People

Mary Sirridge

Mary Sirridge

Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies

Ph.D.: Ohio State University, 1972

Phone: 225-578-2276
Email: pisirr@lsu.edu 
Office: 112 Coates

Biography

Mary Sirridge received her Ph.D. in philosophy from The Ohio State University in 1972. She taught at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1976 she became a member of the philosophy faculty at LSU. From 2000 to 2003, she served as Director of Graduate Studies in philosophy. From 2007 to 2010, she served as Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

 

Areas of Interest

Professor Sirridge teaches primarily in ancient and medieval philosophy and in philosophy of art. She also teaches courses in philosophy and literature. Her principal area of research is logic, philosophy of language, and philosophical linguistics in ancient and medieval intellectual works. She has published, for example, a critical edition of Sermocinalis Scientia, a thirteenth-century work in philosophical linguistics wrongly attributed to Jordan of Saxony. She is currently engaged in editing the Abstractiones of Richard the Sophist, a thirteenth-century logician. She also works on Augustine’s philosophy of mind and philosophy of language and the medieval reception of Aristotle’s On the Soul. She is a member of the American Society of Aesthetics, the Medieval Academy, and the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy.

Courses Offered:

  • PHIL 1001 Honors Introduction to Philosophy
  • PHIL 2033/2053 Ancient & Medieval Philosophy/Honors: Ancient & Medieval Philosophy
  • PHIL 2023 Philosophy of Art
  • PHIL 2024 Philosophy in Literature
  • PHIL 4928 Medieval Philosophy
  • PHIL 7905 Seminar in the History of Philosophy (Aquinas, Augustine)

 

Awards and Honors

Research Awards

  • Edward R. Mellon Fellowship, Pius XII Library, Vatican Film Archives. St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri (2001, 2004)
  • Manship Award, College of Arts and Sciences, LSU (2001)
  • LSU Summer Research Grant (1991, 1995)
  • Lecture in the Visiting Woman Scholars Program, University of Missouri at Kansas City, “Literature and Life Experience,” October, 1991
  • ACLS Travel Grant for a Conference, “The Foundations of Grammar from Antiquity to the Enlightenment,” Chantilly, France. Dir. Irene Rosier, CNRS Paris (1987)
  • Andrew Mellon Fellowship in Early Christian Studies, The Catholic University of America (1982-83)
  • George C. Marshall Fellowship for Study at the University of Copenhagen, Institut for Graesk og Latinsk Midddelalderfilologi (1979-80)

Teaching Awards

  • Alpha Lambda Delta Freshman Honor Society Freshman Instruction Award (2002, 2009)
  • Sternberg Honors Professor (2001-2002)
  • LSU Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Award (1991)

 

Selected Publications

Critical Edition

  • Notulae super Priscianum Minorem Jordani. Cahiers de l'Institut du moyen-age grec et latin 36. University of Copenhagen, 1980. A critical edition of a medieval Latin work based on four manuscripts, with an introduction, notes, and analytical index.

Recent Articles and Chapters (Medieval)

  • “Abstractiones: A Tradition in Evolution.” Bulletin du Philosophie Medievale, 53(2011): 61-80
  • “Verbum Substantivum, Verbum Vocativum: Performative or Fact Stating.” In Mind Matters: Studies of Early Modern Intellectual History in Honour of Marcia Colish. Edited by C. Nederman. Brepols, 2010
  • “‘The Universal Thing is Either Nothing or Posterior’: Radulphus Brito's Questiones Super Libros De Anima.” In Mind, Cognition and Representation: The Commentary Tradition of Aristotle’s “De Anima.” Edited by Paul Bakker and Johannes Thijssen. Ashgate, 2008
  • “‘Utrum idem sint dicere et intelligere sive videre in mente’: Robert Kilwardby, Quaestiones in librun primum Sententiarum.” Vivarium 45 (2007): 253-68
  • “Dream Bodies and Dream Pains in Augustine’s De Natura et Origine Animae.” Vivarium 43 (2005): 213-49.

Recent Chapters (Philosophy in Literature)

  • “The Treachery of the Commonplace.” In Philosophy in the Twilight Zone. Edited by L. Hunt and N. Carroll. Blackwell, 2008
  • “Obscure Destinies and Moments of Grace.” Pages 10-16 in Aging and Dying in Willa Cather’s Fiction. Red Cloud, Nebraska: Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial & Educational Foundation, 2005 (invited contribution)

 

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