David Cory

Biography

I work on medieval theories of life and nature, with a special focus on how thirteenth century physical theory conditioned accounts of non-human souls and their causal powers. The souls of animals and plants provide excellent test cases through which we can understand the difference between life and non-life as medieval authors understood these terms, while avoiding the distracting peculiarities of the human soul. My recent focus has been on the thought of Thomas Aquinas, and moving forward, I am interested in expanding our awareness of how his contemporaries and his sources approached these same problems.