Anthony began at Hope in 1980 after previous stints at Kenyon College and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He was involved in the development of IDS 172 (Cultural Heritage II) and has taught it regularly since its inception. He has offered many courses within the philosophy department but has recently focused on teaching Philosophy of Mind and Logic. His current research centers on mysticism and philosophical idealism, including the exploration of the reasons why these two areas, so prominent in philosophy a century ago, retreated from center stage after the First World War. 

He retired from Hope College in 2017.

Areas of Interest

Anthony is interested in the philosophy of religion (in particular, the philosophical issues surrounding mysticism), the history of modern philosophy (especially Kant, Fichte and the Anglo-American idealists) and philosophy of mind.

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1978
• M.A., University of Chicago, 1974
• B.A., University of California, Davis, 1973

PUBLISHED WORK

Books Edited

• Reflections on Philosophy and Religion by Alan Donagan, edited with an introduction by Anthony N. Perovich, Jr., Oxford University Press, 1999
• Human Nature and Natural Knowledge: Essays Presented to Marjorie Grene on the Occasion of Her Seventy-Fifth Birthday, with Alan Donagan and Michael V. Wed, eds., Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 89. D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1986.

Articles

• “Ethics and the Individuation of the Self: Royce’s ‘Dash of Fichte,’” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 2016
• “World War I, The Two Germanies, and Fichte’s Addresses,” Fichte’s Addresses to the German Nation Reconsidered, 2016
• “Taking Nature Mysticism Seriously: Marshall and the Metaphysics of the Self,” Religious Studies 47, 2011
• “Philosophical Reflection on Mysticism,” A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, 2010
• “Fichte’s Phenomenology of Religious Consciousness,” Fichte and the Phenomenological Tradition, 2010
• “Fichte, Hegel, and the Senses of ‘Revelation,’” Fichte, German Idealism, and Early Romanticism, 2010
• “On the Mysticism of Fichte’s The Way towards the Blessed Life,” Idealistic Studies 36, 2006
• “Persons, Minds, and ‘The Specter of Consciousness,’” The Philosophy of Marjorie Grene, 2002
• “Innate Mystical Capacities and the Nature of the Self,” The Innate Capacity, 1997
• “Fichte and the Typology of Mysticism,” Fichte: Historical Context/Contemporary Controversies, 1994
• “Kant a Christian? A Reply to Palmquist,” Faith and Philosophy 9, 1992
• “‘For reason... also has its mysteries’: Immortality, Religion, and ‘The End of All Things,’” Kant’s Philosophy of Religion Reconsidered, 1991
• “A Comprehensive and Comprehensible Survey of Modern Philosophy,” Teaching Philosophy 13, 1990
• “Does the Philosophy of Mysticism Rest on a Mistake?” The Problem of Pure Consciousness, 1990
• “Genius, Scientific Method, and the Stability of Synthetic A Priori Principles,” Human Nature and Natural Knowledge, 1986
• “Mysticism or Mediation: A Response to Gill,” Faith and Philosophy 2, 1985
• “Mysticism and the Philosophy of Science,” The Journal of Religion 65, 1985
• “Inkommensurabilität--ihre Unterarten und ihre ontologischen Konsequenzen,” Versuchungen: Aufsätze zur Philosophie Paul Feyerabends 2, 1981
  • (English version: “Incommensurability, Its Varieties and Its Ontological Consequences,” Beyond Reason: Essays on the Philosophy of Paul Feyerabend 132, 1991)

Outside the college

Anthony enjoys classical music and opera and is especially passionate about the works of Mozart, Schubert, Bruckner and Richard Wagner. He is also a long-suffering fan of the Detroit Lions. He and his wife enjoy attending Celtic festivals when they can. His wife is amazingly effective at identifying the occasional TV series (e.g., Homeland and The Night Manager) that he is likely to be engaged by.