dr Daniel Vázquez

Dr Daniel Vázquez

PhD (King's College London); MPhil (UNAM); PGCAPHE (King's College London); BA (Universidad Panamericana); FHEA
Associate Professor & Head of Department

• Email: Daniel.Vazquez@mic.ul.ie
• Location: G16

Research interests

Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy (from Early Greek to Late Antiquity), including topics in Ethics, Moral Psychology, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Argumentation and Cosmology.

More information

I started my studies in Mexico City, where I took two years of a BA in Communications (ITESM) before transferring to the BA in philosophy (Universidad Panamericana), where I graduated in 2006 (cum laude). I then studied for an MPhil in Philosophy (UNAM), graduating (cum laude) in 2010 with an award-winning dissertation on ancient scepticism. The same year, I moved to the UK to study for my PhD in philosophy at King’s College London, where I graduated with a dissertation on Plato and the Stoics in 2015. I also hold a PGCAP in Higher Education from King’s College London (Merit 2014) and am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK (2017). In addition, I have spent research visiting periods in the Trinity Plato Centre in Dublin (2019-2020), Sapienza University of Rome and ILIESI, CRN (2019), Princeton University (2018), the Department of Philosophy, University of Oxford (2015-2016), Cornell University (2013), and Yale University (2012). 

In 2021, I became the Head of the Department of Philosophy at Mary Immaculate College. Before that, I worked for three years as an ERC Research Fellow based at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2018-2021), two years as a FAPESP Research Fellow at the University of Sao Paulo (2016-2018), and two years as a College Tutor in Ethics in Oriel College, University of Oxford (2014-2016) and a Lecturer in Ancient Philosophy in the Philosophy Department of the University of Oxford (2014-2015). During my doctoral studies, I also worked as a Tutor at King’s College London. In Mexico, I was an Adjunct Lecturer in Philosophy at UNAM (Campus Acatlan) from 2008 to 2010 and at the Universidad Panamericana from 2007 to 2010. In the latter, I also worked as Associate Editor for Tópicos, the university’s journal of philosophy (2005-2010).

Teaching 

My teaching competence comprises all areas of Ancient Philosophy, including the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, Hellenistic Philosophy, and Late antiquity. I have taught graduate seminars on the contemporary reception of Stoicism and a seminar comparing Greek, Roman, Chinese and Indian philosophy.

In Higher Education, I have taught Ethics, Epistemology, Political Philosophy, German idealism, Philosophy of Psychology, Philosophical Anthropology, Philosophy of Love and Desire and Introductions to Philosophy. At the post-primary level, I have taught Logic and Ethics in both the Junior and Senior Cycles. Evidence of my commitment to teaching excellence includes a PGCAP, HEA Fellowship, and my paper “Reflections on Tutoring Ancient Greek Philosophy: A Case Study of Teaching First-Year Undergraduates in the UK.” Studying Teacher Education, 10.2 (2014), 117-129. In addition, I have supervised graduate students in Oxford and mentored graduate students at the Universidad Panamericana, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and Mary Immaculate College. 

I currently teach the following BA in Arts modules:

• PI4711: Basic Questions in Contemporary Philosophy
• PI4732: Philosophy of Love and Desire (with Dr Catherine Kavanagh)
• PI4712: Greek Philosophy (with Dr Catherine Kavanagh)

Publications 

• Argumentación y Psicología Moral en la Filosofía Antigua (forthcoming in NUN, Mexico).
• Plato on Time and the World (forthcoming in Palgrave, coedited with Viktor Ilievski and Silvia de Bianchi). 
• Aristotle on Efficient and Final Causes in Plato, Elenchos, vol. 43, no. 1, 2022, pp. 29-54.
• Time and Cosmology in Plato and the Platonic Tradition, coedited with Alberto Ross. Brill (2022).
• Introduction: Time and the Cosmos in Plato and the Platonic Tradition. In Vázquez, D. & Ross, A. (eds.). Time and Cosmology in Plato and the Platonic Tradition. Brill (2022).
• Before the Creation of Time in Plato’s Timaeus. In Vázquez, D. & Ross, A. (eds.). Time and Cosmology in Plato and the Platonic Tradition. Brill (2022).
• The Last Natural Philosophers in Plato’s Phaedo: 99b2-c6. Mnemosyne (2022), 1-24.
• Escepticismo Radical y el Alcance de los Cinco Tropos para la Suspensión del Juicio. In Ornelas, J. (ed.). Rústicos vs. Urbanos, UNAM (2021). 
• Getting Younger. Rhizomata 9.1 (2021), 84-95. 
• Teleology and Sophistry in the Euthydemus. Australasian Philosophical Review 3.2 (2021), 183-190. Co-authored with Saloni de Souza. 
• The Stoics on the Education of Desire. In Bosch, M. (ed.). Desire and Human Flourishing, Springer (2020), 213-228.
• Teleology, Causation and the Atlas Motif in Plato’s Phaedo. Schole 14.1 (2020), 82-103.
• Review of D. J. O’Meara, Cosmology and Politics in Plato’s Later Works. Plato Journal 20 (2020), 231-234.
• The Systematic Use of the Five Modes for the Suspension of Judgement. Manuscrito 42.3 (2019), 47-85. 
• Argumentation and reflection in Plato’s Gigantomachia Sophist 245e6-249d5. Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 100.3 (2018), 241-285.
• Autoengaño, ambición y arrogancia en el Alcibíades de Platón. In Roqueñi, J.M. (ed.). Afectividad y confianza en el conocimiento personal, Panorama (2016), 13-30.
• Stoic cosmology. Encyclopedia Entry for Ancient Philosophy Timeline, 2015.
• Reflections on Tutoring Ancient Greek Philosophy: A Case Study of Teaching First-Year Undergraduates in the UK. Studying Teacher Education 10.2 (2014), 117-129.
• La relación entre necesidad lógica y necesidad de re. Euphyía 5.8 (2011), 105-115. 
• Scepticism, Action and Language. The Classical Review 61.2 (2011), 432–433.
• Review of R. Salles (ed.), God and Cosmos in Stoicism (Oxford: OUP 2009). Dianoia LVI.66 (2011), 200-210.
• Metáfora y analogía en Aristóteles. Su distinción y uso en la ciencia y la filosofía. Tópicos 38 (2010), 85–116.
• Reason in Check: the Skepticism of Sextus Empiricus. Hermathena 186 (2009), 43–57.
• Réplica a ‘Sobre la ontología de los incorpóreos’ de Andrea Lozano. In Actas II Coloquio Doctorandos, Programa de Maestría y Doctorado en Filosofía, UNAM (2008). 
• Review of R. Salles, Los estoicos y el problema de la libertad (Mexico: UNAM 2006). Tópicos 32 (2007), 229-235.
• Review of V. Aspe, Perennidad y apertura en Aristóteles (México: Cruz 2005). Tópicos 30 (2006), 241-246.

A brief interview on my appointment as Head of Department and some biographical information here.