Aquinas on Beauty

Tuesday, November 1st 2016, 7:30pm
DSPT's Blackfriars Gallery hosts this presentation by Fran O'Rourke, PhD
We will begin with a survey of Aquinas’ historical sources. Addressing the charge that his definition of beauty is based upon a preconceived grasp of divine perfection and applied by derivation to creatures, it will be argued that his approach is firmly grounded in empirical experience. We will also consider the question whether beauty is for Aquinas a distinct transcendental concept. Finally, we will conclude with brief mention of the importance of Aquinas for the aesthetics of the Irish writer James Joyce.
 
Fran O’Rourke is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University College Dublin, and in June 2016 he initiated the Symposium Thomisticum.
 
WHEN: Tuesday, November 1st, 7:30 pm
WHERE: Blackfriars Gallery, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology