Description

Metaphysics, Ethics, and Politics in the Thomistic and Analytic Traditions is a summer graduate seminar devoted to promoting intellectual exchange between the philosophical tradition inspired by Thomas Aquinas, broadly understood, and contemporary analytic philosophy. The modern revival of Thomism in Catholic circles began with the 1879 encyclical letter Aeterni Patris, and was exemplified in the work of Jacques Maritain and Etienne Gilson during the first half of the twentieth century. Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, that revival was broadened as philosophers such as Peter Geach, Elizabeth Anscombe, Anthony Kenny, and Philippa Foot began to draw upon the insights of Aquinas (and Aristotle) within the context of contemporary analytic philosophy. The work of these philosophers and others has shown how the Thomistic tradition can inspire original, valuable contributions to contemporary debates, and often calls into question how the very issues of contemporary philosophy are themselves conceived.This seminar hopes to further this engagement between traditions by offering faculty and graduate students a forum for focused study and discussion of Thomism, as well as providing a convivial environment that initiates long-term scholarly collaboration. The topics addressed by the seminar will range broadly from metaphysics to legal and political theory, encouraging consideration of how the various problems and subfields of philosophy intertwine. Perhaps most importantly, the seminar aims to be more than a conventional academic conference by contributing in some small way to a renewal of contemporary philosophical practice; it is hoped that “philosophy” can again be understood as a way of life—an ideal which includes but transcends argumentation. The seminar plans to include faculty and graduate students who have a wide variety of philosophical interests, but who share the conviction that explicating the historical tradition of Thomistic-Aristotelianism and engaging contemporary philosophy are complementary roles in a common endeavor. The seminar is open to all graduate students in philosophy. Other graduate students who can demonstrate a strong background in philosophy may also apply.

Schedule for the Week

• Monday: metaphysics
• Tuesday: philosophical theology
• Wednesday: action theory & philosophy of mind
• Thursday: ethics
• Friday: legal & political philosophy

Daily Format

Each morning session will be devoted to discussing selected texts by Aquinas (or others), with an eye toward laying the foundations for the afternoon discussion. The afternoon session will be divided into two sub-sessions, each considering a philosophical problem of interest. Each session will provide an opportunity for student disputationes and faculty responses. There will be time for recreation in the evening, as well as more informal conversations and philosophical exchanges.

• Morning Session: 9am-12pm
• Lunch
• Afternoon Session: 2pm-5pm
• Dinner
• Evening Activity/Session

2006 Syllabus: TBA

A reader will be mailed to participants several months in advance.

Location

The seminar will be held on the campus of Princeton University, in Princeton, NJ, located mid-way between New York City and Philadelphia. For information about the University and the town, click here.

Seminar Faculty

Nicholas Rescher is University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh where he is also Chairman of the Center for Philosophy of Science. He received his Ph.D. at Princeton University. He has served as a President of the American Philosophical Association, of the American Catholic Philosophy Association, of the American G. W. Leibniz Society, and of the C. S. Peirce Society and is currently president of the American Metaphysical Society. An honorary member of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he has been elected to membership in the European Academy of Arts and Sciences (Academia Europaea), the Institut International de Philosophie, and several other learned academies. Having held visiting lectureships at Oxford, Constance, Salamanca, Munich, and Marburg, he has been awarded fellowships by the Ford, Guggenheim, and National Science Foundations. Author of some hundred books ranging over many areas of philosophy, over a dozen of them translated from English into other languages, he is the recipient of six honorary degrees from universities on three continents and was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Prize for Humanistic Scholarship in 1984. curriculum vitae

Alexander Pruss is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh and Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of British Columbia. His chief interests are in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and applied ethics.

curriculum vitae

Gabriele De Anna is Permanent Researcher in philosophy at the University of Udine, Italy, and is currently a fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his M.Litt. and Ph.D. at the University of St. Andrews, along with a Ph.D. at the University of Padua. His chief interests are in philosophy of mind and action theory.

curriculum vitae

Mark C. Murphy is Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. He chief interests are in moral, political, and legal theory.

curriculum vitae

Michael Gorman is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and a Ph.D. in theology from Boston College. His chief interests are in metaphysics and theories of human nature.

curriculum vitae

Application

Graduate Student Application Requirements (all written items must be submitted in English)

• Undergraduate and graduate transcripts (unofficial transcripts issued by the applicant’s department are also acceptable)
• Applicants must currently be enrolled in a graduate program (M.A. or Ph. D.), or be entering a graduate program in the fall.
• Recommendation letter (from a philosophy professor)
• Recent philosophy term paper (no more than 25 pages)
• Résumé
• A statement of purpose which includes the applicant’s brief philosophical biography and states why he or she wishes to attend the seminar.

Cost

The cost for each student participant will be $500 (although financial aid will be available for those who demonstrate need), which will cover housing and meal fees. Most philosophy departments provide some funds for graduate students to travel in order to present papers; because admission to the seminar is competitive, each admitted student will be expected to ask his home department to sponsor his participation, just as though he had been selected to present a paper at a conference.

Deadline

Completed applications must be postmarked by April 15, 2006. Earlier submission is preferred. Applications should be sent to:

Thomistic Seminar
The Witherspoon Institute
20 Nassau Street, Suite 242
Princeton, NJ 08542 USA

OR electronically, to: ThomisticSeminar@gmail.com

Comments or Questions? Write to ThomisticSeminar@gmail.com

Links

Below are some web sites related to Thomism as well as some relevant further reading.

Corpus Thomisticum, Universidad de Navarra

Jacques Maritain Center, University of Notre Dame

Thomas Instituut Te Utrecht (see the list of Instituut’s list of institutions)

Thomas-Institut, Universität zu Köln

Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture

“ Saint Thomas Aquinas,” by Ralph McInerny and John O’Callaghan. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

John Haldane (ed), The Monist: Analytical Thomism (Oct 1997 vol. 80 no. 4) With essays by John Haldane, Hilary Putnam, Brian Davies, John Lamont, Jonathan Jacobs and John Zeis, Robert Pasnau, Eleonore Stump, Sandra Mensen and Thomas Sullivan, and Stephen Theron.

New Blackfriars: Thomism and the Future of Catholic Philosophy (April 1999 vol. 80 no. 938) With essays by John Haldane, Timothy Chappell, Dagfinn Follesdal, Bas van Fraassen, John Greco, Bonnie Kent, Christopher Martin, Ralph McInerny, Hayden Ramsay, Nicholas Rescher, Thomas Sullivan, Charles Taylor, and Linda Zagzebski.

“Two Roles for Catholic Philosophers,” by Alfred Freddoso

Fides et Ratio by John Paul II

“Advice to Christian Philosophers” by Alvin Plantinga

“Philosophy as a Humanistic Discipline” by Bernard Williams

Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995) by Pierre Hadot