Patricia
Sheridan
Graduate Studies
Undergraduate Studies
Position / Title: 

Associate Professor

Associate Chair and Graduate Coordinator

 

Phone: 
519-824-4120 x53219
Email: 

pmsherid@uoguelph.ca

Room: 
MacKinnon 335

My main area of research is early modern philosophy. My particular area of specialization is the philosophy of John Locke and the early modern empiricists.  I am also very interested in the philosophical work of 17th and 18th century women thinkers, especially the work of Catharine Trotter Cockburn.  

Education: 

B.A, History and Political Science, McGill University

B.A. Honours, Philosophy, McGill University

M.A., Philosophy, Concordia University 

PhD Philosophy, University of Western Ontario

Publications: 

Books

  • The Philosophical Works of Catharine Trotter Cockburn, Edited, with notes and introduction, by Patricia Sheridan. Broadview Press, June 2006
  • John Locke: A Guide for the Perplexed, by Patricia Sheridan.London: Continuum Publishing, 2010.

Articles

  • "Resisting the Scaffold: Self-Preservation and the Limits of Obligation in Hobbes's Leviathan" in Hobbes Studies, Volume 24, no. 2 (forthcoming August 2011).
  • "Parental affection and self-interest: Mandeville, Hutcheson and the question of natural benevolence” in History of Philosophy Quarterly Volume 24, no. 4, October 2007:pp. 377-392.
  • "The Metaphysical Morality of Francis Hutcheson: A Consideration of Hutcheson's Critique of Moral Fitness Theory" in Sophia, (2007) 46: pp. 261-273.
  • "Reflection, Nature and Moral Law: The Extent of Cockburn's Lockeanism in Her Defence of Mr. Locke's Essay" in Hypatia Volume 22, no. 3, Summer 2007: pp.133-151.
  • "Pirates, Kings and Reasons to Act: Moral Motivation and the Role of Sanctions in Locke's Moral Theory" in Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Volume 37, Number 1, March 2007: pp.35-48. 

Encyclopedia Entries

  • "Catharine Trotter Cockburn" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: plato.stanford.edu/entries/cockburn/
  • "John Locke's Moral Philosophy" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (forthcoming)

Work in Progress 

  • "What do Atheists Know?  Descartes's account of knowledge and certainty in the Meditations"
  • "The 'Moral Sense' in Cockburn and Hutcheson"