Dr. Jamie Spiering

Dr. Spiering received her bachelor鈥檚 degree in liberal arts from Thomas Aquinas College in California (2003), and her M.A. (2006) and Ph.D. (2010) in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in Washington DC.  She has been at Benedictine since the fall of 2010, teaching a variety of courses on ethics, God,  the soul, and logic.  Her areas of interest include theories of free will, particularly in the medieval period, and philosophy of God.  In her spare time she enjoys canoeing and reading fiction.

Classes

Logic and Nature/Principles of Nature (12 sections)
Ethics (7 sections)
Natural Theology (2 sections)
Philosophical Psychology (5 sections)     
Logic (1 section)
Ancient Philosophy (1 section)
Business Ethics (1 section)

Education

Ph.D.

Philosophy

The Catholic University of America

鈥淎n Innovative Approach to Liberum Arbitrium in the Thirteenth Century鈥�

Master of Arts

Philosophy

The Catholic University of America

鈥淒ivine Freedom in the Thought of Leibniz鈥�

Bachelor of Arts

Liberal Arts

Thomas Aquinas College

Research Interests

Medieval theories of human freedom, divine freedom in medieval and early modern thought,  philosophy of the human person, medieval and classical psychology.

Publications

Review of Aquinas the Augustinian, by M. Dauphinais, B. David, and M. Levering.  The Review of Metaphysics 42.3(2009), 652-3.

Review of The Cambridge Companion to Spinoza鈥檚 Ethics, ed. Olli Koistinen. The Review of Metaphysics 64.2 (2010),388-90.

Review of Augustine and Spinoza, Milad Douhei.  The Review of Metaphysics 65.2 (Dec. 2011), 419-421.
 
鈥淟iber est Causa Sui鈥�  Thomas Aquinas and the Maxim 鈥淭he Free is the Cause of Itself.鈥�  The Review of Metaphysics 65 (Dec. 2011) 351-376.

Review of The Problem of Negligent Omission: Medieval Action Theories to the Rescue, by Michael Barnwell.  The Thomist76.4 (Oct. 2012).

鈥淲hat Is Freedom?  An Instance of the Silence of St. Thomas,鈥� under review

Presentations

鈥淭he Textual Context of Thomas鈥檚 Account of Free Choice,鈥� presentation at the 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI,  May 2010.  

鈥淎ugustine, Thomas, and the Memory of Things Sensed,鈥� presentation at the 46th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2011.

鈥淯t Rabbi Moyses Dicit:  Thomas Aquinas and Moses Maimonides in Agreement,鈥� presentation at the 47th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2012.

鈥淔ree Will 鈥� We Need It, But Is It Real?鈥�  LaCroix Philosophy Lecture at Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO, October 2013

鈥淭he Sixth Method Doesn鈥檛 Work, but the Third Way Does?  Maimonides on the Role of Possibility in Proving God鈥檚 Existence,鈥� presentation at the 2013 Annual American Catholic Philosophical Association Conference, November 2013.

Languages

Latin, French, some German