Giacomo Fornasieri

Bio

I am an Assistant Professor at the School of Philosophy of the Catholic University of America. My research concerns the Late Medieval philosophy of mind, ontology, and metaphysics. I focus in particular on the Franciscan tradition and the thought of Peter Auriol. I am currently working on a book project titled: In Praise of Finitude. Peter Auriol on Individuation and Universals.

Abstract

My project for the Summer Writing Research Grant fits within my book project on Peter Auriol’s doctrine of individuation titled: In Praise of Finitude. Peter Auriol on Individuation and Universals, and currently under contract with Brill for the History of Metaphysics: Ancient, Medieval, Modern series. The book aims at offering a systematic reconstruction of Peter Auriol’s doctrine of individuation and its implications for his ontology and philosophical psychology, with particular emphasis on the metaphysical role of finitude. During my research stay at the History of Philosophy Forum, I will be working on Auriol’s doctrine of rationes. While individuality is primitive, Auriol argues that individuals possess multiple quidditative features (rationes) which are indiscernible across distinct co-specific individuals. In Auriol’s view, such indiscernibility grounds the intra-categorical notions of genus, species, and difference, thereby making universality extra-mentally grounded without requiring common natures.