Metaphysics, Being, and the Transcendentals
Eight centuries later, this session reveals that Thomas Aquinas’s metaphysical architecture remains the essential map for reality. By interrogating divine attributes and the generative power of peace, modern scholars demonstrate how 13th-century wisdom provides the ontological integrity needed to navigate our most profound questions of existence. Join us as we explore the foundations of truth and goodness.
Experience the Event
Eight centuries later, this session reveals that Thomas Aquinas’s metaphysical architecture remains the essential map for reality. By interrogating divine attributes and the generative power of peace, modern scholars demonstrate how 13th-century wisdom provides the ontological integrity needed to navigate our most profound questions of existence. Join us as we explore the foundations of truth and goodness.
The comprehensive and systematic character of Thomas Aquinas’ thought has for centuries informed inquiry into questions of human dignity, freedom, economic development, work, poverty, the environment, and other issues of global significance. Celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Aquinas, exploring the ongoing importance of his thought to contemporary cultural, philosophical, and theological discussions. In gathering many of the most accomplished contemporary scholars of Aquinas’ thought from throughout the world working on themes in Ethics, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Anthropology, Political Theory, Christology, Trinitarian Theology, Sacramental Theology and Ecclesiology, among others, this series promotes fruitful interchange of diverse perspectives on the importance of Aquinas in the world today.
MoreMeet the Speaker: Dominic LaMantia '24 M.A., '25 Ph.D.
Dominic LaMantia ’24 M.A., ’25 Ph.D. is a Jesuit novice at the Society of Jesus in the United States, Canada and Haiti. He graduated from St. Louis University High School (SLUH) and then went to Georgetown University, where he double majored in philosophy and math with a minor in Russian. After graduation, he did an Alumni Service Corps year at SLUH and then returned to Georgetown to work as the Catholic Studies program coordinator. He recently completed his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. Dominic enjoys discussing philosophy and theology and cooking for dinner parties with friends.
Meet the Speaker: Fr. Philip-Neri Reese, O.P., '22 Ph.D.
Fr. Philip-Neri Reese, O.P., ’22 Ph.D. is a Dominican friar of the Province of St Joseph and a Professor of Philosophy at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. He is also the principal investigator for the Angelicum Thomistic Institute’s new Project on Philosophy and the Thomistic Tradition. He received his Licentiate in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America in 2015 and his Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 2022. From 2015-2017 he taught philosophy at Providence College in Providence, RI. His main area of research is metaphysics and anything adjacent to it, with a special emphasis on the metaphysical thought of St. Thomas Aquinas and its subsequent reception and interpretation. His publications, however, range widely, including articles on philosophical anthropology, ethics, and economics. He is also an enthusiast of classical Indian philosophy. Fr Philip-Neri is a member of the American Philosophical Association, the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group, the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Thomism, and is currently serving on the executive committee of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.
Meet the Speaker: Joshua P. Hochschild '01 Ph.D.
Joshua P. Hochschild ’01 Ph.D. started working at Mount St. Mary’s in 2005, and served as the inaugural Dean of its College of Liberal Arts 2009-2015. He currently directs the Philosophy, Politics and Economics program. In addition to scholarly publications in medieval philosophy and the history of ethics and social thought, his essays, reviews, and commentary have appeared in First Things, The Wall Street Journal, Commonweal, and Modern Age. He is also co-author of a practical guide to spiritual discipline, A Mind at Peace: Reclaiming an Ordered Soul in the Age of Distraction.
Dr. Hochschild is active in organizations promoting liberal education and has recorded several podcast lectures for the Thomistic Institute. For 2020-2021 he was President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.