Staff profile

Giulia Bonasio is Assistant Professor in Ancient Philosophy. Dr Bonasio’s research focuses on Aristotle’s ethics, in particular on the Eudemian Ethics. She has research interests in ancient philosophy, ethics, epistemology, moral psychology, ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek lyric poetry, history of emotions, Medieval philosophy, reception of Aristotle's philosophy, virtue ethics and virtue epistemology.

Dr Bonasio has been Guest Professor at the Zentrum Altertumswissenschaften of the University of Zürich and Senior Fellow of the Collegium Helveticum in fall 2022. 

UZH - Zentrum Altertumswissenschaften Zürich - Gastprofessur (Junior)

Giulia Bonasio | Collegium Helveticum – ETH Zürich

Before coming to Durham, Dr Bonasio was a Faculty Fellow at the University of King’s College in Halifax (Canada) where she taught in the Foundation Year Program. She was also affiliated with the Department of Classics at Dalhousie University.

She was educated in Italy, where she completed a BA and a MA in Philosophy at the University of Padova. She received a MA, an MPhil and a PhD in Classical Studies/Ancient Philosophy from Columbia University, where she wrote a doctoral dissertation entitled Happiness and Superlative Value in the Eudemian Ethics. Dr Bonasio's research was awarded a DAAD fellowship (2016) for studying at the Munich School of Ancient Philosophy and a Chateaubriand Fellowship (2018) for doing research at Sorbonne Université (Paris I).

Dr Bonasio is currently working on a book project on the unity of the virtues in Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics, and she is editing a book on wisdom that includes contributions in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Buddhist and Indian traditions, neuroscience and biology (under contract with De Gruyter).

Doctoral Supervision

Dr Bonasio is happy to supervise doctoral dissertation in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy (especially Early Greek Philosophy, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurean philosophy), and on the connections between Ancient Philosophy and Greek Literature (especially Greek Lyric Poetry and Greek Tragedy).

School Talks and Outreach

Dr Bonasio would be happy to give talks on ancient Philosophy, Medieval philosophy, the history of emotions, ethics, epistemology and moral psychology. In New York, she participated in the outreach program “Rethink” where she led discussions on topics such as power, paternalism, justice, and equality.

Book review

• Bonasio, G. (2020). Review of F. Alesse, Aristotle on prescription: Deliberation and Rule-Making in Aristotle’s Practical Philosophy (2018). Classical Journal,
• Bonasio, G. (2017). Review of W. Lapini, L'epistola a Erodoto e il bios di Epicuro in Diogene Laerzio (2015)
• Bonasio, G. (2016). Review of J. Warren, The pleasures of reason in Plato, Aristotle, and the Hellenistic Hedonists (2014). Classical World, 109(4),

Chapter in book

• Bonasio, G. Honour and its goodness in Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics. In D. Cairns, & M. Canevaro (Eds.), Honour in Classical Greece. University of Edinburgh Press
• Bonasio, G. Complete Virtue. In G. Di Basilio (Ed.), Investigating the Relationship Between Aristotle's Eudemian and Nicomachean Ethics (172-188). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429326233-11

Conference Paper

• Bonasio, G. (in press). The transgressive notion of the sublime in Lucretius' De Rerum Natura. In J. Janzen (Ed.), Breaking the rules (64-78)
• Bonasio, G. (2019). Pleasure and motivation in the Eudemian Ethics. In D. Sfendoni-Mentzou (Ed.), Proceedings of the World Congress: Aristotle 2400 Years (215-220)
• Bonasio, G. (2014). Passions tragiques : la pitié et la crainte par rapport à la catharsis en Aristote. In Passions : transports, sublimation.=

Journal Article

• Bonasio, G. (2022). The Pleasure Thesis in the Eudemian Ethics. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 60(4), 521-536. https://doi.org/10.1353/hph.2022.0051
• Bonasio, G. (2021). Natural goods in the Eudemian Ethics. Ancient Philosophy, 41(1), 123-142. https://doi.org/10.5840/ancientphil20214117
• Bonasio, G. (2020). Kalokagathia and the unity of the virtues in the EE. Apeiron, 53(1), 27-57