CENTER FOR THOMISTIC STUDIES

Report

2018-2019

University of St. Thomas

§ From the Director§ From the Director

The 2018-19 academic year has proven fruitful for the Center for

Thomistic Studies. Catherine Peters successfully completed and de-

fended her dissertation. She is beginning as an assistant professor at

the Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. John Boyer, who

is completing his dissertation this year, has also accepted a philoso-

phy position, at the University of Loyola in New Orleans.

Our faculty and students participated extensively in national confer-

ences, showing a strong presence at the American Catholic philo-

sophical Association meeting, the American Maritain Association

meeting, and the Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo. As the following

pages will reveal, our faculty, students, and alumni have greatly contributed to Catholic intel-

lectual life through numerous publications.

We are pleased to welcome two new faces to the Center for Thomistic Studies. Brian Carl

comes to us from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC, where he taught for nine

years. He received his PhD in philosophy from the Catholic University of America, studying

metaphysics under the direction of Fr. John Wippel. Brian has published several articles con-

cerning our knowledge of God. Father Raphael Mary Salzillo, OP comes to us from the Univer-

sity of Notre Dame, where he has just completed his PhD. His dissertation, directed by Dr.

Christopher Shields, focused upon the nature of the soul. We would also like to welcome Dr.

David Squires, who will be teaching in the philosophy department. He also comes from Notre

Dame with a recent PhD.

We are proud of our students, our faculty, and our alumni. If you would like to make a gift to

the Center for Thomistic Studies or learn more about leaving a bequest to the Center in your

will, please contact Steven Jensen at jensensj@stthom.edu or at 713.831.7864.

This sign indicates a Center Historical Document. You may find more such documents at the

Center Archives at http://www.stthom.edu/Academics/Centers-of-Excellence/Center-for-

Thomistic-Studies/Archives/Index.aqf

Fr. Raphael Mary Salzillo, OP Dr. David Squires Dr. Brian Carl

§ 2019Aquinas Lecture§ 2019Aquinas Lecture::

In his talk on Classical Theism and the Nature of God,

Dr. Edward Feser presents the classical understand-

ing of God as represented by Aquinas, Augustine, and

others. He contrasts it with the Theistic Personalism of

Alvin Plantinga.

According to Dr. Feser, Theistic Personalists misunder-

stand the importance of divine simplicity, as well as what

Aquinas and others mean by speaking of God analogical-

ly. The Personalist line of thinking may lead to the denial

of God as the divine and final creator of all that exists,

and it may eventually lead to atheism. The classical theist

alone is able to explain God as the ground of all being

who constantly sustains the world and all creation.

President Ludwick and Dr. Feser Dr. Jensen introduces Dr. Edward Feser Dr. Edward Feser

Philosophy Faculty gathers to welcome Fr. Robert Henle, Aquinas Lecturer, 1984

Fr. Leonard Kennedy, Fr. Victor Brezik, Fr. Tom Russman, Dr. Joe Graham, Fr. James Keon, Dr. Joe Boyle,

Dr. John Knasas, Dr. Joseph Koterski, Dr. Oscar Brown and Fr. Henle (Center)

§ Historical Center Documents§ Historical Center Documents: : Maritain and the CenterMaritain and the Center

Lectures on the Theory of Knowledge in St. Thomas

Jacques Maritain

Thomism is not merely an historical thing, a system of thought, vital only in the past but now inter-

esting merely as an historical phase of human reflection. We must, of course, study it historically in

order to know what it was and what it is now. But we should not think of it as a specimen in the

museum of thought. On the contrary, its substance and its spirit transcend time, are intemporal like

all that is true. We must think of it not only historically but in connection with contemporary prob-

lems. In Thomism we shall see the actual, present-day salvation of the intelligence. We stand for a

living Thomism, not an archaeological Thomism.

You may find the entire translated lecture at:You may find the entire translated lecture at:

https://www.stthom.edu/Public/getFile.asp? File_Content_ID=125016https://www.stthom.edu/Public/getFile.asp? File_Content_ID=125016

§ Center Colloquia Fall 2018:

Under the care of Dr. Thomas Osborne, the Colloquia featured a mixture of students, Center Faculty,

UST Faculty, and illustrious invited guests. Here is the line-up of speakers for Fall 2018:

September 7: Sr. Albert Marie Surmanski, OP, Visiting Assistant Professor of Undergraduate The-

ology, spoke on “Hunger and Thirst: Suffering for Christ in Sts. Catherine of Siena and

Teresa of Kolkatta.”

September 28: Dr. Steven DeLay, Independent Scholar, spoke on “Jean-Yves Lacoste: From Being-in-

the-World to Living-Before-God.”

October 12: Dr. R. Edward Houser, Emeritus Philosophy Professor, Center for Thomistic Studies

spoke on “Avicenna and Aquinas: Thomas’ Second and Third Ways.”

October 19: Titus Techera, Executive Director of the American Cinema Foundation, spoke on

“Aristotle on Poetry as a source of Ethics.”

November 2: Dr. Christopher Wolfe, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of St.

Thomas, spoke on “Looking for the Common Good in our Republic: Considering some

Objections from Alasdair MacIntyre.”

November 9: Dr. Helen Hattab, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Houston, spoke on

“Approaches to the Problem of Universals by 16th Century Scholastic Aristotelians.”

November 30: Dr. Thomas Harmon, Assistant Professor of Undergraduate Theology, University of St.

Thomas, spoke on “The Few, the Many and the Universal Way of Salvation:Augustine’s

Point of Engagement with Platonic Political Thought.”

§ Center Colloquia Spring 2019:

Here is the line-up of speakers for Spring 2019:

January 18: Dr. John Nieto, Tutor, Thomas Aquinas College, spoke on “Aristotle’s Identification of

Substance and Action in God as Subsisting Goodness.”

January 25: Dr. Turner Nevitt, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of San Diego, spoke

on “A Puzzle about Knowing Essence without Existence.”

February 1: Fr. Raphael Mary Salzillo, O.P., ABD in Philosophy, University of Notre Dame,

spoke on “Is Aquinas Vulnerable to the Interaction Problem?”

February 8: Dr. John F.X. Knasas, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Center for Thomistic Studies,

spoke on “Philosophy and Theology: Fides et Ratio and the Wishes of John Paul II.”

February 15: Dr. Donald Morrison, Professor of Philosophy, Rice University, spoke on “Reflections

on Socratic Egoism.”

February 22: Dr. Gaston LeNotre, Assistant Professor, Dominican University College, spoke on

“Can Thomas’s Account of Individuation Survive Scotus’s Objections? A Concrete Re-

sponse.”

March 1: Mark Ryland, UST Archbishop J. Michael Miller Lecturer for 2019, spoke on “Hans

Jonas on the Classical and the Modern: Can What was Lost be Restored?”

March 8: Dr. Theodore Rebard, Associate Professor of Philosophy, UST, spoke on “Human De-

sire and the Symbolical Universe.”

March 22: Dr. Cameron Buckner, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Houston,

spoke on “Empiricism without Magic: Transformational Abstraction in Deep-Learning

Neural Networks.”

March 29: Dr. Victor Saenz, Executive Director of the Houston Institute, spoke on “Shaping Aris-

totelian Epithumia: Temperance, Generosity and Beyond.”

April 5: Dr. R. Edward Houser, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Center for Thomistic

Studies, spoke on “Aquinas: Theology as Aristotelian Science, in the Sentences and

Summa.”

April 26: Dr. Mirela Oliva, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Center for Thomistic Studies,

spoke on “Hylomorphism and the Afterlife in Aquinas.”

CENTER FACULTYCENTER FACULTY

§ John P. Hittinger§ John P. Hittinger

PhD 1986 The Catholic University of America

MA 1978 The Catholic University of America

BA 1974 University of Notre Dame

Publications:

Review of The Splendor of Marriage: St. John Paul II’s Vision of Love, Marriage, Family and the Culture of Life by Richard A. Spinello, Crisis March 1, 2019.

"The Revolution of Conscience in Centesimus Annus." Philosophy and Canon Law 3 (2017): 49-67.

Review of Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II by George Weigel. Philosophy and

Canon Law 2 (2017): 190-194.

§ Steven Jensen§ Steven Jensen

Ph.D. 1993 University of Notre Dame

B.A. 1987 University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN

Books:

The Human Person: A Beginner’s Thomistic Psychology. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of Amer-

ica Press, 2018.

Articles:

"Sophisticated Alienation," forthcoming in Journal of Value Inquiry.

Foreword to From Human Dignity to Natural Law, by Richard Berquist. Washington, DC: The Catholic Uni-

versity of America Press, forthcoming.

“Natural Law and Natural Inclinations,” forthcoming in The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics,

edited by Thomas Angier. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

“Proto-Sin: A Case Study,” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 93 (2019): 161–171.

“Unnatural Enhancements,” Irish Theological Quarterly 83 (2018): 347–64, co-authored with José Luis Wid-

ow.

Presentations:

“How to Lose Your Dignity,” at the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan

University, May 9–12, 2019.

“The One Thing Necessary: The Last End and Beatitude,” invited lecture for the Thomistic Institute intellec-

tual retreat at St. Albert’s Priory, Oakland, CA, March 23, 2019.

“Our Good and God: Our Place Within the Greater Good,” invited lecture for the Thomistic Institute intellec-

tual retreat at St. Albert’s Priory, Oakland, CA, March 23, 2019.

“The Limits of Consequentialist Friendship,” at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas, UST faculty

colloquium, November 27, 2018.

Commentary on Jonathan Fuqua’s “Metaethical Mooreanism and Evolutionary Debunking,” American Cath-

olic Philosophical Association meeting, November 9–11, 2018.

“The Slippery Slope of Organ Transplantation,” for the University of Texas Medical School Right to Life

Group, Houston, Texas, November 5, 2018.

“Thomism, the Culture of Life, and the Culture of Death,” at the 25th anniversary conference for the Interna-

tional Council of Universities of Saint Thomas Aquinas (ICUSTA), Houston, Texas, May 23, 2019.

Professional service:

National Treasurer for the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 2008 to present.

§ Christopher Martin§ Christopher Martin

DPhil 1984 Oxford University

BPhil 1981 Oxford University

MA 1979 Oxford University

Dr. Martin was on sick leave for the spring semester, but continued, with the help of colleagues and students,

to make progress on his Analytical Thomism project.

§ Mirela Oliva § Mirela Oliva

Ph.D. 2007 Albert-Ludwigs-Universitaet Freiburg (Philosophy)

B.A. 2000 University of Bucharest (Philosophy)

M.A. 1999 University La Sapienza Rome/University of Bucharest

(Political Sciences)

B.A. 1998 University of Bucharest (Political Science)

Honors:

Invited to deliver the 28th Annual Aquinas Lecture at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology,

Berkeley, February 20, 2019. Title: “Causality in the Human Life.ˮ

Publications:

Philosophy, Faith, and Modernity: Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, ed.

Mirela Oliva & Stephen Striby, vol. 91, 2017. (Forthcoming.)

“Meaning: Theismˮ in Theism and Atheism. Opposing Arguments in Philosophy, ed. Joseph W. Koterski and

Graham Oppy, Macmillan Reference, 2019.

“Beauty and Meaning: From Aquinas to Gadamer and Nancyˮ in Maria Jesus Soto-Bruna (ed.), Causality and

Similarity. Medieval Ways of Explaining Nature, Olms, Bern, 2018.

Talks:

“Special Divine Action in Aquinasˮ at the Symposium Thomisticum, Rome, July 4-6, 2019.

“The Relational Nature of the Meaning of Life in Nozick” at the conference “The Meaning of Life,ˮ University

of Haifa, Israel, June 11-12, 2019.

“Aquinas on Divine Actionˮ at the Center for Thomistic Studies, April 26, 2019.

“Causality in the Human Life,ˮ the 28th Annual Aquinas Lecture at the Dominican School of Philosophy and

Theology, Berkeley, February 20, 2019.

“God's Word and the Meaning of Life” at the annual meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical

Association, San Diego, November 8-11, 2018.

“Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Communication” at the DAAD and A. v. Humboldt alumni meeting, Atlanta,

October 5-7, 2018.

Participation in Research Projects:

Participation in the research project: “Patristic and Medieval Hermeneutics,ˮ directed by Maria Jesus Soto Bru-

na, University of Navarra https://www.unav.edu/web/investigacion/investigadores/grupos-de-investigacion/

humanidades-y-ciencias-sociales.

International Collaboration:

Member of the Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Navarra.

Service:

National Secretary of the American Catholic Philosophical Association (ACPA).

Faculty coordinator for the participation of UST students at the workshop “Religious Liberty” of the Texas

Network for the Study of Public Issues (TNSPI), Texas State University - San Marco, October 19-20,

2018.

Peer-reviewer for Symposium.

Organizer of two series of sessions at ACPA:

Aquinas and Postmodernity (with Joseph Trabbic)

Phenomenology and Catholicism (with Michael Bowler, Chad Engelland and George Heffernan)

Proposed a new core interdisciplinary course together with Dr. Catherine Barber (Education), March 20, 2019.

§ Thomas Osborne§ Thomas Osborne

LMS 2002 Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies

PhD 2001 Duke University

MA 1995 Boston College

BA 1994 The Catholic University of America

Publications:

“Virtue,” The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Ethics, 150-171. Ed. Thomas Williams. Cambridge Uni-

versity Press, 2019.

“Natural Reason and Supernatural Faith.” Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae: A Critical Guide, 188-203. Ed.

Jeffrey Hause. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Invited Talk:

"Practical Truth and Conformity to Appetite: What the Medieval Philosophers Can Teach Us." Rice Universi-

ty. Houston, Texas. March, 2019.

Service:

Executive Council, American Catholic Philosophical Association

Board of Advisors, Nova et Vetera (English Edition)

Executive Committee, Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy

§ Mary Catherine Sommers§ Mary Catherine Sommers

PhD 1982 University of Toronto

MSL 1976 Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies

MA 1972 University of Toronto

BA 1971 Whitman College

Presentations:

“Thomas Aquinas and the Argument from ‘Diversity’” at the 53rd International Congress of Medieval Stud-

ies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 10—13 May 2018.

“Strangers and Sojourners: Thomas Aquinas on Hospitality,” The Third Symposium Thomisticum: ‘Aquinas

and the Greeks,’,Athens, Greece, 7-9 June 2018.

“Re-establishing the Threshold of the Self: Existential Modesty,” in “The Problem of Sexual Assault through

the Lens of Human Dignity,” for The Society of Catholic Social Scientists. At the 114th Annual Meeting

of the American Political Science Association: “Democracy and Its Discontents.” August 30 – September

2, 2018, Boston, MA.

Comment on Francis Feingold’s “Is the Institution of Private Property Part of the Natural Law? Ius gentium

and ius naturale in Aquinas’s Account of the Right to ‘Steal’ When in Urgent Need,” American Catholic

Philosophical Association Annual Meeting: “Philosophy, Catholicism, and Public Life,” Thursday, No-

vember 8 - Sunday, November 11, 2018, San Diego, CA.

“The Triumph of ‘Womanly’ Courage,” The Fourth Symposium Thomisticum: ‘Aquinas Philosopher Theolo-

gian,’ Rome, 4 – 6 July 2019.

Dr. Mary Catherine Sommers

and

Dr. R. Edward Houser

c. 1987

CENTER STUDENTSCENTER STUDENTS

§ Dissertations Defended§ Dissertations Defended::

Catherine J. Peters, “The Causality of ‘Nature’ in Avicenna’s Physics of the Healing.” Catherine Peters

successfully defended her dissertation on July 1, 2019 before the following board: Dr. Charles Sommer,

(Department of Theology, UST), Chair; Dr. Jon McGinnis, (Professor of Classical and Medieval Philosophy, Uni-

versity of Missouri), Director; Dr. Thomas Osborne, Reader; Dr. John Hittinger, Reader; Dr. Christopher Martin,

Reader; Dr. Andrew Hayes, (Department of Theology, UST), External Reader.

§ Dissertations in Progress§ Dissertations in Progress::

John Boyer, Causality and Scientific Explanation in Aristotle (Dr. Houser, Director, Dr. Hittinger, and Dr.

Martin).

.Issac Block, Aquinas’s Use of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics 3.1-5 with Respect to the Appetitive Source of

Action (Dr. Jensen, Director, Dr. Osborne, and Dr. Martin).

Maureen Bielinski, At the Crossroads of Ethics and Epistemology: The Impact of Moral Perception on Pru-

dence and the Moral Virtues (Dr. Osborne, Director, Dr. Jensen, and Dr. Martin).

Lowell Davis, On Political Unity in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas (Dr. Hittinger, Director, Dr. Osborne

and Dr. Sommers).

Brian Jones, At the Horizons of Political Philosophy: James V. Schall and Contemporary Catholic Political

Philosophy (Dr. Hittinger, Director, Dr. Osborne, and Dr. Sommers).

Patrick McCloskey, The Morality of Torture (Dr. Osborne, Director, Dr. Hittinger, and Dr. Jensen).

Matthew Moore, Did Aquinas Teach a State of Pure Nature for the Human Being? (Dr. Hittinger, Director,

Dr. Martin and Dr. Oliva).

Francisco Plaza, After Modernity: Maritain’s Answer to the Crisis of our Time (Dr. Hittinger, Director, Dr.

Oliva, and Dr. Hall).

Nathan Poage, Aristotle, Avicenna and Aquinas on the Subject and Principles of Metaphysics (Dr. Houser,

Director, Dr. Sommers, and Dr. McGinnis-Professor of Philosophy, University of Missouri).

John M. Schaff, The Person: Empathy and Sympathy in Edith Stein and Max Scheler (Dr. Hittinger, Director,

Dr. Oliva, and Dr. Haney).

Brandon White, Plotinus: Reclaiming Existentialist Metaphysics for the Platonic Tradition: The Platonic Pro-

test against Aristotle’s Essentialism (Dr. Houser, Director, Dr. Sommers, and Dr. Damian Caluori, Trinity

University, San Antonio).

Jeffrey Zents, Abstractive Thomism and the Pyrrhonian Skeptical Tradition (Dr. Martin, Director, Dr. Knasas,

and Dr. Osborne).

§ Dissertation Topics Approved§ Dissertation Topics Approved::

Humberto Cuen: “Voluntas: The Nature and First Object of the Simple Act of Will,” Dr. Steven Jensen,

Director

Andrew Grimes: “The Effects of Angels, as Agent Causes, on Man according to the Philosophy of Saint

Thomas Aquinas,” Dr. Thomas Osborne, Director

Jon Haines: “Technology and Aristotelian-Thomistic Politics in the Thought of Yves R. Simon,” Dr. John

Hittinger, Director

Matthew Lomanno: “Toward a Philosophy of Human Making: Aristotle, Aquinas, and Contemporary

Commentators on Art,” Dr. Christopher Martin, Director

CONGRATULATIONS FOR THE FOLLOWING ACHIEVEMENTS

§ PhD Degree Awarded§ PhD Degree Awarded::

Dr. Catherine J. Peters

§MA Degree Awarded§MA Degree Awarded::

Peter Gardner, Joseph Grossheim, Timothy Jacobs, Thao Nguyen, and Elliot Polsky

§ Successful Completion of Comps§ Successful Completion of Comps::

MA Comps: Peter Gardner and Elliot Polsky

PHD Comps: Jacob Alexander and Keaton Lambert

First Center Students

and

Faculty

Student Activities

§ Jacob Alexander

Mr. Alexander attended the ACPA in San Diego and chaired a satellite session on

the philosophy of separated souls.

He attended a meeting of the Houston Philosophical Society-Thursday, January 17,

2019 featuring Dr. Robert Webb, Ed Rachel Chair in High Energy Physics, Depart-

ment of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M: “Searching for Dark Matter: What Is

It and How Do We Find It?”

He attended the American Maritain Association at De Sales University in March and

presented a paper on “Scientific Theology: Natural and Supernatural Perfections.”

§ Phillip Berns

Mr. Berns passed the Latin exam, finished his course work, and presented a paper

“Scholastic Science and Modern Clarity: What Thomism Offers Theology” at the

2019 American Maritain Association meeting in March.

§ Joseph Cherny

Mr. Cherny attended a seminar of the American Public Philosophy Institute:

“Religious Liberty: Past, Present, and Future" at Texas State University in San

Marcos, TX, October 19-20.

He presented “The Happiness of the Separated Soul in Heaven Despite Desire for

the Body” at a satellite session of the American Catholic Philosophical Associa-

tion, which took place in San Diego, CA, November 8-11, 2018.

He led a presentation and discussion of the cardinal and theological virtues at a

faith formation meeting of the Arrows Rugby Football Club, the only Catholic

rugby club in the United States, on May 21.

§ Jon Haines

In May 2019, Mr. Haines' dissertation proposal “Technology and Aristotelian-

Thomistic Politics in the Thought of Yves R. Simon” was approved by his

dissertation Board.

He served as Teaching Assistant to Dr. John Hittinger in the study-abroad

course “The Thought of John Paul II in light of Polish History and Culture.”

The course took place primarily in Katowice and Kraków, Poland during May

24th through June 9th, 2018 .

§ Timothy Jacobs

Mr. Jacobs presented “Aquinas On Semantic Realism And Analogy Of Being”

at the American Catholic Philosophical Association, San Diego, CA, November

8–11, 2018.

§ Brian Jones

Publications:

On the Unity of Political Philosophy and Catholic Thought: A James V. Schall

Reader (Currently under review at St. Augustine’s Press).

“Narrating the Tradition of Liberalism’s Anti-Tradition,” Front Porch Republic

(January 28, 2019).

“Can American Social Life be Restored Through Practices Alone?” Catholic

World Report (January 21, 2019).

“Vigano’s Critics and the End of History,” Catholic World Report (October 22,

2018).

“A Defense of Schall on Islam,” Catholic World Report (September 25, 2018).

“Culture as the Discovery of Meaning,” Front Porch Republic (August 23, 2018).

“Is Plato’s ‘Feverish City’ Good?” The Imaginative Conservative (July 15, 2018).

“The ‘Me Too’ Movement: What Would Plato Say?” The Imaginative Conservative (May 16, 2018).

“The Theological Need for Mediation: Reflections from Tocqueville,” Front Porch Republic (April 20, 2018).

“The Civic Character of a Front Porch,” Strong Towns (April 20, 2018).

“Education and the Quest for Association,” Front Porch Republic (April 4, 2018).

“The Practice of Attachment and A Comprehensive Social Order,” Front Porch Republic (March 14, 2018).

“Civic Chaos and the Myth of Autonomy,” Public Discourse (January 25, 2018).

“Is Democracy Responsible for the Present Loneliness Epidemic?” The American Conservative (January 15,

2018).

§ Keaton Lambert

Mr. Lambert successfully passed his Ph.D. Comprehensive Examinations in the

Spring 2019 semester. He will begin work on his dissertation proposal on a

topic in Thomistic political philosophy.

He has been selected to attend the 2019 Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship on

“The Person, the Polis, and the Search for Happiness” sponsored by the Tho-

mistic Institute and the Institute for Human Ecology. The fellowship will be

held July 7-12, 2019 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Lambert presented his paper on “Falling vs. The Fall: Heidegger and Aqui-

nas on the Human Condition” at the Aquinas and Postmodernity Project's sat-

ellite session during the 2018 annual meeting of the American Catholic Philo-

sophical Association (ACPA) in San Diego, CA. He also chaired an ACPA

sponsored satellite session on “Philosophy, Catholicism, and Public Life” at

the same meeting.

During the summer and fall of 2018, Mr. Lambert worked closely with Dr.

Theodore Rebard to revise and transcribe Dr. Rebard's unpublished textbook, An Introductory Course in Meta-

physics.

§ Thao Nguyen Conference presentations:

“Technology in a Democratic Society,” Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

Symposium on: “The Digital Challenge: How to Humanize Technology. Explor-

ing the Promises & Pitfalls of Our Common Digital Future,” Pasadena, CA, Au-

gust 1-3, 2019.

“Aquinas and Avicenna on the First Emanation from God’s Nature,” Saint Louis

Seventh Annual Symposium for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, St. Louis,

MO, June 17-19, 2019.

“Friendship in the Modern Democratic State,” American Maritain Association

42th Annual Meeting at DeSales University, Central Valley, PA, March 28-30,

2019.

Seminar Scholarships:

Ms. Nguyen received scholarships to attend the following seminars:

“Aquinas on Human Action and Virtue,” Ninth Annual Philosophy Workshop at Mount Saint Mary College, New-

burgh, NY, June 19-23, 2019.

“Francisco Suárez: Predecessors and Successors” Seminar at Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, April 26-27,

2019.

Book Review:

Fiorella Nash. The Abolition of Woman: How Radical Feminism Is Betraying Women. San Francisco: Ignatius

Press, 2018 in Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Quarterly, forthcoming.

§ Catherine Peters Catherine Peters defended her dissertation on “The Causality of Nature in Avicen-

na’s Physics of the Healing” under the direction of Jon McGinnis (University of St.

Missouri, St. Louis) on July 1, 2019. Her readers were Thomas Osborne, John Hit-

tinger, Christopher Martin, and Andrew Hayes (UST, theology).

She has been appointed assistant professor (tenure-track) at Loyola Marymount

University in medieval philosophy with a special emphasis on medieval Arabic

thought.

Before her defense, Peters presented on “Matter and Passivity in the Avicennian

Definition of Nature” for the Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’ International Working Group

Sponsored Satellite Session, held in conjunction with the International Congress on

Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI) in May, 2019.

She was elected to the Executive Council of the American Catholic Philosophical

Association and her term will begin after the 2019 meeting.

Peters’ paper on “The Objective Relativity of Goodness” (Winner, ACPA 2018 “Young Scholar” award) is forth-

coming in the ACPA proceedings.

§ John Schaff

While working on his dissertation, John Schaff teaches media literacy to students

in kindergarten through fifth grade at Harvard Elementary. The school has long

participated in HISD’s Digital Literacy Moment campaign in which students sub-

mit a 60- to 90-second video showing how online behavior matters. This year,

Harvard won first, second and third place in the elementary school category. His

students competed with almost 500 students throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Mr. Schaff also recently made a pilgrimage to Cologne Cathedral following in the

footsteps of Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and Edith

Stein. Reflecting on his journey, he remarked “ We still need pilgrimages. I ar-

rived home here in Houston a new man!”

§ Evan Williams

Mr. Williams presented “‘Each person experiences that he is the one who un-

derstands,’ A Critical Response to Deborah Black,” at the Aquinas and the Ar-

abs International Graduate Workshop, March 2019.

He also presented “Comments on Len Ferry, ‘Bound by the Good,’” at the

2018 Annual American Catholic Philosophical Association Meeting in San

Diego, CA.

§ § ALUMNI NOTESALUMNI NOTES

§ Brian Kemple (2016)

In 2019, Dr. Kemple left traditional academia to found Continuum Philosophical

Insight, a private philosophical educational practice that works with individuals

and small groups to bring thinking beyond the University.

Additionally, he self-published Introduction to Philosophical Principles: Logic,

Physics, and the Human Person in the spring of 2019, as well as The Intersection

of Semiotics and Phenomenology: Peirce and Heidegger in Dialogue with Mouton

de Gruyter in the summer of 2019.

Dr. Kemple gave an invited presentation, “Artificial Intelligence and Concept-

Formation” at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI.

§ Fr. Steven Ledinich (MA-2003)

On 22 May, 2019 Fr. Ledinich graduated with his PhD from the Australian Cath-

olic University. The title of his thesis is: “A Study of Substantial Change in the

Writings of St Thomas Aquinas.” He is currently a lecturer in philosophy at Vi-

anney College, the seminary for the diocese of Wagga Wagga, Australia, as well

as resident Spiritual Director.

§ R. Mary Heydon Lemmons (1988)

Dr. Lemmons was re-elected as president of the University Faculty for Life. She

is an on-going Advisory Board member for Family Studies at the University of

St. Thomas, St. Paul as well as a new Advisory Board member for the John Paul

II Institute and a new Issue Editor for Studia Gilsoniana: A Journal in Classical

Philosophy. First issue was Volume 7 no. 3(July-September 2018): 409-418.

In the past academic year, she also published two articles:

“Countering the Crisis of America Democracy with the Thomistic Personalism

of Aquinas and John Paul II.” Quaestiones Disputatae 9, no. 2 (Spring 2019):

218-249.

“Life and Love: The Mission of Personalist Feminism in Combating the Culture

of Death.” Life and Learning XXVIII (2018): 121-131. http://www.uffl.org/pdfs/

vol28/UFL_2018_Lemmons.pdf.

§ John Macias (2016)

Dr. Macias has recently been appointed Assistant Professor of Philosophy at

St. Patrick’s Seminary and University at Menlo Park, CA.

§ Andrea Messineo (2008)

Dr. Messineo’s manuscript on autism and spirituality, Alone in Church, will

be published by Saint Julian Press, Houston TX, in 2019.

§ Steven Peña (2015)

Publications:

“Alisdair Agonistes: Alisdair MacIntyre and a New Discontent with Moder-

nity” in Studia Philosophica Wratislaviensia, Vol. XIV, fasc. 1, (2019).

Conference Papers Delivered:

“Marx, MacIntyre and Metahistory: Mapping a Historical Road to Utopia”

North Texas Philosophical Association, University of Texas at Dal-

las, March, 2019.

“Marx, MacIntyre and Metahistory: Mapping a Historical Road to Utopia” International Society for MacIntyrean Inquiry, University of Notre Dame,

July, 2019.

§ John Skalko (2018)

Dr. Skalko completed and published a book this year, Disordered Actions.

Editiones-Scholasticae, April 30, 2019.

§ Daniel Wagner (2018)

Publications:

“Penitential Method as Phenomenological: The Penitential ἐποχή,” in Studia

Gilsoniana 7, no. 3 (July–September 2018): 487–518.

Presentations:

“On the Elegance of APo, II.19 as Platonic Division,” for the Society for

21st Century Thomism, Satellite Session for the American Catholic Philosophi-

cal Association, San Diego, CA, Fall, 2018.

“Aristotle on Nature (φύσις/phūsis): Ancient Source of Catharsis for the Lived

Nihilism of Modernity,” Authenticum Lecture Series, Grand Rapids, MI, Sep-

tember, 2018.

“On the Principles of Natural Theology and Ethics,” Science and Religion

Seminar for Archdiocesan Teachers, Aquinas College, June, 2018.

Professor Alasdair

MacIntyre delivering

his 2002 Aquinas

Lecture

Have Philosophy/Will Travel

Center for Thomistic Studies