To: Study Grant Task Force
Re: Application for Study Grant
This is to inform the Study Grant Task Force that I wish to apply for a Study Grant to be in effect
during the Summer II 2016 term. The purpose/goal of this study grant proposal is to continue
my active study of the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas by means of an examination of NeoThomists thinkers in the 20th century with particular emphasis on the writings of a former
University of Dallas philosophy professor, Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. Primarily, the focus of this
study will be on the metaphysical and epistemological developments of Aquinas’ thought over
the last 100 plus years.
Please refer to the detailed argument for and study plan being proposed for further details
regarding this study grant proposal.
The Neo-Thomist Revival in the 20th Century with Particular Focus on the Writings of Frederick
D. Wilhelmsen
“The task of a philosophy professor at Collin College given the course curricula is
to teach essentially the history of philosophy. To that end, it becomes incumbent upon
one given such a task to be versed in the history of philosophy in a significant way. This
entails among other things not only knowledge of particular philosophers and
philosophical movements, but also the temporal conditions and events surrounding and
influencing those philosophers and movements. Thus, a good professor of philosophy
must know the history and cultural elements of particular moments that shape the
development of ideas in any particular period of that history. And when that individual
recognizes gaps in his understanding, it is his responsibility to cover over and become
knowledgeable about those gaps in order to be able when called upon to illustrate and
demonstrate how ideas are developed, from whence they originated, and how they are
altered and/or permeate a particular period in history. In this way, students might be
afforded a better opportunity to learn what otherwise might not be made available to them
due to the professor’s lack of knowledge in an area.”
The above paragraph is how I introduced my first study grant proposal in the spring of 2000. It
is an argument, a position that I think is still valid. At that time, I proposed to study social,
political and philosophical ideas and movements in the medieval period as this was an area of
study that I sensed a lacuna in my thinking. As a result of that study grant, and how fruitful
those efforts were, I continued in this vein with a sabbatical proposal in 2006 which entailed a
detailed study of the writings of Thomas Aquinas, the foremost philosopher of the medieval era,
and this was followed by a study grant in 2008 where I focused on the thought of Aquinas
regarding ideas of learning and education. Again, this study was most beneficial to me, and I
hope to my students as well who indirectly shared the benefits of this research by how and what I
brought to the classroom.
For this study grant proposal, I intend to, in some measure, keep to the above line of thinking.
That is, I want to continue work on the thought of Thomas Aquinas, but this time, I wish to focus
on the Neo-Thomist revival that began in the latter part of the 19th century and continued into the
20th, and some will argue, the 21st centuries. It is clear from a cursory glance on indices of many
notable thinkers in the last 100 plus years the impact of Aquinas’ thought; from metaphysics,
existentialism and phenomenology to social and political thought to analyses in language
theories, the thought of Aquinas has made its mark. Thus, I propose to study the writings of
several neo-Thomist thinkers of the 20th century with a particular focus on the writings of a
former professor of philosophy at the University of Dallas – Frederick D. Wilhelmsen.
One might question why I would choose to focus on the work of a relatively unknown
philosopher – Wilhelmsen. One reason for this is pragmatic; I was approached by my colleague,
Dr. Mark Popowski, last summer to contribute an essay on Wilhelmsen’s neo-Thomist
metaphysical/epistemological theory for a publication he was compiling as a part of his research.
After having read, or rather perused, some of Wilhelmsen’s works, I realized that though he is an
obscure figure in the modern philosophical landscape, there is much to what he has to say that
could make a valuable contribution to neo-Thomist thinking and philosophy in general. So it is
reasonable to focus my attention on his thought.
Thus, my project intends to focus mainly on the contributions of neo-Thomist thinkers generally
and primarily Wilhelmsen’s thought on problems in metaphysics and epistemology as well as
contributions made in the areas of social and political thought. As I wish to formally take my
study grant during the Summer II 2016 term, I propose as a propaedeutic the following:
I will read the following texts (and anything that reveals itself as necessarily useful and related to
these texts) prior to the actual study grant period:
1) Cessario, Romanus, O.P. A Short History of Thomism, Washington, D. C.: The Catholic
University of America Press, 2003.
2) Gilson, Etienne. Thomist Realism and the Critique of Knowledge, trans. Mark Wauck,
San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1983.
3) Gilson, Etienne. Being and Some Philosophers, 2nd ed., Toronto: Pontifical Institute of
Mediaeval Studies, 1952.
4) Clarke, W. Norris, S. J. Person and Being, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquett University
Press, 1993.
5) Wojtyla, Karol (Pope John Paul II). The Acting Person, trans. Andrzej Potocki,
Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Co., 1979.
6) Knasas, John F. X. Being and Some Twentieth-Century Thomists, New York: Fordham
University Press, 2003.
7) Boyle, John F. Mater Thomas Aquinas and the Fullness of Life, South Bend, Indiana: St.
Augustine’s Press, 2014.
During the Summer II 2016 term, designated as the period for this study grant, I will read the
following:
1) Wilhelmsen, Frederick D. The Paradoxical Structure of Existence, Albany, N. Y.:
Preserving Christian Publications, Inc., 1991. (208 pgs.)
2) Wilhelmsen, Frederick D. Being and Knowing: Reflections of a Thomist, Albany, N. Y.:
Preserving Christian Publications, Inc. 1995. (275 pgs.)
3) Wilhelmsen, Frederick D. Man’s Knowledge of Reality: An Introduction to Thomistic
Epistemology, Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1956. (203 pgs.)
4) Wilhelmsen, Frederick D. The Metaphysics of Love, New York: Sheed and Ward, 1962.
(159 pgs.)
All of the titles in the propaedeutic section are either a study of Thomism in various ways or
more specific discussions of Thomas Aquinas’ thought. These texts should help me to develop a
broader understanding of the influence of Thomas Aquinas’ thought as it has impacted the last
100 plus years (or more) of philosophical discussion. The actual texts that I will devote my time
to during the study grant time period are particularly specific understandings of Aquinas’ thought
through the eyes of Wilhelmsen.
As a result of this study, I can only become a much more thorough and knowledgeable
teacher. I will now possess a much richer understanding of Thomist and neo-Thomist thought as
it pertains to important philosophical issues, such as metaphysics, epistemology and other
concerns. Professors and teachers that I have had in my career who have made the most
indelible marks on my understanding have been those whose knowledge of history and ideas is
such that they can speak with authority about any period in history. That is my goal with this
project – to develop my skills to be able to bring as comprehensive a knowledge as possible to
my classes of medieval thought and the thought of Thomas Aquinas.
I am presenting a rather ambitious program although one I am confident of being able to
complete. The study grant will afford me time to tackle this project in a significant way. I
appreciate the committee’s time in evaluating this proposal.