The Thomistic Institute

Dec 29, 2020 • 1h 7m

This lecture was delivered on October 23, 2020 at Florida State University. Prof. Koons' lecture concludes around the 28:50 mark. The rest of the recording is Q&A with students. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org Speaker Bio: Robert C. (“Rob”) Koons is a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has taught for 33 years. M. A. Oxford, Ph.D. UCLA. He is the author or co-author of four books, including: Realism Regained (Oxford University Press, 2000), and The Atlas of Reality: A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics, with Timothy H. Pickavance (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017). He is the co-editor (with George Bealer) of The Waning of Materialism (Oxford University Press, 2010), and co-editor (with Nicholas Teh and William Simpson) of Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science (Routledge, 2018). He has been working recently on an Aristotelian interpretation of quantum theory, on defending and articulating Thomism in contemporary terms, and on arguments for classical theism.

Dec 24, 2020 • 46 min

This talk was given as part of the Thomistic Institute's Advent livestream series. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Fr. Corbett grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and came to know the Dominicans through family members in the Order, through St. Patrick’s Parish, and through attending Providence College, from which he graduated in 1973 with a B.A. in Political Science. Fr. Corbett joined the Dominicans in the summer of 1974 and was ordained a priest on May 12th, 1980. He completed his Licentiate in Sacred Theology in 1981 and began to teach moral theology as well as the Development of Western Civilization at Providence College. Three years later he began his doctoral studies under Servais Pinckaers, O.P., at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and was awarded his Ph.D. after completing his dissertation on the theology of virtue in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Fr. Corbett was appointed to the Faculty of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, in 1991, and spent the next seven years teaching various courses in moral theology, as well as offering retreats, spiritual direction, and personal formation for seminarians. Joining the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in the Fall of 1998, Fr. Corbett teaches in the area of fundamental moral theology and the theology of the virtues, covering material from the Prima Secundae and the Secunda Secundae in four sequential courses. He also offers seminars in Thomistic Action Theory, Contemporary Interpretations of Natural Law, as well as a seminar in the thought of Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre. He is interested in developing courses on the Ethics of Homicide, as well as on the Development of Casuistry in the Catholic Church.

Dec 22, 2020 • 47 min

This lecture was given at the University of South Carolina on September 29, 2020. For more events and info visit thomisticinstitute.org/events-1. Speaker Bio: Michael Dickson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina. After a brief term as a professional french horn player, he earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 1995. He was a member of the faculty of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University for ten years prior to joining the faculty at the University South Carolina, where he currently teaches philosophy of music and medieval philosophy, among other things. He also serves in a Schola Cantorum and teaches Gregorian chant to children and adults.

Dec 19, 2020 • 1h 13m

This lecture was given at Baylor University on September 24, 2020. For more events and info visit thomisticinstitute.org/events-1. Speaker Bio: Farr Curlin is Josiah C. Trent Professor of Medical Humanities and CoDirector of the Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative (TMC) at Duke University. Dr. Curlin’s ethics scholarship takes up moral questions that are raised by religion-associated differences in physicians’ practices. He is an active palliative medicine physician and holds appointments in both the School of Medicine and the Divinity School, where he is working with colleagues to develop a new interdisciplinary community of scholarship and training focused on the intersection of theology, medicine, and culture.

Dec 17, 2020 • 42 min

This talk was given as part of the Thomistic Institute's Advent livestream series. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Joining the Dominicans of the Western Province in 1960, Fr. Cole was ordained to the priesthood in 1966. He finished his theological studies at Le Saulchoir in Etiolles, France earning the lectorate and licentiate degrees in 1968. He later received the doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (the Angelicum). After teaching theology and philosophy at Pilarica College for the Notre Dame Sisters (1968-69), Fr. Cole was elected prior of St. Dominic’s in San Francisco, where he also served as parish priest, a member of the provincial council and lecturer at various institutions (1970-1975). Elected prior of Daniel Murphy High School community in Los Angeles he became a member of the Western Dominican preaching band and preached throughout the American West. Fr. Cole was an invited professor at the Angelicum from 1985-97, and has taught moral, spiritual and dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies since 1997. Fr. Cole has authored: Music and Morals, Alba House, Staten Island, New York, 1993; co-authored with Paul Connor, O.P.; Christian Totality: Theology of Consecrated Life, published by St. Paul’s editions in Bombay, India 1990, revised in 1997 Alba House, Staten Island, New York. He has written for The Priest, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Faith and Reason, and Angelicum. He has also been a long time collaborator for Germain Grisez’s four volume series of moral theology, The Way of the Lord Jesus.

Dec 16, 2020 • 53 min

This lecture was delivered on September 30, 2020 at Florida State University. For more events and info, please visit thomisticinstitute.org Speaker bio: Dr. James Madden is Professor of Philosophy at Benedictine College. He lives in Atchison, Kansas with his wife (Jennifer) and their six children. He is originally from Wisconsin, where he received a B.A. from St. Norbert College, and did his graduate work at Kent State (MA, 1998) and Purdue (Ph.D., 2002). He was awarded the Benedictine College Distinguished Educator of the Year Award in 2006. Prof. Madden's long term research interests are modern philosophy, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of mind.

Dec 12, 2020 • 1h 26m

This lecture was given on November 18, 2020 at Williams College. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org Speaker Bio: William B. Hurlbut, MD, is Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Scholar in Neurobiology at the Stanford Medical School. After receiving his undergraduate and medical training at Stanford University, he completed postdoctoral studies in theology and medical ethics, studying with Robert Hamerton-Kelly, the Dean of the Chapel at Stanford, and subsequently with the Rev. Louis Bouyer of the Institut Catholique de Paris. His primary areas of interest involve the ethical issues associated with advancing biomedical technology, the biological basis of moral awareness, and studies in the integration of theology with the philosophy of biology. He is the author of numerous publications on science and ethics. He has worked with NASA on projects in astrobiology and was a member of the Chemical and Biological Warfare Working group at the Center for International Security and Cooperation. From 2002-2009 Dr. Hurlbut served on the President’s Council on Bioethics. He serves as a Steering Committee Member of the Templeton Religion Trust.

Dec 10, 2020 • 47 min

Fr. Dominic Legge discusses the relationship between faith and reason, challenging common misconceptions that faith is irrational or purely subjective, and instead arguing that Christian faith is fundamentally reasonable and compatible with reason. The lecture was given on October 7, 2020 at the Catholic Information Center. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org The handout for this event can be found here:  tinyurl.com/y54dzpz5 About the Speaker: Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P., is the Director of the Thomistic Institute and Assistant Professor in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, a Ph.L. from the School of Philosophy of the Catholic University of America, and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2001, after having practiced constitutional law for several years as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also taught at The Catholic University of America Law School and at Providence College. He is the author of The Trinitarian Christology of St. Thomas Aquinas (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Dec 8, 2020 • 48 min

This lecture was given on October 14, 2020 at University College Dublin. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org His handout can be found here: tinyurl.com/yxep832k Speaker Bio: Conor McDonough, OP is a Dominican friar from Galway. He studied science and theology at the University of Cambridge and taught theology at secondary school before joining the Dominicans in 2009. He was ordained priest in 2016 and undertook further studies in theology at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), focussing on the writings of St Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin. He is currently based in Dublin where he teaches theology to the students at the Dominican House of Studies in Dublin.

Dec 5, 2020 • 52 min

This talk was given at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as part of the Thomistic Circles Conference "Aquinas on Contemplation: Philosophy, Theology, and the Spiritual Life" held on October 10, 2020. For more information on upcoming events, visit us online: thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Dr. Frederick C. Bauerschmidt is Professor of Theology at Loyola University Maryland and a deacon of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He has published a book on the theology of Thomas Aquinas and the Christian mystical tradition, as well as numerous articles on Catholic life and thought.

Dec 3, 2020 • 47 min

This lecture was given on November 1, 2020 as part of "Choosing Well: Practical Wisdom in an Impractical Age" Intellectual Retreat at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org Speaker Bio: Fr. Dominic Verner, the eldest of three children, grew up in Carmel, Indiana and received his formation in the faith at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Parish. Fr. Dominic attended Purdue University, where he graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering. While at Purdue he began to discern a call to the priesthood, a call which he pursued upon graduating by entering Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary. He graduated from Mount Saint Mary’s with a masters in philosophical studies and entered the Order of Preachers shortly thereafter. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2016 and is currently pursuing a PhD in Moral Theology at the University of Notre Dame.

Dec 1, 2020 • 45 min

This lecture was given on October 31, 2020 as part of "Choosing Well: Practical Wisdom in an Impractical Age" Intellectual Retreat at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org Speaker Bio: A native of Louisiana, Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P., entered the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 2005. After several years of pastoral work in New York City, Fr. Guilbeau began doctoral studies in moral theology at the University of Fribourg, where he completed a dissertation on St. Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine of the common good. In addition to his teaching as a professor of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, Fr. Guilbeau serves as senior editor of Aleteia.org (English edition). He is also the current prior of the Dominican House of Studies.

Nov 28, 2020 • 52 min

This lecture was given on October 31, 2020 as part of "Choosing Well: Practical Wisdom in an Impractical Age" Intellectual Retreat at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org Speaker Bio: Sister Anna Wray is a native of Connecticut and a member of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia. Sister received her phD in philosophy from The Catholic University of America, having written her dissertation on Aristotle’s account of the activity of contemplation. Sister is on faculty in CUA's School of Philosophy.

Nov 26, 2020 • 32 min

This lecture was given on October 30, 2020 as part of "Choosing Well: Practical Wisdom in an Impractical Age" Intellectual Retreat at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org Speaker Bio: Fr. Austin Dominic Litke, O.P., is a friar of the Province of St. Joseph. He is a native of Henderson, Kentucky. After studies in Classical Languages and Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, he completed one year of theological studies at Saint Meinrad School of Theology before entering the Order. Fr. Austin was ordained a priest in 2011 and completed his S.T.L. in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception. He was then assigned as Catholic Chaplain at New York University from 2012-2014. He is currently completing doctoral studies in Patristic Theology at the Istituto Patristico “Augustinianum” in Rome.

Nov 24, 2020 • 45 min

This lecture was given on October 24, 2020 as part of "The Bonds of Love" Intellectual Retreat at the University of Texas, Austin. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org Speaker Bio: Prof. Osborne is the chair of the philosophy department at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. His research focuses on medieval, late scholastic, and contemporary philosophy. He is particularly concerned with the way in which philosophical concepts are changed and created historically. His research focuses on Ethical Theory, Moral Psychology, Ethics, and Metaphysics. He also has related interests in Philosophy of Religion and Political Philosophy.

Nov 21, 2020 • 46 min

This lecture was given on October 24, 2020 as part of "The Bonds of Love" Intellectual Retreat at the University of Texas, Austin. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org About the Speaker: Erik Dempsey (PhD, Boston College) is the Assistant Director of UT's Thomas Jefferson for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. He completed his doctorate at Boston College in June 2007. He is interested in understanding human virtue, and the proper place of politics in a well-lived human life, the different ways in which human virtue is understood in different political situations, and the ways in which human virtue may transcend any political situation. His dissertation looks at Aristotle's treatment of prudence in the Nicomachean Ethics, and Aristotle's suggestion that virtue should be understood as an end in itself. He is currently at work turning his dissertation into a book by adding chapters which consider Thomas Aquinas' interpretation of Aristotle in terms of natural law, and Marsilius of Padua's critique of Thomas. He grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY and graduated from Hastings High School. As an undergraduate, he attended St. John's College in Annapolis, MD where he began to study the Great Books seriously. From June 2000 until August 2001, he worked for DynCorp in Chantilly, VA, doing mathematical modeling and providing other support for the GETS program. From September 2007 - May 2008, he taught in the Herbst Program for the Humanities at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Nov 20, 2020 • 35 min

This lecture was given on October 24, 2020 as part of "The Bonds of Love" Intellectual Retreat at the University of Texas, Austin. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org About the Speaker: Erik Dempsey (PhD, Boston College) is the Assistant Director of UT's Thomas Jefferson for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. He completed his doctorate at Boston College in June 2007. He is interested in understanding human virtue, and the proper place of politics in a well-lived human life, the different ways in which human virtue is understood in different political situations, and the ways in which human virtue may transcend any political situation. His dissertation looks at Aristotle's treatment of prudence in the Nicomachean Ethics, and Aristotle's suggestion that virtue should be understood as an end in itself. He is currently at work turning his dissertation into a book by adding chapters which consider Thomas Aquinas' interpretation of Aristotle in terms of natural law, and Marsilius of Padua's critique of Thomas. He grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY and graduated from Hastings High School. As an undergraduate, he attended St. John's College in Annapolis, MD where he began to study the Great Books seriously. From June 2000 until August 2001, he worked for DynCorp in Chantilly, VA, doing mathematical modeling and providing other support for the GETS program. From September 2007 - May 2008, he taught in the Herbst Program for the Humanities at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Nov 17, 2020 • 43 min

This lecture was given on October 24, 2020 as part of "The Bonds of Love" Intellectual Retreat at the University of Texas, Austin. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org Prof. Osborne is the chair of the philosophy department at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. His research focuses on medieval, late scholastic, and contemporary philosophy. He is particularly concerned with the way in which philosophical concepts are changed and created historically. His research focuses on Ethical Theory, Moral Psychology, Ethics, and Metaphysics. He also has related interests in Philosophy of Religion and Political Philosophy.

Nov 14, 2020 • 36 min

This lecture was given on October 24, 2020 as part of "The Bonds of Love" Intellectual Retreat at the University of Texas, Austin. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org About the Speaker: Fr. Ephrem Reese, O.P., was born in Harrisburg, PA. He received a B.A. from St. John's College in Annapolis, MD in 2010, and was confirmed in the Catholic Church around the same time. He entered the Order of Preachers in the summer of 2013. In the spring of 2020 he was ordained a priest, and received an S.T.L. from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.

Nov 12, 2020 • 1h 1m

This talk was given as part of the Thomistic Institute's livestream series. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Fr. Dominic Legge is the Director of the Thomistic Institute and an assistant professor in systematic theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. he holds a JD from Yale Law School, a PhL from the School of Philosophy of the Catholic University of America, and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the University of Fribourg. He entered the Order of preachers in 2001 and was ordained a priest in 2007. He practiced law for several years as a trial attorney for the US Department of Justice before becoming a Dominican. He is the author of The Trinitarian Christology of St. Thomas Aquinas.