Political Science Faculty

David M. DiPasquale

Professor of the Practice

Director of John Marshall Project

Associate Director and Director of Graduate Studies, Islamic Civilization and Societies Program.

Photo of David M. DiPasquale

David M. DiPasquale

Ph.D.

Contact

McGuinn Hall Room 529

Telephone: 617-552-1077

Email: dipasqud@bc.edu

Education

  • B.A., Kenyon College
  • M.A., Boston College
  • A.M., Harvard University
  • Ph.D., Harvard University

Courses

Islamic Platonism

Introduction to Islamic Law

Philosophies of Plato and Aristotle
Medieval Jewish and Christian Political Philosophy

Fundamentals of PoliticsĀ 
Thesis Seminar
Introduction to Modern PoliticsĀ 
Islam and Liberal Democracy
Islamic Political Philosophy
Political Philosophy of Alfarabi
The Architecture of Power
Islamic CivilizationĀ 

Research Interests

Medieval and Modern Islamic Political Thought; Political Philosophy of Alfarabi, Avicenna, and Averroes; Transmission of Greek Science to the Muslim World; Islam and the West

Office Hours

T 2:00-4:00 pm

Phi Beta Kappa Teacher of the Year Curriculum Vitae

Profile

David M. DiPasquale studies the intersection between Islamic law and political thought in pre-modern and contemporary contexts; the transmission and recovery of Greek science by Arabic-speaking Muslims in the Middle Ages; and the political philosophy of Alfarabi, Avicenna and Averroes. In addition, he is interested in the relation between Islam and the West. Ā Under contract with Cambridge University Press is his book Alfarabiā€™s Book of Dialectic (Kitab al-Jadal): On the Starting Point of Islamic Philosophy, which includes the first English translation of the full Arabic text.Ā  He has taught many courses, including Introduction to Islamic Civilization; Islamic Political Philosophy; Islam and Liberal Democracy; the Political Philosophy of Alfarabi; and Islamic Platonism.Ā 

Professor DiPasquale was the winner of the 2024 Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award,Ā presented by Boston College students in the prestigious honor society.

Selected Publications

Books

Alfarabiā€™s Book of Dialectic (Kitab al-Jadal): On the Starting Point of Islamic Philosophy. Including the first English translation of the full Arabic text. Cambridge University Press, December 2019.

Articles

ā€œAverroesā€™ Decisive Treatise and the Apology of Philosophy in Muslim Spain.ā€ A ā€œrevise and resubmitā€ request from The Review of Politics. 2017.

ā€œCharles Butterworth on the Political Significance of Averroesā€™ Rhetoric.ā€ Manuscript completed. To be included in Festschrift in honor of Charles E. Butterworth. 2016.

ā€œAverroes.ā€ For The Encyclopedia of Political Thought (ed. Michael T. Gibbons [Wiley-Blackwell]: 2015).

ā€œThe End of Aristotleā€™s Topics and the Beginning of Islamic Philosophy.ā€ In La lumiĆØre de lā€™intellect: La pensĆ©e scientifique et philosophique dā€™AverroĆØs dans son temps (ed. A. Hasnawi [Peeters (Belgium)]: 2011).

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