Dept. of Philosophy
Creighton University
Education
Cornell University
Ph.D. in Philosophy 1995
M.A. in Philosophy 1987
University of California, Irvine
B.A. in Classics and Philosophy 1984 summa cum laude
University of California, Los Angeles
B.A. in English 1982 summa cum laude
Areas of Specialization
Mediaeval Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Ethics and the History of Ethics
Areas of Competence
Philosophy of Religion, Social and Political Philosophy, Existentialism, Modern Philosophy, Logic, Philosophy and Literature, Aesthetics
Fellowships and Honors
College of Arts and Sciences Freshman/Sophomore Advising Award (2008)
Cardoner V-Grant (2006-2007)
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for Teaching Achievement (2006)
Teach For Tomorrow Nominee (2005-2006)
Creighton Graduate School Summer Fellowship 2005
NEH Summer Stipend 2001
Mellon Dissertation Fellowship 1988-89
Cornell Graduate Summer Fellowship 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988
Cornell Graduate Fellowship 1987-88
Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities 1984-86
Phi Beta Kappa 1982
UCLA Outstanding English Major 1982
Editorships
I serve as co-editor of the Hackett Aquinas Project, a series of translations and commentaries of Aquinas’s works, published by Hackett Publishing Co.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
“Origen,” completed book chapter to appear in Volume I of A History of Western Philosophy and Religion (Graham Oppy and Nick Trakakis, eds.), submitted in fulfillment of my contract with Acumen Publishing, Ltd.
“Aquinas on Non-Voluntary Acts,” in International Philosophical Quarterly v.46 n.4 (December 2006): 459-475
“Aquinas on Acts Voluntary in their Cause,” forthcoming in Medieval Philosophy and Theology
“Aquinas on the Function of Moral Virtue,” in American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, v.81 n.1 (2007): 1-20
“Abelard on Degrees of Sin,” in American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly v.81 n.2 (2007): 251-270
“’A Summer in Rouen’: A Tragicomedy of Virtues Unhad and Goods Ungained,” in Studies in the Humanities v.32 n.1 (June 2005): 1-21
“Thomas Aquinas and the Voluntarists,” in Medieval Philosophy and Theology v.6 n.2 (Sept. 1997): 167-182
“Voluntariness and Causality: Some Problems in Aquinas’ Theory of Moral Responsibility,” in Vivarium v.36 n.1 (March 1998): 55-66
Work Under Contract
Aquinas’s Disputed Questions on the Virtues (translation by Jeffrey Hause and Claudia Eisen Murphy, philosophical commentary by Jeffrey Hause), under contract with Hackett Publishing Company
Encyclopedia Articles and Short Works
“John Duns Scotus,” in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (22 pages single spaced in MS Word)
“Alcuin,” in the Encyclopedia of British Philosophy
Translation of a selection from Duns Scotus, Ordinatio I d. 26 q. un., Chapter 9 in The Person: Readings in Human Nature, William O. Stephens, ed. (Prentice Hall, 2006).
“Origen,” in The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
“Francis of Meyronnes,” in The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Work in Progress
Journal article on conscience in Shusaku Endo’s novel The Sea and Poison. The article articulates the theory of conscience and its development presented by the novel and offers some reflections on the value of literature for the formation of conscience.
Journal article on the vocation of the university. This piece offers an account of vocation, argues that a university (like many complex corporate entities) is a moral person, and finds that a university is therefore a proper candidate for having a vocation. The article continues by exploring the early history of universities, arguing that it was in the 13th and 14th centuries that universities discerned their vocation. Finally, the essay explains the relevance of a university’s vocation for addressing such controversial issues as the way university education is marketed, curricular offerings, assessment of courses and programs, and values or virtues education.
Monograph on Aquinas’s Ethics and Action Theory. This book will begin with an investigation of Aquinas’s moral psychology (in particular, his action theory and account of moral responsibility). It will continue with a discussion of Aquinas’s virtue ethics, including chapters on charity and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, topics that are often neglected by philosophers. It will conclude with a discussion of the ways in which Aquinas applies his theoretical views to practical issues.
Book Reviews
Review of Daniel Schwartz, Aquinas on Friendship (Oxford: Clarendon, 2007), in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2007-09-59.html
Review of István P. Bejczy and Richard G. Newhauser, editors. Virtue and Ethics in the Twelfth Century (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2005), forthcoming in Journal of the History of Philosophy
Review of John Marenbon, Boethius (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (December 2003)
Book Note of Stephen L. Brock, Action and Conduct: Thomas Aquinas and the Theory of Action (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1998), in Ethics (October 1999): 236-237
Review of Joseph Wawrkow, God's Grace and Human Action: "Merit" in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press: 1995), in Speculum (Apr. 1999): 534-536
Review of Bonnie Kent, Virtues of the Will (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1995), in Speculum (Oct. 1997): 1191-1193
Review of Risto Saarinen, Weakness of the Will in Medieval Thought: from Augustine to Buridan (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994), in Speculum (July 1996): 761-762
Review of Daniel Westberg, Right Practical Reason (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), in The Philosophical Review (April 1996): 243-245
Papers and Addresses
Comments on Bonnie Kent, "Is Aristotle's Ethics Circular? A Fourteenth-Century Debate" (invited paper, The University of Toronto Colloquium in Medieval Philosophy, September 2007) (Invited paper)
“Vocation and Moral Theory” (Cardoner V-Conference, Creighton University, February 2007)
“Corporate Personality and the Mediaeval University” (Midwestern Conference in Medieval Philosophy, Loyola University of Chicago, October 2006)
“Aquinas on Degrees of Sin” (Midwestern Conference in Medieval Philosophy, Marquette, September 2005)
“Abelard on Merit II” (Cornell Summer Colloquium in Medieval Philosophy, May 2005)
“Thomas Aquinas on the Function of Moral Virtue” (invited paper, University of Nebraska, Omaha Philosophy Colloquium, April 2005; also invited paper University of Toronto, November 2001; also read at Cornell Colloquium in Medieval Philosophy, May 1999)
“The Vocation of the University: The Legacy of Mediaeval Europe” (European Studies Conference, UNO, October 2004)
“Abelard on Merit I” (Midwestern Conference in Medieval Philosophy, University of Iowa, September 2004)
“The Vocation of the University: Its Past as a Guide to its Future” (Second International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, July 2004, Prato, Tuscany)
“Aquinas on Acts Voluntary in their Cause” (Cornell Summer Colloquium in Medieval Philosophy, May 2004)
“The Vocation of the University” (Pruit Memorial Symposium, Baylor University, October 2003)
“Infused Moral Virtue: The Ultimate Perfection of Moral Power?” (International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 2003)
“Abelard on Degrees of Blame” (Cornell Summer Colloquium in Medieval Philosophy, June 2003)
“Does the University have a Vocation?” (Faculty Baccalaureate Address, St. John’s Seminary, College of Liberal Arts, May 2001)
“Aquinas on the Bad Use of Virtue” (Cornell Summer Colloquium in Medieval Philosophy, May 2000)
“Aquinas on Nonvoluntary Acts” (Cornell Summer Colloquium in Medieval Philosophy, May 1998; invited paper, Boston Area Colloquium in Medieval Philosophy, Boston College, 2000)
“Did Aquinas Leave Room in the Soul for Virtue?” (invited paper, Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy Session at the Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Convention, Villanova, September 1997)
“Duns Scotus, the Will's Affections, and the History of Modern Philosophy” (invited paper, Union College Philosophy Colloquium, January 1997)
“Voluntariness and Causality: Some Problems in Aquinas's Theory of Moral Responsibility” (invited paper, Yale, September 1996)
“Aquinas on Responsibility for Omissions” (invited paper, Boston Area Medieval Philosophy Colloquium, Harvard University, March 1995)
“Aquinas on Virtue of the Will” (Union College, Winter 1994)
Teaching Experience
Associate Professor at Creighton University (2006-present)
Assistant Professor at Creighton University (2002-2006)
-Critical and Historical Introduction to Philosophy
-Philosophical Ethics
-God and Persons
-History of Classical Greek Philosophy
-History of Mediaeval Philosophy
-History of Modern Philosophy
-Moral Philosophy
-History of Ethics
-Moral Philosophy
-Honors Foundational Sequence
-Symbolic Logic (independent study)
-Mediaeval Latin
Visiting Lecturer at Harvard Divinity School (2000-2002)
-Introduction to Christian Latin
-Graduate course on the Ethics of Abelard and Aquinas
Associate Professor at St. John’s Seminary College (2000-2001)
Assistant Professor at St. John's Seminary College (1995-2000)
-Aristotle
-Ethics of Aquinas and Scotus
-Mediaeval Philosophy
-Aquinas: Summa contra gentiles and De veritate
-Modern Philosophy
-Introduction to Philosophy
-Existentialism
-Contemporary Ethics
-Virtue
-Readings in Mediaeval Latin
-Metaphysics
-Analytical Thinking
-Aquinas’s Ethics
-Determinism and Free Will
-Graduate and Undergraduate Thesis Committees
Visiting Assistant Professor at Cornell University
-Contemporary Moral Issues (summer 1997)
Visiting Instructor at The University of Virginia
‑graduate seminar on Aquinas's Ethical Theory (spring 1993)
‑Existentialism (spring 1993)
-M.A. Thesis Committee
Instructor at The University of Massachusetts, Lowell
-Ethics (summer 1990, summer 1992, fall 1992, summer 1994, fall 1994, spring 1995, summer 1998)
‑Introduction to Philosophy (summer 1991, fall 1992)
Instructor at The University of Massachusetts, Boston
‑Existentialist Philosophy and Literature (fall 1990, spring 1992)
-Moral and Social Philosophy (fall 1992, fall 1994)
Instructor at Bentley College
‑Introduction to Philosophy (spring 1990, fall 1990, spring 1992, fall 1993)
-Existentialism (spring 1995)
Instructor at Merrimack College
‑Introduction to Philosophy (spring 1992)
Teaching Assistant at Cornell University
‑Philosophy of Religion (taught by Norman Kretzmann, fall 1986)
‑Ethics (taught by Nicholas Sturgeon, spring 1987)
Grader at Cornell University
‑Ancient Philosophy (taught by Terence Irwin and Gail Fine, fall 1987)
‑Ancient Philosophy (taught by Gail Fine, fall 1988)
‑Mediaeval Philosophy (taught by Norman Kretzmann, spring 1988)
Language instructor at the Berlitz School of Languages (1981‑1984)
Languages
Latin, Greek, French, Italian (reading only), elementary Japanese, elementary German, elementary Arabic