The Center for Thomistic Studies is sponsoring a conference on the ethics of organ transplantation (March 27–29, 2009). The mini-site for the conference has the following description:

The Ethics of Organ Transplantation, an interdisciplinary conference on medical and philosophical issues surrounding organ transplantation, will bring together experts from a variety of fields, such as philosophy, theology, and medicine. The conference seeks a coherent vision that promotes healing united with a respect for the dignity of each individual.

Keynote speakers include:

• D. Alan Shewmon, M.D., Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
  Topic: Brain Death
  
• Janet Smith, Ph.D., Fr. Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Issues, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, MI
  Topic: The Ethics of Ova Donation for Stem Cell Research
  
• A.A. Howsepian, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, Veterans Administration Central California Health Care System, Fresno, CA
  Topic: Organ Transplantation and Anencephalic Infants
  
• Christopher Kaczor, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Philosophy, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
  Topic: Organ Donations after Cardiac Death

It is possible to submit a paper for inclusion in the conference, responding to the call for papers. Papers will be accepted as they are received, preference given to earlier submissions, with a final deadline of January 1, 2009.

Cruising though the ‘net last evening—where did I start from?—I came across an on-line version of a short course in natural philosophy, taught by one of my Dominican heroes of the River Forest School (though he was never located at River Forest, Illinois), Fr William A. Wallace, OP (also here). The course is affiliated with Ralph McInerny’s International Catholic University. The course exists in six-parts, and constitutes a wonderful overview of Thomistic natural philosophy (based on Aristotle), as well as the other elements of philosophy in a Thomistic worldview. A good way to get “up and running.”

You can also see Fr Wallace himself read through the opening lecture on YouTube:

A follow-up of sorts. You can see a two-part interview with Fr Wallace on the Dominican Order and the Intellectual Life, dating from 1982, which has much of Fr Wallace’s own life-experience (part 1 / part 2).

This is surely for medievalist geeks. Reading through Eric Knibbs, "How to Use Modern Critical Editions of Medieval Latin Texts," History Compass 5, no. 5 (2007): 1521-49, I came across a link to web page with what seem to be all the abbreviations one is likely to find in a critical edition of a classical—I add: medieval—text. The page (here) is put together by Karl Maurer of the University of Dallas.

Maurer's page is probably overkill for the Thomist. Still useful—indeed, normative, perhaps—is Fr Antoine Donaine's «Liste des abbréviations latines et sigles recommandés pour l'apparat critique,» Bulletin SIEPM 2 (1960): 142-149, which you can see on Enrique Alarcon's miraculous Index Thomisticus website (here).

By way of Adriano Oliva, OP, an announcement of a volume of studies honoring Alain de Libera, and an opportunity to subscribe to the book's publication:

À l'occasion du soixantième anniversaire d'Alain de Libera, une trentaine de collègues de France et de l'étranger ont souhaité, par une série d'études d'histoire de la philosophie et de métaphysique, saluer son œuvre scientifique et lui offrir un témoignage d'amitié. L'histoire de la métaphysique étant l'un des points cardinaux du travail philosophique d'Alain de Libera, à qui l'on doit notamment de magistraux ouvrages sur les universaux, il a semblé judicieux d'étudier ces entités mineures mais néanmoins indispensables qui viennent compléter la substance pour constituer l'individu : les propriétés accidentelles.

La question des accidents est ici étudiée sur la longue durée – d'Aristote à la métaphysique analytique contemporaine, avec une attention particulière portée aux discussions médiévales – et sous ses différents aspects : ontologique, sémantique, épistémologique et psychologique. Sont ainsi abordés des problèmes philosophiques aussi fondamentaux que ceux induits par les catégories aristotéliciennes de qualité et de relation, les tropes, la causalité, l'individuation.

See this PDF file for details, which also contains a list of the volume's contributors. By subscribing to the book's publication before September 1, 2008, your name will appear in the volume, along with other subscribers. The volume is scheduled to appear on October 3, 2008.

The International Society for MacIntyrean Philosophy is holding its second annual conference at Saint Meinrad’s in Indiana, from July 30 through August 3, 2008. The topic is: “Theory, Practice, and Tradition: Human Rationality in Pursuit of the Good Life.” You can see the conference’s dense schedule here (DOC format).