Professional Address Department of Philosophy, Indiana University, Sycamore Hall 026, 1033 E. Third St., Bloomington, IN 47405-7005.
E-Mail Address: , or
Telephone: (812–) 855–9503 (main departmental office).
FAX (812–) 855–3777.
Born 25 August 1944, Richmond, Indiana.
Licentiate of Mediaeval Studies, summa cum laude, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (Toronto), 1969. Specialization in Philosophy. Dissertation: "An Anonymous Fourteenth-Century Treatise on 'Insolubles': Text and Study." Director: E. A. Synan.
Ph.D. in Philosophy, University of Toronto, 1972. Specialization in Mediaeval Philosophy. Dissertation: "The Mediaeval Liar: A Study of John Buridan's Position on the Paradox, with a Catalogue of the Insolubilia-Literature of the Middle Ages." Director: Hans G. Herzberger.
Teaching Specialties: History of Philosophy, Phenomenology and Existentialism (particularly Sartre and Kierkegaarad), Philosophy of Religion.
1975–1981, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Indiana University.
1980–1986, Executive Committee, Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy.
1980 (summer), member of the faculty of the Institute on Medieval Philosophy (Norman Kretzmann, Director), held at Cornell University under the auspices of the Council for Philosophical Studies and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
1981–present, Professor of Philosophy, Indiana University.
1981–1986, Editor, Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy Newsletter.
1981–1984, Co-Chairman, Publications Committee, Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy.
1982–1984, Program Committee for 1984 meetings, American Philosophical Association (Western Division).
1983–1984, Member, Editorial Board, History and Philosophy of Logic.
1983–1984, Member, Board of Referees, Philosophy Research Archives.
1984 (October), Member, Panel of Referees, National Endowment for the Humanities "Travel to Collections" Program.
1995–96, Vice-President, Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy.
1997–98, President, Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy.
1995– , Member, Editorial Board, Medieval Philosophy and Theology.
1997– , Member, Editorial Board, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
1999–2000, Chair, Nominations Committee, Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy (ex officio as immediately past President).
1999– , Associate Faculty, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Indiana University. (Honorary position only.)
Woodrow Wilson Fellow, 1966–1967.
Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies Scholar, 1967–1968, 1968–1969.
Sir Joseph Flavelle Fellow, 1969–1970.
George Sidney Brett Memorial Fellow, 1970–1971.
University of Toronto Open Fellowship, 1970–1971, 1971–1972.
Indiana University Summer Faculty Research Fellowship, 1985.
Indiana University Instructional Development Grant, 1989.
College of Arts and Sciences (Indiana University) Teaching Excellence Recognition Award, 1997–1999.
My "Mediaeval Logic and Philosophy" website at http://pvspade.com/Logic (see below) received the first Thomas Instituut te Utrecht Award (1997) and an "Academic Excellence Award" from StudyWeb.com (1999).
American Society for Aesthetics.
International Boethius Society
Mediaeval Academy of America.
Mediaeval Association of the Midwest.
Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy.
Richard Brinkley's Obligationes: A Late Fourteenth Century Treatise on the Logic of Disputation, ("Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie und Theologie des Mittelalters," Neue Folge, Band 43; Münster: Aschendorff, 1995). Co-authored with Gordon A. Wilson (Xavier of Louisiana). (First printed edition [critical edition from the manuscripts] of the Latin text, with Introduction and an Appendix of comments.)
The Cambridge Companion to Ockham, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999). Pp. xviii + 420. (Editor. I also contributed the "Introduction" and Chap. 5, as listed below under "Articles.")
Walter Burley: On the Purity of the Art of Logic. The Shorter and the Longer Treatises, ("Yale Library of Medieval Philosophy"; New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000). (Annotated translation, with introduction.)
"The Treatises On Modal Propositions and On Hypothetical Propositions by Richard Lavenham," Mediaeval Studies 35 (1973), pp. 49–59.
"Ockham on Self-Reference," Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 15 (1974), pp. 298–300.
"Ockham's Rule of Supposition: Two Conflicts in His Theory," Vivarium 12 (1974), pp. 63–73.
"Notes on Some Manuscripts of Logical and Physical Works by Richard Lavenham," Manuscripta 19 (1975), pp. 139–146.
"Ockham's Distinctions between Absolute and Connotative Terms," Vivarium 13 (1975), pp. 55–76.
"Some Epistemological Implications of the Burley-Ockham Dispute," Franciscan Studies 35 (1975), pp. 212–222.
"What Is A Proof for the Existence of God?" International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 6 (1975), pp. 234–242.
"Anselm and Ambiguity," International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 7 (1976), pp. 433–445.
"A Note on Truth and Security for Modal and Quantificational Paradoxes," Philosophical Studies 29 (1976), pp. 211–214.
"Priority of Analysis and the Predicates of O–Form Sentences," Franciscan Studies 36 (1976), pp. 263–270.
"Robert Fland's Consequentiae: An Edition," Mediaeval Studies 38 (1976), pp. 54–84.
"William Heytesbury's Position on 'Insolubles': One Possible Source," Vivarium 14 (1976), pp. 114–120.
"Roger Swyneshed's Obligationes: Edition and Comments," Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du moyen âge 44 (1977), pp. 243–285.
"Richard Lavenham's Obligationes: Edition and Comments," Rivista critica di storia della filosofia 33 (1978), pp. 225–242.
"Robert Fland's Insolubilia: An Edition, with Comments on the Dating of Fland's Works," Mediaeval Studies 40 (1978), pp. 56–80.
"Roger Swyneshed's Insolubilia: Edition and Comments," Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du moyen âge 46 (1979), pp. 177–220.
"Richard Lavenham and the Cambridge Logic," in Studies in Medieval Linguistic Thought Dedicated to Geoffrey L. Bursill-Hall on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday on 15 May 1980 (= Historiographia Linguistica 7 (1980)), pp. 241–247. (By invitation.)
"Robert Fland's Obligationes: An Edition," Mediaeval Studies 42 (1980), pp. 41–60.
"Synonymy and Equivocation in Ockham's Mental Language," Journal of the History of Philosophy, 18 (1980), pp. 9–22.
"Les modalités aléthiques selon Ockham," in A. de Libera (ed.), Sémantiques médiévales: Cinq études sur la logique et la grammaire au moyen âge (= Histoire, Epistémologie, Langage, 3.1 (1981), Lille: Presses universitaires de Lille), pp. 29–34. (By invitation.)
"Ockham on Terms of First and Second Imposition and Intention, with Remarks on the Liar paradox," Vivarium 19 (1981), pp. 47–55.
"Obligations: Developments in the Fourteenth Century," Ch. 16, Part B, of Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy (as above), pp. 335–341.
"Quasi-Aristotelianism," Ch. 11 of Norman Kretzmann, ed., Infinity and Continuity in Ancient and Medieval Thought, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982), pp. 297–307.
"The Semantics of Terms," Ch. 9 of Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy (as above), pp. 188–196.
"Three Theories of Obligationes: Burley, Kilvington and Swyneshed on Counterfactual Reasoning," History and Philosophy of Logic 3 (1982), pp. 1–32.
"Walter Burley and the Obligationes Attributed to William of Sherwood," History and Philosophy of Logic 4 (1983), pp. 9–26. (Co-authored with Eleonore Stump.)
"A Defense of a Burlean Dilemma," Franciscan Studies 44 (1984), pp. 193–196. (By invitation. Reply to an article by Michael Fitzgerald on my "Some Epistemological Implications of the Burley-Ockham Dispute" [1975], listed above.)
"Anselm and the Background to Adam Wodeham's Theory of Abstract and Concrete Terms," Rivista di storia della filosofia 43 (1988), pp. 261–271.
"More Liars," Cahiers de l'institut du moyen-âge grec et latin (University of Copenhagen), fasc. 56, pp. 193–227. (With Sten Ebbesen. This article is an edition of some Latin texts, with an introduction. My role was to write Part II of the "Introduction" only, pp. 196–202. Ebbesen did Part I of the edition and edited all the texts in the article. By invitation.)
"Do Composers Have To Be Performers Too?," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 49 (1991), pp. 365–369. (This is a "discussion" article, with a response by Phillip Alperson, "When Composers Have To Be Performers," ibid., pp. 369–373.)
"Logic in Late Medieval Oxford," Ch. 2 of The History of the University of Oxford, Volume II: Late Medieval Oxford, J. I. Catto & Ralph Evans, ed., (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), pp. 35–64. Note: I originally wrote this chapter during a sabbatical year in 1979. By 1986, Volume I of the History had appeared, and I was invited to revise the chapter for the "imminent" publication of Volume II. At that time I was unable to devote the time necessary for the major updating that was required. Professor E. J. Ashworth (University of Waterloo, Canada) graciously agreed to do most of the work of updating the chapter. The chapter now carries both our names as joint authors.
"Gli «insolubilia» e la teoria della significatione di Bradwardine," in Ricardo Fedriga e Sara Puggioni, ed., Logica e linguaggio nel medioevo, ("Esedra: Collona di letture"; Milan: Edizioni universitarie di lettere economia diritto, 1993), pp. 415–437. (A translation of my article, "Insolubilia and Bradwardine's Theory of Signification," [1981], listed above.)
"Opposing and Responding: A New Look at Positio," Medioevo: Rivista di storia della filosofia medievale 19 (1993), pp. 233–270.
Ch. 2 ("Medieval Philosophy") in Anthony Kenny, ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Western Philosophy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 55–105.
"Toward a Philosophical Model for a Modern Hieroglyphic," co-authored with Bruce R. Baker (President, Semantic Compaction systems, and Adjunct Professor, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh), in Bruce R. Baker and John E. Fischer, ed., Exegisti monumentum aere perennius: Essays in Honor of John Frederick Charles, (Indianapolis: Guild Press of Indiana, 1994), pp. 141–146. (This paper is about the philosophical implications of the technique of "semantic compaction," which is the theoretical basis for MinSpeak™, a system computer-assisted communication for the disabled. Baker is the inventor of the system.)
Peter Damian, Letter on Divine Omnipotence (selections), in Schoedinger, op. cit., pp. 296–303.
William of Ockham, Summa logicae i.14–17, Quodlibet 4, q. 35 and Quodlibet 5, qq. 12–13, in Schoedinger, op. cit., pp. 603–618.
Walter Burley, On Universals, in Schoedinger, op. cit., pp. 619–644.
"Walter Burley on the Simple Supposition of Singular Terms," Topoi 16 (1997), pp. 7–13.
"Walter Burley: From the Beginning of His Treatise on the Kinds of Supposition (De suppositionibus)," Topoi 16 (1997), pp. 95–102. (Translation.)
"Late Medieval Logic," Ch. 17 of The Routledge History of Philosophy, Vol. III ("The Middle Ages"), John Marenbon ed., (London: Routledge, 1998), pp. 402–425. (Reprinted, paperback, 2003.)
"Three Versions of Ockham's Reductionist Program," Franciscan Studies 56 (1998), pp. 347–358.
"Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew," Al-Hikmat 17 (1997), pp. 14–36. (Translation of Chs. 1–9 [= Prologue], with introduction.) (Except for the introduction, this is in effect a printed version of the translation posted on my "Mediaeval Logic and Philosophy" website in 1995.)
"Degrees of Being, Degrees of Goodness: Aquinas on Levels of Reality," in Aquinas's Moral Theory: Essays in Honor of Norman Kretzmann, Scott MacDonald and Eleonore Stump, ed., (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999), pp. 254-275. (By invitation.)
"Walter Burley on the Kinds of Simple Supposition," Vivarium 37 (1999), pp. 41–59. (By invitation.)
"Introduction" to The Cambridge Companion to Ockham, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 1–16. (Listed above, under "Books.")
Chap. 5 "Ockham's Nominalist Metaphysics: Some Main themes," in The Cambridge Companion to Ockham, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 100–117. (Listed above, under "Books.")
My chapters "The Semantics of Terms," "Insolubilia," and "Obligations: Developments in the Fourteenth Century," originally published in Norman Kretzmann, et al., ed. The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), were republished in Italian translation, along with several other chapters extracted from that Cambridge History, as La Logica nel medioevo (Milan: Editoriale Jaca Book, 1999), pp. 103-114, 173-183, 281-288, respectively.
Article, "Insolubilia," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Substantially revised 2005.
Article, "William of Ockham," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Revised 2006.
Article, "Binarium famosissimum [= most famous pair]," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Article, "Medieval theories of obligationes, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
“Lavenham [Lavyngham], Richard ( fl . 1399– c . 1403),” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: In Association with the British Academy . From the Earliest Times to the Year 2000, vol. 32. Published in print and online (subscription information at www.oup.oxforddnb/.) (This set replaces the old Dictionary of National Biography. )
Article, “Medieval Philosophy,” in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
"The Problem of Universals and Wyclif's Alleged 'Ultrarealism'," Vivarium 43 (2005), pp. 111–123. Invited paper for a special issue on late medieval realism.
Three translations of mine were reprinted in Gyula Klima, Fritz Allhoff and Anand Jayprakash Vaidya (ed.), Medieval Philosophy: Essential Readings with Commentary (“Blackwell Readings in the History of Philosophy”; Oxford: Blackwell, 2007):
These translations were previously available on my "Mediaeval Logic and Philosophy" website and on deposit at the Translation Clearing House (see below).
Of Michael J. Loux, Ockham's Theory of Terms: Part 1 of the Summa logicae, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1974. In Noûs 12 (1978), pp. 82–87.
Of Martin Tweedale, Abailard on Universals, Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1976. In Noûs 14 (1980), pp. 479–483.
Of Klaus Jacobi, Die Modalbegriffe in den logischen Schriften des Wilhelm von Shyreswood und in anderen Kompendien des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts ("Studien und Texte zur Geschichte des Mittelalters"), Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1980. In Speculum 56 (1981), pp. 878–879.
Of Paul of Venice. Logica Magna, Part I Fascicle 1, Norman Kretzmann, ed. & trans., Oxford: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1979. In The Philosophical Review 91 (1982), pp. 275–278.
Of Radulphus Brito: Quaestiones super Priscianum minorem, Jan Pinborg and Hans W. Enders, ed., 2 fascicles ("Grammatica Speculativa," vol. 3), Stuttgart–Bad Canstatt, 1980. In History and Philosophy of Logic, 2 (1982), pp. 133–134.
Of John Trentman, ed., Vincent Ferrer: Tractatus de suppositionibus, ("Grammatica Speculativa," vol. 1), Stuttgart–Bad Canstatt: Frommann–Holzboog, 1977. In History and Philosophy of Logic 2 (1982), pp. 137–138.
Walter Burley, The Longer Treatise on the Purity of the Art of Logic, Tract. 1: On the Properties of Terms (preliminary version), 54 pp., typescript. (Revised 1990. See below.)
William of Ockham, Quodlibet 5, qq. 8–9 (preliminary version), 4 pp., typescript. (Revised 1990. See below.)
Thomas Aquinas, On the Mixture of the Elements, to Master Philip, 5 pp., typescript.
Thomas Aquinas, The Quodlibetal Questions (selections), 23 pp., typescript.
Boethius, On the Hebdomads (How Are Substances Good Insofar as They Exist, Since They Are Not Substantial Goods?), revised translation, 10 pp. (Revision of 1981 translation. See above.)
(Pseudo–) Dionysius the Areopagite, On Mystical Theology, to Timothy, 7 pp. typescript.
Odo of Tournai, On Original Sin (selections), 3 pp. typescript.
Boethius, From his Second Commentary on Aristotle's De interpretatione, Book II, Ch. 7 (on De interp., 7, 17a38–b3), 7 pp. typescript.
Boethius, From his Second Commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge, 7 pp. typescript.
Boethius, From his Second Commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge, Book III, Ch. 11, 3 pp. typescript.
Bonaventure and John Peter Olivi, Two Texts from the Later Doctrine of Illumination (Bonaventure, Quaestiones disputatae de scientia Christi, q. 4, resp., in part; Olivi, short paragraph from his Quaestiones in secundum librum Sententiarum), 3 pp. typescript.
Fridugisus of Tours, On the Being of Nothing and Shadows (complete), 77 pp. typescript.
John Duns Scotus, Lectura in librum primum Sententiarum, d. 39, q. 5 (in part — on time and eternity), 2 pp. typescript.
John Duns Scotus, Ordinatio, I, d. 3, a. 4 (on illumination), 32 pp. typescript.
John Duns Scotus, Ordinatio, II, d. 3, pars 1, qq. 1–6 (on the principle of individuation), 108 pp. typescript.
Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, Chs. 1–9, 28 pp. typescript.
Peter Damian, Letter on Divine Omnipotence, selections from sections i–vii & xvii, 10 pp. typescript.
Porphyry the Phoenician, From his Exposition of Aristotle's Categories by Question and Answer, 3 pp. typescript.
Porphyry the Phoenician, Isagoge (complete), 38 pp. typescript.
Walter Burley, On Universals, 64 pp. typescript.
Walter Burley, Treatise on Matter and Form, 8 pp. typescript.
Walter Chatton, Reportatio, I, d. 3, q. 2 (on the nature of a universal concept), 34 pp. typescript.
William of Ockham, Commentary on Aristotle's On Interpretation, Prologue, sections 3–10 (on the nature of a universal concept), 34 pp. typescript.
William of Ockham, Ordinatio (Scriptum in I Sententiarum), d. 2, qq. 3–8 (on universals), 277 pp. typescript.
William of Ockham, Quodlibeta IV, q. 35, and V, qq. 12–13 (on first and second intentions, the nature of a universal concept), 20 pp. typescript.
William of Ockham, Summa logicae, I, chs. 14–17 (on universals), 23 pp. typescript.
Walter Burley, The Longer Treatise on the Art of Logic, Tract 1: On the Properties of Terms, 103 pp. typescript, with notes. (Revision of 1981 version. See above.)
William of Ockham, Summa logicae, Part I, Prologue, Prefatory Letter, and Chs. 1–6, 8–13, 26, 30–33, 63–66, 70, 72, with summaries of Chs. 7, 27–29, 94 pp. typescript with notes.
William of Ockham, Quodlibet V, q. 8, with a partial translation of q. 9 and a summary of q. 10, 8 pp. typescript with notes. (Revision of 1981 version. See above.)
History of the Problem of Universals in the Middle Ages: Notes and Texts (965,265 bytes). A set of translations and notes in two parts: (1) notes to supplement the translations in my Five Texts on the Mediaeval Problem of Universals, (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994); and (2) translations of several additional texts.
Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, Prologue (= Chs. 1–9) {100,948 bytes).
Peter Damian, Selections from his Letter on Divine Omnipotence (43798 bytes). An on line version of the translation on deposit at the Translation Clearing House. (See above.)
A passage from the beginning of Walter Burley's De suppositionibus (78,194 bytes). Translation from the Latin edition in Stephen F. Brown, "Walter Burleigh's Treatise De suppositionibus and Its Influence on William of Ockham," Franciscan Studies 32 (1972), pp. 15–64. The translation is of pp. 31–43, paragraphs (1.1)–(2.425).
Selections from Part I of William of Ockham .s Summa logicae (321,383 bytes). Translation of Adam of Wodeham .s Prologue, and then of Ockham's own Prefatory Letter, and Chs. 1–6, 8–13, 26–28, 30–31, 33, 63–66, 70 and 72, together with summaries of Chs. 7, 29 and 32. Slightly expanded version of the translation on deposit at the Translation Clearing House. (See above.)
"Boethius against Universals: The Arguments in the Second Commentary on Porphyry" (156,305 bytes). On a passage in Boethius' Second Commentary on Porphyry.
"Three Questions by John of Wesel on Obligationes and Insolubilia" (227,131 bytes). Latin edition, with introduction and notes.
Walter Burley, The Longer Treatise On the Purity of the Art of Logic, Tract. 1: "On the Properties of Terms" (444,704 bytes). An on-line version of the annotated translation on deposit with the Translation Clearing House. (See above.)
Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness: Class Lecture Notes. The full set of lecture notes for my graduate-level course on Being and Nothingness (Fall, 1995), 248 pp. single spaced.
Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness: Course Materials. A 96 pp. packet of outlines, discussions, bibliographies and translations, done in conjunction with the same course.
Thomas Aquinas, "On the Mixture of the Elements, to Master Philip of Castrocaeli" (113,483 bytes). Translation of a short work by Aquinas.
"The Warp and Woof of Metaphysics: How to Get Started on Some Big Themes" (178,731 bytes.) A discussion of basic metaphysical themes in the history of metaphysics.
"Why Don't Mediaeval Logicians Ever Tell Us What They're Doing? Or, What Is This, A Conspiracy?" (148, 834 bytes). Discussion of a puzzling problem facing historicans of late mediaeval logic and semantic theory.
"William of Ockham, Summa logicae III.3.46 (= 'De insolubilibus')" (107,720 bytes). Translation of Ockham's chapter on the Liar and related paradoxes.
"A Note on the Title of Walter Burley's On the Purity of the Art of Logic," co-authored with Stephen Menn (McGill University).
Chapter 17: “Sophismata,” forthcoming in Robert Pasnau, ed., The Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
"Logic in the Early-Fourteenth Century," forthcoming in a volume on the liberal arts in the Renaissance, edited by David Wagner, Northern Illinois University. (Note: If you think the fourteenth century is a little early to go into a volume on the Renaissance, well so do I. I no longer know the status of this project.)
Review of Jon Stewart, A History of Hegelianism in Golden Age Denmark, Tome I: The Heiberg Period: 1824–1836 (Copenhagen: C. A. Reitzel, 2007). For Journal of the History of Philosophy.
Comments on Mary Sirridge, "Augustine: Every Word Is a Name," read at the American Philosophical Association Western Division Meetings, April 24–26, Chicago.
"Philosophy in the Anglo-Norman Period: 1100–1154," lecture contributed to Medieval Studies course M502 "The Anglo-Norman Period," Indiana University, September 29.
Comments on Stephen F. Brown, "Supposition in William of Ockham's Commentary on the Sentences," read at the Southeastern Medieval Association Meetings, March 5–6, Tallahassee.
"Mediaeval Philosophical Bibliography," invited lecture contributed to Medieval Studies course M500 "Medieval Bibliography", Indiana University, September 13.
Directed discussion group on Edward Grant's paper, "Aristotelianism and the Longevity of the Medieval World View," at the conference "Medium Aevum Transdisciplinale: Approaches to the Middle Ages," Indiana University, November 4–6.
Comments on Girard J. Etzkorn, "Thought and Language according to William of Ockham," read at the Fourth Sewanee Medieval Colloquium, University of the South, Sewanee, TN, April 14–16.
"Gregory of Rimini and Peter of Ailly: Are Mental Sentences Composed of Parts?," read at the Twelfth Kalamazoo Conference on the Middle Ages, May 5–8.
Two three-hour lectures on William Heytesbury's theory of insolubilia, delivered to the NEH Summer Seminar, "Current Research in the History of Medieval Logic," conducted by John Murdoch, Harvard University, August 3–5. (The entire Seminar lasted six weeks.)
"What On Earth is the Principle of Sufficient Reason?," read to the Philosophy Colloquium, St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN, Nov. 17.
"Medieval Philosophical Bibliography," invited lecture contributed to Medieval Studies Course M500 "Medieval Bibliography," Indiana University, September 6.
"Quasi-Aristotelianism," read at the conference Infinity, Continuity and Indivisibility in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Cornell University, April 20–21. (Response to a paper by Norman Kretzmann.)
Comments on Eleonore Stump, "Medieval Obligationes and Aristotelian Dialectic," read at the Sewanee Mediaeval Colloquium, University of the South, Sewanee, TN, April 11–12.
"Origins of French Existentialism," invited lecture contributed to the course French F312, Indiana University, May 16.
As a member of the teaching staff of the Institute on Medieval Philosophy, directed by Norman Kretzmann at Cornell University, June 30–August 8, under the auspices of the Council for Philosophical Studies and the NEH, I delivered eleven lectures, on the topics:
"The Good and the True, or How to Tell Plato from Aristotle," invited lecture for the Honors course "Ideas and Modern Man," Indiana University, September 23.
"Texts and Scribes and Sheep," dinner-lecture delivered to the Collins Living/Learning Center, Indiana University, November 17.
"Where Do We Get Our Ideal Concepts, or Rationalism Defended Against Every Knave," read to the Philosophy Colloquium, Wabash College, April 14, 1981.
"Bradwardine and the 'Golden Age' of Insolubilia-Literature," read at the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, meeting with the American Philosophical Association Western Division, Milwaukee, April 24.
"The Good and the True, or How to Tell Plato from Aristotle," invited lecture contributed to the Honors course H101 "Ideas and Human Experience," Indiana University, September 22.
"Counterfactuals and Walter Burley's Theory of Obligationes," invited lecture in Faculty Lecture Series (for graduate students in the Department of Philosophy), Indiana University, March 1.
"Counterfactuals and Walter Burley's Theory of Obligationes," read to the Princeton Philosophy Colloquium, Princeton University, April 9.
"The Good and the True, or How to Tell Plato from Aristotle," invited lecture contributed to Honors Course H100 "Ideas and Human Experience," Indiana University, September 20.
"Adam Wodeham's Theory of Concrete and Abstract Terms," read to the Franciscan Medieval Philosophy Society, meeting at the American Philosophical Association Eastern Division meetings in Baltimore, Dec. 29.
Invited participant in a panel discussion on Adam Wodeham for the Franciscan Medieval Philosophy Society, meeting at the American Philosophical Association Eastern Division meetings in Baltimore, Dec. 29.
"The Good and the True, or How to Tell Plato from Aristotle," invited lecture contributed to Honors Course H101 "Ideas and Human Experience", Indiana University, September 9.
"Realism and Nominalism in John Wyclif's Oxford," read for the Medieval Studies Institute Lecture Series, Indiana University, November 15.
"How To Start and Stop: Walter Burley on the Instant of Transition," read as the inaugural lecture in the "Eric Dean Lecture Series", Wabash College, September 17.
Invited participant in the conference, "Aristotle and His Medieval Interpreters", University of Edmonton, September 27–30.
"On Manuscripts, Texts and Scribes," joint presentation with Professor Stephen Dumont (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies), for the Wabash College Mediaeval Studies Discussion Group, September 18.
"Counterfactuals and Walter Burley's Theory of Obligationes," read to the Philosophy Colloquium Series at Wayne State University, October 25.
"Counterfactuals and Obligationes: Some Further Considerations," read to "History of Logic: Conference II," April 12, 1991, at The University of Texas at Austin.
"Three Versions of Ockham's Reductionist Program," read at the 26th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 12, 1991. (Invited paper in a symposium on Ockham's ontological reductionism)
Invited participant in the conference "The Origins and Meaning of Medieval Nominalism," University of Wisconsin, Madison, October 3–5.
"How To Start and Stop: Walter Burley on the Instant of Transition", paper read to the Philosophy Colloquium, University of California — Berkeley, September 9.
"Introduction to the Problem of Universals in the Middle Ages: What It Is and Why You Should Care About It," paper read in the Medieval Studies lecture series, Indiana University, September 22, 1994.
"A Vow of Silence? or, Why Don't Medieval Logicians Ever Tell Us What They Are Doing?," paper read at the conference "Looking Back, Looking Forward: Philosophy, Its History and Future: A Conference to Celebrate the Centenary of the Doctoral Program at the University of Toronto," October 25, 1997.
"Why Don't Mediaeval Logicians Ever Tell Us What They're Doing? Or, What is This, A Conspiracy?" paper read to the Medieval Studies Institute (Indiana University), September 27, 1999.
"Why Don't Mediaeval Logicians Ever Tell Us What They're Doing? Or, What is This, A Conspiracy?" paper read to the Purdue University Philosophy Colloquium, November 2, 2000.
“Logic after the Condemnation of 1277,” paper read to a conference celebrating the publication of Nach der Verurteilung von 1277: Philosophie und Theologie an der Universität von Paris im letzten Viertel des 13. Jahrhunderts. Studien und Texte, (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2000), held by The Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame, April 5–7, 2001.
Co-Chair (with James G. Hart, Religious Studies), Ph.D. dissertation committee for H. Peter Steeves (Philosophy), "Toward A Phenomenological Ethics of Community". Final oral defense October 28, 1994.
Chair, Ph.D. dissertation committee for Mark Mattox (Philosophy), "St. Augustine and the Theory of Just War." Final oral defense March 4, 1997.
Chair, Ph.D. dissertation committee for Yiwei Zheng (Philosophy), "Bad Faith, Authenticity, and Pure Reflection in Jean-Paul Sartre's Early Philosophy." Final oral defense, August 4, 1999.
Chair, Ph.D. dissertation committee for Charles Bolyard (Philosophy), "Knowledge, Certainty, and Propositions Per Se Notae: A Study of Peter Auriol." Final oral defense, October 1, 1999.
Chair, Ph.D. dissertation committee for Brian Conolly (Philosophy), "Studies in the Metaphysics of Dietrich von Freiberg." Final oral defense May 18, 2004..
Chair, Ph.D. dissertation committee for Rondo Keele (Philosophy), "Formal Ontology in the 14th Century: The Chatton Principle." Final oral defense February 5, 2002.
Chair, Ph.D. dissertation committee for Erik Lindland (Philosophy), "Kierkegaard on Self-Deception." Final oral defense August 2, 2004..
Co-chair, Ph.D. dissertation committee for Jeffrey S. Bardzell (Comparative Literature), "Speculative Grammar and Stoic Language Theory in Medieval Allegorical Narrative: From Prudentius to Alan of Lille." Co-chair with Rosemarie McGerr (Comparative Literature). Final oral defense June 7, 2004.
Chair, Ph.D. dissertation committee for Antony George Aumann (Philosophy), "Kierkegaard and the Need for Indirect Communication." Qualifying examination and prospectus passed November 2, 2004.
Chair, Ph.D. dissertation committee for Brian Yazzie Burkhart (Philosophy), "Respect for Kinship: Toward an Indigenous Environmental Ethics." Qualifying examination passed December 5, 2006.
Chair, M.A. thesis committee for David Haugen, "Omniscience and Immutability". (Philosophy.) From Spring 1980. (The thesis was never completed.)
In addition, I have served as a member of 16 undergraduate Honors Thesis committees (chaired 6 of them), and of 46 other M.A./Ph.D. committees (from Philosophy as well as Central Eurasian Studies, Comparative Literature, Education, English, French, History, History and Philosophy of Science, Musicology, Speech Communication, Theater/Drama. I have also served as a faculty co-sponsor for an Individualized Major candidate.