Catherine Sutton, PhD, VCU Philosophy
Tuesday, March 26, 7:00
Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM),
819 Cathedral Place, VCU
This talk will examine the philosophical ideas that have shaped Christian thought through the ages about the soul and its relationship to our physical bodies. Our ideas about a soul affect our thinking about about what makes you who you are, about what an afterlife would be like, and about how to treat mental illness. We will compare the view that the soul is a non-physical entity that can exist without a body to the view that the soul is a poetic way to describe the physical parts of our bodies that sustain our lives and our mental and spiritual activity.
Dr. Catherine Sutton researches the relationship between wholes and parts, including the relationship between the body and the mind. Her teaching includes courses in the philosophy of mind, logic, and ancient and medieval philosophy. She is an associate professor of philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University.