Upcoming ACPA Conference in New Orleans (November 13-15, 2009)

The American Catholic Philosophical Association’s (ACPA) upcoming conference in New Orleans is chock-full of fascinating papers and discussion, too many and too detailed to list here, save to say that philosophers from Aristotle to Aquinas, Scotus to Rawls are considered, debated, and resourced. Courtesy of Ed Houser of the Center for Thomistic Studies in Houston, however, are the programs for the conference in DOC (addendum) and PDF format.

Summer NEH Seminar on Free Will in Medieval Jewish Philosophy

From Jonathan Jacobs (Colgate University [Faculty Page]):

I want to bring to your attention a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar taking place in 2010. The topic is “Free Will and Human Perfection in Medieval Jewish Philosophy.” I will be directing the five-week seminar, beginning on June 27 and concluding on July 31. I invite you to apply to be a participant. There will be a total of sixteen participants, which may include up to two graduate students. It is not necessary to be a specialist in the seminar’s topical area or even to be in the discipline of Philosophy. Our main aim is to have an engaged, energetic group, exploring the issues in depth. This should help the participants to develop their own scholarship and curricular plans. Applicants may come from Philosophy, Religious Studies, Medieval Studies, Theology, Jewish Studies, and other areas. The focus will be on philosophical topics and texts but the treatment of them should prove to be valuable and interesting to scholar/teachers in many fields.

Jonathan Jacobs, Richard J. and Jean Head Professor of Philosophy,
Director, Center for the Arts &
Humanities, Colgate University

See the attachment for more.

Got Summa? On your iPhone?

Courtesy of David Whidden (a PhD candidate a Southern Methodist University), news about an iPhone app that has the Summa on it! He says:

For those of you who have entered the iPhone (and iPod Touch) age, you will be glad to know that you can now carry the Summa with you in your pocket. For just $2.99 you can download ‘ipieta’, which has the full text of the English Dominican translation of the Summa as well as the Latin text. You can read just the English translation, just the Latin, or read the two in parallel (see screenshot of question 1 of the Prima Pars). The software is well organized, so you can get to an exact article in just three touches.  You can also do word and Boolean searches on the English translation. There is also the full text of Aquinas’ catechetical lectures.

In addition to the Summa, there are a host of other great documents on ipieta. You can get the full texts of all the ecumenical councils from Nicea to Vatican II (see screenshot of Dei Verbum), papal encyclicals from Pius VI through Benedict XVI, the Douay-Rheims and Vulgate versions of the Bible, the readings for the daily mass, a host of prayers, catechetical materials, and other valuable resources. All of the material is kept on your iPhone, so once you’ve got it you do not need Internet access to view the material. At $2.99 this is a steal.

It seems that there’s an app for everything…

A selective bibliography of Hervaeus Natalis

For those interested in the study of the early Thomst Hervaeus Natalis, of whom Marquette University Press some time ago published a bilingual edition of his On Second Intentions (see here), Jörgen Vijgen compiled a selective bibliography of primary and secondary literature (PDF).

Thomism and Anti-Thomism in the Middle Ages

The universities of Paris and Freiburg-Germany have initiated an exciting and ambitious new research-project entitled ‘Thomism and Anti-Thomism in the Middle Ages’. The project, directed by Ruedi Imbach and Maarten Hoenen, will focus its attention on medieval and Renaissance-interpretations of Aquinas and continues the results published in two thematic fasciculi of the Revue Thomiste 2008.

A first conference is scheduled for January 28-30 in Freiburg on “German Thomism 13^th-14^th Century.”

While Paris will focus on the 13^th-14^th Century, Freiburg will investigate the 15^th Century. The project in Paris includes among others an investigation of the authenticity of the opuscula De principio individuationis, De natura materiae, De natura accidentis, De natura generis, De instantibus, De quattuor opposites, an edition of the Metaphysics-commentary by Humbertus de Prulliaco (†1298), a partial edition of the Summa by Nicholas of Strassbourg and investigations on Dietrich of Freiberg.

The German section envisages a edition of the Tractatus ostendens concordiam Thomae Aquinatis et Alberti Magni by Gerardus de Monte, dating from 1456, an investigation of the Concordantiae-literature esp. Peter of Bergamo and the publication of a Companion to Renaissance Thomism to appear at Brill (Leiden) as the first volume of a new series on Thomism.

Full descriptions (in French and German) of the project can be found on its website.

Aquinas on the Emotions: A Religious-Ethical Inquiry—by Diana Fritz Cates

This in from Georgetown University Press:

Greetings from Georgetown University Press! I want to let you know about a brand new book we’ve just published: Aquinas on the Emotion: A Religious-Ethical Inquiry by Diana Fritz Cates.

Cates shows how emotions are composed as embodied mental states. She identifies various factors, including religious beliefs, intuitions, images, and questions that can affect the formation and the course of a person’s emotions. She attends to the appetitive as well as the cognitive dimensions of emotion, both of which Aquinas interprets with flexibiity. The result is a powerful study of Aquinas that is also a resource for readers who want to understand and cultivate the emotional dimension of their lives.

To read more about the book and see what other scholars in the field are saying about it, please visit our website at: http://press.georgetown.edu/detail.html?id=9781589015050.

Georgetown University Press has also kindly provided a discount code for 30% off the cost of the book, for use on their website. Follow the link above, and use the discount code of M46 at check-out time.

PS: The publication of this book sets up an unexpected competition with a similar book, recently published by Robert Miner, reported in September. It will be fun to read the two, side-by-side.

A new bibliography on Aquinas' Metaphysics

Jesús Villagrasa has informed me about the availability of a PDF file containing his complete “Bibliografia sulla metafisica di Tommaso d’Aquino.” The page on which this PDF can be found is here, and the direct link to the PDF is here (1.12 Mb).

Mediaevalia Philosophica Polonorum: call for papers

In from Professor Elżbieta Jung, of the Institute of Philosophy, University of Lódz in Poland.

Mediaevalia Philosophica Polonorum seeks submissions for a forthcoming issue of the journal.

It is open for contributions in history of medieval philosophy, theology and science in English, French, German and Latin and editions of medieval texts of approximately 30 printed pages (ca 54000 signs). We will welcome papers on any topic concerning history of medieval philosophy, theology and science. The deadline is 30th March 2010.

With best regards,
Professor Elżbieta Jung
Editor of Mediaevalia Philosophica Polonorum
Director of the Department of History Premodern Philosophy
Institute of Philosophy, University of Lódz,
ul. Kopcinskiego 16/18, 90-232 Lódz

Contact Person: Dr Monika Michalowska, the Secretary of MPP
monikamichalowska@o2.pl

Edward Feser sketches the Thomistic Tradition

Philosopher Edward Feser, whose Aquinas: A Beginner's Guide has recently been published, has posted a two-part account of the Thomistic Tradition on his blog (part 1/part 2). It's a quick and informative read.

PS: Long live River Forest Thomism!

Mirabile! Digital Archives for Medieval Latin Culture

One of my favorite resources is Medioevo latino, an annual publication of all things medieval thought. The parent company, SISMEL, has now improved on-line access to that annual, as well as other things it publishes:

The important resources constituted by the well-known SISMEL's repertories (Medioevo latino, the Bibliotheca Scriptorum Latinorum Medii recentiorisque Aevi, the Compendium Auctorum Medii Aevi) and by the prestigious journals published by the Edizioni del Galluzzo are available on line. For information: www.mirabileweb.it  · info@mirabileweb.it.

Probably mostly academic research institutions will opt to subscribe to this service, but it's nice to know that the service is available.

Kristeller’s “Latin Manuscript Books before 1600” on-line

Nerd alert: ON.

Here in my office I have the beefy printed edition of Paul Oskar Kristeller's Latin Manuscript Books before 1600: A List of the Printed Catalogues and Unpublished Inventories of Extant Collections staring at me, and telling me, "get to work!" If you need access to this work, it's now on-line (link). Happy hunting for the manuscript that breaks your stemma!

Nerd alert: OFF.

Aquinas at Blackfriars

The people at Blackfriars aren't sitting still. They've put together a compelling program of studies (link) for their Aquinas Institute. The program is headed by Fr Fergus Kerr, OP. A scrape:

The Aquinas Institute was established in 2004 under the directorship of Fergus Kerr OP. It aims to foster study of St Thomas at Oxford through seminars, occasional conferences, summer schools, and programmes that will bring international research scholars to the university each year.

Make sure to see the cool seminar series that they've put together, too.

Update on 2009-09-29 18:29 by Mark Johnson

From William E. Carroll, of Blackfriars:

Fergus Kerr is now retired and the new director of the Aquinas Institute is Vivian Boland, O.P.