The Princeton Thomists

Official Blog Now Up

2007-08-03T18:36:00.000-05:00

The official blog for the Seminar is now up here.

Mark Murphy at Eastern SCP

2006-11-10T18:41:00.000-05:00

Our own Mark Murphy will be presenting "God and Nature in the Explanation of Moral Norms" at the Society of Christian Philosophers, Eastern Regional Meeting Hosted by The Humanities Department at Columbia International University, Columbia, South Carolina 20-21 April 2007.

Papers on any topic in or related to ethics are encouraged, and papers on any topic of philosophical interest will be considered for what the sponsors anticipate will be a diverse program. Papers should be of suitable length to be read in thirty minutes. The deadline for receipt of submissions is 2 February 2007. Electronic submissions are preferred. Please indicate in your cover letter whether, should there not be room on the program for your paper, you would be willing to serve as session chair. Please submit two copies of your paper, prepared for blind review, along with a one-page abstract including your name and affiliation, to: ggentry@ciu.edu.

Report from the National ACPA

2006-11-01T18:03:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to let you know that we had a mini-reunion at the national ACPA last week and it was really fun.

In attendance were, in addition to myself, Gloria Wasserman, Bryan Cross, Robbie Moser, Tom Ward, and faculty advisors Michael Gorman and Nicholas Rescher (who will be receiving the Aquinas Medal next year).

Gloria, Tom, and I presented papers and Robbie and I commented on papers, we we really took an active part in the confernce (for a tidbit, see this post from The Prosblogion).

I'd say that's pretty good representation!

I think it would be great if we could get even more next year, especially to the satellite session for the Society for Catholicism and Analytic Philosophy.

Hope to see you next year (at Marquette in Milwaukee, home of the Aquinas Lecture).

Pruss at Eastern APA

2006-10-11T21:37:00.000-05:00

Our own Alex Pruss will be giving a talk at the Eastern APA on "Double Effect in Recent Philosophy" at the American Maritain Association.

The Society for Catholicism and Analytic Philosophy

2006-09-25T19:57:00.000-05:00

Now has a blog on which announcements will be posted about events.

It has the schedule for the next ACPA meeting up.

Marriage as a good for society

2006-09-06T11:20:00.000-05:00

Has anyone carefully read the "Ten Principles" pamphlet we were given Tuesday evening at the dinner? It wasn't philosophically rigorous - that wasn't the point - but I was impressed by the statistics, and I think it made a pretty good case for all the goods that come out of marriage.

That said, there's a big gap between establishing that marriage is a good - even a profound one - and the claim that marriage will be weakened by the legal ratification of same-sex "marriage" or even by same-sex civil unions. The pamphlet was weakly suggestive of arguments regarding this claim; I'd be interested in seeing what others think, and in seeing how much of an argument one might develop along these lines. In particular, if one is committed to certain claims (e.g., about the nature of the union in marriage; the idea that marriage is a 3-way relationship between the couple and God, etc.), what follows? It may be that, with the right metaphysics, some *very* interesting things follow.

Fall Classes

2006-09-04T14:30:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be interesting if we posted what classes or independent
studies we were doing this semester. Perhaps there will be some overlap.
Here is my schedule this semester:

Readings on Self-Evidence with Earl Conee

Readings in the Metaphysics of Modality with Ed Wierenga

Laws of Nature and Dispositions with Gabrielle Contessa

And as always I'm thinking about the semantics for and normativity of the
probability calculus.

Great Quotes from the Seminar

2006-09-01T14:01:00.000-05:00

Rachel Smith: "Trent asked why God was a sledgehammer, likewise I’m asking why the world is a nut."
(Sometimes you feel like a nut.)

Trent Dougherty: "Rational action doesn't always require a decisive reason: that's the lesson of Balaam's Ass."
(OK, I got my asses mixed up: I meant to say "Buridan's" but one ass is as good as another right?)

Michael Gorman: "Bare particulars are propertyless doohickies that are constituents of something or other"
(Ah, now I see.)

Michael Gorman: "A junior high basketball team is a lot like a sand dune."
(Now *that* I *do* see!)

More on Upcoming ACPA

2006-08-26T17:19:00.000-05:00

I encourage all Princeton Thomists to come not only to the ACPA meeting, but also the meeting of the Society for Catholicism and Analytic Philosophy. Last year our own Michael Gorman gave a very nice talk, and this year I'll be giving a talk called "Realizing Virtue: A Unified Virtue Epistemology".

I really believe in this group and heartily encourage all Princeton Thomists to get involved. There's a website here which, though it desperately needs updating, has some good info on it, especially the Intro Letter commissioned by John Haldane. There's also a Yahoo! group I'll find the link to. I've met several neat people through this group and the list on the web page.

ACPA in Granville, Ohio

2006-08-26T15:09:00.000-05:00

Some of you might be interested in the 2006 ACPA conference in Granville, OH. I'll be presenting a paper called "How Aquinas could have said that God is really related to creatures." Thoroughgoing Thomists will take pleasure in disagreeing with me.

News Update

2006-08-21T11:17:00.000-05:00

Here's some recent news pertaining to 2006 participants.

1. The Blackwell email alert today announces Mark Murphy's new book Philosophy of Law. Here's the squib from the publisher:

The Philosophy of Law is a broad-reaching text that guides readers through the
basic analytical and normative issues in the field, highlighting key historical
and contemporary thinkers and offering a unified treatment of the various issues
in the philosophy of law.

2. Trent Dougherty found out on the last day of the seminar that his paper "Divine Hiddenness and the Nature of Belief" co-authored with Ted Poston was accepted for publication by Religious Studies (Cambridge University Press).

3. Robbie Moser and Trent Dougherty will each be presenting papers at the upcomming 16th Annual Saint Louis University Graduate Student Conference at which Tim Pawl will be commenting (along with his lovely wife Faith). Robert Audi will be key note and SLU locals Eleanore Stumpe and recent addition John Greco will be speaking as well.

If you have news, please submit or post it yourself when you get signed up.

Introducing the Princeton Thomists

2006-08-14T11:44:00.000-05:00

In the near future this may be the interim home of the unofficial blog of the members of the Summer Seminar on Thomism and Analytic Philosophy sponsored by the Witherspoon Institute at Princeton University.