The Thomistic Institute

Prof. Steven Jensen asks whether computers can really think, and he argues that while machines can imitate reasoning and behavior associated with thought, they lack the awareness that makes genuine thinking possible.

This lecture was given on April 16th, 2026, at Southern Methodist University.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Steven J Jensen holds the Bishop Nold Chair in Graduate Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, where he teaches in The Center for Thomistic Studies. His fields of research include bioethics, moral psychology, the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, human nature, and natural law. He is the author of several books, including the following: Living the Good Life: A Beginner’s Thomistic Ethics, The Human Person: A Beginner’s Thomistic Psychology, The Natural Law: A Beginner’s Thomistic Guide.

Keywords: Awareness, Artificial Intelligence, Chinese Room, Cognition, Computers, Consciousness, Neural Networks, Philosophy Of Mind, Reasoning, Thought

Prof. Paige Hochschild explores what truth is and shows, through Tolkien, how truth arises from the mind’s encounter with reality, how myth can reveal historical meaning, and how truthful storytelling can shape moral vision.

This lecture was given on April 16th, 2026, at Williams College.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Dr. Paige Hochschild is a professor of historical and systematic theology at Mount St. Mary's University (MD), specializing in Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and the early Church. She also teaches philosophy courses at the Seminary at Mount St. Mary's. She has written a book on the place of memory in Augustine's theological anthropology, and publishes on the Church, education, tradition, and 20th Century theological debates within the Church (scripture, history, marriage).

Keywords: Allegory, Fantasy, History, J. R. R. Tolkien, Moral Imagination, Myth, Narrative, Reality, Storytelling, Truth

Prof. Michael Pakaluk compares Catholicism and golf in order to show how a game often dismissed as “useless” can become a surprisingly rich school of virtue, shaping humility, patience, prudence, honesty, and love of tradition.

This lecture was given on April 17th, 2026, at Ohio State University.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Michael Pakaluk is Professor of Political Economy at The Catholic University of America. An accomplished Aristotle scholar and expert in St. Thomas Aquinas, in 2011 he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas by Pope Benedict XIV. His most recent books include: The Company We Keep: True Friendship and Why It Matters (Scepter, 2025); The Shock of Holiness (Ignatius, 2025); Be Good Bankers: The Economic Interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel (Regnery Gateway, 2025); Natural Law: Five Views (Zondervan, 2025), for which he contributed the essays on classical natural law, and Walk in the Good Path: Essays in Natural Law and Civic Friendship, forthcoming (2026) with CUA Press. He studied philosophy at Harvard under W.V. Quine, Hilary Putnam, Burton Dreben, and John Rawls, who supervised his dissertation. Pakaluk is a regular contributor to The Catholic Thing, and his essays have appeared in Crisis, Our Sunday Visitor, Crux, and other venues. He lives in Hyattsville, Maryland, with his wife, Catherine, a professor of economics, and their youngest children.

Keywords: Catholicism, Charity, Golf, Honesty, Humility, Prudence, Study, Tradition, Virtue, Wonder

This lecture was given on June 27th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., is an instructor of dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies and the Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He holds a doctorate from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). He is the author of Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly and Your Eucharistic Identity: A Sacramental Guide to the Fullness of Life, and is co-author of Credo: An RCIA Program and Marian Consecration with Aquinas.

His writing also appears in Aleteia, Magnificat, and Ascension’s Catholic Classics series. In addition to the TI podcast, he regularly contributes to the podcasts Godsplaining and Pints with Aquinas, and Catholic Classics.

Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy shows how Thomas Aquinas helps Catholics contemplate the presence of God in nature, grace, and the Incarnation, so that ordinary prayer and daily life become occasions for deeper awareness of divine closeness.

This lecture was given on April 17th, 2026, at Vanderbilt University.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P. is a Coordinator for Campus Outreach at the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC. He has served as a parochial vicar at St. Pius V Church in Providence, RI, as well as an adjunct professor and assistant chaplain at Providence College. He originates from Columbus, OH, studied architecture in Virginia and Switzerland, and practiced in the DC area before entering the Order of Preachers in 2013. He was ordained a priest in 2020 at the Dominican House of Studies during the quarantine. In his work with the Thomistic Institute, he has given talks on the virtue of penance, loving God with the mind, and the intersection of theology and architecture. He often travels the country visiting Thomistic Institute Campus Chapters, leading seminars that help students grasp Thomistic concepts. Additionally, he coordinates the TI's intellectual retreat programming, which affords students time to pray and integrate into their lives Thomistic theology and philosophy.

Keywords: Aquinas, Contemplation, Grace, Hypostatic Union, Incarnation, Nature, Panentheism, Pantheism, Presence Of God, Thomas Aquinas