Spring Convocation at St. Francis
Xavier University
May 2009
Dr. Christopher Byrne (left)
congratulates Peter Lamey, winner of the 2009 Father Charles R.
MacDonald Memorial Medal. The MacDonald medal is the Department’s
highest award and is presented at the spring convocation ceremony.
Ms. Emily Gray (left)
was the winner of the 2009 Paul Groarke Book Prize, awarded at the
post-convocation celebration with the Department of Philosophy and her
fellow philosophy graduates.
Additional pictures from the post-graduation
celebration...
Spring Convocation at St.
Francis Xavier University
May 2008
Drs. Christopher Byrne (right)
and Matthew Kostelecky, display the
Father Edo Gatto Memorial Award
certificate, presented to Ms. Mary Joanne Curry (centre) after the
2008 Convocation. The Gatto award is for excellence in Mediaeval
philosophy. Ms. Curry, a first class honours graduate in Philosophy,
was also the winner of the Father
Charles R. MacDonald Memorial Medal.
The MacDonald medal is the Department’s highest award honouring Fr. C.R.
MacDonald, who taught at StFX from 1946 to 1974.
(For more on Fr. MacDonald
and Fr Gatto click here.)
Ms. Nadia House who graduated with a first class honours degree in Philosophy at Spring Convocation, was the
third recipient of the Paul Groarke
book award.
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Dr. Christopher Byrne has been
appointed Chair of the Department of Philosophy, 1 July 2007.
Spring Convocation, May 2007
Dr. Louis F. Groarke (left) received the Outstanding Teaching
Award. Pictured with Dr. Groarke are Bishop Raymond Lahey (middle)
and StFX President Dr. Sean Riley
Professor William Sweet's
latest book, Religion and the Challenges of Science, was published by Ashgate Publiskers (UK) in
the late summer.
In June, Dr William Sweet travelled
to Taiwan, where he was a Visiting Professor at Soochow University in
Taipei. In addition to teaching a graduate course on "The Dialogue of
Cultural Traditions," Dr Sweet also lectured at a number of
universities, including Fu Jen Catholic University, the National Taiwan
University, and the National Tsing Hua University.
The 2007 Father Charles R. MacDonald Memorial Medal was awarded to Dary L. Jessome, who graduated at the May 2007 convocation with an
Honours degree in Philosophy. The MacDonald medal is the Department’s
highest award to a graduating student, and is normally awarded at spring convocation.
It honours Fr. C.R. MacDonald, who taught at StFX from 1946 to 1974.
(For more on Fr MacDonald, click here.)
Dary completed his honours thesis on
"Body Rights, Distributive Justice, and Human Gene Patenting," and is currently
planning to pursue an MA in public affairs ethics and philosophy at Saint Paul University in Ottawa.
James Snow, who graduated with a first class honours degree in Philosophy at Spring Convocation 2007, was the second recipient of the Paul Groarke
book award.
Dr William Sweet recently spoke on Parliament Hill as part of the Breakfast on the Hill Seminar
Series. A large audience, including a number of MPs and Senators,
attended Dr Sweet's talk, entitled, 'Whose Dignity is it Anyway?'
Senator
Dr Noel A. Kinsella (Speaker of the Canadian Senate, Dr Noreen Golfmann
(Executive Director, Canadian Federation for the Humanities), and Dr
William Sweet.
In March, Dr William Sweet travelled to Malta and Rome to lecture on problems in contemporary applied ethics and the call for parental licensing.
The Department is pleased to announce that Dr Doug Al-Maini (PhD, Guelph) will be returning to the Department for the next 2 years. Matt Kostelecky (ABD, Leuven [Belgium]) will also be joining the Department and will be teaching courses in mediaeval philosophy.
The principal guest speaker of the Department of Philosophy in the 2006-07 academic year was Dr Timothy Christie,
Director of Ethics Services at the Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation
(Saint John, N.B. Health District). On March 7, Dr Christie presented a
paper on "Ethics, Reducing Harm, and Injection Drug Use." After
providing some recent statistics on Supervised Injection Sites, heroin
prescription, and Needle Exchange Programs - programs which have
apparently led to a reduction in some of the negative consequences of
addiction - Dr Christie then argued that this approach can also
supported by a number of contemporary ethical theories.
Together with the Women's Studies Program, the Department welcomed Dr Christine Overall,
Professor of Philosophy at Queen's University in Kingston, and holder
of Nancy's Chair in Women's studies at Mount St Vincent University,
spoke on “Sex/Gender Transitions, Identity, and Personal Aspirations."
The lecture, held on Wednesday, February 21, attracted 100 students,
faculty, and visitors.
On Friday, February 16, Dr. James Mensch
of the St FX Department of Philosophy, presented a paper entitled
"Politics and Freedom." Influenced by the work of the Czech philosopher
Jan Patocka, Dr Mensch argued that freedom is inherently political
because its origin is social.
Professor William Sweet has
accepted an appointment as Vice-President (Academic) at St Thomas
University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. (For more information, click here.) Dr Sweet will be on leave from StFX for the next two years.
Professor William Sweet's
most recent book, Bernard Bosanquet and the Legacy of British Idealism, appeared from the University
of Toronto Press in
early February 2007.
At the X-ring ceremony on December 3, 2006, retired Professor Ed Carty was awarded an honorary X-Ring for his many services to the StFX community. Congratulations Ed!
On Thursday, November 23, Dr. Michael Hymers
of the Department of Philosophy, at Dalhousie University, spoke on
"Wittgenstein on Meaning, Morality, and Method." Dr Hymers's paper
dealt with the relation between the early and later work of Ludwig
Wittgenstein and his views on the transcendent and the transcendental
in relation to ethics.
On November 16, the Department again celebrated World Philosophy Day by
hosting a debate on the theme "Should Philosophers be Kings?".
Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and the University's Student
Philosophy Society ('The Socratic Circle'), members of the
Philosophy Department, the Political Science Department, the Psychology
and the English Department engaged in an exciting, thought-provoking -
and, at times, humorous - exchange. On the 'Philosophy' team was Dr
Doug Al-Maini.
Well over 100 students and faculty attended
the event, and an informal social followed the debate. The debate was
also covered in campus media, and there was some significant interest
from members of the public in having similar philosophical events in
the coming year.
A number of Department members participated in the Atlantic Region Philosophical Association meetings held in October at St Thomas University and the University of New Brunswick, in Fredericton, NB. Dr William Sweet is the Secretary of ARPA; Drs Louis Groarke and Jay Cook presented papers, along with Prof. Gyongi Hegedus of the Department of Religious Studies.
Professor William
Sweet was
elected Vice-President/President-elect of the Canadian Philosophical
Association, during its annual congress in Toronto in May 2006. Professor
Sweet has also been reelected Vice-President of
the Istituto Internazionale Jacques Maritain, in Rome, in March 2006.
Dr. Sweet
serves as one of five elected international scholars on the Program Committee
for the next World Congress of Philosophy (to be held in
Seoul, Korea,
in 2008). For more information on the Congress, click here.
 
Professor Sweet has recently published Volume 8 (Philosophy of Religion) of the Proceedings of the XXI World Congress of Philosophy, and is co-editor (with E.E. Harris) of the 3 volume Collected Works of the British/South African idealist, Arthur Ritchie Lord (1880-1941).
Professor Steven Baldner has accepted an appointment as Dean of
Arts at St Francis Xavier (2006-09). For more information, please click here.
In late May/early June, Professor William
Sweet
was in Hanoi, Vietnam
and Seoul and
Daegu, Korea,
for meetings of the Steering Committee and
Program Committee of the Fédération
Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie, and to present invited
lectures in intercultural ethics.
The 2006 Father Charles R. MacDonald Memorial Medal was awarded to Therese
T. Tisseverasinghe, who graduated at the May 2006 convocation with an
Honours degree in Philosophy. The MacDonald medal is the Department’s
highest award to a graduating student, and is normally awarded at spring convocation.
It honours Fr. C.R. MacDonald, who taught at StFX from 1946 to 1974.
(For more on Fr MacDonald, click here.)
Therese completed her honours thesis on
"Universal Health Care: A Moral Perspective," and is currently
planning to pursue an MA in philosophy at the St Mary's University.
Therese Tisseverasinghe receiving the MacDonald medal from
Dr. William Sweet, Chair of the
Department.
On February 17, Dr. Paul Groarke of the Canadian Human Rights
tribunal gave a talk in the StFX Philosophy Department’s annual lecture
series. His paper, "Philosophy, Law, and Freedom of Religion,"
attracted a full house of faculty and students.
l to r: Dr. Christopher Byrne,
Dr.
William Sweet, Dr. Paul Groarke,
Dr.
Louis Groarke, Dr. Jay Cook
For recent news of Dr.. Steven Baldner, currently on sabbatical,
please
click here
or here.
On February 10, Dr. Lawrence Burns, Post-doctoral fellow in the Ethics of
Health Research and Policy, in the Department of Bioethics at Dalhousie
University, gave the third talk in the StFX Philosophy Department’s
annual lecture series, entitled "Bodyworlds or Body Works of Art?:
Assessing the Educational Merits of the “Anatomical Exhibition of Real
Human Bodies.” Dr. Burns spoke on some of the ethical, artistic and
educational issues that arise in Bodyworlds2, an exhibition of plastinated
human bodies, currently showing at the Ontario Science Centre in
Toronto.
Jay Cook, Laura Byrne,
Christopher Byrne, Lawrence
Burns, William Sweet,
Ed Carty, Louis Groarke
l to r: Profs. Louis Groarke, Lawrence
Burns, William Sweet, Ed Carty
On November 17, UNESCO World Philosophy Day, the Department
together with 'The Socratic Circle' sponsored an evening on 'the importance
of doing nothing.' Professors and students of Philosophy provided brief (and
humorous) comments on this important subject.
The event took place, starting at 6.30 pm, in the
3rd floor lounge outside of Jack's Bar (Bloomfield Centre).
World Philosophy Day poster
Faculty: 2005-06: Jay Cook, James Mensch,
Laura Byrne, William Sweet,
Christopher Byrne, Ed Carty, Louis Groarke
Members of The Socratic Circle (the Student
Philosophy Club)
Front Row: Therese Tisseverasinghe (President), Louis
Groarke (Faculty Advisor), Dary Jessome (Vice-President)
The Department was greatly saddened at the passing of two retired members
of the Department - Dr. George Sanderson (Nov. 4, 2005) and Fr Howard Shea
(Nov. 15, 2005). (Obituary notices are linked below.)
 
A tribute to our late colleague, George Sanderson, may be found here.
Professor Sweet recently
co-edited Politics, Ethics, and the Challenges to Democracy in ‘New
Independent States' , a volume of essays based on meetings held in
Tbilisi, Georgia, at the Georgian Academy of Sciences.
On November 2 and 3, Dr. Leo Groarke,
Dean of the Brantford campus, Wilfrid
Laurier University,
spoke on "Do (formal or informal) logic courses improve our students'
ability to think?" and on "Aesop the Philosopher."
Dr. Leo Groarke lecturing on logic
Dr. William Sweet,
Dr. Louis Groarke, Dr. Leo Groarke,
Dr. Jay Cook
On October 13 and 14, Dr. Christine McKinnon of
Trent University
spoke on “Character and Virtue Ethics” and on “Varieties of
Insincerity.”
Prof. McKinnon’s talk on “Character and Virtue
Ethics” focused on the importance of character in our evaluations of
good human lives. Arguing for character development as a good for human
beings, she also discussed some of the constraints involved in the process.
In “Varieties of Insincerity,” Dr. McKinnon spoke on the different
ways in which people can be insincere in what they say or insincere in their
decision to share the truth.
(l to r) Dr. Jay Cook, Dr. Christine McKinnon,
Dr.
William Sweet, Dr.
Louis Groarke, and Dr. Christopher Byrne
On October 5, the Philosophy Society sponsored "The Philosophy of
Magic - the Magic of Philosophy" with Jeremy Bennett introducing us to
magic, and Dr. Jay Cook commenting on Philosophy and Puzzles.
Jeremy Bennett and the Magic of Philosophy
Dr. William Sweet
thanking Jeremy Bennett, Dr. Jay Cook, and the participation of the audience.
A new paperback edition of Professor
Sweet's
book, Idealism and Rights, was published in September 2005.
Professor Sweet was in England in
July to participate in a conference on the British philosopher and
archeologist, R.G. Collingwood. Among the other scholars involved in the
conference were Sir Roger Bannister (former Master of Pembroke College,
Oxford, and the first man to break the 4 minute mile)
and Dr. Wendy James, Professor of Social Anthropology,
Oxford University.
Prof. Wendy James (Professor of Social Anthropology, Oxford), Sir Roger
Bannister, Prof. Gary Browning (Oxford Brookes University), Prof David
Boucher (Cardiff University), Prof William Sweet
(St Francis Xavier University), Dr.. Luciano Lukšić (University of
Zagreb), Prof James Connelly (Southampton Institute)
The 2005 Father Charles R. MacDonald Memorial Medal was awarded to Martin
Capstick, who graduated at the May 2005 convocation with an Honours
degree in Philosophy. The MacDonald medal is the Department’s highest
award to a graduating student.
Martin completed his honours thesis on "David
Chalmers and the Problem of Consciousness," and is currently pursuing an
MA in philosophy at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.
The 2004 The Father Edo Gatto Memorial Award was awarded to Dan
McCulloch in March 2005. The award is presented from time to time to a
student who shows excellence in mediaeval philosophy – particularly in
the Department’s courses in that area. It was established in honour of
Fr. Edo P. Gatto (BA 1952), former member and Chair of the Philosophy
Department, who died tragically in a motor vehicle accident in December 1991.
(For more on Fr Gatto, click here.)
Dr. William Sweet,
Chair of the Department of Philosophy, presenting the 2004
Fr Edo Gatto Award in Mediaeval Philosophy to Dan McCulloch.
Dr. William Sweet
presenting the 2004 Fr Edo Gatto Award in Mediaeval Philosophy to Dan
McCulloch.
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phil@stfx.ca
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