Dr. Giuseppe Butera

Associate Professor of Philosophy

Office: Siena Hall, 124
Email: gbutera@providence.edu
Tel.: 401-865-1103

Office Hours (Fall, 2012):
Tuesdays, 2:30-4pm
Fridays, 9:30-11am

Brief biography

Originally from Canada, Joe earned a Bachelor of Science degree, double majoring in physics and philosophy, from the University of Toronto. After earning a Master of Arts degree in philosophy from the same institution, Joe went on to earn a doctorate in philosophy from The Catholic University of America, writing a dissertation, under the direction of David Gallagher, entitled “Thomas Aquinas on Reason’s Control of the Passions in the Virtue of Temperance.” After graduating, Joe was awarded two consecutive postdoctoral fellowships. The first was in the Center for the Philosophy of Religion at The University of Notre Dame; the second, the Gilson Postdoctoral Fellowship, was at The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto. Following that, Joe spent a year as a visiting assistant professor of philosophy at The University of Dallas before joining the Department of Philosophy at Providence College in 2004.

Curriculum vitae (pdf)

Areas of Specialization

Thomistic virtue ethics and Thomistic philosophical psychology

Research

Joe is currently working on a book project in which he plans to defend and extend the thesis of his dissertation.

Books

Editor of Reading the Cosmos: Nature, Science, and Wisdom (American Maritain Association, 2011)

Selected Publications

• “Thomas Aquinas and Cognitive Therapy: An Exploration of the Promise of the Thomistic Psychology.” Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 17, no. 4 (2010):347-66.
• “Second Harvest: Further Reflections on the Promise of the Thomistic Psychology.” Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 17, no. 4 (2010):377-83.
• “On the Moral Status of the First Principle of Practical Reason in Aquinas’s Natural Law Theory.” The Thomist 71, no. 4 (2007): 609–31.
• “On Reason’s Control of the Passions in Aquinas’ Theory of Temperance.”  Medieval Studies, vol. 68 (2006):133–60.    

Selected Presentations

• “Aquinas among the Psychologists: A Thomistic Grounding for Cognitive Therapy.” Presented at St. Jerome’s University, March 3, 2010, Waterloo, Ontario.
• “Response-ability.” Presented at the conference, “Responding to the Crisis of Responsibility: A Philosophical Challenge,” in honor of Professor Thomas Langan, at St. Michael’s College, The University of Toronto, September 27, 2008, Toronto, Ontario.
• “The Immaterial Grounds of Transcendentality: A Thomistic Response to Terry Klein’s ‘Spirit in the World.’”  Presented at the Metaphysics Colloquium of the Institute for Saint Anselm Studies, June 11–12, 2008, Manchester, NH.
• “On the Identity of the Human Person: A Critique of Eleonore Stump.” Presented at the American Maritain Association Meeting, October 27, 2007, Notre Dame, IN.

Recent Courses at Providence College

General Ethics

Introduction to the Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas

Logic

Metaphysics