Matthias Vorwerk, PhD
Provost, Philosophy
Phone: (972) 721-5226
Email: mvorwerk@169577.com
Office: Cardinal Farrell Hall, Second Floor
Office Hours: By Appointment
About
A native of Detmold, Germany, Dr. Vorwerk’s academic expertise is in ancient philosophy, the works of Plato and Plotinus, and the philosophy of human nature. In 1998, he received his PhD from the University of Münster after completion of a dissertation on the Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus. He then received a fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to complete post-doctoral work at University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. He joined the faculty of the Catholic University of America in 2003 as an assistant professor of philosophy, and in 2011 was appointed as associate dean of the School of Philosophy. In this capacity, he oversaw the extensive undergraduate operations of the school, including the formation of college seminarians, and served as inaugural co-chair of Catholic University’s General Education Curriculum Committee, which developed a new liberal arts curriculum that was successfully implemented in 2018. He joined the University of Dallas, as provost and professor of philosophy, in 2022.
Dr. Vorwerk has written or co-authored four books in German on Plotinus and the history of Platonism, published numerous articles and papers for academic publications and conferences, and is a member of the Board of Directors of American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation. He is married with three children.
- PhD, Greek and Latin Philology and Philosophy, University of Münster, 1998
- B.A., Greek and Latin Philology (“Staatsexamen”), University of Münster, 1994
Plotinus Schrift ‘Über den Geist, die Ideen und das Seiende (Enneade V 9 [5]). Text, translation, commentary. Beitrge zur Altertumskunde 145. Munich Leipzig: Saur, 2001.
In Pursuit of “Wissenschaft.” Festschrift in Honor of William M. Calder III, On the Occasion of his 75th Birthday. Edited by St. Heilen, R. Kirstein, R. Scott Smith, St. Trzaskoma, R. van der Wal, and M. Vorwerk. Hildesheim, Zurich, and New York: Olms, 2008.
Baltes, M. DIANOHMATA. Kleine Schriften zu Platon und zum Platonismus. Edited by A. Hffmeier, M.-L. Lakmann, and M. Vorwerk. Beitrge zur Altertumskunde 123. Stuttgart and Leipzig: Teubner, 1999.
Der Platonismus in der Antike. Grundlagen – System – Entwicklung. Index zu den Bänden 1–4. Compiled by M. Baltes in collaboration with A. Hffmeier, M.-L. Lakmann und M. Vorwerk. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 1997.
"Plotinus and the Parmenides: Problems of Interpretation." In Plato's Parmenides and Its Heritage. Vol. 2, Its Reception in Neoplatonic, Jewish, and Christian Texts, edited by K. Corrigan and J. Turner, 23-33. Atlanta: Society for Biblical Literature, 2010.
"Maker or Father? The Demiurge from Plutarch to Plotinus." In One Book, The Whole Universe: Platos Timaeus Today, edited by R. Mohr, 79-100. Las Vegas, Zurich, and Athens: Parmenides
Publishing, 2010.
"Der Arzt, der Koch und die Kinder: Rhetorik und Philosophie im Wettstreit." In Gorgias -- Menon. Selected Papers from the Seventh Symposium Platonicum, edited by M. Erler and L. Brisson. International Plato Studies 25, 297-302. St. Augustin: Academia Verlag, 2007.
"Citizenship of the Heavenly Fatherland: A Platonist Alternative to the Stoic Concept of Cosmopolitanism." In Polis and Cosmopolis: Problems of a Global Era. Vol. 2, edited by K. Boudouris, 230-40. Athens: Ionia Publications, 2003.
"Zauber oder Argument? Die epoidoi muthoi in Platon, Nomoi X (903 A 10905 D 1)." In Platos Laws: From Theory into Practice. Proceedings of the VI Symposium Platonicum. Selected Papers, edited by S. Scolnicov and L. Brisson. International Plato Studies 15, 81-86. St. Augustin: Academia, 2003.
"Mythos und Kosmos. Zur Topographie des Jenseits im ErMythos des Platonischen Staates."
Philologus 146 (2002): 46-64.
"Plato on Virtue: Definitions of sophrosyne in Platos Charmides and in Plotinus, Enneads 1.2 (19)." American Journal of Philology 122 (2001): 29-47.