The Department of Philosophy congratulates Dylan Flint, who successfully defended his dissertation in April and will soon receive his Ph.D. in Philosophy from The Ohio State University.

Dylan Flint has defended his dissertation, "Contingency in Leibniz's System of Philosophical Theology." His advisors were Professor Lisa Downing (Ohio State) and Professor Julia Jorati (University of Massachusetts Amherst).

Dylan's dissertation first motivates a moral necessity interpretation of contingency, which maintains that there is some sense in which God could have done otherwise, even though it would involve a violation of the principle of sufficient reason, as the most promising source of contingency in Leibniz’s system of philosophical theology. He then defended this interpretation against several objections, including objections from divine perfection and divine simplicity. If tenable, Dylan has provided strong reason to reconsider how best to locate a source of contingency in Leibniz's system.

The department congratulates Dylan on this achievement and wishes him the best in his future endeavors.