Professor Anik Waldow
Anik Waldow is Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Sydney. She mainly works in early modern philosophy and has published articles on the moral and cognitive function of sympathy, theories of personal identity, the role of affect in the formation of the self, scepticism and associationist theories of thought and language. She received a Leverhulm research grant (2014-2016) for the interdisciplinary project “Sympathy and its Reflections in History”, and has an ARC Discovery Project on the Experimental Self (2017-19) which focuses on the role of experience, sensibility and embodiment in the construction of selves and their place in social, political and natural spheres. She was an Associate Investigator of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (2013-2017) and has more recently started to investigate the role of empathy in linguistic and non-linguistic communications. She is the author of the monographs Experience Embodied: Early Modern Accounts of the Human Place in Nature (OUP 2020) and Hume and the Problem of Other Minds (Continuum 2009), the editor of Sensibility in the Early Modern Era: From Living Machines to Affective Morality (Routledge 2016), and co-edited Philosophical Perspectives on Empathy (Routledge 2019) and Herder: Philosophy and Anthropology (OUP 2017). Since 2018 she has been the director of the Sydney Intellectual History Network.
She mainly works in 17th and 18th century philosophy and has a special interest in
- Theories of sympathy and sentimentalism
- The problem of other minds
- The human-animal distinction
- Theories of language and communication
- Virtue Epistemology
- Intersubectivity
- History of Early Modern Philosophy
- Humean Moral Psychology, Personal Identity and Theories of the Self
- Ancient and Early Modern Scepticism
- Experience
- Perception and Sensibility in the Enlightenment
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the History Emotions Associate Investigator
- The Hume Society
Project title | Research student |
---|---|
Self and the general point of view: Hume’s sympathy | Luwen LIANG |
Selected publications
Publications
Books
- Waldow, A. (2020). Experience Embodied: Early Modern Accounts of the Human Place in Nature. New York: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2009). David Hume and the Problem of Other Minds. London, United Kingdom: Continuum.
Edited Books
- Waldow, A., Perinetti, D., Roux, S. (2025). Claude Buffier: Metaphysics, Common Sense, and Sociability (Forthcoming). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
- Wolfe, C., Waldow, A. (2024). Science and the Shaping of Modernity: Essays in Honor of Stephen Gaukroger. Switzerland: Springer.
- Antoine-Mahut, D., Waldow, A. (2023). Condillac and His Reception: On the Origin and Nature of Human Abilities. New York: Routledge.
Book Chapters
- Waldow, A. (2025). Hume and Buffier on the Identity of Objects and the Self. In Anik Waldow, Dario Perinetti and Sandrine Roux. (Eds.), Claude Buffier: Metaphysics, Common Sense, and Sociability (Forthcoming). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
- Waldow, A. (2024). Moral Competence as a Distinctly Human Ability: Rousseau and Herder. In Sebastian Bender, Dominik Perler (Eds.), Powers and Abilities in Early Modern Philosophy, (pp. 265-285). New York: Routledge.
- Waldow, A. (2024). Science and Scepticism: Navigating Knowledge, Belief, and Faith. In Charles Wolfe, Anik Waldow (Eds.), Science and the Shaping of Modernity: Essays in Honor of Stephen Gaukroger, (pp. 71-81). Switzerland: Springer.
Journals
- Kotevska, L., Waldow, A. (2025). The Art of Thinking as an Intersubjective Practice: Eloquence, Affect and Association in the Port-Royal Logic. European Journal of Philosophy, 32(4), 1015-1032. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2024). A Plea for Transformative Imagination and Translation (Forthcoming). Australasian Philosophical Review.
- Waldow, A. (2023). Précis: Experience Embodied. International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 31(2), 192-195. [More Information]
Edited Journals
- Waldow, A. (2015). Sensibility in the Early Modern Era. Intellectual History Review, 25(3).
2025
- Waldow, A., Perinetti, D., Roux, S. (2025). Claude Buffier: Metaphysics, Common Sense, and Sociability (Forthcoming). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
- Waldow, A. (2025). Hume and Buffier on the Identity of Objects and the Self. In Anik Waldow, Dario Perinetti and Sandrine Roux. (Eds.), Claude Buffier: Metaphysics, Common Sense, and Sociability (Forthcoming). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
- Kotevska, L., Waldow, A. (2025). The Art of Thinking as an Intersubjective Practice: Eloquence, Affect and Association in the Port-Royal Logic. European Journal of Philosophy, 32(4), 1015-1032. [More Information]
2024
- Waldow, A. (2024). A Plea for Transformative Imagination and Translation (Forthcoming). Australasian Philosophical Review.
- Waldow, A. (2024). Moral Competence as a Distinctly Human Ability: Rousseau and Herder. In Sebastian Bender, Dominik Perler (Eds.), Powers and Abilities in Early Modern Philosophy, (pp. 265-285). New York: Routledge.
- Waldow, A. (2024). Science and Scepticism: Navigating Knowledge, Belief, and Faith. In Charles Wolfe, Anik Waldow (Eds.), Science and the Shaping of Modernity: Essays in Honor of Stephen Gaukroger, (pp. 71-81). Switzerland: Springer.
2023
- Antoine-Mahut, D., Waldow, A. (2023). Condillac and His Reception: On the Origin and Nature of Human Abilities. New York: Routledge.
- Antoine-Mahut, D., Waldow, A. (2023). Introduction: Condillac and Us. In Delphine Antoine-Mahut and Anik Waldow (Eds.), Condillac and His Reception: On the Origin and Nature of Human Abilities, (pp. 1-7). New York: Routledge. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2023). Précis: Experience Embodied. International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 31(2), 192-195. [More Information]
2022
- Waldow, A. (2022). What is Humean Autonomy? In Dan O'Brien (Eds.), Hume on the Self and Personal Identity, (pp. 177-200). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer. [More Information]
2021
- Waldow, A. (2021). Are Cartesian Minds Rylean Ghosts? (forthcoming). In Cecilia Wee and Jorge Secada (Eds.), The Cartesian Mind (Forthcoming). London: Routledge.
- Waldow, A. (2021). Condillac on being human: Language and reflection reconsidered. European Journal of Philosophy, 29(2), 504-519. [More Information]
2020
- Waldow, A. (2020). Book Review: Descartes, Malebranche, and the Crisis of Perception, by Walter Ott. Mind, 129(514), 673-681. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2020). Experience Embodied: Early Modern Accounts of the Human Place in Nature. New York: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
- Celermajer, D., Chatterjee, S., Cochrane, A., Fishel, S., Neimanis, A., O'Brien, A., Reid, S., Srinivasan, K., Schlosberg, D., Waldow, A. (2020). Justice Through a Multispecies Lens. Contemporary Political Theory, 19(3), 475-512. [More Information]
2019
- Waldow, A. (2019). Descartes. In Stephen Gaukroger (Eds.), Knowledge in Modern Philosophy, (pp. 45-61). London: Bloomsbury. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2019). Empathy: Affect, Language and Cognition in the Discovery of the Past. In Derek Matravers, Anik Waldow (Eds.), Philosophical Perspectives on Empathy: Theoretical Approaches and Emerging Challenges, (pp. 13-27). New York: Routledge. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2019). Hume and German Philosophy. In Angela Coventry, Alex Sager (Eds.), The Humean Mind, (pp. 375-387). Oxon: Routledge. [More Information]
2017
- Waldow, A. (2017). Activating the Mind: Descartes' Dreams and the Awakening of the Human Animal Machine. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 94(2), 299-325. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2017). Between History and Nature: Herder's Human Being and the Naturalization of Reason. In Anik Waldow and Nigel DeSouza (Eds.), Herder: Philosophy and Anthropology, (pp. 147-165). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
- Waldow, A., DeSouza, N. (2017). Herder: Philosophy and Anthropology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2016
- Waldow, A. (2016). Introduction. In Anik Waldow (Eds.), Sensibility in the Early Modern Era: From Living Machines to Affective Morality, (pp. 89-102). London: Routledge.
- Waldow, A. (2016). Natural history and the formation of the human being: Kant on active forces. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 58, 67-76. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2016). Sensibility in the Early Modern Era: From Living Machines to Affective Morality. London: Routledge.
2015
- Waldow, A. (2015). Introduction. Intellectual History Review, 25(3), 255-256. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2015). Sensibility in the Early Modern Era. Intellectual History Review, 25(3).
- Waldow, A. (2015). The Artifice of Human Nature: Rousseau and Herder. Intellectual History Review, 25(3), 343-356. [More Information]
2014
- Waldow, A. (2014). Bridging the Gap: Can Conceptual Analysis Solve the Problem of other Minds? Anthropology and Philosophy, 11, 133-147.
- Waldow, A. (2014). Verstehen durch Emotionen: Hume zum Problem des Fremdpsychischen. In Frank Brosow, Heiner F. Klemme (Eds.), David Hume nach dreihundert Jahren: Historische Kontexte und systematische Perspektiven, (pp. 128-148). Munster: Mentis Verlag GmbH.
2013
- Waldow, A. (2013). Back to the Facts - Herder on the Normative Role of Sensibility and Imagination. In Martin Lenz, Anik Waldow (Eds.), Contemporary Perspectives on Early Modern Philosophy: Nature and Norms in Thought, (pp. 115-133). New York: Springer Science+Business Media. [More Information]
- Lenz, M., Waldow, A. (2013). Contemporary Perspectives on Early Modern Philosophy: Nature and Norms in Thought. New York: Springer Science+Business Media. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2013). Mirroring Minds: Hume on Sympathy. The European Legacy, 18(5), 540-551. [More Information]
2012
- Waldow, A. (2012). David Hume: Geschlechterrollen unter dem Einfluss von Natur und Erziehung [David Hume: Gender Roles Under the Influence of Nature and Education]. In Marion Heinz and Sabine Doye (Eds.), Geschlechterordnung und Staat: Legitimationsfiguren der politischen Philosophie (1600-1850), (pp. 151-162). Berlin: Akademie Verlag. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2012). Locke on the Irrelevance of the Soul. Philosophy, 87(3), 353-373. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2012). Sympathy and the Mechanics of Character Change (published in 2014). Hume Studies, 38(2), 221-242. [More Information]
2011
- Waldow, A. (2011). Mechanism and Thought Formation: Hume's Emancipatory Scepticism. In Not known (Eds.), Hume and the Enlightenment, (pp. 171-185). TBC. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2011). Who is Able to Feel Pain? A Cartesian Attack on the Bete-Machine. In Hans T Sternudd and Angela Tumini (Eds.), How Does It Feel Making Sense of Pain, (pp. 3-15). Oxford, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press.
2010
- Waldow, A. (2010). Empiricism and Its Roots in the Ancient Medical Tradition. In Charles T. Wolf and Ofer Gal (Eds.), The Body as Object and Instrument of Knowledge: Embodied Empiricism in Early Modern Science, (pp. 287-308). Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business Media. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2010). Identity of Persons and Objects: Why Hume Considered Both as Two Sides of the Same Coin. Journal of Scottish Philosophy, 8(2), 147-167. [More Information]
- Waldow, A. (2010). Review: Thomas Reid's Theory of Perception. The Philosophical Quarterly, 60(240), 643-645.
2009
- Baier, A., Waldow, A. (2009). A Conversation between Annette Baier and Anik Waldow about Hume's Account of Sympathy. Hume Studies, 34(1), 61-87.
- Waldow, A. (2009). David Hume and the Problem of Other Minds. London, United Kingdom: Continuum.
- Waldow, A. (2009). Hume's Belief in Other Minds. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 17(1), 119-132. [More Information]
2008
- Waldow, A. (2008). Book Review - Peter Kail: Projection and Realism in Hume's Philosophy. Zeitschrift fur philosophische Forschung (Journal of Philosophical Research), 62(3), 124-127.
2005
- Waldow, A. (2005). Personale Identität und Perzeption. David Humes Scheitern als Konsequenz seiner Wahrnehmungstheorie. (Personal Identity and Perception). Zeitschrift fur philosophische Forschung (Journal of Philosophical Research), 59(3), 382-403.
Selected Grants
2023
- Monsters and Dehumanisation in Ancient Greece and the Early Modern Period, Waldow A, Kindt J, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/The Nicholas Anthony Aroney Research Fund
2018
- Developing the field of Multispecies Justice, Waldow A, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/FASS Strategic Research Programme Project
Other Grants
-
Spinoza Fellow, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, 2024
-
University of Quebec at Montreal-Sydney Connection Grant “Claude Buffier’s Philosophy of Common Sense,” Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada (to Perinetti, D; Waldow A; Roux, S, CA$19,094), 2022.
- Erasmus + International Credit Mobility Grant, EU funded programme, to Boeker R, University College Dublin, and Waldow A, University of Sydney (2020-23)
- Visiting Fellowship of the “Human Abilities Project” (2022), German Research Association (DFG): project directors Perler D (Humboldt Berlin), Vetter B (Freie Universität)
- “Extending New Narratives in the History of Philosophy”, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2020-2027: named collaborator, led out of Simon Fraser University, involves 12 universities in Australia, Europe, the US and South America
- FRSS and SRSS Research Support Grant 2019-2020: “Eloquence and the Power to Persuade”, with Kotevska L, collaboration with Montreal, Vancouver and Paris
- Harvard Mobility Grant: Teacher and Student exchange programme (2018-2020, Office of International Engagement, FASS and SOPHI)
In the media
Where is the soul in science?, guest speaker, ABC RN, Big Ideas (Podcast), 29 May 2024
How much should we care about climate change?, guest speaker, ABC The Minefield, 21 October 2021
"Climate anxiety is not one fear among many — we need to stop ranking it", ABC Religion & Ethics, 20 September 2021
“Uncouth monsters”: How David Hume helps us understand our need of each other, with Laura Kotevsa, ABC Religion & Ethics, 4 August 2021
"Empathy and the Ability to Understand Difference", Philosophy Talks @ Leichhardt Library, 3 August 2017
“Compassion: caught or taught?”, radio, The Philosopher's Zone, Radio National, 29 January 2017
"Phone addiction: Mental health and inner lives", panel talk,Outside the Square, 9 May 2019