David Bentley Hart contra natural law

There has been a serious debate raging (or just “occurring” — “raging” might be too strong) over a critique of natural law theory authored by David Bentley Hart in the March issue of First Things. Edward Feser’s replies (all conveniently linked to here) in defense of classical (as opposed to “new”) natural law theory are worth reading. Actually, Feser not only defends classical natural law theory, he also points out just how confused Hart’s critique is.

Hart replies to Feser’s first reply here. Feser’s reply to Hart’s reply can be found by clicking on the second link in the above paragraph.

(This post also appears at our AMU philosophy department blog.)

Aquinas and the Arabs video course on-line: Thomas Aquinas: Soul and Intellect

From a note sent me by my colleague Richard C. Taylor (Marquette University):

This is just a note to let you know that the global / international graduate course on Aquinas which Andrea Robiglio and I taught with Luis López-Farjeat in Fall 2012 using video lectures and weekly live video meetings has now been ‘published’ via the Marquette University Library e-Publications initiative See http://epublications.marquette.edu/phil_fac/267/.

 

This includes course description, complete syllabus with required primary and secondary literature for each class meeting, optional recommended additional literature, bibliographical resources, special questions or issues, five translations from Arabic and Latin from the Liber de causis, Albert’s De homine, and Aquinas’s Commentary on the Sentences, and more. The syllabus has links for each week to the 13 hrs of video lectures.

 

We are doing something similar but improved technically and pedagogically (we believe) for Fall 2013. See http://academic.mu.edu/taylorr/Aquinas_Fall_2013_MU_KUL/Course_Description.html, which is under development.

Dick Taylor is always at the forefront of some interesting curricular happenings.

What do philosophers believe? A new study has some answers

David Bourget and David J. Chalmers have a noteworthy paper forthcoming in Philosophical Studies in which they report their findings from a study they recently conducted about the “philosophical views of contemporary professional philosophers.”

I posted on this study last week at the AMU philosophy department blog. Since I assume that we do not have the same traffic here as we do there I thought I would also put up a post here.

Among the questions that Bourget and Chalmers have tried to answer are the following: Are more philosophers theists or atheists? Are more physicalists or non-physicalists? Are the majority of philosophers deontologists, consequentialists, or virtue ethicists?

You can find a draft of the paper at PhilPapers.org. It is is titled “What Do Philosophers Believe?” The authors admit that it might be misleading to say that their work is a report on the beliefs of a representative group of all philosophers. Indeed, their paper might be more aptly called “What Do Analytic Philosophers Believe?” Bourget and Chalmers explain:

It should be acknowledged that this target group has a strong (although not exclusive) bias toward analytic or Anglocentric philosophy. As a consequence, the results of the survey are a much better guide to what analytic/Anglocentric philosophers (or at least philosophers in strong analytic/Anglocentric departments believe) believe than to what philosophers from other traditions believe. We conceived of the survey that way from the start, in part because that is where our own expertise lies. It is also not clear how much can be learned by requiring (for example) specialists in Anglocentric philosophy to answer questions drawn from Asian philosophy or vice versa. Furthermore, attempting full representation of philosophers worldwide from all traditions would require linguistic resources and contact details that were unavailable to us.

I suppose this narrow sampling is forgivable. With more funding and assistance they might have been able to do something more comprehensive. While I found the paper informative, a friend of mine, who read it at my suggestion (and who reads much more analytic philosophy than I do), told me that he found it uninformative. Oh well, you can judge for yourself.

Latin (and Greek) Immersion at Ave Maria University, Summer 2013

The below is from Dr. Bradley Ritter of The Department of Classics and Early Christian Literature at Ave Maria University:

Looking to accelerate your Latin and translate the work of memorization into ready comprehension? Learn to speak Latin as a foundation for more fluent reading ability by participating in the Summer Latin Intensive course at Ave Maria University this summer from Monday June 17th - Saturday July 6th, 2013.

The course uses a methodology tailored to teach Latin as a spoken language, reintroducing you to Classical Latin through the development of a spoken vocabulary, communicative exchange, and comprehension of simple narratives. Careful attention is given to detailed training in grammar, but the end result is a vastly improved ability to read Latin. The course runs three weeks with two excursions on Saturdays conducted entirely in Latin. 

It is ideally suited to students who have already studied the language for one to three years, but who want to improve their reading skills dramatically through practice in the active use of Latin. Participants will be given the chance to develop their speaking and comprehension skills through formal classroom work and in settings outside of class, including field trips. Students are strongly encouraged to speak Latin exclusively with one another and with the instructor for the duration of the course. Discussion of complex grammatical points will occasionally require the use of English in the classroom, but only as need dictates.

While the course is suitable for college students and even advanced high-school students in their first three years of Latin, beginners are encouraged to contact us.  

A Koine Greek course is also being offered by Dr. Christophe Rico, author of Polis, a textbook designed to teach Koine Greek as a spoken language. The Greek course is being offered Thursday June 13th - Wednesday July 3rd, 2013. 

The deadline for registration for either course is June 1.  

Visit http://classics.avemaria.edu/polis_greek_and_latin/ for more details or contact Dr. Bradley Ritter at bradley.ritter@avemaria.edu.

Enjoy a 20% Discount on All Books Published by Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University

Several weeks ago I made a post about the new relationship between Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University and The Catholic University of America Press.  Yesterday CUA Press released the following, which details a 20% discount that is now available on all Sapientia Press books for the entire month of May:

The Catholic University of America Press is pleased to announce that we are taking on the distribution functions for Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University.   Sapientia Press exists to foster the academic mission of Ave Maria University and produce scholarly books aimed at enhancing and promoting Catholic scholarship.  Please enjoy a special 20% discount on all Sapientia Press titles. To order call 1-800-537-5487 or order online. Use code: CZ138 from May 1, 2013 - May 31, 2013