<html><head>

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">

<style type="text/css" style="display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} </style>

<style type="text/css">.style1 {font-family: "Times New Roman";}</style></head><body dir="ltr">

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Dear All,</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">The Centre for the History of Philosophy (CHOP) at the University of Notre Dame Australia warmly invites you to our next Research

 Seminar.</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">SPEAKER: Dr Milad Milani (Western Sydney University)</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">TITLE: Mystical Knowledge and the Limits of Reason: Al-Ghazālī and Gregory Palamas<i> </i>(abstract below)</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">DATE: Thursday 18 September 2025</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">TIME: 1:00 pm-2:30 pm (Sydney time)</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">IN-PERSON LOCATION:</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Moorgate Room</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">The University of Notre Dame (Sydney)</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">10 Grafton St, Chippendale, NSW</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">ONLINE:</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond", "Georgia", serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Microsoft Teams Meeting:

</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond", "Georgia", serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <a data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="1" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="https://tinyurl.com/y9325xjj" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnkOWA6c18cb14-7f84-05ae-0c6e-988accc6494b" target="_blank" href="https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/P9BfCD1vlpT3ky079FWfLtjvXaM?domain=tinyurl.com">https://tinyurl.com/y9325xjj</a></span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Meeting ID: 459 726 031 440 3</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Passcode: 29rc6PK2</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;"><br>

</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">POSTE</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond", "Georgia", serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">R:

</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond", "Georgia", serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a data-linkindex="0" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="https://tinyurl.com/mv52sj89" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnkOWA9c884eb5-8f8d-25b6-4409-7aeed7b4303d" target="_blank" href="https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/TvcLCE8wmrtpNYMw7twhjt7xQw8?domain=tinyurl.com">https://tinyurl.com/mv52sj89</a></span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">ABSTRACT: This talk offers a comparative study of the epistemologies of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī and Gregory Palamas, highlighting their

 shared resistance to the overintellectualization of theology through Greek philosophical categories. Both thinkers critique the limitations of Aristotelian and Platonic conceptions of knowledge, particularly their abstraction of the divine and the reduction

 of metaphysical inquiry to rational demonstration.</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Al-Ghazālī, disillusioned with kalām and falsafa, turns to Sufism and the epistemology of kashf (unveiling), grounding knowledge

 of God in direct, transformative experience. Similarly, Palamas, in response to Barlaam of Calabria, defends the Eastern Christian tradition of theōria, asserting that divine energies can be encountered in contemplative prayer. I explore the parallel between

 al-Ghazālī’s distinction between speculative knowledge and spiritual certainty, and Palamas’ essence-energies distinction, both of which affirm the possibility of real, if non-conceptual, participation in the divine. Drawing on the critique of metaphysics

 in Heidegger’s later thought, I also consider both figures as pointing toward a renewed understanding of truth as unveiling (aletheia) rather than propositional mastery.</span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;"> </span></p>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">I challenge the prevailing narrative that Islamic and Byzantine philosophy merely extends or reproduces Greek thought, arguing instead

 for the distinctiveness and enduring relevance of the mystical-theological epistemologies articulated by al-Ghazālī and Palamas.</span></p>

<div style="font-family: "Garamond", "Georgia", serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof">

<br>

</div>

<div class="elementToProof" id="Signature">

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px; font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">

<br>

</p>

<div style="font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt;" class="elementToProof">

<span style="color: rgb(23, 78, 134);"><b>Dr Catherine Wesselinoff</b></span><span style="color: rgb(12, 100, 192);"><b>

</b></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">| </span><span style="color: rgb(12, 100, 192);">Lecturer</span></div>

<div style="font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif;" class="elementToProof"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(163, 117, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>School of Philosophy and Theology</b></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(12, 100, 192);"><b><br>

</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></div>

<div style="font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(163, 117, 25);" class="elementToProof">

<b>The University of Notre Dame Australia.</b></div>

<div style="font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof">

<a title="https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/1788e33f5eef4ec8a4c5030310e41604@nd.edu.au?anonymous&ismsaljsauthenabled&ep=plink" class="OWAAutoLink" id="OWAf6594a7e-ceee-7044-d818-8f9da1badc30" href="https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/9hUJCGv0oyCAQ6Gr7Fpi3tBhKa9?domain=outlook.office.com">Book

 a meeting with me</a><a style="text-decoration: none;" title="https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/1788e33f5eef4ec8a4c5030310e41604@nd.edu.au?anonymous&ismsaljsauthenabled&ep=plink" class="OWAAutoLink" id="OWAfc70ad48-16c4-9655-2b4c-aa36f23dafc7" href="https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/9hUJCGv0oyCAQ6Gr7Fpi3tBhKa9?domain=outlook.office.com"> </a></div>

<div style="font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(163, 117, 25);" class="elementToProof">

<b><br>

</b></div>

<div style="font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof">

<b>Recent Publications:</b></div>

<div style="font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="elementToProof">

"Beauty's Comeback", <i>Debates in Aesthetics</i>, Vol 19. No. 2, 2025, pp 35-45.</div>

<div style="font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; color: black;" class="elementToProof">

"Apophatic Beauty in the <i>Hippias Major</i> and the <i>Symposium</i>", <i>The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism</i>, Vol. 82, Issue 1, 2024, pp 36-44.</div>

<div style="font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; color: black;" class="elementToProof">

<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><i>The Revival of Beauty: Aesthetics, Experience, and Philosophy</i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,

</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Routledge, 2023.</span></div>

<p class="elementToProof" style="margin: 0px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">

<span style="font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; color: black;">"Is jealousy justifiable?"<i> The European Journal of Philosophy</i>, vol. 31, No. 3, 2023, pp 703-10.</span></p>

</div>

<p style="font-family: Verdana; font-size:10pt; color:#666666;">Disclaimer<p style="font-family: Verdana; font-size:8pt; color:#666666;">IMPORTANT: This e-mail and any attachments may be confidential. If you are not the intended recipient you should not disclose, copy, disseminate or otherwise use the information contained in it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail and delete or destroy the document. Confidential and legal privilege are not waived or lost by reason of mistaken delivery to you. The University of Notre Dame Australia is not responsible for any changes made to a document other than those made by the University. Before opening or using attachments please check them for viruses and defects. Our liability is limited to re-supplying any affected attachments.

</p></body></html>