Associate Professor, Philosophy, Memorial University

Bio: Suma Rajiva specializes in Kant and early modern philosophy (especially Descartes to Hume) and ancient philosophy (especially Plato) with interests in nineteenth century philosophy, especially German Idealism and Marxism, and philosophical themes in literature. She has published articles on Kant’s epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics in Kant-Studien, The Kant Yearbook, AE: Canadian Aesthetics Journal, Proceedings of the International Kant Congress and other venues.  She has 2 major research projects currently: she is working on a book manuscript linking Kant’s epistemology, aesthetics, and philosophy of life, Kant’s Concept of Reflecting Judgment: Rationality, Subjectivity, and Analogical Synthesis. Her other project involves the politics of being and becoming in Plato's Sophist and Statesman.

Other research interests include Plato, Descartes, Hume, Leibniz, Locke, and Spinoza. She has recently become interested in moral and ethical themes in literature, in Homer, Greek and Roman tragedy, mediaeval German epic, and German literature generally, especially the 18th and 19th centuries. She regularly teaches courses on Descartes, Hume, Kant, Plato, and history of ancient and modern philosophy, as well as seminars (undergraduate and graduate) on Leibniz, Spinoza, and Kant. She has supervised and continues to supervise graduate students in Descartes, Hume, Montaigne, Kant and is a member of several doctoral committees on Descartes, Kant, Plato, Neoplatonism, and Rancière.