John W. (Jack) Carlson, Ph.D.
Professor
As a member of the Creighton Philosophy Department, I join my colleagues in welcoming you to our virtual home. Ours is a department that is large, diverse and—for philosophers who have a very heavy commitment to teaching—well represented in the world of scholarship. All regular, full-time faculty teach courses at every level of the curriculum, from Critical and Historical Introduction to Philosophy to highly specialized courses on individual thinkers and topics designed for students who plan to pursue graduate or professional studies.
Our department makes a strong contribution to the College of Arts and Sciences Core, and we offer our majors and minors a variety of curricula that are both up-to-date and solidly grounded in historical sources. Whatever their areas of specialization, all of our faculty have strong backgrounds in, and a high degree of respect for, the traditions of Western philosophy. In my own case, there is a special commitment to continuing the tradition of what Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., has called “integral Christian wisdom”—a tradition that historically has characterized Catholic colleges and universities, especially those in the Jesuit tradition.
Much of my classroom time is devoted to the courses titled God and Persons: Philosophical Reflections (PHL 320), and Philosophical Foundations for Ethical Understanding (PHL 250), two key elements of the Creighton College Core. In addition, I regularly teach Biomedical Ethics, a course in the College’s Senior Perspectives program that also can be taken as a Philosophy elective. (Follow links above to see current syllabi.)
In recent years, my scholarly efforts have focused on the redevelopment and articulation of the above-mentioned tradition of Christian wisdom—or what the late Pope John Paul II simply called “the great tradition.” This tradition began with the Ancients (Plato and Aristotle), passed through the Fathers of the Church (e.g., St. Augustine) and the masters of Scholasticism (e.g., St. Thomas Aquinas), and now seeks to assimilate the lasting contributions of modern and contemporary thought. (See John Paul’s 1998 encyclical Fides et ratio, section #85.) Linked pages offer descriptions of two concrete projects related to this theme: Words of Wisdom, a philosophical dictionary; and Understanding Our Being, a textbook of speculative philosophy.