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Noted philosopher Peter van Inwagen to speak at Niagara University

by jmaloni
Mon, Oct 17th 2011 12:05 pm

Niagara University announced Peter van Inwagen, one of the world's leading philosophers, will deliver this year's Albertus Magnus Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 20. The free event, presented by NU's philosophy department, will begin at 5:15 p.m. in the university's Castellani Art Museum.

The address will be focused on the coherence of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic doctrine of the resurrection of the body.

An expert on metaphysics and philosophical theology, van Inwagen is currently The John Cardinal O'Hara Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He has published seven books - "The Problem of Evil, Ontology, Identity, and Modality"; "Metaphysics: The Big Questions" (co-edited with Dean Zimmerman); "The Possibility of Resurrection and Other Essays in Christian Apologetics"; "God, Knowledge and Mystery"; "Metaphysics"; "Material Beings; Alvin Plantinga" (co-edited with James Tomberlin); "An Essay on Free Will"; and "Time and Cause: Essays Presented to Richard Taylor" - and countless articles.

Along with serving on the editorial boards of Faith and Philosophy, Noûs, Philosophical Perspectives and Philosophical Studies, van Inwagen has received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities. In previous years, van Inwagen has delivered the Wilde Lectures at Oxford University, the Stewart Lectures at Princeton University and the Gifford Lectures at the University of St. Andrews. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005, is a past president of the American Philosophical Association, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of St. Andrews in 2011.

The Albertus Magnus Lecture is an annual event presented by the Niagara University philosophy department. Albertus Magnus ("Albert the Great") was born in Swabia in 1200. He studied at the University of Padua and entered the Dominican Order in 1223. In 1245, he became the first German to be appointed to the faculty of the University of Paris. While an important philosopher in his own right, he is most famous for the influence he had as the instructor of St. Thomas Aquinas, the cornerstone of the Catholic Intellectual tradition. The lecture is named for Albertus Magnus because of his great influence as a teacher upon his students.

For more information, contact Dr. John Keller, assistant professor of philosophy, at 716-286-8639 or [email protected].

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