The American Catholic Philosophical Association

2006 Annual Meeting

The ACPA wishes to thank the host institution,

for its very generous financial and organizational support.

Complete Program (including paper-abstracts and satellite session information)
Errata Sheet: a supplement to the 2006 ‘Complete Program’ showing cancelled and added satellite sessions
Registration Information for the 2006 Meeting
Hotel Information for the 2006 Meeting
Schedule of van-shuttle service between Columbus Airport and Granville, and between Newark Marriott and Granville

Please note: any exhibits, displays, etc. proposed in connection with the Annual Meeting must be referred to the ACPA’s Executive Committee for approval.

Complete Program
(including paper-abstracts and satellite session information)

2006 Annual Meeting Program

Most ACPA sessions will be held in meeting rooms at the Granville Inn. Some sessions will be held in the College Townhouse, which is adjacent to the Granville Inn. On Saturday, the concelebrated Mass will take place at the Church of St. Edward the Confessor (785 Newark-Granville Road), and the reception will be held in the Avery-Downer House (221 East Broadway).

Friday, October 27, 2006

8:45 - 9:00 am -- Executive Committee Meeting Barney-Davis Board Room,

Denison University

9 am – 12 noon --Executive Council Meeting Barney-Davis Board Room,

Denison University

2:00 - 8:30 pm -- Registration Lower Level, Granville Inn

5:00 - 8:00 pm -- Book Exhibit Gallery of the Great Hall, Granville Inn

3:00 - 5:00 pm -- Satellite Sessions:

Gabriel Marcel Society Granville Room, Granville Inn

Ohio Greek Philosophy Reading Group Denison Room, Granville Inn

Society for Catholicism and Analytical Philosophy

Wales Room, Granville Inn

Society for Thomistic Natural Philosophy The Library, Granville Inn

Special Session: The Philosophical Dimensions of Deus Caritas Est

College Townhouse I (adjacent to Granville Inn)

World Conference of Catholic Institutions in Philosophy

College Townhouse II (adjacent to Granville Inn)

5:00 - 7:00 pm -- Satellite Sessions:

ACPA Committee on Priestly Formation

College Townhouse II (adjacent to Granville Inn)

American Association for the Philosophic Study of Society

Denison Room, Granville Inn

International Institute for Hermeneutics

Third Floor Clubroom, Granville Inn

Philosophers in Jesuit Education Granville Room, Granville Inn

Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics

The Library, Granville Inn

Special Session on Ethics and Religion

College Townhouse I (adjacent to Granville Inn)

Special Session on Philosophy and Public Affairs

Wales Room, Granville Inn

8:30 - 10:30 pm -- A.C.P.A. Contributed Papers

Session I: Issues from Aristotle Wales Room, Granville Inn

Chair: Robert Delfino, St. John’s University

i. Jonathan Sanford, Franciscan University of Steubenville

“Aristotle’s Divided Mind: Some Thoughts on Intellectual Virtue and

Aristotle’s Occasional Dualism”

Commentator: Daniel B. Gallagher, Sacred Heart Major Seminary

ii. Jean DeGroot, The Catholic University of America

“A Husserlian Perspective on Empirical Mathematics in Aristotle”

Commentator: Dominic Balestra, Fordham University

Session II: Aquinas on Mind and World Denison Room, Granville Inn

Chair: Terrance Klein, St. John’s University

i. Gloria Wasserman, University of Notre Dame

“Thomas Aquinas on Truths About Non-Beings”

Commentator: Giorgio Pini, Fordham University

ii. Stephen Pimentel, Independent Scholar

“Formal Identity as Isomorphism in Thomistic Philosophy of Mind”

Commentator: Robbie Moser, University of Ottawa

Session III: Problems Concerning Substantial Forms and Collective Mental

States College Townhouse I (adjacent to Granville Inn)

Chair: David Carey, Whitman College

i. Benjamin Hill, University of Western Ontario

“Why We Can No Longer Rationally Believe That Our Intellective Soul is a Substantial Form:

On the Degringolate of the Simplicity Argument”

Commentator: Christopher Lutz, St. Meinrad School of Theology

ii. J.M. Giebel, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul

“The Separate Minds of Church and State: Collective Mental States and Their Unsettling Implications”

Commentator: Michael O’Neill, Providence College

Session IV: Abstraction in Al-Fârâbî & Avicenna The Library, Granville Inn

Chair: Gerald Twadell, Thomas More College

i. Richard C. Taylor, Marquette University

“Abstraction in Al-Fârâbî”

Commentator: Deborah Black, University of Toronto

ii. Jon McGinnis, University of Missouri at St. Louis

“Avicenna on Abstraction: Its Role in Avicenna’s Philosophy of

Science and Its Metaphysical Underpinnings”

Commentator: Thérèse-Anne Druart, Catholic University of America

10:00 pm - 12 midnight -- Reception hosted by

Denison University The Clubroom, Granville Inn

Saturday, October 28, 2006

7:30 am -- Concelebrated Mass Wales Room, Granville Inn

8:30 am - 6:00 pm -- Registration Lower Level, Granville Inn

8:30 am - 6:00 pm -- Book Exhibit Gallery of the Great Hall, Granville Inn

9:00 am – 11:30 am -- Plenary Session The Great Hall, Granville Inn

Chair: Anthony Lisska, Denison University

Speaker: Sir Anthony Kenny, Oxford University

Topic: “The Origin of the Intellectual Soul”

Speaker: John Haldane, University of St. Andrews, Scotland

Topic: “The Metaphysics of Intellect(ion)”

12 noon - 12:30 pm – ACPA Business Meeting The Great Hall, Granville Inn

1:30 - 3:30 pm -- Satellite Sessions:

Author Meets Critics: Jean Porter’s Nature as Reason:

A Thomistic Theory of the Natural Law Wales Room, Granville Inn

Lonergan Philosophical Society Denison Room, Granville Inn

Ohio Greek Philosophy Reading Group

College Townhouse I (adjacent to Granville Inn)

Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy

The Library, Granville Inn

Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology

Granville Room, Granville Inn

Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy

College Townhouse II (adjacent to Granville Inn)

Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics

Third Floor Clubroom, Granville Inn

3:30 - 5:30 p.m. A.C.P.A. Contributed Papers

Session V: Issues in Epistemology Wales Room, Granville Inn

Chair: Marc Smith, St. Thomas University, New Brunswick

i. John Zeis, Canisius College

“Evidentialism and Faith: Believing in Order to Know”

Commentator: Tony Flood, Cardinal Muench Seminary

ii. Bernardo Cantens, Barry University

“Cognitive Faculties and Evolutionary Naturalism”

Commentator: Mark Pestana, Grand Valley State University

Session VI: Issues Regarding Mind and Body Denison Room, Granville Inn

Chair: Jeffery Kinlaw, McMurry University

i. William Jaworski, Fordham University

“Hylomorphism and Post-Cartesian Philosophy of Mind”

Commentator: Kevin Sharpe, Purdue University

ii. David B. Hershenov, SUNY Buffalo

“Shoemaker’s Problem of Too Many Thinkers”

Commentator: Jason Eberl, Indiana Univ. – Purdue Univ. Indianapolis

Session VII: Explaining the World and the Possibility of Evil

College Townhouse I (adjacent to Granville Inn)

Chair: Thompson Faller, University of Portland

i. Stephen Grimm, University of Montana

“String Theory and the Philosophy of Mind”

Commentator: John M. McDermott, Sacred Heart Major Seminary

ii. Michael Schrynemakers, St. John’s University

“Vagueness and Pointless Evil”

Commentator: Trent Dougherty, University of Rochester

Session VIII: Aquinas, Themistius, and Mind The Library, Granville Inn

Chair: Matthew Kent, The St. Albert the Great Project

i. Lorelle Lamascus, Marquett University

“Aquinas and Themistius on Intellect”

Commentator: Kevin White, The Catholic University of America

ii. Jörg Alejandro Tellkamp, Universidad Panamericana and

Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana – Iztapalapa, Mexico

“Aquinas on Intentions in the Medium and in the Mind”

Commentator: Michael Rombeiro, St. Joseph College, Maine

6:00 - 7:00 pm -- Concelebrated Mass Church of St. Edward the Confessor,

785 Newark-Granville Road in Granville

10-minute walk from Granville Inn

7:00 - 8:00 pm – Reception hosted by

Denison University Avery-Downer House

221 East Broadway in Granville,

just east of the Granville Public Library

8:15 - 10:15 pm -- ACPA Banquet The Great Hall, Granville Inn

Presentation of the ACPA Young Scholar’s Award:

Awardee: William Jaworski, Fordham University

Introduction of the Aquinas Medalist:

James South, Marquette University

Presentation of the Aquinas Medal:

Aquinas Medalist: Sir Anthony Kenny, Oxford University

Medalist’s Address: “Philosophia Perennis?”

Sunday, October 29, 2006

7:30 am -- Concelebrated Mass Wales Room, Granville Inn

8:30 am - 12:30 pm -- Book Exhibit Gallery of the Great Hall, Granville Inn

9:00 - 11:00 am -- Plenary Session Amphitheatre of Burton-Morgan Hall,

Denison University

Chair: Timothy B. Noone, The Catholic University of America

Speaker: Kurt Pritzl, The Catholic University of America

Topic: “The Place of Intellect in Aristotle”

Speaker: Anthony Lisska, Denison University

Topic: “A Look at Inner Sense in Aquinas: A Long-Neglected

Faculty Psychology”

11:30 am - 1:00 pm – Buffet-style Luncheon and Discussion

featuring Anthony Kenny and John Haldane

on philosophical issues in theological discussions

Welsh Hills Room of Burton-Morgan Hall,

Denison University

Abstracts of Contributed Papers

Session I: Issues from Aristotle

“Aristotle’s Divided Mind: Some Thoughts on Intellectual Virtue and Aristotle’s Occasional Dualism”

Jonathan Sanford, Franciscan University of Steubenville

In this paper I focus on a few of the passages in the Nicomachean Ethics that challenge the standard hylomorphic interpretation of Aristotle’s anthropology. I proceed by reflecting on the manner in which Aristotle’s two ways of characterizing the human person follow from his accounts of the two most important intellectual virtues, phronesis and sophia. I attempt to argue for the following three points: first, that Aristotle’s presentation of a divided mind is the result of his consistency rather than inconsistency; second, that there is not a clear way found in his Nicomachean Ethics to overcome this dual anthropology without doing violence to his account of intellectual virtue; and third, that there are several reasons why this dual anthropology should not be regarded as an aporetic failure.

“A Husserlian Perspective on Empirical Mathematics in Aristotle”

Jean DeGroot, The Catholic University of America

Examples are presented of Aristotle’s use of non-idealized mathematics. Distinctions Husserl makes in Crisis help to delineate the features of this empirical mathematics, which include the non-persistence of mathematical aspects of things and the selective application of mathematical traits and proper accidents. In antiquity, non-abstracted mathematics was involved with practical sciences that treat motion. The suggestion is made that these sciences were incorporated by Aristotle into natural philosophy without first being abstracted as pure mathematics--a state of affairs not envisioned by Husserl, for whom science recast natural ontology by means of the idealization of pure mathematics. The relation of empirical mathematics to life-world ontology is considered.

Session II: Aquinas on Mind and World

“Thomas Aquinas on Truths About Non-Beings”

Gloria Wasserman, University of Notre Dame

In De Veritate I.2, Thomas Aquinas claims that “every true act of understanding refers to a being and likewise every being corresponds to a true act of understanding.” For Aquinas, the ratio of truth consists in a conformity between intellect and being. This account of truth, however, does not appear to allow for a certain class of truths, namely those that are about non-beings. Many think that it is true that no chimeras exist, that blindness can be caused by exposure to bright lights, and that evil should be avoided. Yet, in each of these cases of truth, there does not appear to be a being to which the intellect conforms. In this paper, I will explore the ways in which Aquinas’s notion of truth as “conformity to being” is able to accommodate truths about non-beings.

“Formal Identity as Isomorphism in Thomistic Philosophy of Mind”

Stephen Pimentel, Independent Scholar

A central problem within an influential strand of recent philosophy of mind has been to explain the “conformity of mind to thing” that characterizes knowledge. John Haldane has argued that this problem can be best addressed by a development of Thomas Aquinas’ account of the “formal identity” of the knowing subject with the object known. However, such a development is difficult to present in a manner perspicuous to a contemporary audience. This paper seeks to present a persuasive account of formal identity, taking sensory cognition of the individual object as the primary case for examination. Formal identity is initially explored using the notion of encoding, or the systematic transfer of information reflecting efficient and formal causal processes. The mathematical notion of “isomorphism” is then employed to describe precisely the features of encoding needed for formal identity. Forms are defined as formally identical if and only if they are isomorphic.

Session III: Problems Concerning Substantial Forms and Collective Mental States

“Why We Can No Longer Rationally Believe That Our Intellective Soul is a Substantial Form: On the Degringolate of the Simplicity Argument”

Benjamin Hill, University of Western Ontario

The most pedigreed line of thought about mind is the simplicity argument: that the unity of thinking entails the simplicity, immateriality, and immortality of soul. It is widely taken to be a rationalist argument, as opposed to an empiricist or peripatetic argument (see Mijuskovic, The Achilles of Rationalist Arguments) which was completely destroyed by Kant in the First Critique. In this paper it is argued that there is a conceptual connection between the downfall of the Aristotelian conception of soul as substantial form and the downfall of this argument in that viewing the functional unity of a material system as constituting a genuine unity per se became acceptable. This then undermined all philosophical motivation for the postulation of substantial forms. As a result, there was no longer reason for rooting the unity of apperception in the simplicity of a subsistence soul as opposed to some simply emergent power of thinking.

“The Separate Minds of Church and State: Collective Mental States and Their Unsettling Implications”

J.M. Giebel, University of Notre Dame

Claims regarding collective or group mental states are fairly commonplace: we speak of things like the belief of the Church, the will of the faculty, and the opinion of the Supreme Court, often without considering what such claims really mean and whether they are true in any interesting sense. In this paper I take a threefold approach: first, I articulate several ways in which a group might be said to have beliefs and other mental states. Second, I explore the implications, positive and negative, of these accounts of collective mental states. Third, I shall give a brief defense of my own view despite its somewhat disturbing implications for our membership in Church, State, and other groups.

Session IV: Abstraction in Al-Farabi and Avicenna

“Abstraction in Al-Fârâbî”

Richard C. Taylor, Marquette University

Al-Fârâbî’s thought on intellect was known to the Latin West through the translation of his Letter on the Intellect, through the Long Commentary on the De Anima by Averroes and through some other works. Al-Fârâbî’ identified the active power of intellect in Aristotle’s De Anima 3.5 as the unique and separately existing Agent Intellect, but the role of the Agent Intellect in forming intelligibles in act in the human soul is by no means unequivocally clear. Further, the apprehension of intelligibles by human beings and the intellectual development of the soul, oftentimes described as an activity of abstracting (intaza`a), seems to be a genuine abstraction from experience, yet it somehow involves the emanative power of the Agent Intellect. This paper works to provide a coherent explanation the nature of abstraction and the role of Agent Intellect in that activity.

“Avicenna on Abstraction: Its Role in Avicenna’s Philosophy of Science and Its Metaphysical Underpinnings”

Jon McGinnis, University of Missouri at St. Louis

A debated topic in Avicennan psychology is whether for Avicenna abstraction is a metaphor for emanation or to be taken literally. This issue stems from the deeper philosophical question of whether humans acquire intelligibles externally from an emanation by the Active Intellect, which is a separate substance, or internally from an inherently human cognitive process, which prepares us for an emanation from the Active Intellect. I argue that the tension between these doctrines is only apparent. In his logical works Avicenna limns an account where through the internal human process of abstraction accidents accruing to an essence existing in matter are extracted, thus preparing the essence for new accidents emanating externally from the Active Intellect, which make the essence something conceptualized in the intellect. This study, then, outlines the epistemological and metaphysical framework presented in the logical works that underpins Avicenna’s theory of abstraction presented in his psychological works.

Session V: Issues in Epistemology

“Evidentialism and Faith: Believing in Order to Know”

John Zeis, Canisius College

Evidentialism is generally taken to be a position which is not friendly to a religious epistemology. However, in this paper, I will argue for a religious epistemology which is compatible with fundamental tenets of an evidentialist position on epistemic justification. It is a position which entails both a “will to believe” which goes beyond the standard evidentialist principles governing the appropriate doxastic attitude towards a proposition, but nonetheless satisfies epistemic principles at the basis of an evidentialist position on justification. If my argument is successful, a proponent of a conception of religious faith may be able to have her cake and eat it too: namely, she may be able to fundamentally accept both the evidentialist demand that epistemically rational belief fit, or be supported by evidence as well as the position that rational faith is willing belief beyond what one’s evidence strictly demands.

“Cognitive Faculties and Evolutionary Naturalism”

Bernardo Cantens, Barry University

In Warrant and Proper Function Plantinga argues that his natural view of warrant is best understood within a supernatural ontology. A central reason why a naturalistic ontology cannot accommodate his version of natural epistemology is that it cannot explain the reliability of cognitive functions. He presents arguments for the following two conclusions: (1) that naturalism is probably false; and (2) that naturalism is irrational. He considers the latter to be his main argument. The objective of this paper is to refute Plantinga’s arguments for the conclusion that naturalism is irrational. I will demonstrate that given naturalistic evolution, we have reason to believe that it is likely that we would develop reliable cognitive theoretical faculties. As a result, a naturalist has sufficient epistemic ground to maintain the reasonableness of the view that her theoretical cognitive faculties are reliable and her theoretical beliefs true. It is, therefore, not irrational to be a naturalist.

Session VI: Issues Regarding Mind and Body

“Hylomorphism and Post-Cartesian Philosophy of Mind”

William Jaworski, Fordham University

Descartes developed a compelling characterization of mental and physical phenomena that has remained more or less canonical for Western philosophy ever since. The greatest testament to the power of Cartesian thinking is its ubiquity. Even philosophers who are critical of post-Cartesian anthropology (philosophers, for instance, who are self-professed exponents of one or another form of hylomorphism) nevertheless tacitly endorse Cartesian assumptions. Part of what leads to this strange inconsistency is that by and large philosophers no longer know what a non-Cartesian anthropology looks like. I discuss some commitments characteristic of post-Cartesian philosophy of mind, and present an alternative conception of psychological and physical phenomena more consistent with a hylomorphic outlook.

“Shoemaker’s Problem of Too Many Thinkers”

David B. Hershenov, SUNY Buffalo

Shoemaker maintains that when a functionalist theory of mind is combined with his belief about individuating properties and the well-known cerebrum transplant thought experiment, the resulting position will be a version of the psychological approach to personal identity that can avoid The Problem of Too Many Thinkers. I maintain that the costs of his solution – that the human animal is incapable of thought - are too high. Shoemaker also has not provided an argument against there existing a merely conscious being that is not essentially self-consciousness but is spatially coincident with a person who is essentially self-conscious. Both the person and the merely sentient being will be transplanted when the cerebrum is. And another thought experiment will make it impossible for Shoemaker to identify the person and the merely conscious being.

Session VII: Explaining the World and the Possibility of Evil

“String Theory and the Philosophy of Mind”

Stephen Grimm, University of Montana

Explanatory inquiry characteristically begins with a certain puzzlement about the world. But why do certain situations elicit our puzzlement (or curiosity) while others leave us, in some epistemically relevant sense, cold? Moreover, what exactly is involved in the move from a state of puzzlement to a state where one’s puzzlement is satisfied? In this paper I try to make sense of these questions by focusing on two case studies, one from the popular literature on string theory and one from recent debates in the philosophy of mind.

“Vagueness and Pointless Evil”

Michael Schrynemakers, St. John’s University

Many theists and atheists believe that God would not permit an evil unless God’s allowing it (or an evil at least as bad) is required for a greater good. In “The Argument from Particular Horrendous Evils” (and elsewhere) Peter van Inwagen has argued against this belief by appealing to his “No Minimum Claim” (NMC), namely, that it is reasonable to believe there is no minimum amount of evil required for God’s purposes. In this paper I distinguish different formulations of NMC, and, by drawing an instructive parallel to traditional sorites paradoxes, refute Jeff Jordan’s criticism that because morally significant suffering is finitely diminishable, NMC must be false.

Session VIII: Aquinas, Themistius, and Mind

“Aquinas and Themistius on Intellect”

Lorelle Lamascus, Marquette University

Aquinas puts forward two different, and conflicting, interpretations of Themistius’ account of the intellect. In his earlier interpretation of Themistius, Aquinas understands him to hold the position that both the possible and agent intellect are separate and incorruptible, existing apart from individual human souls but shared in by individual souls in the process of knowing. In De unitate intellectus contra averroistas, however, Aquinas radically departs from this reading, hailing Themistius as a genuine interpreter of the Peripatetic position, while decrying Averroes’ perversion of both Themistius and Aristotle. This paper examines these competing interpretations of Themistius’ account of the intellect in his Commentary on the De Anima of Aristotle, focusing on two issues central to its interpretation: (1) the nature of intellect insofar as it is separate, impassive, and unmixed (2) whether the productive intellect is one or many.

“Aquinas on Intentions in the Medium and in the Mind”

Jörg Alejandro Tellkamp, Universidad Panamericana and Universidad

Autónoma Metropolitana – Iztapalapa, Mexico

In his philosophical works, Aquinas spends some effort establishing why cognitive beings differ from those that are not able to have a cognitive, i.e. intentional, grasp of the exterior world. Prima facie, the matter is clear, since only those beings acquire knowledge that have the proper powers to do so. One remark, however, while discussing the nature of change in the process of visual perception, strikes the reader as particularly odd, since Aquinas states that “a ‘spiritual alteration’ […] occurs in virtue of a species’ being received in a sense organ or in the medium in the manner of an intention […].” Whereas it is not problematic to think that perceptions and thoughts are intentional, it seems peculiar to talk of the species in the medium as being received “in the manner of an intention.” While current interpretations propose that Aquinas’ account is either erroneous or in need of rectification, I would like to argue that the notion of mind-independent or non-cognitive intentions, which follows the Avicennian tradition, is rooted in a peculiar theory of sensible form. Given that the intentions in the medium make sense, it is, however, important to show that they differ from those intentions that are apprehended by cognitive powers. For this purpose, I will try to trace the underlying physics for cognitive change, showing that an account in terms of qualitative change leads one to posit a proper recipient of sensible forms, i.e., the sense powers.

Satellite Sessions

Friday, October 27, 2006 -- 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Gabriel Marcel Society Granville Room, Granville Inn

Speaker: Teresa Reed, Marymount University

“Marcel on Time and Eternity”

Ohio Greek Philosophy Reading Group Denison Room, Granville Inn

Chair: Michael Baumer, Cleveland State University

Speaker: Lawrence Jost, University of Cincinnati, “What Does God

Have To Do with Eudemian Eudaimonia?”

Speaker: Myrna J. Gabbe, University of Dayton

“Understanding Aristotle through the Commentary Tradition”

Society for Catholicism and Analytical Philosophy

Wales Room, Granville Inn

Chair: Gavin T. Colvert, Assumption College

Speaker: Matthews Grant, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN

“God and Human Freedom”

Speaker: Trent Dougherty, University of Rochester

“Realizing Virtue: A Unified Virtue Epistemology”

Society for Thomistic Natural Philosophy The Library, Granville Inn

Chair: Steven C. Snyder, Christendom College

Speaker: Andrew T. Seeley, Thomas Aquinas College,

“Power and End: Aristotle’s Matter as Dynamis”

Speaker: Michael W. Tkacz, Gonzaga University,

“The Telos of Matter: Comments on Andrew Seeley’s

Psychological Analogies for Aristotelian Matter”

Special Session on the Philosophical Dimensions of Deus Caritas Est

College Townhouse I (adjacent to Granville Inn)

Speaker: Thomas Harmon, Ave Maria University

“Benedict on Sexuality in Deus Caritas Est”

Speaker: Brendan Palla, Fordham University

Speaker: “Benedict XVI on the Relationship Between

the Church and State”

World Conference of Catholic Institutions of Philosophy

College Townhouse II (adjacent to Granville Inn)

Session Title: Facilitating International Dialogue among Philosophers at

Catholic Institutions: An Invitation and Introduction to the

World Conference of Catholic Institutions of Philosophy

Presentation by: Richard Cobb-Stevens, Boston College

Question and Answer Period to Follow

Friday, October 27, 2006 -- 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

ACPA Committee on Priestly Formation

College Townhouse II (adjacent to Granville Inn)

First Hour of Priestly Formation Session:
Topic: “Being and the 21st Century Seminarian”

Chair: David Foster, Seton Hall University

Speaker: John F. X. Knasas, Center for Thomistic Studies,

University of St. Thomas, Houston

Second Hour of Priestly Formation Session:

Topic: “Update and Discussion on Model Curriculum

for Catholic Seminaries”

Project Chair: ACPA Executive Committee on Priestly Formation

American Association for the Philosophic Study of Society

Denison Room, Granville Inn

Session Title: “Some Responses to Norms of Liberty

by Douglas B. Rasmussen and Douglas J. Den Uyl”

Chair: Peter Vedder, Independent Scholar

Speakers: Denis Sullivan, St. John’s University,

“Moral Truth, Moral Disagreement, and

the Agent Relative Conception of Moral Value”

Timothy Fuller, Colorado College

“On the Compatibility of ‘Norms’ and ‘Liberty’”

James Taylor, The College of New Jersey,

“Value and Liberty”

William Kline, Institute for Liberty in the Curriculum

“Meta Norms and Markets”

International Institute for Hermeneutics Third Floor Clubroom, Granville Inn

Topic: “The Religious Heidegger”

Chair: Andrzej Wiercinski, International Institute for Hermeneutics

Speakers: Sean McGrath, Mount Allison University

Holger Zaborowski, The Catholic University of America

Theodore Kisiel, Northern Illinois University

Philosophers in Jesuit Education Granville Room, Granville Inn

Topic: “The Integration of Personalism and Metaphysics in

Twentieth Century Thomism: A Discussion”

Chair: Stanley Harrison, Marquette University

Speaker: W. Norris Clarke, Fordham University

Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics The Library, Granville Inn

Topic: Medieval Skepticism and Epistemology

Chair: Jack Zupko, Emory University

Speaker: Antoine Côté, University of Ottawa

“Siger and the Skeptic”

Commentator: Charles Bolyard, James Madison University

Speaker: Rondo Keele, Louisiana Scholars’ College

“Applied Logic and Mediaeval Reasoning: Iteration

and Infinite Regress in Walter Chatton”

Commentator: Jack Zupko, Emory University

Special Session on Ethics and Religion: Thomistic, Analytic, and Continental Perspectives

College Townhouse I (adjacent to Granville Inn)

Chair: Joseph G. Trabbic, Ave Maria University

Speaker: Amy L. Peters, Fordham University,

“Kant, Kierkegaard, and Divine Command Theory”

Speaker: Christopher Arroyo, Dominican College,

“Wittgenstein, Levinas, and Epistemic Privacy”

Speaker: Joseph G. Trabbic, Ave Maria University,

“Aquinas on Moral Knowledge”

Special Session on Philosophy and Public Affairs: Happiness and Public Policy

Wales Room, Granville Inn

Anthony Kenny will discuss a new book by himself and Charles Kenny, of the World Bank, on the concept of happiness in public policy. John Haldane will discuss the role of philosophy in public affairs, comparing the situation of the US and the UK, and making special reference to the work of the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public affairs (St. Andrews). Brief reception to follow the discussion.

Saturday, October 28, 2006 -- 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.

Author Meets Critics Wales Room, Granville Inn

Topic: Jean Porter’s Book, Nature as Reason:

A Thomistic Theory of the Natural Law

Chair: Carla Ingrando, Denison University

Commentators: Gavin Colvert, Assumption College

Alexander Eodice, Iona College

Respondent: Jean Porter, University of Notre Dame

Lonergan Philosophical Society Denison Room, Granville Inn

Chair: Sarah Borden, Wheaton College

Speaker: Glenn Hughes, St. Mary’s University (San Antonio),

“Lonergan and Stupidity”

Commentator: Michael Sharkey, University of Wisconsin (Platteville)

Speaker: David Zinn, Loyola Marymount University,

“Mystery, Finality, Love”

Commentator: Michael Sharkey, University of Wisconsin (Platteville)

Ohio Greek Philosophy Reading Group

College Townhouse I (adjacent to Granville Inn)

Chair: Joel Richeimer, Kenyon College

Speaker: Scott Carson, Ohio University, “The Logic of Relations in

Anselm’s De Processu Spiritus Sancti”

Speaker: Fred Miller, Bowling Green State University, “On the

Separability of NOUS”

Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy

The Library, Granville Inn

Topic: “Pragmatist Catholicisms”

Discussants: Stanley Harrison, Marquette University

“Peircean Catholicism”

Kenneth Stikkers, Southern Illinois University

“Jamesian Catholicism”

Judith Green, Fordham University

“Deweyan Catholicism”

Brian Henning, Mount St. Mary's University

“Pragmatist Environmental Catholicism”

Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology

Granville Room, Granville Inn

Topic: “Theological Traces in the Work

of Edith Stein and Walter Benjamin”

Chair: Christina M. Gschwandtner, University of Scranton

Speaker: Terrence C. Wright, Saint John Vianney Seminary,

“Artistic Truth and the True Self in Edith Stein”

Speaker: Antonio Calcagno, University of Scranton,

“Edith Stein: On Death and Dying”

Speaker: Christina Smerick, Greenville College,

“’And God Spoke’: Language and Translation in Two Essays

by Walter Benjamin”

Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy

College Townhouse II (adjacent to Granville Inn)

Chair: Timothy B. Noone, The Catholic University of America

Speaker: Paul Macdonald, Bucknell University,

“Direct Realism and Aquinas’s Account of Cognition”

Tobias Hoffman, The Catholic University of America,

“Magnanimity According to Albert, Aquinas, and Dante”

Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics

Third Floor Clubroom, Granville Inn

Topic: “Aquinas on Being, Essence, and Divine Simplicity”

Chair: Gyula Klima, Fordham University

Speaker: Thomas Ward, Oxford University,

“How Aquinas Could Have Argued that

God is Really Related to Creatures”

Speaker: Scott M. Williams, Oxford University,

“Thomas Aquinas on the Divine Idea of

Prime Matter”

Speaker: Joshua Hochschild, Mount St. Mary’s University,

“Individual Essences in Aquinas and Kenny”

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Registration Information for the 2006 Meeting

On-site registration and pre-registration pick-up will begin Friday, October 27, 2006, at 2:00 p.m. The pre-registration fee is $40.00 (U.S.) if received by October 15, 2006, or $45.00 (U.S.) if received after October 15, 2006. The registration fee for students is $10.00. Please register by mailing in the registration form included with the ACPA’s conference mailing, or by using our new online registration option at:

http://www.pdcnet.org/2006-ACPA-conference.html

Online registration is encouraged; however, you may click here in order to download a hard-copy (in Microsoft Word) of the meeting registration form.

Tickets for the Association banquet on Saturday evening, October 28, 2006, will be sold at $45 per person. Tickets for the Sunday buffet-style luncheon and discussion, October 29, 2006, will be sold at $15 per person. Payment for the banquet and/or luncheon must be received by October 15, 2006. Please purchase your banquet and/or luncheon tickets by using the registration form included with the ACPA’s conference mailing, or by using our new online registration option at:

http://www.pdcnet.org/2006-ACPA-conference.html

Please call (800) 444-2419 if you have any questions about registration, banquet tickets, or luncheon tickets.

All are urged to register early for hotel rooms, since accommodations in Granville village are limited. In order to guarantee the lower conference-rate, be sure to register by September 26, 2006. The conference “overflow” hotel is a Marriott Courtyard six miles from the village, in Newark, Ohio. Complete hotel information is provided at the back of this conference program.

Arrangements are being made for van transportation from Port Columbus International Airport to Granville for certain specified times. These times will be posted on the ACPA’s web-page: http://www.acpaweb.org. Taxi service is also available, but ride-sharing is recommended since taxi-transportation costs about $75 one way.

Anyone interested in playing golf Thursday afternoon (October 26) in the “First Annual Duns Scotus Golf Shootout” should send an email note to Anthony Lisska by October 15, 2006: Lisska@Denison.edu. The Granville Golf Course (a good wedge shot from the Granville Inn) is a Donald Ross-designed course that has been continually ranked as one of the better public courses in the mid-west.

All resolutions to be acted upon at the annual Business Meeting of the Association must be received in writing by the National Secretary at the National Office at Fordham University by October 15, 2006. No resolutions will be entertained apart from those endorsed by the appropriate committee. Priests wishing to participate in the concelebrated Masses are asked to provide their own vestments.

The ACPA would like to thank the host institution, Denison University, for its very generous financial and organizational support, without which this meeting would not have been possible. Also, special thanks are due to the Program Committee for the 2006 Annual Meeting of the ACPA: Michael Gorman, Douglas Rasmussen, James South.

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Hotel Information for the 2006 Meeting

Update: As of October 12, 2006, we understand that all of the hotel rooms pre-booked for ACPA members have been filled up. Since there may be some cancellations, you should feel free to call some of the hotels listed immediately below this paragraph, in order to see if they have any newly-available hotel rooms. If you are unable to find overnight accommodations at one of the hotels listed immediately below this paragraph, there are some other back-up options. First, there is the University Inn, which is roughly across the street (West Church Street) from the Marriott Hotel in Newark. The phone number is 740-344-2136. If you stay at the University Inn, you will be able to make use of the van-shuttle service from the Newark Marriott to Granville (and back). There is also the Cherry Valley Lodge, which is between Newark and Granville. The Cherry Valley Lodge did have rooms in early October. Their phone number is: 740-788-1200. Also, there is a Hampton Inn, a Holiday Inn Express, a Super Eight, and others in the Newark/Heath area. It is recommended that you peruse the relevant web-pages for information on these other hotels. Finally, the Denison web page also lists places to stay in the area: http://www.denison.edu.

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Each of the places listed below has committed to holding rooms for ACPA meeting participants. The rooms will be held for one month in advance of the meeting; so be sure to register by September 26, 2006, in order to receive the convention rates. In order to stay in Granville, it is recommended that one register immediately. There are about sixty-five rooms available in the village itself. The Courtyard by Marriott, a highly ranked and rather new hotel, is about six miles east of Granville in Newark, Ohio; this hotel has reserved twenty-five rooms for ACPA use. There are also other major motel chains in Newark and Heath.

The principal conference location will be the Granville Inn. Papers will be delivered there and in the College Town House, which is adjacent to the Granville Inn. The Buxton Inn and the Granville Inn are across the street from one another. The Follett-Wright House B&B is one half block to the east. The Porch House B&B is about two blocks from the Inns.

The Granville Inn All booked up as of Sept. 9, 2006.

314 East Broadway

Granville, OH 43023

740-587-3333

Rates: Thursday: $89.00; Friday-Saturday: $99.00 per night; Suites: $125.00.

With Continental Breakfast

The Buxton Inn All booked up as of Sept. 9, 2006.

313 East Broadway

Granville, OH 43023

740-587-0001

Rates: $80.00-$100.00, depending upon number of people per room.

With Continental Breakfast

Courtyard by Marriott

500 Highland Blvd.

Newark, OH 43055-2112

[N.B. This hotel is about six miles east of Granville.]

740-344-1800

Rates: $94.00—for any room in the hotel.

The Porch House Bed and Breakfast

241 East Maple Street

Granville, OH 43023

740-587-1995

Rates: $85.00 [Five Rooms]

Follett-Wright House B&B

403 East Broadway

Granville, OH 43023

740-587-0941

Rates: $70.00 [Two Rooms--With private bath]

www.bbonline.com/oh/follett-wright

Fraley House Bed & Breakfast

257 Clouse Lane

Granville, OH 43023

740-587-7757 or 800-578-0611

Rates: $79.00 to 89.00 a night

This is a smoke-free environment;

a hearty country breakfast is provided.
Email: info@fraleyhouse.com
Web: http://www.fraleyhouse.com

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