Professor Cecilia Trifogli

Join the Medieval Institute for its final lecture of the semester, with Cecilia Trifogli, professor of Medieval philosophy at the University of Oxford, speaking on "Medieval Views on the Subject of Thought and the Intellectual Soul."
About the Talk
The general issue addressed in my talk is how deep the difference between human beings as rational animals and the other kinds of animals is. Are human beings fundamentally unlike the other animals or are they nothing more than the most complex animals? In the Aristotelian tradition, there are two major topics relevant to this issue: (i) the subject of thought and (ii) the nature of the intellectual soul. My main focus will be Aquinas's view on these topics. This is arguably Aquinas's most sophisticated contribution to the Aristotelian theory of human nature and was highly influential. It did not meet, however, universal consent. Remarkable objections were raised even by one of Aquinas’s closest followers, Giles of Rome, and later on, in the third decade of the 14th century by Thomas Wylton. These are the two opponents to Aquinas I shall consider in this talk.
About the Speaker
Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the University of Oxford (2008–present) and Fellow of All Souls College (1999–present), Professor Trifogli holds degrees from the Universities of Pisa (M.A. Philosophy, M.A. Mathematics) and Milan (Ph.D. Mathematics). A Fellow of the British Academy since 2014, her research centers on medieval Aristotelian philosophy, metaphysics, and epistemology. Recent work includes editing Questions on Aristotle's Physics by Geoffrey of Aspall and a forthcoming co-edited volume on medieval conceptions of space and time.
Originally published at medieval.nd.edu.