I am an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (USA). My main research area is Early Modern Philosophy; so far, I have worked mainly on early modern philosophy of action, metaphysics, ethics, and philosophy of mind. At present, I am particularly interested in philosophical arguments concerning slavery in the 17th and 18th centuries. More specifically, my current project explores early modern reactions to Aristotle’s theory that some human beings are slaves by nature, that is, due to a deficiency in their natural abilities. Some early modern authors used this theory to justify the enslavement of Africans and American Indians; others argued against the theory. My project aims to examine the role that this Aristotelian idea plays in early modern discussions of slavery and the ways in which it is connected to emerging racist ideas.