The Saint Louis University Department of Philosophy offers a number of reading groups that run continuously throughout the academic year. They are organized by SLU faculty around topics of current interest.
Epistemology Reading Group
The Epistemology Reading Group meets to discuss recent work and work in progress in epistemology. For more information about the group, including announcements regarding current topics and readings, as well as meeting times and places, please contact Joe Salerno, Ph.D. at joseph.salerno@slu.edu.
History and Philosophy of Science Reading Group
Kent Staley, Ph.D., leads this interdisciplinary group for anyone whose interests are in the scientific and philosophical developments and problems of a particular historical period or setting, the conceptual or foundational issues of a particular science, or general philosophical problems relating to any aspect of the scientific enterprise. The group is a cooperative venture between faculty and graduate students. Activities include discussions of readings, presentations of papers, invited speakers, tutorials on topics of interest, and anything else the group decides is a good idea. For details and meeting times, contact Kent Staley at kent.staley@slu.edu.
Aquinas’ Commentaries on the Pauline Epistles
In this reading group, we will read and discuss some of Aquinas’ commentaries on the Pauline epistles, because they are philosophically rich but generally neglected by philosophers. We will begin with his commentary on Philippians, and the hope is that we can get through his commentary on Romans before the end of the fall 2023 term. There is no book to buy for this reading group because the commentaries are available in Latin and English on this site: https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~Philip. Please contact Jacob Huls (jacob.huls@slu.edu) if you are interested in being part of this group, so that you can be added to the list serve for the group.
Medieval Latin Reading Group
The Medieval Latin Reading Group provides an informal setting for graduate students to maintain and improve their Latin skills. The prerequisite for participation in the group is one year of formal coursework in Latin grammar or the equivalent.
The group convenes online using Fuze video conferencing software and is attended by faculty and graduate students from several universities in the St. Louis/Chicago area.
The expectation is that students who are writing (or are planning to write) a dissertation in medieval philosophy will participate but the group is by no means restricted to medievalists. Anyone interested in gaining both greater facility in reading Latin philosophical texts and increased familiarity with a range of topics and thinkers in the history of medieval philosophy is welcome. For details regarding texts and meeting times, contact Susan Brower-Toland at susan.browertoland@slu.edu.