Thomas Aquinas: Metaphysics (Fall 2013)

Students’ Page

Welcome to the Students’ Page.

Students’ brief biographies and indications of philosophical interests

Daniel Adsett (MU)

I am a first-year PhD candidate at Marquette University. Before Marquette, I received a BA with an honours in history and philosophy from St. Thomas University and an MA in philosophy from The Memorial University of Newfoundland. My primary interests lie in phenomenology and continental philosophy of religion though I am also excited about medieval thought, especially the medieval study of cognition and being. My master's thesis, for instance, was on whether Martin Heidegger's ontology has any relation to medieval accounts of being. In the thesis I argue that Heidegger's ontology is fundamentally equivocal since it posits from the beginning an unbridgeable chasm between God and being. Though I'm only beginning my PhD and have not yet settled on anything precise, I want to investigate the study of life in the early 20th century phenomenological tradition. I look forward to participating in this seminar on Aquinas and familiarizing myself not only with his Arabic sources but also with the other members and auditors in this class.

Jordan M. Blank (KUL)

I came to Leuven last year for my M.A., and now I am an M. Phil student in the ancient and medieval philosophy track.  My first exposure to philosophy was Thomas Aquinas in Catholic High School, and I have appreciated his work ever since.  Apart from Aquinas, I have a special fondness for Plato, especially his descriptions of the human soul.  I wrote my M.A. thesis on his view of pleasure and its relationship to happiness, especially in the late and little-studied dialogue the Philebus.  I also have an interest in modern analytic interpretations of Aristotle, particularly the revival of virtue ethics.  I am looking forward to learning about the Arabic tradition and its influence of Aquinas, as I have never studied that particular chapter in the history of philosophy before.

Connor Borchert (MU)

My main philosophical interest is to understand what it means to be human, a rational, sensing, living being, by which all the rights humans possess may be applied to an entity. While this interest stems from my pro-life viewpoints surrounding start of life and end of life issues, my interest in computer technology has motivated me to deal with this problem in another sphere, whether a machine can be human. With simulation projects like IBM’s SyNAPSE in the United States and the Human Brain Project in Europe, we are quickly approaching an age in which full human brain activity can be simulated in real time with levels of accuracy that may bring about a mind phenomenon. Can a machine perform the same function as the flesh between our ears? Can we replace neuron by neuron of a living human with artificial neurons and keep the person intact? If we build a machine with a mechanical brain, will it live? These questions fundamentally deal with the border between seeming and being. Therefore, I wish to ground myself in ancient and medieval philosophical thought, specifically thought inspired by the Platonic tradition, in order to better understand how to answer these questions.

Chris Burrell (MU)

My name is Chris Burrell and I’m currently a second year Ph.D. student at Marquette University. My interests have undergone some changes recently, but they currently lie with philosophy of religion and ethics. In particular, I’m interested in the topic of damnation, and the implications that damnation has on attempts and motivations to lead an ethical life. Built into this are concepts such as Grace, salvation, the human condition, and, of course, what an ethical life entails. I am also interested in political philosophy, but at present I’m inclined to think that political considerations are secondary to religious and ethical considerations.

In the past, I’ve studied the works of St. Augustine of Hippo, but admittedly I haven’t been exposed in any great detail to St. Thomas Aquinas’s work. My hope for this class is to rectify that omission in my educational background, especially given my recent interest in philosophy of religion.

Dana Fritz (MU)

I received my bachelor’s degree from Eastern Kentucky University and received my master’s degree from the University of Chicago. Right now I am a first year philosophy student at Marquette University. My main philosophical interests are theories of personhood, especially as they relate to the disabled. I am interested in how certain theories of personhood are discriminatory towards the disabled, especially those with cognitive and mental disabilities. Also I am interested well as how we can modify theories of personhood so that people are included. Along with personhood, I am interested in ethical issues involving the disabled. Ethics tends to take a backseat in my philosophy, however, because I do not think we have an adequate view of what makes a human, at least one not adequate enough to allow us to embark on ethics without a bias towards the non-disabled. As an offshoot of these interests, I am studying the connection between Martin Heidegger and Pope John Paul II. I am taking this class to learn more about how Thomas Aquinas influenced Catholic thought, and what effect this may have had on how the Church and society treat the disabled.

Dragana Jagusic (KU Leuven)

I have obtained my BA and MA in Western Philosophy and Comparative Religion at Jesuit Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, Croatia. For the past two years I have been a Teacher Assistant at the Bhaktivedanta College, small college in the Belgian Ardennes, accredited by Chester University, UK. I was assisting in teaching modules like Introduction to Western Philosophy and Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion. From this year onwards, I will be teaching the Introduction to Western Philosophy module myself.

Besides Ancient and Medieval (Western) Philosophy, I am as well fascinated by Indian Medieval and Renaissance thought and their (possible) comparison. In my thesis I would like to focus on comparing and contrasting the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and Jiva Gosvami, Gaudiya (Bengal) Vaishnava Theologian/Philosopher, who was as well as Aquinas, regarded a saintly person (sadhu). In this course I would like to take a closer look at Aquinas’ concept of God; functions, qualities and nature of the soul, as well as his views on interrelation between the soul, mind and intelligence.   

Chris Lilley (MU)

I’m a first year doctoral student in the Theology program at Marquette University, focusing on philosophy as my allied discipline. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Theology and Philosophy from Bethel University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and I recently received my Master’s Degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. Although I am primarily interested in theological questions, I am also intensely interested in the relationship between theology and philosophy. I enthusiastically share St. Thomas Aquinas’ assertion that the truth human reason is naturally endowed to know cannot be opposed to the truth of the Christian faith. My primary research interests are in philosophical theology and the interaction between theology and science. More specifically, I am interested in applying the tools of analytic philosophy to particular Christian doctrines, as well as employing developments in the philosophy of science in order to clarify questions concerning theology and epistemology. My research in theology and science is primarily focused on the implications of modern cosmology for the doctrine of creation, as well as relating aspects of evolutionary theory to anthropology, the concept of original sin, and environmental ethics.

Timothy Lopez (KUL)

I’m an M.Phil. student with interests mainly in medieval and renaissance ethics. At present, I’m working on Aquinas’s doctrine of beatitude. Here my research has focused on whether Aquinas might be committed to accepting a kind of happiness most writers don’t attribute to him, an imperfect but supernatural happiness in this life. Should Aquinas be thus committed, a Thomistic worldview can offer more hope than modern writers let on, which is that the limit of willpower is not the limit of a happy life. An even happier life is offered by God through grace. Now my work is focused on whether Aquinas historically envisaged this greater happiness. Most of his modern readers seem to think not. His renaissance readers, however, unanimously think he did. Resolving this dispute could bring a new light to Aquinas’s reception of Aristotle’s Ethics; it could also challenge prevailing assumptions about other Thomistic doctrines, like the relationship of philosophy and theology. For the present course, my interests are both broad and narrow. A better grasp of Aquinas’s sources and metaphysical works are among the more general. More narrowly, I’m interested in finding answers in his metaphysics to questions about his moral philosophy.

Samuel Pomeroy (KUL)

A vivacious presentation of the transmission of Plato’s Timaeus into the Latin west sparked my interest in texts and ideas formative for subsequent reception history. Fascination with the development of Christian cosmology and contemplative prayer in particular culminated in my undergraduate thesis, in which I traced the doctrine of theosis in Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and Maximus the Confessor. My curiosities expanded to the contentious dialogue between the Cappadocian Fathers and Eunomius, a crucial nexus for understanding a theory of names and Trinitarian logic that repudiated thought which purported to comprehend the Divine nature. At Leuven I plan to participate in research concerning how John Chrysostom uniquely expresses his own cosmology for pedagogical and moral exhortation, assessing in his Homiliae in Genesin the weight of both biblical exegesis and the reception of the Timaeus. This course interests me for how Aquinas’s use of Boethius affects his understanding of the human perception of and participation in the Good: are finite beings good by substance or by participation? In what way do finite beings possess infinite goodness? Within this, I am interested in the implications for aesthetics, namely how Boethius and Aquinas solve these dilemmas with reference to cosmology and contemplation.

Carlos Rodriguez (KUL)

I am currently finishing my advanced masters here at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. This is my third year in Leuven, and I am originally from Miami, Florida in the U.S. Last year I completed my MA in Leuven, which focused on comparing the eternity of the world in both Avicenna’s and Aquinas’s metaphysics. It was a very fruitful thesis, for I learned much about medieval thought, which has been neglected in my philosophical formation. This semester I plan on continuing my medieval  formation by studying St. Thomas Aquinas’s metaphysics. My primary interests lie in metaphysics, history of ontology, and philosophical anthropology. Right now I am researching on the theme of philosophical anthropology in Kant’s first critique. The question that illuminates my path is: What is the human being

Paul Turack (MU)

I received my B.A. from Bradley University in Religious Studies and in Philosophy.  I am currently a first year M.A. student at Marquette.  At present I'm obsessed with the atheology of Georges Bataille and Friedrich Nietzsche, both as a relentless dramatization of being and also as a cultivation of spiritual rigor, vigor, and intensity. I'm interested in the life most akin to the sovereignty of time: incessant deterritorialization of being and beings via visceral social, sexual, and aesthetic deviancy. I desire to write a virulent phenomenology of moral transgression, culminating in laughter.  I hope to pursue a Ph.D. focused on aesthetics as first philosophy.

Tracy Wietecha (MU)

I completed my undergraduate studies in philosophy at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan.  My undergraduate studies were mainly focused upon Thomas Aquinas.  I thus grew to have a great appreciation for the work of Thomas Aquinas.  I also received a M.A. degree in theology from Sacred Heart Major Seminary with a concentration in moral theology.  After completing a master's degree in theology I was motivated to return to studies in philosophy because I saw the importance of dialogue between these two disciplines.  This is my first year in the Ph.D. program at Marquette.  My main philosophical interests lie with looking at the relationship between metaphysics and ethics.  I am particularly drawn to how Thomas Aquinas' metaphysics influenced his ethics.  I am also interested to learn more about medieval philosophy.

Evan Williams (MU)

I am a first year M.A. student at Marquette University in the History of Philosophy program with undergraduate degrees in Philosophy and Classical Studies. I am primarily interested in ethics and medieval philosophy and I am particularly interested in their intersection within the Aristotelian-Thomist tradition. I plan to continue studying philosophy after I graduate from the Marquette Masters program and teach at the college level. I look forward to participating in my first international course and developing a greater appreciation for the role of the great medieval, Arabic philosophers in the development of the Common Doctor's metaphysical thought.