The Ontological Status of Light and Color in St. Thomas Aquinas | Prof. John Boyer

The Thomistic Institute

Professor John Boyer explores how St. Thomas Aquinas differentiated himself from Aristotle through arguing that light is not a body or spiritual entity, but an active quality of transparent mediums, enabling vision and color perception.

This lecture was given on July 18th, 2024, at The Dominican House of Studies.

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About the Speaker:

John Boyer's training is in the History of Philosophy, specifically medieval Aristotelian scholasticism. His philosophical interests include issues in philosophy of science and philosophy of nature (e.g. causality, explanation, time, quantum physics), with an emphasis on their treatment in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition.

His current research focuses on Aristotle's philosophy of science (especially his theory of causal explanation) and how it was built upon by scholastic thinkers such as Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas.

John is a Ph.D. Candidate in Philosophy at the Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (Houston). Prior to coming to Loyola, he taught philosophy at the University of St. Thomas (Houston). He earned an MA in philosophy at the Center for Thomistic Studies and a BA in liberal arts from Thomas Aquinas College (California).