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Academic Presentations | Presentations for the General Public

“A Case for Equal Basic Rights for All Human Beings, Born and Unborn:  A Response to Critics of The Ethics of Abortion” University Faculty for Life Conference, University of Notre Dame 6/11/11

“Can It Be Morally Permissible to Assert a Falsehood in Service of a Good Cause?” Easter Disputed Question, University of St Thomas, Minnesota 5/5/11

“Equal Rights and Unequal Wrongs” Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, La Mirada, CA 5/21/11

“What Can Be Done to Reduce Binge Drinking and a ‘Hook Up’ Culture on Campus?” Intellect and Virtue:  The Idea of a Catholic University, The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. 4/8/11

“Thomas Aquinas as a Commentator on Aristotle’s Ethics:  A Reply to Mark D. Jordan” Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, CA, 4/8/11

“Equal Rights and Unequal Wrongs” Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford 3/1/2011

“What are the Limits of Conscientious Objection for Health Care Workers?” Open Minds, Open Hearts, Fair Minded Words: Life and Choice in the Abortion Debate, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 10/16/10

“Does Richard Dawkins Refute God’s Existence?”  University of Virginia, 10/16/09

“A Theology of the Body:  Love, Happiness, and Sex” Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, 10/8/09

“Organ Donations After Cardiac Death”  Keynote Address at The Ethics of Organ Transplantation:  An Interdisciplinary Conference, University of St. Thomas, Houston, 3/28/09

“What Children Give to Parents:  Reflections for Plato’s Symposium and Aristotle’s Ethics” Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, Conference on the Family, University of Notre Dame, 11/08/08.

 “Embryonic Stem Cell Research” The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., 10/24/07.

“Aquinas and Bioethics” The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., 2/12/07.

“Ectopic Pregnancy and the Catholic Hospital” Urged on by Christ: Catholic Health Care in Tension with Contemporary
Culture, 21st Bishops Workshop, Dallas, Texas, 2/7/07.

“Brain Death:  Moral and Ethical Considerations” Urged on by Christ: Serving the Human Person in Medicine and the
Life Sciences, Annual National Catholic Bioethics Center Seminar, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Los Angeles,
California, 10/7/06.

“Moral Analysis of Prenatal and Postnatal Care Complications” Urged on by Christ: Serving the Human Person in
Medicine and the Life Sciences, Annual National Catholic Bioethics Center Seminar, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Los
Angeles, California, 10/6/06.

 “The Tragic Case of Jodie and Mary:  Questions about Separating Conjoined Twins” Northridge Medical
Center, Northridge California, 5/30/06.            

 “The Ethics of Artificial Wombs:  Kantian, Neo-Kantian, and Utilitarian Perspectives” Marquette University,
2/9/06.                 

“Moral Analysis of Separating Conjoined Twins:  Jodie and Mary” Annual National Catholic Bioethics Seminar,
Santa Teresita Medical Center, Duarte, CA, 11/4/05.

 “Abortion and Ectopic Pregnancy” Annual National Catholic Bioethics Seminar, Santa Teresita Medical Center, Duarte, CA. 11/4/05

 “The Desire to Live and the Right to Live” 57th Annual Northwest Philosophy Conference, Seattle University,
10/21/05.

 “Personhood and Conscious Desires:  A Response to David Boonin” The Foundation of Freedom
Conference, University of Portland, 6/4/05.

“Capital Punishment and the Catholic Tradition” St. Thomas and the Natural Law, University of Notre Dame,
7/7/04.

 “Personhood As Conscious Desires? A Response to David Boonin” University Faculty for Life Conference,
University of St. Thomas Law School, Minneapolis, 6/4/04.

 “The Natural Law and the Death Penalty” Written on the Heart: The Tradition of Natural Law, Calvin College,
5/15/04.

“Being in Love and Begetting a Child:  A Greek Myth of Eros and the Christian Mystery of Marriage” The
Church in the 21st Century Initiative, Boston College, 2/23/04.

“The Divine in Thomas Aquinas’s Commentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics: Can We be Good without God?”  Ethics without God University of Notre Dame, 7/14/03.   

“Disclaimers in the Sententia libri ethicorum of Thomas Aquinas?  A Reconsideration”  Albertus Magnus Institut,
Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn, 6/4/03.

 “Is Every Human Being Also a Person?”  Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. 5/21/03

“La nature et le développement de l’amour dans le mariage:  Vers une compréhension approfondie de la
sexualité, de l’amitié et du don de soi dans la relation conjugale”  Université de Fribourg, Switzerland, 5/20/03.

 “Ethik ohne Gott:  Spielt Gott keine unbedingt notwendige Rolle in der moral philosophie des
Aristoteleskommentar von Thomas?”  Schweidt der Universität zu Köln, 5/15/03.

“Is the Sententia libri ethircorum of Thomas Aquinas only an Interpretation of Aristotle?”  Forshungskolloquium
des Thomas-Instituts, Universität zu Köln, 5/14/03.

 “Freedom, Rationality, and Personhood:  The Contemporary Anglo-American Debate and a Late Antique
Solution”  Institut für Philosophie, Universität Würzburg, 5/14/03.

 “La séparation de Mary et Jodie les jumelles jointes : discussion du cas”  Université de Fribourg, Switzerland,
4/10/03.

 “Solomon’s Dilemma: The Case of Conjoined Twins” Université de Fribourg, Switzerland, 4/10/03.   

 “Are Artificial Wombs Morally Permissible?” Albertinum/L’Ancienne Académie de Fribourg, Switzerland,
4/9/03.

“Krieg gegen Irak:  Was unterscheidet US-Präsident George W. Bush und Papst Johannes Paulus II in ihrer
Argumentation?”  Schweidt der Universität zu Köln, 3/13/03.

 “Cost-Benefit Analysis and Human Dignity” Global Values and Global Stability : Economic Efficiency and its
Limitations VIII Zavikon Conference of the Dräger Foundation and the American Institute of Contemporary
German Studies (AICGS), Bieberstein Castle near Dresden, Germany, 2/21/03.

“The Sententia libri ethicorum of Aquinas:  Merely an Interpretation of Aristotle?”  Internationales Theologisches Institut, Gaming, Austria. 1/24/03

“Der Kommentar zur Nikomachischen Ethik:  Nur das Aristoteles-Verständnis des Thomas oder darüberhinaus
auch Thomas' eigenes Denken?” Philosophisches Arbeitskreis, Bonn, Germany, 12/3/02.
                                                               
"Usury and Lending at Interest in the Catholic Tradition:  Then and Now" LARIBA 2002, 9th Annual Islamic
Symposium on Banking and Finance, Pasadena, California, 3/30/02. 

“Why the Death Penalty? Capital Punishment and the Catholic Tradition” A Culture of Life, a Conference
sponsored by the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, University of Notre Dame, 12/1/01.

 “Just War:  Its Conditions, Our Current Situation, and Why it Matters” Symposium on the Events of
September 11, Loyola Marymount University, 9/20/01.  

 “The Status of Thomas' Commentary on Aristotle's Ethics” International Conference on Aquinas on Nature,
University of Notre Dame, 7/18/01.                 

 “Authority in the Church:  A Response to Fr. Thomas Rausch, S.J.” President’s Day, Loyola Marymount
University, 3/24/01.            

"Thomas Aquinas on the Development of Doctrine" International Conference on the Sources used by
Aquinas, University of Notre Dame, 7/19/00. 

"Quality of Life and the Culture of Life:  An Either/Or?" Linacre Centre Conference  The Great Jubilee and the
Culture of Life. Queens' College, Cambridge University, 7/4/00.     

"Censorship and the Natural Law" at the "Censoring Censorship" Program with Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein,
Prof. Berj Boyajian, and the ACLU's Douglas Mirell at the Museum of Tolerance, sponsored by the Next Step
Program of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Loyola Law School, and the Museum of Tolerance, 2/24/00.

"Distinguishing Intention from Foresight:  What is Included in a Means to an End"  Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, University of Notre Dame, 12/2/99.                        

"MacIntyre and Lonergan on the History of Philosophy:  A Response to James Duffy"  Lonergan Society
Meeting at the ACPA, St. Paul, Minnesota, 11/6/99.       

 “Psychiatric and Philosophic Reflections on Physician Assisted Suicide” with Dennis Philander, M.D., University of Minnesota, Fairview Riverside Campus, 11/11/98.             

"Proportionalism and Relativism"  Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University, 8/1/97.                    

"Is the 'Medical Management' of Ectopic Pregnancy by the Administration of Methotrexate Morally Acceptable?"  Linacre Center for Health Care Ethics 20th Anniversary Conference, Queens' College, Cambridge University, 7/30/97.                              

"Selbstverteidigung bei Thomas von Aquin und das Prinzip der Doppelwirkung"  Forshungskolloquium of the Thomas-Institut, Universität zu Köln, 6/11/97.                    

"Teleology and Deontology" Internationales Theologisches Institut Gaming, Austria, 4/28/97.                              

"MacIntyre and Emotivism" Conference Paper for "Civil Society in South Eastern Europe:  Philosophical and
Ethical Perspectives" American University in Bulgaria; Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, 4/26/97.               

"Double Effect Reasoning in the Thomistic Tradition" Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, 4/16/97.                  

"Human Action and the Goodness/Rightness Distinction" Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 2/28/97.        

"Rival Interpretations for Three Hard Cases" Bundeskanzler Scholars Meeting, Washington, D.C., 4/27/96.          

"Exceptionless Norms in Aristotle?" Loyola University, New Orleans, 3/5/96.                           

"Lying: Absolutism and Consequentialism" U.S. Naval Academy, 1/23/96.                 

"Exceptionless Norms in Aristotle?" Stanford University, 1/17/96.              

Presentations for General Audiences

"How to Stay Catholic in College"

“What Children Give to Parents”
“Love, Happiness, and Marriage:  A Theology of the Body”
“Truth and Relativism”
“What Children Give to Parents”
“Marital Acts without Marital Vows”
“On Human Dignity”
“A Pope’s Answer to the Problem of Pain”
“Love, Marriage, and Happiness”
“Capital Punishment and the Catholic Tradition”
“Marital Acts without Marital Vows: Social Justice and Premarital Sex”
“Until Death Do Us Part or Until Further Notice?  The Indissolubility of Marriage”
“Contraception:  Questioning Contemporary Dogma”
“The Dictatorship of Relativism:  ‘A Central Problem for Faith Today'”
“Pope Benedict:  The Man and his Mission”
“St. Thomas Aquinas on How to Be Happy”
“The Duties of the Catholic Voter”
“The Resurrection of Christ”
“The Death of Christ”
“The Passion of Christ”
“The Life of Christ”
“Love and Marriage”
“The Sacrament of Confession”
“The Role of Mary and the Saints for Today’s Catholic”
“Just War:  Its Conditions and Our Current Situation”
“Catholics and Protestants Today: Similarities and Differences”
“The Sacrament of Marriage”
“Praying as a Catholic Family”
“Happiness and Human Life”

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