[SydPhil] CHOP Seminar Series - Dominik Perler March 5

[Catherine Wesselinoff]

Dear All,

The Centre for the History of Philosophy (CHOP) at the University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) warmly invites you to our first Research Seminar of 2026.

SPEAKER: Professor Dominik Perler (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
TITLE: One Substance and Many Attributes: Spinoza and the Scholastic Background

ABSTRACT: Spinoza famously claims that there is one single substance that has infinitely many attributes. How is this fundamental claim to be understood? The paper discusses this question by relating Spinoza’s theory of substance to scholastic theories. It first presents Scotus’s theory according to which attributes are essential parts of the substance: they make the substance what it is and therefore constitute it. The paper then intends to show that Spinoza defends the same constitution claim. However, Spinoza goes beyond the scholastic tradition by claiming that the attributes are powers that are always fully actualized. The paper spells out this claim, arguing that Spinoza conceives of the single substance as a “super power.”

Dominik Perler is Professor of Philosophy at Humboldt-Universität, Berlin. He taught at Oxford and Basel before moving to Berlin in 2003. He has had visiting appointments at several universities, among them UCLA, Princeton University, Tel Aviv University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Université libre de Bruxelles, the École Normale Supérieure, and the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris. His research focuses on medieval and early modern philosophy, mostly in the areas of philosophy of mind, epistemology, and metaphysics. He is currently co-director of the research center “Human Abilities.”

His recent books include Feelings Transformed. Philosophical Theories of the Emotions, 1270-1670 (author, OUP 2018), Causation and Cognition in Early Modern Philosophy (co-editor, Routledge 2020), Eine Person sein: Philosophische Debatten im Spätmittelalter (author, Klostermann 2020), Powers and Abilities in Early Modern Philosophy (co-editor, Routledge 2024).
DATE:
Thursday March 5 2026

TIME:
1:00 pm-2:30 pm (Sydney time)

IN-PERSON LOCATION:
Moorgate Room
The University of Notre Dame (Sydney)
10 Grafton St, Chippendale, NSW

ONLINE:
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/47958474870915?p=tSYYEmP9c5oVxQSa32
Meeting ID: 479 584 748 709 15
Passcode: FV37wL7c

Registration is not required.


Dr Catherine Wesselinoff
Lecturer | School of Philosophy and Theology
Lead, Strategic Programs and Partnerships | Institute for Ethics and Society (IES)
The University of Notre Dame Australia.
Book a meeting with me<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/_sAxC1WLPxcByR8X7ILfwSVSicM?domain=outlook.office.com> <https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/_sAxC1WLPxcByR8X7ILfwSVSicM?domain=outlook.office.com>

Recent Publications:
"Beauty's Comeback", Debates in Aesthetics, Vol 19. No. 2, 2025, pp 35-45.
"Apophatic Beauty in the Hippias Major and the Symposium", The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 82, Issue 1, 2024, pp 36-44.
The Revival of Beauty: Aesthetics, Experience, and Philosophy, Routledge, 2023.

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