Michael Della Rocca

Michael Angelo Della Rocca (born 1962) is Sterling Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. He is a specialist in early modern philosophy, with a particular focus on Spinoza, and in metaphysics. Della Rocca earned his B.A. at Harvard University and his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the Yale faculty in 1991 and was promoted to Sterling Professor in 2021. His doctoral students include Yitzhak Melamed. From 2001 to 2010, he chaired Yale's Department of Philosophy, significantly improving its national and international reputation. His interpretation of Spinoza highlights the centrality of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, suggesting a thoroughly intelligible world with no brute facts. His work, including his book "The Parmenidean Ascent" (2020), explores rationalism and monism from ancient to modern philosophy and touches upon contemporary scientific developments. He also serves as co-editor of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and is on the editorial boards of several journals.