Jacob Klein

PhD, Cornell University (advised by Terence Irwin)

I am interested in ancient ethics and moral psychology generally, but especially as they relate to questions about the objectivity of norms and value. My main interest is in Plato, but I have taken a long detour through Stoic (i.e. Socratic) ethics and moral psychology.

I have recently co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Hellenistic Philosophy with Nathan Powers (SUNY Albany). I am currently completing a book manuscript on The Ethics of the Older Stoics. I plan to return to Plato on the other side of these projects.

• The Oxford Handbook of Hellenistic Philosophy (edited with Nathan Powers, Oxford University Press, 2025)
• "Apprehension and Assent: Cicero's Transmission of Stoic Epistemology," in Works of Philosophy and Their Reception (De Gruyter)
• "The Stoics and Kant on the Motive of Duty," in Kant and Stoic Ethics, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press
• "Original Sins: Chrysippus on Command and Prohibition," forthcoming in a volume on The Philosophy of Chrysippus for the Symposium Hellenisticum series (Cambridge University Press)
• "The Scope and Themes of Hellenistic Philosophy" (with Nathan Powers), in The Oxford Handbook of Hellenistic Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2025)
• "The Highest Good in Stoicism," in The Oxford Handbook of Hellenistic Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2025)
• "Autonomy and Stoicism," in The Routledge Handbook of Autonomy, ed. Ben Colburn (Routledge, 2022).
• "Desire and Impulse in Epictetus and the Older Stoics," Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, 103 (2021), 221–51.
• "Aristotelian and Stoic Virtue," in The Routledge Handbook of Hellenistic Philosophy, ed. Kelly Arenson (Routledge, 2020)
• "The Stoic Argument from oikeiôsis," Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, 50 (2016), 143-200.
• "Making Sense of Stoic Indifferents," Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, 49 (2015), 227-81.
• "Of Archery and Virtue: Ancient and Modern Conceptions of Value," Philosophers' Imprint Vol. 14, No. 19, June 2014
• "Stoic Eudaimonism and the Natural Law Tradition," in Reason, Religion and Natural Law: Plato to Spinoza, ed. Jonathan Jacobs (Oxford University Press, 2012)
• "Stoic Thinkers," in Key Ethical Thinkers, ed. Tom Angier (Bloomsbury, 2012)
• Review of Inwood, Later Stoicism 155 BCE to AD 200 (Cambridge, 2022), Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2025.01.21
• Review of Annas and Betegh (eds.), Cicero's 'De finibus': Philosophical Approaches, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2017.05.29
• Review of Brad Inwood, Ethics after Aristotle (Harvard, 2014), Phoenix Vol. 69, No. 3/4
• Review of René Brouwer, The Stoic Sage: The Early Stoics on Wisdom, Sagehood and Socrates (Cambridge 2014), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2015.04.13
• Review of A. Long (ed.), Plato and the Stoics (Cambridge, 2013), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2014.09.34
• Review of Tony Burns, Aristotle and Natural Law (Continuum, 2011), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews,2012.06.02
• Review of Henry Dyson, Prolepsis and Ennoia in the Early Stoa (Walter de Gruyter, 2009), Journal of the History of Philosophy, January, 2011

• PHIL 4130/6130: Stoic Ethics and Moral Psychology (Yale)
• PHIL 501: The Moral Psychology of Plato's Republic (University of Michigan)
• PHIL 429: Ethical Analysis (University of Michigan)
• PHIL 417: Plato's Republic
• PHIL 417: Noncognitivism in Ethics
• PHIL 417: Ancient Ethical Theory
• PHIL 417: Ancient Stoicism
• PHIL 381: Skepticism Ancient and Modern
• PHIL 343: Contemporary Metaethics
• PHIL 335: Contemporary Epistemology
• PHIL 301: Ancient Philosophy
• PHIL 101: Introduction to Philosophical Problems
• CORE 151: Legacies of the Ancient World

• Visiting Associate Professor, Yale University (Spring 2026)
• Visiting Nelson Endowed Professor, University of Michigan, Fall 2022
• Fulbright Award to Germany, 2012-13
• Charlotte Newcombe Dissertation Fellowship, 2008-09
• Norman Malcolm Fellowship (Cornell, King's College London), 2006-07

• "Stoicism Ancient and Modern," Sir Thomas More Lecture Series, Yale Political Union, April 2026
• "The Stoic Theory of Motivation," Yale University Working Group in Ancient Philosophy, April 2026 
• "The Stoics on Original Sins (with a Russian Prelude)," Brown University, April 2026
• "The Stoic Theory of Motivation," University of Toronto Ancient and Medieval Philosophy Seminar, March 2025
• "Epictetus on Freedom and Free Action," Stanford University Ethics and Politics Ancient and Modern Research Workshop, February 2025
• "The Stoic Theory of Motivation," Fudan University Shanghai, June 2024
• "Stoic Freedom," Renmin University of China, June 2024
• "Prolêpsis, Hupolêpsis, Hormê: The Stoic Theory of Motivation," Conference on Stoic Ethics, Renmin University of China, June 2024
• "Epictetus on Freedom and Free Action," Conference on Later Stoicism, Yale University, April 2024
• "Knowledge and Opinion in Early Stoicism," Conference on Ancient Metaphysics and Epistemology, Stanford University, February 2024
• "The Stoic Theory of Motivation," Syracuse University Workshop in Ancient Philosophy, September 2023
• “The Stoic Theory of Motivation,” Assos Academy of Philosophy (Assos, Turkey), July 2023
• “The Stoics and Kant on Moral Motivation,” University of New South Wales, May 2023
• “Original Sins: The Early Stoics on Moral Mistakes and Middle Duties,” University of Notre Dame Australia, May 2023
• "Original Sins: The Early Stoics on Moral Mistakes and Middle Duties,” University of Michigan, January 2023
• “A Stoic and Socratic Theory of Motivation,” University of Michigan, December 2022
• “Original Sins: Chrysippus on Command and Prohibition,” Notre Dame Workshop in Ancient Philosophy,” November 2022
• “Chrysippus on Command and Prohibition,” Fourteenth Symposium Hellenisticum, Fondation Hardt, Geneva, July 2022
• “Moral Motivation in Epictetus and the Older Stoics,” University of Pittsburgh, April, 2022
• “According to All the Virtues: the Older Stoics on Epistemic and Moral Perfection,” University of Pittsburg, January, 2020
• “Stoicism and the Ethics of Equality,” Wesleyan University, May 2019
• “The Structure of Stoic Impulse,” Balliol College, Oxford, March 2019
• “Original Sins: the Stoics on Mistakes and Moral Progress,” Syracuse University SPAWN Conference, August, 2018 (comments by Brad Inwood)
• Original Sins: the Stoics on Mistakes and Moral Progress,” Oxford University Workshop in Ancient Philosophy, June 2018
• “Original Sins: the Stoics on Mistakes and Moral Progress,” University of St Andrews Workshop in Ancient Philosophy, May 2018
• ”Desire and Impulse in Epictetus and the Older Stoics,” University of Tennessee Knoxville, April 2018
• ”Desire and Impulse in Epictetus and the Older Stoics,” University of Pennsylvania, November 2017
• “On the Guise of the Good (and the Bad) in Stoicism,” University of Toronto, March 2017 (comments by James Allen)
• “Orexis, Ekklisis, and the Guise of the Good in Stoicism,” Ludwig Maximilian University Workshop in Ancient Philosophy, November, 2016
• “Orexis and Hormê in Epictetus and the Older Stoics,” Cornell University Conference on Stoicism, September 2015 (comments by Larkin Philpot)
• “Orexis and Hormê in Epictetus and the Older Stoics,” Northwestern University Conference in Ancient Philosophy, June 2014 (comments by John Wynne)
• “What is Stoic Selection?” Hebrew University Conference in Ancient Moral Psychology,  July 2013
• "Two Accounts of Stoic oikeiôsis" (comments by Martha Nussbaum) APA Central Division Meeting, Symposium on Stoic ethics, Feb 2010