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Lucas P. Depierre

On Whoness

Lucas P. Depierre

My research centers on individual identity, where I develop the notion of whoness in contrast to the traditional paradigm of whatness (quidditas in Latin and māhiyyah / ماهية in Arabic) through which individuation is usually approached. My dissertation on this topic includes chapters on John Scottus Eriugena, Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī, and Peter Abelard.I also write on the French Moralists and the philosophy of brief forms, and I am the author of two literary books in French.

Currently

Where the work is taking me this season.

Sept 2026
In Lisbon for the SIEPM conference, presenting “The Song of Individual Identity in Eriugena, from Whatness to Whoness.”
Just out
“Being an Island: From Presence to Meaning in the Treatises of Teresa de Cartagena” in Church History (2026). Read more →
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No soy un intelectual moderno inconforme, sino un campesino medieval indignado.

I am not a nonconforming modern intellectual, but rather an indignant medieval peasant.

Nicolás Gómez Dávila (1913-1994)

Contact

Get in touch

For correspondence, invitations, or inquiries about my work, I would be glad to hear from you.

lucasdepierre@uchicago.edu

Swift Hall, The University of Chicago Divinity School
1025 E. 58th Street, Chicago, IL 60637

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