NEITHER MEAT MACHINES NOR VISIBLE ANGELS
THE HUMAN PERSON IN LIGHT OF NEUROSCIENCE AND THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Friday, July 17, 6 PM EDT
DiGiovanni Hall, St. Paul's/Harvard Catholic Center (29 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge) & Livestreamed
Fr. Ezra Sullivan, OP
Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome
Human behavior is best explained by neuroscience in dialogue with other disciplines, not least the philosophy and theological anthropology of Thomas Aquinas. After considering neuroscience from a Thomistic perspective, this lecture frames what can be known about the human person in light of Thomism, in particular through an analysis of the four causes. The result is a greater appreciation for the advantages of interdisciplinary work in the study of the human being, who is neither a meat machine nor a visible angel.
The lecture is followed by audience Q&A and a reception.
Co-sponsored by the Society of Catholic Scientists; the Thomistic Institute at Harvard University; the Abigail Adams Institute; the Harvard Christian Alumni Society; the St. Benedict Institute at Hope College; the St. Kateri Institute at Williams College; the Institute of Theology, Imagination, and the Arts in the University of St Andrews (UK); the Lumen Christi Institute; the Catholic Community at Stanford; and the Guild of St. Luke (Boston)
FREE & OPEN TO ALL
IN PERSON & LIVESTREAMED
Albrecht Dürer, Melencolia I, Engraving on Laid Paper, 9 5/16 x 7 5/16 in, 1514, Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art.
FR. EZRA SULLIVAN, OP
Fr. Ezra Sullivan, O.P., a native of California, is Professor of Moral Theology and Psychology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. He has lectured and written widely on philosophy and psychology, bioethics, and Catholic Social Doctrine. Among his many books and articles are Habits and Holiness: Ethics, Theology, and Biopsychology (2021), and Heroic Habits: Discovering the Soul’s Potential for Greatness (2021). Fr. Sullivan received his BA from St. John’s College/ Annapolis, his STB from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception/ Washington DC, and his STL, JCL, and STD from the Angelicum.
Supported by the McDonald Agape Foundation and the Angelicum Thomistic Institute