Brian P. Copenhaver

Brian Copenhaver teaches philosophy at UCLA and writes about the history of philosophy, science and magic. He understands magic as an ancient tradition in Western culture, both classical and philosophical. His books explain why, until very recently, leading philosophers and scientists - like Thomas Aquinas, Marsilio Ficino, Giordano Bruno, Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton – took this tradition very seriously. Copenhaver also studies the first Christians, especially Pico della Mirandola, who learned about Kabbalah. Another, but very different, medieval tradition that interests him is logic, as in Peter of Spain's Summaries of Logic and Lorenzo Valla's Dialectical Disputations. As a student of the Italian Renaissance, he has also explored the related environment of modern Italian philosophy - in partnership with his daughter, Rebecca Copenhaver, who teaches philosophy at Lewis and Clark College. He lives a bi-coastal life, in Los Angeles and Chapel Hill, taking inspiration from his wife, Kathleen, from his grandchildren and their parents: his son Greg teaches genetics at UNC.