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John Hymers, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

An expert in philosophical German, Dutch, and Latin, John Hymers has produced numerous critically-edited book-length translations of the works of Kant, Baumgarten, and Eberhard. He is a member of the Tetens Project, funded by the NEH, whose task is the print publication (on Bloomsbury) of a six-volume translated edition of the philosophical works of Johann Nicolaus Tetens (1736-1807), accompanied by a parallel online German edition of the same works.

John is an avid baseball player, runner, gym rat, and passionate home cook. He lives in Belgium with his wife and children when not teaching at La Salle.

Areas of Expertise

  • Pre-Kantian Philosophy (especially Alexander Gottleib Baumgarten)
  • The Philosophy of Religion (especially Ludwig Feuerbach)
  • Ethics
  • The Just War Tradition

Education

  • A. University of Waterloo (Canada) – Mediaeval Studies
  • A. Catholic University of Louvain (K.U.Leuven, Belgium) – Philosophy
  • A. Catholic University of Louvain (K.U.Leuven, Belgium) – Philosophy
  • D. Catholic University of Louvain (K.U.Leuven, Belgium) – Thesis: Ludwig Feuerbach and the Inversion of the Ontological Argument. Advisor: William Desmond

Teaching

  • HON 131/132 Philosophical Perspectives: The Honors Triple Sequence
  • HON 393 Eating and the Good Life
  • PHL Current Ethical Issues: The Just War Tradition
  • PHL 328 Early Modern Philosophy
  • PHL 152 Ethics and the Good Life

Publications
BOOKS

  • Baumgarten and Kant on the Foundations of Practical Philosoph Edited by John Hymers, with Courtney D. Fugate. Introduction by Hymers and Fugate. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024. Includes contributions by Paul Guyer, Allen Wood, Clemens Schwaiger, Stefanie Buchenau, Heiner F. Klemme, Sonja Schierbaum and Michael Walschots, Stefano Bacin, Gaultiero Lorini, Alexander Achiele, Fredrich Rauscher, Fiorella Tomasinni, John Hymers, and Courtney D. Fugate.
  • Alexander Baumgarten’s Philosophical Ethics. A Critical Translation. Translated and edited by John Hymers. London: Bloomsbury, 2024. 331 pp.
  • Alexander Baumgarten’s Elements of First Practical Philosophy. A Critical Translation with Kant’s Reflections on Moral Philosophy. Translated and edited by John Hymers, with Courtney Fugate. London: Bloomsbury, 2020. 375 pp.
  • Baumgarten and Kant on Metaphysics. Edited by John Hymers, with Courtney D. Fugate. Introduction by Hymers and Fugate. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. 235 pp. Includes contributions by Paul Guyer, Henry E. Allison, Gary Hatfield, Angelica Nuzzo, Clemens Schwaiger, Brandon C. Look, Jeffrey Edwards, Corey W. Dyck, Rudolf A. Makkreel, John Hymers, and Courtney D. Fugate.
  • Johann August Eberhard’s Preparation for a Natural Theology, with Kant’s Elucidations and Notes. Translated and edited by John Hymers, with Courtney Fugate. London: Bloomsbury, 2016. 276 pp. .
  • Alexander Baumgarten’s Metaphysics. A Critical Translation with Kant’s Elucidations, Selected Notes and Related Materials. Translated and edited by John Hymers, with Courtney Fugate. London: Bloomsbury, 2013 (Hardback). 2014 (Paperback). 460 pp.

RECENT BOOK CHAPTERS

  • “A Case Study of the Right of Nature: War, Violence, and Punishment in Baumgarten.” In: Hymers and Fugate (eds.). Baumgarten and Kant on the Foundations of Practical Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024. 241-268.
  • “Contradiction and Privation: Baumgarten and Kant on the Concept of Nothing.” In: Hymers and Fugate (eds.). Baumgarten and Kant on Metaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. 110-130.

Recent Presentations

  • “Translating Metaphysics §7: Baumgarten’s Metonyms.” Leuven Baumgarten Metaphysics Workshop. KU Leuven (Belgium). Dec.16, 2024.
  • “The Other Side of the Tapestry: The Demands of Terminology in Translation.” Humanities Colloquium. La Salle University. Spring 2020.
  • “The use and abuse of logomachia.” Univesità degli Studi di Pavia (University of Pavia, Italy). April 19, 2017.
  • “Contradiction and Privation: Baumgarten and Kant on the concept of nothing.” Univesità degli Studi di Pavia (University of Pavia, Italy). April 18, 2017.