Digest Week 1 Hilary Term 2026

CAT (Cambridge Anthropology-Theology) Network

Speakers: Professor Catherine Pickstock (University of Cambridge), Dr Susie Triffitt (Pembroke College, Oxford )

Title: 'Examining Judgment'

Date and time: Tuesday 20th January, 1pm

Venue: Online via Zoom

Abstract: Professor Catherine Pickstock, Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, will kick off the new year by examining judgment in conversation with Plato. Catherine is a widely acclaimed Philosopher of Religion and leading figure in contemporary Theology. She has previously held posts as Professor of Metaphysics and Poetics, Research Fellow, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, University Lecturer and University Reader in Cambridge. Catherine co-founded a critical international theological movement, Radical Orthodoxy (with John Milbank and Graham Ward) dubbed “the Cambridge School”. Catherine is currently participating in the Templeton project Between Relativism and Reproach advancing the work of the Center for Theologically Engaged Anthropology and CAT.

After a 20-minute talk, Dr Susie Triffitt, Junior Research Fellow in the Religion and Frontier Challenges Programme at Pembroke College, Oxford and co-founder of CAT, will respond before opening the discussion to the Network. Susie is trained in Theology, Philosophy and Anthropology and her research focuses on hope in spaces of despair. Her current ethnographic project is focused on ‘Hope and Homelessness’. 

Join Zoom meeting: https://zoom.us/j/98086693702?pwd=t16kAWDadtu3UMo5iOKSE3m6y6q3mE.1

Meeting ID: 980 8669 3702  / Passcode: 808074

Arthur Prior Event

Speakers:

– Opening remarks: Per Hasle
– Remarks: Martin Prior
– Remarks by Peter Øhrstrøm.

Title: 'Examining Judgment'

Date and time: Wednesday 21st  January, 4pm to 6pm

Venue: Old Common Room, Balliol College

Abstract: Past, Present and Future, first published in 1867, is the magnum opus of Arthur Norman Prior (1914-1969). Prior was the founding father of tense-logic: Past, Present, and Future presents his tense-logic as a powerful and precise formalism for the systematic study of the temporal aspects of reality. The book was the summation of a decade of work on tense-logic following Prior's John Locke lectures at the University of Oxford in 1956, subsequently published in 1957 as Time and Modality. Among a wide range of topics, Past, Present and Future investigates the idea of branching time that had earlier been suggested by Saul Kripke. It includes several philosophical investigations of time, from a discussion of McTaggart's paradox, the Master Argument of Diodorus, time and existence, problems regarding determinism and future contingency. Prior's discussion of these matters invited a broad scope of ancient and medieval philosophers into the modern discussion in the philosophy of time. Prior was spearheading a revolution in analytic philosophy. Unfortunately, Prior's choice of Polish logical notation has limited its influence. This new edition employs modern notation, making it accessible to a new generation of philosophers and logicians. It includes a new preface a postscript by the editors, which can serve as an introduction to this landmark work of analytic philosophy.