Dispositions, Habits, and Virtues
2014 Annual ACPA Meeting

2014 Program

American Catholic Philosophical Association

Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill

400 New Jersey Ave. NW

Washington, DC 20001

washingtonregency.hyatt.com

1-202-737-1234

"Dispositions, Habits, and Virtues"

 

Thursday, 9 October 2014

6:00pm-10:00pm: Dinner and Meeting of the Executive Council of the ACPA. Dinner to be held in Yellowstone/Everglades, meeting to be held in Yosemite.

Friday, 10 October 2014

8:00am                       Holy Mass                                                                                                      Brycewi

8:00am-6:00pm          Registration& Book Exhibit                                                                          Congressional B

10:00am-12:00pm – Friday Morning Satellite Sessions:

          1. International Institute for Hermeneutics/Institut internationale d'hermeneutique              Glacier

          2. Society for Thomistic Natural Philosophy                                                                         Yosemite

          3. The International Étienne Gilson Society I                                                                        Bryce

          4. Gabriel Marcel Society                                                                                                       Congressional D

          5. Society for Medieval and Renaissance Thomism I                                                            Congressional C

          6. Committee on Priestly Formation                                                                                       Yellowstone

          7. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session A                                                                                 Redwood

          8. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session B                                                                                 Everglades

          9. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session C                                                                                  Grand Teton

1:00pm-3:00pm – Friday Afternoon Satellite Sessions:

         10. The Thought of Robert Sokolowski I                                                                                Congressional C

         11. International Society for MacIntyrean Enquiry                                                                 Congressional D

         12. The Society for the Study of Nature and the Philosophy of Science I                              Grand Canyon

         13. The American Maritain Association                                                                                 Yosemite

         14. Aquinas and 'the Arabs' International Working Group I                                                   Glacier

         15. Society of Christian Philosophers                                                                                      Grand Teton

         16. Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology                                                           Yellowstone

         17. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session D                                                                                Everglades

         18. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session E                                                                                 Redwood

3:30pm-5:30pm – ACPA Contributed Papers, Friday Afternoon

Session I: Dispositions in Contemporary Metaphysics                                                                Glacier

Chair:                         John Zeis, Canisius College

Speaker:                     Errin D. Clark, Saint Louis University

                                   "How Aristotelian is Contemporary Dispositionalist Metaphysics?: A Tale of Two Distinctions"

Commentator:            Michael Gorman, The Catholic University of America

Speaker:                     Travis Dumsday, Concordia University College of Alberta

                                    Dispositionalism, Categoricalism, and Metaphysical Naturalism"

Commentator:            Andrew Jaeger, Benedictine College

Session II: Habits in Illuminative Cognition                                                                                   Bryce

Chair:                          John Boyer, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

Speaker:                     Andrew Jacob Cuff, The Catholic University of America

                                    "Man's 'Very Special Habit' and God's Agency in the Illumination Epistemology and Volition Theory of Bonaventure and Aquinas"

Commentator:            Timothy Noone, The Catholic University of America

Speaker:                     Samuel A. Pomeroy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

                                     "Accommodating Avicenna, Appropriating Augustine: Assessing the Sources for Thomas Aquinas's Doctrine of Prophecy"

Commentator:             R. E. Houser, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

Session III: Virtue and Politics                                                                                                        Yosemite

Chair:                         Brian T. Carl, Dominican House of Studies (Washington, DC)

Speaker:                     Michael P. Krom, Saint Vincent College

                                   "Civic Virtue: Aquinas on Piety, Observance, and Religion"

Commentator:            Brad Lewis, The Catholic University of America

Speaker:                     Mary Elizabeth Tetzlaff, The Catholic University of America

                                   "The Peculiar Virtues of the Rulers and the Ruled in Politics III.4"

Commentator:            Ben Smith, Aquinas College (Nashville)

Session IV: History of Philosophy                                                                                                     Grand Teton

Chair:                         Fran O'Rourke, University College (Dublin)

Speaker:                     Mark K. Spencer, University of St. Thomas (MN)

                                   "Habits, Potencies, and Obedience: Experiential Evidence for Thomistic Hylomorphism"

Commentator:            Marie George, St. John's University

Speaker:                    Michael V. Dougherty, Ohio Dominican University

                                  "Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Concordia, and the Canon Law Tradition: On the Habits and Dispositions of Renaissance Exegetes"

Commentator:            Victor Salas, Sacred Heart Major Seminary

7:00pm-9:30pm – Plenary Session I                                                                       Congressional A

Chair:                         Daniel Dahlstrom, Boston University, ACPA President

Speaker:                     Susan Haack, Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Sciences, Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Law, University of Miami.

                                    "Credulity: Anatomy of an Epistemological Vice"

Speaker:                     Timothy B. Noone, Ordinary Professor of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America

                                    "Habitual Intellectual Knowledge in Medieval Philosophy: A Complex Theme"

9:30pm-11:30pm        Reception hosted by CUA                                                                                Thornton Room

Saturday, 11 October 2014

8:00am                       Holy Mass                                                                                                        Congressional A

8:30am-6:00pm         Registration& Book Exhibit                                                                             Congressional B

9:00am-11:15am – Plenary Session II                                                                              Congressional A

Chair:                         Jorge L. A. Garcia, Boston College, ACPA Vice-President

Presidential Address: Daniel Dahlstrom, John R. Silber Professor of Philosophy, Boston University, ACPA President.

                                   "The Status of Dispositions"

Speaker:                     Marilyn McCord Adams, Visiting Professor, Rutgers, formerly Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford.

                                   "Scotus on the Metaphysical Role of Dispositions"

11:15am-11:45am     ACPA Business Meeting                                                                                  Congressional A

11:45am-1:00pm        Women's Luncheon (reservation required)                                                     Sequoia

1:15pm-3:15pm – ACPA Contributed Papers, Saturday Afternoon

Session V: Habit and Ethics                                                                                                             Bryce

Chair:                        Brandon Dahm, Baylor University

Speaker:                     Mathew Lu, University of St. Thomas (MN)

                                   "Hexis within Aristotelian Virtue Ethics"

Commentator:            David Gallagher

Speaker:                     Paul Kucharski, Manhattanville College

                                  "On the Habit of Seeing Persons"

Commentator:            Scott Cleveland, Baylor University

Session VI: Passions in Morality                                                                                                       Yosemite

Chair:                         Bonnie Kent, University of California Irvine

Speaker:                     Elizabeth Murray, Loyola Marymount University

                                  "Compunction and Passion: Two Moments of Moral Conversion"

Commentator:            Mary Catherine Sommers, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

Speaker:                     Leonard Ferry, Niagara College (Ontario)

                                   "Sorting out reason's relation to the passions in the moral theory of Aquinas"

Commentator:            Kyongsook Kim, The Catholic University of America

Session VII: Two Defenses of Virtue                                                                                                   Glacier

Chair:                        

Speaker:                     Justin Matchulat, Purdue University

                                   "Defending Virtue against the Situationist Challenge: Aristotle, Aquinas, and Contemporary Metaphysicians on Degreed Traits"

Commentator:             Steven J. Jensen, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

Speaker:                     Lindsay Cleveland, Baylor University

                                   "A Defense of Aristotelian Magnanimity against the Pride Objection: With the Help of Aquinas"

Commentator:            Daniel Shields, Pontifical College Josephinum

Session VIII: Truth                                                                                                                               Grand Teton

Chair:                         Alice Ramos, St. John's University

Speaker:                     Michael Bowler, Michigan Technological University

                                   "Heidegger, Aristotle, and Philosophical Leisure"

Commentator:            Daniel Maher, Assumption College

Speaker:                     Joshua Lee Harris, Institute for Christian Studies (Toronto)

                                   "Does Aquinas Hold a Correspondence Theory of Truth in De Veritate?"

Commentator:           Thomas M. Osborne, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

3:30pm-5:30pm – Saturday Afternoon Satellite Sessions:

          19. Lonergan Philosophical Society                                                                                       Congressional C

          20. The Thought of Robert Sokolowski II                                                                              Congressional A

          21. Saint Anselm Studies                                                                                                        Olympic

          22. Society for the Study of Cardinal Newman                                                                      Thornton Room A

          23. Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics                                                                  Grand Teton

          24. Aquinas and 'the Arabs' International Working Group II                                                Yosemite

          25. The Hegel Group                                                                                                              Congressional D 

          26. The Society for the Study of Nature and the Philosophy of Science II                            Bryce

          27. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session F                                                                               Glacier

          28. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session G                                                                                Thornton Room B

5:45pm-6:45pm         Holy Mass                                                                                                      Congressional A

7:00pm-7:30pm         Reception                                                                                                       Regency/Columbia Foyer

7:30pm-9:30pm         ACPA Banquet                                                                                              Columbia AB

                                   Presentation of the ACPA Young Scholar Awards:

                                                  Mark K. Spencer, University of St. Thomas (MN)

                                                  Joshua Lee Harris, Institute for Christian Studies (Toronto)

Aquinas Medalist:      John Rist, The Catholic University of America

                                   "Philosophers and Sophists: Then and Now"

Sunday, 12 October 2014

8:00am                       Holy Mass                                                                                                      Congressional A

8:00am-12:00pm       Book Exhibit                                                                                                  Congressional B

9:00am-11:00am      Sunday Morning Satellite Sessions

          29. Society for Medieval and Renaissance Thomism II                                                         Olympic

          30. The Thought of Robert Sokolowski III: On Francis Slade                                               Congressional A

          31. Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy                                                   Thornton Room B

          32. Baylor Philosophy                                                                                                            Grand Teton

          33. Philosophers in Jesuit Education                                                                                      Thornton Room A

          34. Society for Thomistic Personalism                                                                                   Yosemite

          35. The International Étienne Gilson Society II                                                                     Glacier

          36. Society for Catholicism and Analytic Philosophy                                                            Congressional C

          37. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session H                                                                               Congressional D

          38. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session I                                                                                Bryce

11:00am-12:00pm Philosophers in Jesuit Education: Business Meeting                                         Thornton Room A

 

Satellite Sessions Detailed Program

Friday Morning, 10 October 2014: 10:00am-12:00pm

1. International Institute for Hermeneutics/Institut International d'hermeneutique             Glacier

Organizer & Chair:    Andrzej Wiercinski, Albert Ludwigs Universität (Freiburg)

Speaker:                      Lore Hühn, Albert Ludwigs Universität (Freiburg)

                                   "The Sickness unto Death: A Contribution to the Relationship between Kierkegaard and German Idealism"

Speaker:                     Vanessa Rumble, Boston College

                                   "Kierkegaard's Reflections on Self-Immurement, or, from Fichte to Fairbairn"

Speaker:                     Sean McGrath, Memorial University of Newfoundland

                                   "Why Kierkegaard Walked Out On the Late Schelling?"

Speaker:                     Tyler Tritten, Albert Ludwigs Universität (Freiburg), Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

                                   "Withering Away in Atrophy: Kierkegaard's Either/Or and Schelling's Law of the World"

Speaker:                     Andrzej Wiercinski, Albert Ludwigs Universität (Freiburg)

                                   "The Task of Living Life: The Socratic in Kierkegaard"

2. Society for Thomistic Natural Philosophy                                                                               Yosemite

Organizer & Chair:    Michael W. Tkacz, Gonzaga University

Speaker:                     Catherine Peters, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

                                   "Chance and Hylomorphic Teleology in Physics II"

Speaker:                     John G. Brungardt, The Catholic University of America

                                  "Charles De Koninck's Philosophy of Science: Natural Philosophy as Sapiential"

3. The International Étienne Gilson Society I                                                                              Bryce

Topic:                         The Relation of Habits and Virtues to Philosophy, Metaphysics, and Religion

Organizer:                 Richard Fafara, Adler-Aquinas Institute

Chair:                         Curtis L. Hancock, Rockhurst University

Speaker:                     Jude P. Dougherty, Dean Emeritus, School of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America

                                   "The Virtue of Religion"

Speaker:                     Ken Masugi, Claremont Institute

                                   "Aristotle on Wittiness as the Ultimate Moral Virtue."

Speaker:                      Rev. James Schall, S.J, Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University

                                    "Habits Without Metaphysics: The Abiding Pertinence of Gilson's 'The Future of Augustinian Metaphysics'"

Speaker:                     Rev. Pawel Tarasiewicz, Pope John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin

                                   "Person and Act in the Teaching of Pope John Paul II"

4. Gabriel Marcel Society                                                                                                               Congressional D

Organizer:                 Brendan Sweetman, Rockhurst University

Speaker:                     John Francis Burke, Cabrini College

                                  "Mounier and Marcel's articulations of Engagement"

Discussion:                "Teaching Marcel Today: Marcel's appeal to contemporary students"

Leaders:                     Teresa Reed, Quincy University

                                   Brendan Sweetman, Rockhurst University

5. Society for Medieval and Renaissance Thomism I                                                                  Congressional C

Organizer & Chair:     Thomas M. Osborne, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

Speaker:                     Br. Raymund Snyder, O.P., Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception

                                  "Article or Preamble? A Reconsideration of Cardinal Cajetan's Later Comments on the Rational Demonstrability of the Immortal Soul"

Speaker:                     Charles Douglas Robertson, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

                                    "John Capreolus on the Formal Object of Metaphysics"

6. Committee on Priestly Formation                                                                                            Yellowstone

Organizer & Chair:    David Foster, The Athenaeum

Speaker:                     John P. Hittinger, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

                                    "Mary, Benedict, and Thomas on the Formation of Catholic Intelligence: The Influence of Leon Bloy, Dom Delatte, and Father Clerissac on the Young Maritains"

Speaker:                     Christopher Lutz, St. Meinrad Seminary

                                    "Ethics: How and What to Teach Seminarians."

7. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session A                                                                                      Redwood

Topic:                         Knowledge and Metaphysics

Chair:                         Gaston LeNotre, The Catholic University of America

Speaker:                    Jessica Murdoch, Villanova University

                                   "On the Disposition of Metaphysics: Violence, Truth, Love"

Speaker:                     Tracy Wietecha, Marquette University

                                   "On Method in Reading the DE ENTE ET ESSENTIA: An Analysis of the Accounts of Joseph Owens, John Wippel and R. E. Houser"

Speaker:                     Joseph Milburn, The University of Pittsburgh

                                   "Perfectionism and the Value of the Epistemic Virtues"

8. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session B                                                                                       Everglades

Topic:                        Action and Grace

Chair:                         Angela McKay Knobel, The Catholic University of America

Speaker:                     Jeremy Skrzypek, Saint Louis University

                                   "Thomas Aquinas on Morally Good Human Actions in the Absence of Grace"

Speaker:                     Br. James Dominic Rooney, Aquinas Institute of Theology

                                   "Stumping Freedom: Toward an Adequate Model of Divine Influence on the Will"

Speaker:                    Max G. Parish, University of Oklahoma

                                   "Is Neo-Aristotelian Ethical Naturalism Compatible with Moral Universalism? A Response to Christopher Gowans"

9. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session C                                                                                      Grand Teton

Topic:                        20th Century Philosophy

Chair:                         Daniel Bradley, Gonzaga University

Speaker:                     Gretchen Gusich, Loyola Marymount University

                                   "The Role of Attitude in Husserl's Formal and Transcendental Logic"

Speaker:                      Alexander Schimpf, University of St. Thomas, Houston (TX)

                                   "Before the Übermensch: Four Virtues in Nietzsche's On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life"

Friday Afternoon, 10 October 2014: 1:00pm-3:00pm

10. The Thought of Robert Sokolowski I                                                                                     Congressional C

Topic:                         "Robert Sokolowski: Disclosing the God of Faith and Reason"

Organizer &Chair:     Daniel P. Maher, Assumption College

Speaker:                     Kevin White, The Catholic University of America

                                   "Beginning with St. Anselm Again"

Speaker:                     Guy Mansini, O.S.B., St. Meinrad Seminary

                                   "Experience of God and Revelation"

Speaker:                     Owen J. Sadlier, O.S.F., St. Francis College

                                    "Making Distinctions: The Epistemology of Robert Sokolowski's Theology of Disclosure"

11. International Society for MacIntyrean Enquiry                                                                  Congressional D

Topic:                         MacIntyre in the Classroom

Organizers:                Christopher Lutz, Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology

                                   Jeffery Nicholas, Providence College

Speaker:                     Michael Bauer, Fordham University

                                   "MacIntyre with or without Metaphysics?"

Speaker:                      Peter Wicks, Villanova University

                                   "Practices, Community, and Narrative Unity in Groundhog Day"

12. The Society for the Study of Nature and the Philosophy of Science I                                Grand Canyon

Topic:                         Aristotle on Wholes, Parts, and Principles

Organizer:                  John Brungardt, The Catholic University of America

Chair:                         Erikk Geannikis, The Catholic University of America

Speaker:                     Ryan Shea, The Catholic University of America

                                   "Mixing Elements in Aristotle"

Speaker:                     David M. Grothoff, The Catholic University of America

                                   "Aristotle's Principle of the Homogeneity of Principles"

13. The American Maritain Association                                                                                     Yosemite

Topic:                        Responding to Evil

Organizer:                 Michael D. Torre, University of San Francisco

Chair:                         Giuseppe Butera, Providence College

Speaker:                     Michael D. Torre, University of San Francisco

                                  "How Consoling is Philosophy? Another look at Rachel"

Commentator:           John F. X. Knasas, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

Commentator:            John P. Hittinger, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

14. Aquinas and 'the Arabs' International Working Group I                                                  Glacier

Topic:                        "Aquinas on the Three Modes of Participation in Being"

Organizer & Chair:    Richard C. Taylor, Marquette University& DWMC (KU Leuven)

Speaker:                     Jason A. Mitchell, LC, Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum (Rome)

                                   "Aquinas on esse commune and the First Mode of Participation"

Speaker:                     Daniel De Haan, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)& Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

                                   "Aquinas on actus essendi and the Second Mode of Participation"

Speaker:                     Gregory T. Doolan, The Catholic University of America

                                   "Aquinas on esse subsistens and the Third Mode of Participation"

15. Society of Christian Philosophers                                                                                          Grand Teton

Topic:                         Metaphysics and Epistemology

Organizer:                  Timothy Pawl, University of St. Thomas (MN)

Chair:                         Karen Chan, St. Patrick's Seminary & University

Speaker:                     Fr. James Brent, The Catholic University of America

                                  "Aquinas's Three Replies to the Evidentialist Objection"

Commentator:            Stephen Grimm, Fordham University

Speaker:                      Allison Thornton, Baylor University

                                  "Surviving Death as Immaterial Animals"

Commentator:            David Hershenov, SUNY Buffalo

16. Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology                                                                Yellowstone

Topic:                        "Virtue, Habit, and Practice in Continental Philosophy of Religion"

Organizer:                  J. Aaron Simmons, Furman University

Chair:                         Bruce Ellis Benson, Wheaton College

Speaker:                     Jeffrey Hanson, Australian Catholic University

                                   "Kierkegaardian Earnestness and the Unity of a Life"

Speaker:                     Jack Mulder, Hope College

                                   "Knowledge, Virtue, and Ontotheology: A Kierkegaardian (Self-) Critique"

Speaker:                    Michael Kelly, University of San Diego

                                  "Blessed Aren't Those Poor in Spirit"

Commentator:           John Greco, Saint Louis University

                                  "Response to Hanson, Mulder, and Kelly"

17. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session D                                                                                     Everglades

Topic:                        Habits

Chair:                          Jean DeGroot, The Catholic University of America

Speaker:                     Brandon Boesch, University of South Carolina

                                   "Internal and External Knowledge of Habit Types"

Speaker:                     Rev. Orestes J. Gonzalez, The Catholic University of America

                                   "The Habitus Principiorum Revisited"

Speaker:                     Stephen R. Ogden, Yale University

                                   "Aristotle's Intellect as Hexis"

18. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session E                                                                                     Redwood

Topic:                          Ethics

Chair:                         Max Parish, University of Oklahoma

Speaker:                     Maureen Bielinski, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

                                   "Choice and Practical Reasoning in Aquinas's Account of Incontinence"

Speaker:                     Kelly Gallagher, Benedictine College

                                   "Aquinas on the Will: Voluntarism or Intellectual Determinism?"

Speaker:                     William Matthew Diem, University of St. Thomas (TX)

                                   "IaIIae Q.18 AND DE MALO Q.2: a critical comparison of their teachings concerning circumstances and their role in moral specification"

Saturday Afternoon, 11 October 2014: 3:30pm-5:30pm

19. Lonergan Philosophical Society                                                                                              Congressional C

Topic:                        Lonergan and Natural Law

Organizer & Chair:   Elizabeth Murray, Loyola Marymount University

Speaker:                     R. J. Snell, Eastern University

                                   "Natural Law and Moral Dispositions of the Person"

Commentator:            Mark Doorley, Villanova University

Commentator:            Christopher Kaczor, Loyola Marymount University

20. The Thought of Robert Sokolowski II                                                                                   Congressional A

Topic:                         "Truthfulness and the Good Life: Sokolowskian Meditations"

Organizer & Chair:    Molly Brigid Flynn, Assumption College

Speaker:                     George Heffernan, Merrimack College

                                   "Virtues and Vices and Parts and Wholes: A Phenomenological Analysis"

Speaker:                     Michael R. Kelly, University of San Diego

                                   "The Unfriendliness of Untruthfulness"

Speaker:                     Molly Brigid Flynn, Assumption College

                                   "Philosophy's Need for Rhetoric: On the Difficulty of Apologizing for Socrates in the Academy"

21. Saint Anselm Studies                                                                                                               Olympic

Topic:                        "Revisiting Saint Anselm's Cur Deus Homo"

Organizer &Chair:     Montague Brown, Saint Anselm College

Speaker:                     Gregory Sadler, Marist College

                                   Is God's Justice Unmerciful in Anselm's Cur Deus Homo?"

Speaker:                     Gene Fendt, University of Nebraska (Kearney)

                                   "Anselm's Cur Deus Homo: A Meditation from the Point of View of the Sinner"

Speaker:                     Katherin Rogers, University of Delaware

                                   "Family ties in Cur Deus Homo"

22. Society for the Study of Cardinal Newman                                                                          Thornton Room A

Topic:                         Discussion of the forthcoming book by John Crosby on "The Personalism of John Henry Newman"

Organizer & Chair:    Michael Baur, Fordham University

Speaker:                     John Crosby, Franciscan University of Steubenville

                                   "The Personalism of John Henry Newman"

Commentator:           Matthew Minerd, The Catholic University of America

Commentator:            Michael Baur, Fordham University

23. Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics                                                                       Grand Teton

Topic:                        "The Problem of 'Gappy Existence' in Aquinas' Metaphysics and Theology"

Organizer &Chair:     Alex Hall, Clayton State University

Speaker:                     Turner Nevitt, Fordham University

                                   "Annihilation, Re-creation, and Intermittent Existence in Aquinas"

Speaker:                      Gyula Klima, Fordham University

                                   "The Problem of 'Gappy Existence' in Aquinas' Metaphysics and Theology"

Speaker:                      Patrick Toner, Wake Forest University

                                   "St. Thomas Aquinas on Which Objects, If Any, Can Exist Gappily"

24. Aquinas and 'the Arabs' International Working Group II                                                Yosemite

Topic:                         "Averroes, Maimonides & Aquinas on the Interpretation of Scripture"

Organizer:                  Richard C. Taylor, Marquette University& DWMC (KU Leuven)

Chair:                          Luis López-Farjeat, Universidad Panamericana (Mexico City)

Speaker:                     Francisco Romero Carrasquillo, Universidad Panamericana (Guadalajara)

                                   "Averroes, Maimonides & Aquinas on the Interpretation of Scripture"

Commentator:            Richard C. Taylor, Marquette University& DWMC (KU Leuven)

                                   "On Averroes"

Commentator:            Sarah Pessin, University of Denver

                                   "On Maimonides"

Commentator:            Timothy Bellamah, OP, Dominican House of Studies (Washington, DC)

                                   "On Aquinas"

25. The Hegel Group                                                                                                                     Congressional D

Topic:                        Terry Pinkard's Hegel's Naturalism

Organizer:                  Robert E. Wood, University of Dallas

Speaker:                     Robert E. Wood, University of Dallas

Commentator:           Jeffrey Kinlaw, McMurray University

Commentator:            Reed Winegar, Fordham University

Response:                  Terry Pinkard, Georgetown University

26. The Society for the Study of Nature and the Philosophy of Science II                              Bryce

Topic:                        Descartes on Wholes, Parts, and Principles

Chair:                         Ryan Shea, The Catholic University of America

Speaker:                      Erik Geannikis, The Catholic University of America

                                   "Pineal Gland Functionality in Descartes and the Cartesian Psychophysics of Modern Neurophysiology"

Speaker:                     Richard F. Hassing, The Catholic University of America

                                   "Descartes on Conservation of Accidents and a New Notion of Substance"

27. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session F                                                                                     Glacier

Topic:                         Heaven and Hell

Chair:                          Noel Adams, Marquette University

Speaker:                     Justin Noia, Saint Louis University

                                  "Would God's Love Permit Hell According to Aquinas?"

Speaker:                     Catherine A. Nolan, SUNY Buffalo

                                   "The Virtuous and the Saved: A Defense of an Elitist Virtue Ethics Within a Christian Framework"

28. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session G                                                                                     Thornton Room B

Topic:                        Contemporary Ethics

Chair:                         Daniel Wagner, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

Speaker:                     J. Murray Murdoch, Villanova University

                                   "What is in a First Principle? Just How Thomistic is MacIntyre's Thomas?"

Speaker:                     Alex Plato, Saint Louis University

                                   "The Five Neglected Characters: A New Interpretation of Anscombe's 'Modern Moral Philosophy'"

Speaker:                      Mark Moes, Grand Valley State University

                                   "Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre on the Rise of Secular Modernity: Five Common Themes"

Sunday Morning, 12 October 2014: 9:00am-11:00am

29. Society for Medieval and Renaissance Thomism II                                                             Olympic

Organizer:                  Thomas M. Osborne, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

Chair:                         R. J. Matava, Christendom College.

Speaker:                     Br. Innocent Smith, OP, Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception

                                   "Doctrinal Preaching and the Summa Theologiae"

Speaker:                     Domenic D'Ettore, Marian University

                                   "Not a little confusing?: Sylvester of Ferrara's Hybrid doctrine of Analogy."

30. The Thought of Robert Sokolowski III: On Francis Slade                                                 Congressional A

Topic:                         "The World in Its Human Involvement: Francis Slade and the Appropriation of Classical Philosophy."

Organizer & Chair:    Daniel P. Maher, Assumption College

Speaker:                     Robert Sokolowski, The Catholic University of America

                                   "Recovering Classical Philosophy in the Modern Context: The Work of Francis Slade"

Speaker:                    Mary Bolan, Seminary of the Immaculate Conception

                                  "Understanding Modern Philosophy through Political Philosophy"

Speaker:                     Herbert E. Hartmann, The Catholic University of America

                                   "Slade on Political Forms and How They Form"

Speaker:                     Alan Udoff, St. Francis College

                                   "How to Study Leo Strauss"

31. Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy                                                        Thornton Room B

Topic:                         Pragmatism and the Moral Life

Organizer & Chair:    Charlie Hobbs, Gonzaga University

Speaker:                     Daniel Brunson, Morgan State University

                                   "Loyalty and Prudence: Aquinas and Royce in Dialogue"

Speaker:                    Clancy Smith, Duquesne University.

                                   "Seeking God in the Long Run: Ruminations on Peirce, Augustine, and the Nature of Truth."

Speaker:                     Stuart Rossenbaum, Baylor University

                                   "Recovering Integrity for Moral Philosophy"

32. Baylor Philosophy                                                                                                                   Grand Teton

Topic:                         Aquinas and Contemporary Philosophy

Organizer:                  Chris Tweedt, Baylor University

Chair:                         Scott Cleveland, Baylor University

Speaker:                     Chris Tweedt, Baylor University

                                   "Absolute Identity and the Trinity"

Speaker:                     Scott Cleveland & Brandon Dahm, Baylor University

                                  The Virtual Presence of the Acquired Virtues in the Christian"

Speaker:                    Ryan West, Baylor University

                                 "On Emotional Doubt"

33. Philosophers in Jesuit Education                                                                                           Thornton Room A

Topic:                        The Nature and Goals of Philosophy Education at Jesuit Schools

Organizer:                  Stephen R. Grimm, Fordham University

Chair:                         Eleonore Stump, St. Louis University

Panelists:                   Michael J. Monahan, Marquette University.

                                  Fr. Theodore Vitali, Saint Louis University

                                   Joseph Godfrey, St. Joseph's University

                                   Daniel Dombrowski, Seattle University

34. Society for Thomistic Personalism                                                                                         Yosemite

Topic:                        Moral and Spiritual Growth

Organizer:                 R. Mary H. Lemmons, University of St. Thomas (MN)

Speaker:                   Gloria Frost, University of St. Thomas (MN)

                                 "The Metaphysics of Growth in Virtue: Aquinas on the Intension and Remission of Accidental Forms"

Speaker:                    Daniel Wagner, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)

                                  "Penitential Method as Phenomenological: The Penitential Epoche"

35. The International Étienne Gilson Society II                                                                          Glacier

Topic:                         Habits and Philosophical Acts

Organizer:                  Richard Fafara, Adler-Aquinas Institute

Chair:                        Peter Redpath, Adler-Aquinas Institute & Aquinas School of Leadership

Speaker:                    Robert Kohn, Theoria.com/Center for the Study of The Great Ideas

                                  "Mind& Brain: The Mystery Revisited"

Speaker:                     William McVey, Adler-Aquinas Institute

                                  "Thomistic Organizational Harmony as a Philosophical Habit"

Speaker:                    Donald Collins, Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland)

                                  "A Created Being's Esse as the Efficient Cause of its Essence: Some Moral Implications"

Speaker:                    Imelda Chlodna-Blach, Pope John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin

                                  "Highest Education as Habituation for Happiness"

36. Society for Catholicism and Analytic Philosophy                                                                Congressional C

Topic: Elizabeth Anscombe

Organizer & Chair:    Patrick Toner, Wake Forest University

Speaker:                     Jennifer Frey, University of South Carolina.

Speaker:                     John Schwenkler, Florida State University

                                   Aquinas and Anscombe on 'Practical Knowledge'"

37. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session H                                                                                     Congressional D

Topic:                         Virtues

Chair:                         Christopher Toner, University of St. Thomas (MN)

Speaker:                      Alina Beary, Baylor University

                                   "A Thomistic Principle of Virtue Individuation"

Speaker:                     Erin Stackle, Loyola Marymount University

                                   "Sometimes Falling in Love is Better than Beating: an Aristotelian Education in Character Virtue"

Speaker:                    William Jaworski, Fordham University

                                   "Virtues and Powers"

38. ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session I                                                                                      Bryce

Topic:                         Physics: Medieval and Modern

Chair:                         Luis López-Farjeat, Universidad Panamericana (Mexico City)

Speaker:                      Nathan M. Blackerby, Marquette University

                                   "The Avicennian Nature of Aquinas's 'Aristotelian' Hylomorphism"

Speaker:                     Daniel De Haan, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX)& Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

                                   "Dator Formarum or Emergent Substantial Forms? Surveying Hylomorphic Explanations of Inanimate Substantial Change"

Speaker:                     Thomas J. McLaughlin, St. John Vianney Theological Seminary

                                   "Energy and Form"

 

Abstracts of Contributed Papers

Session I

"How Aristotelian is Contemporary Dispositionalist Metaphysics?: A Tale of Two Distinctions"

Errin D. Clark, Saint Louis University

Abstract: Exciting and important work on the metaphysics of causal powers and dispositions is currently underway. Much of it has been branded as a return to Aristotelian metaphysics, since it seems to put agents and their actions back as the ultimate principles of reality. Philosophers involved in this work often speak of a 'categorical—dispositional' distinction. And sometimes they suggest that the distinction is, or is similar to, Aristotle's distinction between act and potency. The aim of this paper is to assess the legitimacy of that suggestion by explicating both distinctions. I argue that even in the recent 'neo-Aristotelian' accounts of dispositions a certain idea that lies at the heart of Aristotle's metaphysics of act and potency is largely absent. This situation is unfortunate, for Aristotle's idea suggests a surprising relationship between being and power and it flips a certain assumption, still made by many metaphysicians, on its head.

"Dispositionalism, Categoricalism, and Metaphysical Naturalism"

Travis Dumsday, Concordia University College of Alberta

Abstract: In contemporary analytic metaphysics there are five theories concerning the reality (or unreality) of dispositional and categorical properties and their relationship: mixed view dispositionalism (also the dominant view in Scholastic philosophy of nature), pan-dispositionalism, categoricalism, identity theory, and neutral monism. Here I outline briefly a novel argument against metaphysical naturalism, one based on the idea that none of these five theories is compatible with it.

Session II

"Man's 'Very Special Habit' and God's Agency in the Illumination Epistemology and Volition Theory of Bonaventure and Aquinas"

Andrew Jacob Cuff, The Catholic University of America

Abstract: It is commonly taken for granted that Thomas Aquinas employed Aristotelian principles in his philosophical system to promote a "program" of Christianizing the Stagyrite. However, the question of why Thomas used Aristotle on a particular question can help uncover the goals of his scholastic project. The case of divine illumination theory is especially enlightening in this regard. From the zenith of Augustinian illumination epistemology as expressed in Bonaventure to its disappearance in Scotus, the influence of Aristotle's notion of active intellect can be clearly traced throughout the thirteenth century. Thomas is especially important in this chronology, because he "internalizes" Bonaventure's illumination theory and encapsulates it in man's innate power of abstraction. In determining his motivation for doing so, this study explores the connection between epistemology and volition in both Bonaventure and Thomas, and postulates that Thomas adopted Aristotelian principles to safeguard a doctrine of free will in his volition theory.

"Accommodating Avicenna, Appropriating Augustine: Assessing the Sources Thomas Aquinas's Doctrine of Prophecy"

Samuel Pomeroy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Abstract: In this paper I argue that Aquinas's doctrine of prophecy develops from the early period (De uer. q. 12, a. 1, prophecy is a habit) to his more mature articulation (ST IIa-IIae q. 171, a. 2, prophecy is not a habit) as a result of his complex handling of the metaphysical thought of Avicenna. Aquinas subtly distances himself from the implication of Avicenna's emanationist framework for prophecy, namely that prophetic knowledge is acquired through perfected natural intellectual habit. Yet at the same time he accommodates this aspect insofar as it aligns with Augustine's biblical neo-Platonism. He does so, as I shall demonstrate, with Augustine's notion of prayer (orandi) as a kind of inquiry (disputatio) that disposes the soul to aptly receive the prophetic light by the extension of divine grace. In this, Aquinas incorporates Avicenna's notion of prophetic habit without committing to the emanationist model from which it arises.

Session III

"Civic Virtue: Aquinas on Piety, Observance, and Religion"

Michael P. Krom, Saint Vincent College

Abstract: This paper articulates Aquinas's account of the duties citizens have toward the nation, focused specifically on the virtues of piety and observance. In the first section, I discuss justice as the foundation of good citizenship. In the second, I delineate the acts of justice which primarily orient citizens toward serving the nation, focusing specifically on piety and observance. Finally, in the third section I reflect on how religion, or the virtue by which humans render proper worship to God, has a moderating effect on what we owe to the nation. Reverence for political authorities easily becomes state idolatry unless a strong religious commitment to loving God first and neighbor second is present among the citizenry. Thus, religion is shown to be a bulwark of freedom from tyranny.

"The Peculiar Virtues of the Rulers and the Ruled in Politics III.4"

Mary Elizabeth Tetzlaff, The Catholic University of America

Abstract: At the end of Book III, chapter 4 of Aristotle's Politics, Aristotle identifies the virtue peculiar to the excellent ruler as prudence (φρ?νησις). The ruled's complementary virtue is true opinion (δ?χα ?ληθ?ς). All the other virtues are held in common, albeit in different forms (ε?δη). Why is prudence the special virtue of the rulers? and true opinion of the ruled? Why do these virtues, and not any other, differ in kind between the ruler and the ruled? How can true opinion itself be understood as a virtue? I propose to address these questions by giving an exegesis of Aristotle's discussion of the good man and the serious citizen in III.4 and the rule of law in III.16. I contend that reading these chapters in tandem will illuminate the perplexities surrounding the peculiar virtues of the rulers and the ruled.

Session IV

"Habits, Potencies, and Obedience: Experiential Evidence for Thomistic Hylomorphism"

Mark K. Spencer, University of St. Thomas (MN)

Abstract: Thomistic hylomorphism holds that human persons are composed of matter and a form that is also a subsistent entity. Some object that nothing can be both a form and a subsistent entity, and some proponents of Thomistic hylomorphism respond that our experience, as described by phenomenology, provides us with evidence that this theory is true. In this paper, I show how some scholastics themselves, including Aquinas and Suárez, give evidence for Thomistic hylomorphism from their descriptions of our experience of forming and using habits. I consider their account of experiences of different kinds of habits, and of the different kinds of potencies and obedience to reason that underlie their habits. Then I show that these experiences provide evidence for Thomistic hylomorphism, and evidence that the objection fails.

"Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Concordia, and the Canon Law Tradition: On the Habits and Dispositions of Renaissance Exegetes"

M. V. Dougherty, Ohio Dominican University

Abstract: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) is best known for his Oratio, one of many works containing his promise to prove that the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle are in agreement. Pico never fulfilled this promise, however, and commentators have at times derided Pico's concordist project. The present paper argues that Pico's notion of concordia was at least partly inspired by a jurisprudential habit derived from his early training in canon law. After examining Pico's explicit but dispersed statements on concordia, I then consider the evidence for a jurisprudential origin to Pico's project. As the habits and dispositions of Renaissance exegetes differed significantly from those of present-day interpreters of the history of philosophy, there is merit in looking beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries to understand Pico's attempted concordia of Plato and Aristotle. An appreciation of this context mitigates the negative assessments of his enterprise.

Session V

"Hexis within Aristotelian Virtue Ethics"

M. T. Lu, University of St. Thomas (MN)

Abstract: In Book II, Chapter 5 of the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle famously identifies the virtues as hexeis (sing. hexis). Like so many Greek philosophical terms of art, hexis admits of many translations; recent scholarly choices have included "habit," "disposition," "state," "active condition." In this paper, I argue that some of these translations have tended to obscure the active and causal role that hexeis play in Aristotle's theory of moral action. This, in turn, has led at least some critics to misunderstand the Aristotelian virtue ethics tradition and mischaracterize virtue ethics as not properly action guiding. Ultimately, seeing the true significance of Aristotle's claim that the virtues, both moral and intellectual, are hexeis points us towards recognizing just how radically different the Aristotelian conceptions of practical reason and moral action really are from with those typically held by adherents of the alternative theories of normative ethics.

"On the Habit of Seeing Persons"

Paul Kucharski, Manhattanville College

Abstract: In Existence and the Existent, Jacques Maritain speaks about the difficulty of knowing persons as subjects. Typically we know persons as objects, or "from without," and this explains why we describe people as instantiations of various qualities that can be shared in common with others. But according to Maritain, "To be known as object . . . is to be severed from oneself and wounded in one's identity. It is to always be unjustly known." In this paper, I consider the epistemological means by which knowledge of persons as subjects is possible. I argue that we can find parallels between knowing persons and what Maritain refers to as the "intuition of being" (the appreciation of existence as a distinct metaphysical principle), and that reflecting on these parallels can help us to see a solution to the problem of knowing persons – just as the act of existence (or esse) is not known through a concept, but through a judgment that separates what a thing is from the act by which it exists, so too, I argue, one's subjectivity is known not through a concept but through a judgment that separates one's shareable qualities from the self/person underlying these qualities.

Session VI

"Compunction and Passion: Two Moments of Moral Conversion"

Elizabeth Murray, Loyola Marymount University

Abstract: In this paper Lonergan's notion of moral conversion is critically examined. Conversion in general is described as a mode of self-transcendence and it is distinguished from development. Then moral conversion is contrasted with the two other basic forms of conversion, intellectual and religious. Next, I explore the possibility that there are two distinct moments of moral conversion: a negative moment of rational compunction, which is more Kantian in nature, and a positive moment of passionate transcendence, which is consonant with Scheler's value ethics. I draw on philosophical accounts of the initial awakening of moral consciousness, and argue that it is possible to make this first movement yet fail to make the second movement.

"Sorting out reason's relation to the passions in the moral theory of Aquinas"

Leonard Ferry, Niagara College

Abstract: This essay challenges the growing consensus among Aquinas scholars who attribute to Aquinas a pro-passion attitude, linking Aquinas' virtue theory with accounts of emotion that see the emotions in a primarily positive light. There are good reasons for thinking Aquinas far more skeptical of the role to be played by emotion in the virtuous life – indeed, one can safely argue, in agreement with Aquinas, that the emotions are often threats to and so in need of control by the virtues (rather than as merely their supports). It is with the issue of control, specifically the ideal of reason controlling the emotions, that I deal in the essay in contrast with the work of Robert Miner whose understanding of Aquinas on the passions and virtues tends to downplay the dominating role that reason plays in the moral theory of Aquinas. Miner adopts two argumentative strategies to achieve this valorization of emotion in Aquinas, but I find both exegetically inaccurate and experientially deficient.

Session VII

"Defending Virtue against the Situationist Challenge: Aristotle, Aquinas, and Contemporary Metaphysicians on Degreed Traits"

Justin Matchulat, Purdue University

Abstract: My essay addresses the situationalist critique of virtue ethics. I defend a rarity of virtue response to this critique, but blunt its tip by developing an account of degrees of virtue. On this account, full virtue will indeed be a statistical rarity, but lesser degrees of virtue more common. I argue for this degreed conception of virtue both on historical and systematic grounds: historically, I show that Aristotle and especially Aquinas thought of virtue as being the sort of property that admits of degrees; and systematically, I draw from recent work in metaphysics on dispositions that challenges a simple counterfactual account of dispositions, and allows for gradable dispositions.

"A Defense of Aristotelian Magnanimity against the Pride Objection With the Help of Aquinas"

Lindsay Cleveland, Baylor University

Abstract: I defend a broadly Aristotelian account of the virtue of magnanimity against the objection that Aristotelian magnanimity is an expression of the vice of pride and so cannot be a virtue. I identify the essential features of magnanimity on Aristotle's account and argue that Aquinas preserves these essential features while identifying additional necessary conditions of the virtue of magnanimity that illuminate the virtue and show it to be incompatible with pride. I also show where two other attempts to defend Aquinas' development of Aristotelian magnanimity against the pride objection fail.

Session VIII

"Heidegger, Aristotle, and Philosophical Leisure"

Michael Bowler, Michigan Technological University

Abstract: I examine the two different accounts of the activity of philosophy and the nature of the philosophical life put forward by Heidegger and Aristotle. I do so by examining Heidegger's well-known claim that for Aristotle sophia is the arete of techne. It is argued that this claim is the result of Heidegger's deep engagement with critical philosophy, which his own early philosophy develops in interesting ways, and misses crucial elements of Aristotle's account of philosophy. I maintain that Aristotle's conception of philosophy represents a counter-point to the critical conception of philosophy developed by Heidegger, one that focuses upon the importance of the leisure embodied in philosophical activity. I suggest that it would be especially fruitful to compare and contrast these two conceptions of philosophy from the perspective of the ethical question of the nature and value of philosophical activity and the life of philosophy.

"Does Aquinas Hold a Correspondence Theory of Truth in De Veritate?"

Joshua Lee Harris, Institute for Christian Studies

Abstract: At least since Martin Heidegger's influential reading of Thomas Aquinas' account of truth as a precursor to modern philosophy's unfortunate "forgetfulness of being," it has been popular to classify the Angelic Doctor as one of the forerunners of the modern "correspondence theory" of truth. In what follows, I attempt to answer the question of whether or not this is a correct formulation. I want to suggest that Aquinas' account of truth has superficial concord but deep conflict with modern correspondence theories. The argument proceeds in two major segments: First, I attempt to establish a working definition of correspondence theory by tracing its development in the work of John Locke, John Stuart Mill and Bertrand Russell. Second, in light of these fundamental features of correspondence theory, I sketch out the way in which Aquinas' own account is in superficial concord but deep conflict with it.