Niall Dilucia

From September 2023, Niall Dilucia is a postdoctoral fellow in the history and philosophy of science at the CNRS and Maison Française d’Oxford. He works on the ERC NOTCOM project, researching the history of scientific consensus and common notions in the seventeenth century.

Niall holds a BA in History, MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History, and a PhD in History (all from the University of Cambridge). He has published on the philosophy of Sir Kenelm Digby (1603–1665); on the thought of the French Cartesian Robert Desgabets (1610–1678); and on the place of common notions in seventeenth-century English debates on common and natural law. He broadly works on the intellectual and cultural history of seventeenth-century philosophy and science, particularly in early modern Britain. His current interests include seventeenth-century debates on extraterrestrial life; the role of regional and artisanal knowledge in the early Royal Society; and the relationship between early modern scientific collaboration and Utopianism.

Publications

N. Dilucia (2025) ‘Notions communes et common law : Sir Matthew Hale et la recherche d’une obligation légale universelle dans l’Angleterre du xviie siècle’ Revue de Metaphysique et Morale 4, 563–580 – https://doi.org/10.3917/rmm.254.0563

N. Dilucia (2023) ‘Salvation and Sir Kenelm Digby's Philosophy of the Soul' History of European Ideas 49:3, 506–522 – https://doi.org/10.1080/01916599.2022.2084635

N. Dilucia (2022) ‘Robert Desgabets' Eucharistic Thought and the Theological Revision of Cartesianism' Intellectual History Review 32:4, 669–690 (awarded 2nd place in the ISIH's Charles Schmitt Prize competition 2021) –  https://doi.org/10.1080/17496977.2021.1913350

Other writing

N. Dilucia ‘A duel between a spider and a toad: venom and collaboration at the Royal Society’ (Guest Post, NOTCOM Project Blog, December 2024) – Available here.

N. Dilucia ‘Disciplining the ‘viperous brat’: the Scarborough Spa controversy and the fraught relationship between chemistry and medicine in seventeenth-century England’ (Guest Post, NOTCOM Project Blog, April 2024) – Available here.

N. Dilucia ‘Sir Kenelm Digby, Pietro Bembo, and the Contested Origins of Italian’ (Guest Post, Marsh’s Library Blog, August 2023) – Available here.

Podcasts

‘Troubled Waters: a Spa Controversy’ (NOTCOM Podcast, discussion with Dr Amélie Berger-Soraruff, October 2024) – Available here.