[SydPhil] CHOP Research Seminar - Katherine Chambers (UNE) “Augustine and the Natural Law: faith, reason and human nature."

[Catherine Wesselinoff]

The Notre Dame Centre for the History of Philosophy warmly invites you to this Research Seminar.

TIME: Thursday, August 6, 1:00 - 2:30 pm

IN PERSON: University of Notre Dame Australia, Broadway/Sydney Campus, NDS23/102 (46 Mountain Street Ultimo, NSW, 2007)

Location note: NDS23 is a new UNDA building located at 46 Mountain Street - see these links for assistance:
* UNDA campus map (https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/967eCYW8NocN7N4ZBF0fZfxTn0z?domain=notredame.edu.au<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/967eCYW8NocN7N4ZBF0fZfxTn0z?domain=notredame.edu.au>)
* Google Maps location (https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/EiM0CZY1NqiD6DpRBsjhNfBMa3h?domain=maps.app.goo.gl<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/EiM0CZY1NqiD6DpRBsjhNfBMa3h?domain=maps.app.goo.gl>)
* Google Street view building entrance (https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/23zoC1WLPxck4k9mWTpikfVhGMj?domain=maps.app.goo.gl<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/23zoC1WLPxck4k9mWTpikfVhGMj?domain=maps.app.goo.gl>).

ONLINE: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZTE0YzM2YjktMDliNS00NzE1LTkwMzItOTIyZThiNGQwZGI0%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22c93ebcc3-e84c-45c4-9c7e-8607adc072ec%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22d57c9f6e-4977-4ef4-ab54-cde3631e83ed%22%7d

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SPEAKER: Katherine Chambers (UNE)

TITLE: Augustine and the Natural Law: faith, reason and human nature.

ABSTRACT: Augustine of Hippo (354–430 CE) is widely recognised as providing the foundational theological discussion of the natural law for Western Christianity. Yet his thinking on the natural law has not been examined in depth, despite the growing interest among contemporary theologians and philosophers in the natural law and ethical naturalism. This paper addresses a perceived problem with Augustine's natural law ethics: namely, the problem of the Fall and its consequences for human nature. How did Augustine reconcile his understanding of original sin with his conviction that unaided human reason was a completely adequate guide to ethics among non-Christians? This paper revisits and revises our understanding of Augustine on the natural law.

BIO: Katherine Chambers is a lecturer in History, Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of New England, and also a Research Fellow at the Centre for the History of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame.  She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Sydney and her PhD at the University of Cambridge.  She is an expert on Augustine of Hippo (354-430CE), especially his moral thought. Her first monograph, Augustine on the Nature of Virtue and Sin, (Cambridge, 2023) explains Augustine’s debt to the ethical tradition of eudaimonism. Her second monograph, Augustine and the Natural Law (Cambridge, 2026), revises our understanding of how Augustine reconciled reason and revelation in his discussion of the natural law.


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/sFcjC2xMQziRYR9Gyu2sxf5W3Bk?domain=outlook.office.com> <https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/sFcjC2xMQziRYR9Gyu2sxf5W3Bk?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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