The Catholic Intellectual Renaissance of the 20th Century | Prof. Michael Pakaluk

Find the syllabus for this talk here: https://tinyurl.com/4bjua79p This talk was given on October 16, 2021 at the University of Maryland. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org About the speaker: Michael Pakaluk received his Ph.D. in philosophy at Harvard University, where he studied philosophical logic with W.V. Quine, Burton Dreben, and Warren Goldfarb, philosophy of science with Hilary Putnam, and political philosophy with John Rawls. Rawls directed his dissertation, “Aristotle’s Theory of Friendship,” and Sarah Broadie (then at Yale) also served on the thesis committee. Pakaluk counts as his main philosophical influences: Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Reid, and John Henry Newman. He encountered all four as a Marshall Scholar at the University of Edinburgh, where he wrote a thesis on Hume's Dialogues ("Hume's Naturalism and the Argument from Design"), became an expert in the main figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, and studied Aquinas and Newman under the guidance of the Dominican fathers there. Pakaluk’s main work as a researcher has been in ancient philosophy, as he has authored many papers and three books concerned with Aristotelian ethics: Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, books VIII and IX (Oxford); Aristotle’s Ethics: An Introduction (Cambridge); and (with Giles Pearson) Moral Psychology and Human Action in Aristotle (Oxford). His work is typified by the drawing of philosophical consequences from careful attention to philological considerations. His deeper concern is the recovery of a just appreciation of the classical outlook. Pakaluk has held appointments of Associate Professor at Clark University in Massachusetts--where he also served in a long and distinguished tenure as the Director of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy--and as full Professor at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences and at Ave Maria University. He has been Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Brown University and at Santa Croce (Rome), Visiting Scholar in Classics at Cambridge University, and Visiting Scholar in Public Philosophy at the University of St. Andrews. His blog, Dissoi Bloggoi, currently inactive, has been influential in classical philosophy. His opinion pieces have appeared in First Things, Crisis, and the Boston Pilot. The account of his conversion and life with his late wife, Ruth, is found in the best-selling book, The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God, published by Ignatius Press. In 2011 he was appointed an Ordinarius of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Pakaluk's avocations include golf, tennis, hiking, the french horn, espresso drinks and single malt scotch. His skill in mixing cocktails has won him among friends the moniker, "Cardinal Martini." Works (songs) cited: Elgar, Edward. "The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38: Part I Prelude." Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/3aH3DrgQzjHKEozU1yErcO?si=3dc65ac1bb9b4597. Elgar, Edward. "The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38: Part II Praise to the Holiest." Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/0mx3If8Bcar7tM0THf74e3?si=6f5c4fdfeb1f4879. Poulenc, Francis. "Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites, FP159, Act 3 Tableau 4: "Salve Regina" (La Foule, Les Carmélites)." Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/1lTT4V5foT1Nvo6ebxgbzr?si=7f17cfa5c2424f36.