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Dr Luca Castagnoli

Dr Castagnoli studied philosophy as an undergraduate at the University of Bologna, and spent one year as a visiting student at the University of California, Berkeley. After obtaining his Philosophy Laurea in 2000, he moved to Cambridge (St. John’s College) to read for a PhD. in Classics, which he was awarded in 2005.

From 2004 to 2007, Dr Castagnoli was a Lumley Research Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge; during this period he also lectured courses in ancient philosophy at Cambridge and King’s College London. From 2007 to 2015 he was a member of the Department of Classics and Ancient History of Durham University, first as a Lecturer in Ancient Philosophy, and then a Senior Lecturer. He has been an Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy of Oxford University, and a Stavros Niarchos Foundation Clarendon Fellow in Ancient Greek Philosophy at Oriel College since September 2015.

Since 2020 Dr Castagnoli has been Director of Graduate Studies in the Philosophy Faculty. At Oriel, Dr Castagnoli teaches a variety of papers in ancient philosophy and ethics.

Research Interests

Dr Castagnoli’s research interests focus on ancient philosophy, especially ancient dialectic and logic, ancient epistemology and scepticism, and ancient conceptions of memory and learning. His first book, Ancient Self-Refutation (Cambridge University Press 2010), is a comprehensive analysis of ancient self-refutation arguments from Democritus to Augustine, with a few glimpses at the medieval period.

He co-edited two volumes: Greek Memories: Theories and Practices (Cambridge University Press 2019) and The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Logic (Cambridge University Press 2023).

Dr Castagnoli is currently co-authoring an introduction to Ancient Logic (with Paolo Fait, for Routledge). His next major research project is a monograph on Ancient Philosophers on Memory, Recollection and Forgetting.

Selected Publications

Monograph
  • (2010) Ancient Self-Refutation: The Logic and History of the Self-Refutation Argument From Democritus to Augustine. Cambridge: CUP.
Edited Volumes
  • (2019) Greek Memories: Theories and Practices, co-edited with Paola Ceccarelli. Cambridge: CUP.
  • (2023) The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Logic, co-edited with Paolo Fait. Cambridge: CUP.
Articles and Book Chapters
  • (2000) ‘Self-bracketing Pyrrhonism’, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 18: 263-328.
  • (2001) ‘L’elenchos di Agatone: Una rilettura di Platone, Simposio, 199c3-201c9’, Dianoia 6: 39-84.
  • (2004) ‘Protagoras Refuted: How Clever is Socrates’ “Most Clever” Argument at Theaetetus 171a-c?’, Topoi 23: 3-32.
  • (2006) ‘Memoria Aristotelica, Memoria Agostiniana’, in G. A. Lucchetta, U. La Palombara (eds.) Mente, anima e corpo nel mondo antico. Immagini e funzioni. Pescara: Opera Editrice: 141-160.
  • (2006) ‘Liberal Arts and Recollection in Augustine’s Confessions X (ix 16 – xii 19)’, Philosophie Antique 6: 107-135.
  • (2007) ‘Everything is true, Everything is False: Self-Refutation Arguments from Democritus to Augustine’, Antiqvorvm Philosophia 1: 11-74.
  • (2009) ‘Synartēsis crisippea e tesi di Aristotele’, in M. Alessandrelli, M. Nasti De Vincentis (eds.) La logica nel pensiero antico. Napoli: Bibliopolis: 105-163.
  • (2010) ‘How Dialectical Was Stoic Dialectic?’, in A. Nightingale, D. Sedley (eds.) Ancient Models of Mind: Studies in Human and Divine Rationality. Cambridge: CUP: 153-179.
  • (2012) ‘Ancient Philosophy of Language’ (co-authored with E. V. Di Lascio), in D. G. Fara, G. Russell (eds.) Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Language. London and New York: Routledge: 811-826.
  • (2012) ‘Aristotle on Begging the Question Between Dialectic, Logic and Epistemology’, Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy 15: 90-121.
  • (2012) ‘Self-refutation and Dialectic in Plato and Aristotle’, in J. L. Fink (ed.) Dialectic and Dialogue: The Development of Dialectic from Plato to Aristotle. Cambridge: CUP: 27-61.
  • (2013) ‘Democritus and Epicurus on Sensible Qualities in Plutarch, Against Colotes 3-9’, Aitia. Regards sur la culture hellénistique au XXIe siècle 3.
  • (2013) ‘Early Pyrrhonism: Pyrrho to Aenesidemus’, in F. Sheffield, J. Warren (eds.) Routledge Companion to Ancient Philosophy. London and New York: Routledge: 496-510.
  • (2015/6) ‘Aristotle on the Non-Cause Fallacy’, History and Philosophy of Logic 37: 9-32.
  • (2016) ‘Aristote sur la pétition de principe’, in J.-B. Gourinat and J. Lemaire (eds.) Logique and dialectique dans l’Antiquité. Paris: Vrin: 259-302.
  • (2017) ‘Skeptical Ethics’, in C. Bobonich (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Ethics. Cambridge: CUP: 218-239.
  • (2017) ‘Aporia and inquiry in Ancient Pyrrhonism’, in V. Politis, G. Karamanolis (eds.) The Aporetic Tradition in Ancient Philosophy. Cambridge: CUP: 205-227.
  • (2018) ‘Aenesidemus’, in D. Machuca and B. Reed (eds.) Skepticism: From Antiquity to the Present. London and Oxford: Bloomsbury: 67-80.
  • (2019) ‘Dialectic in the Hellenistic Academy’, in T. Bénatouïl and K. Ierodiakonou (eds.) Dialectic After Plato and Aristotle. Cambridge, CUP: 168-217.
  • (2019) ‘Is Memory of the Past? Aristotle on the Objects of Memory’, in L. Castagnoli and P. Ceccarelli: 236-255.
  • (2019) ‘Introduction’ (co-authored with P. Ceccarelli), in L. Castagnoli and P. Ceccarelli: 236-255.
  • (2019) ‘The Phaedo on Philosophy and the Soul’, in G. Fine (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Plato, 2nd edn. Oxford: OUP: 183-205.
  • (2020) ‘Ideas: Philosophy, Religion and History’, in B. Dignas (ed.) A Cultural History of Memory in the Age of Antiquity. London: Bloomsbury: 83-100
  • (2023) ‘Fallacies and Paradoxes’, in L. Castagnoli and P. Fait (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Logic. Cambridge: CUP: 236-262.
  • (2023) ‘Introduction’ (co-authored with P. Fait), in L. Castagnoli and P. Fait (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Logic. Cambridge: CUP: 1-17.
  • (2023) ‘Validity and Syllogism’ (co-authored with P. Fait), in L. Castagnoli and P. Fait (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Logic. Cambridge: CUP: 167-198.
  • (forth.) ‘The Stoics on Language’, in J. Klein and N. Powers (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Hellenistic Philosophy. Oxford: OUP: ch. 15.
  • (forth.) ‘P.Louvre 7733: Testo relativo a questioni di otttica’ (co-authored with V. Piano), in Corpus dei papiri filosofici greci e latini IV.2. Firenze: Olschki.