Rodrigo Ballon-Villanueva

I'm a Peruvian PhD student in Philosophy at Durham University (UK), supervised by Anna Marmodoro (Philosophy), Alberto Rigolio (Classics), & Matthew Tugby (Philosophy) - thanks to a Wolfson Postgraduate Scholarship in the Humanities. I work at the intersection of late ancient/early medieval philosophy (focused on the Neoplatonic tradition) and contemporary metaphysics (especially causality, existence, properties, and relations). I also have strong interests in philosophy of religion (e.g., apophaticism, divine attributes, and universalism), and ethics. 

I hold a BA from the University of Navarra (Spain) and an MA from the Università della Svizzera italiana (Switzerland). My training as a historian of philosophy began at the former, whereas at the latter, I became acquainted with analytic metaphysics. I'm using both skill sets in my doctoral dissertation: 'Medieval Monistic Idealism'. My main claim is that John Scotus Eriugena (9th century) endorsed the view that being is mind-dependent, while rejecting any kind of distinction or multiplicity in reality. With my work, I aim to contribute to fixing the unfair narrative surrounding Eriugena, showing that he is more internally consistent than is usually assumed and constitutes a landmark in the history of metaphysics. Moreover, by embarking on the unprecedented enterprise of reconstructing Eriugena's views by drawing upon contemporary analytic tools, I will also bring a new and underexplored form of idealism (and monism) to the scholarly platform for discussion.

I'm also part of the editorial team of IPM. Monthly, a digital magazine that serves as a platform for disseminating content and fostering academic dialogue about the history of philosophy, with a global perspective. Particularly, I coordinate the 'Small Portraits' section, whose goal is to highlight the work of young researchers in in the premodern history of philosophy.