Philosophy 409 (Philosophy of John Henry Newman)
Philosophy 490 (Senior Philosophy Seminar)
Spring Semester 2012, Ave Maria University
Instructor contact information
Dr. Michael Pakaluk
mpakaluk@gmail.com
Office Hours: M, W 11am – 12 noon, and by appointment
Course Description
An investigation of the philosophical thought of John Henry Newman. The course in part
poses the question: Can Newman be read as a philosopher, and, if so, what are his
important contributions? We look at his views on the rationality of belief in miracles; the
relation of faith and reason; the development of ideas; intellectual virtue; the nature of
education; the rationality of belief in what we do not understand; the possibility of
certainty about things not directly seen; whether what we believe is in our power; and the
argument to God’s existence from conscience.
Texts
Works of Newman to be studied:
Apologia Pro Vita Sua
Development of Christian Doctrine
Essays on Miracles
Grammar of Assent
Idea of a University
Oxford University Sermons on Faith and Reason
Parochial and Plain Sermons
Philosophical Notebook (posthumous)
All but the last of these are available online at: www.newmanreader.org.
Required print text:
Ian Ker, John Henry Newman: A Biography (Oxford, 1990).
Internet Resources
A continually updated bibliography of writings about Newman may be found at
http://www.newmanfriendsinternational.org/. Also, see the valuable Rickaby index at
Newman Reader.
Course Goals

To become familiar with the chief philosophical ideas, theses, and intuitions of John
Henry Newman, through a study of his most important works.
 To arrive at definite interpretations of Newman’s thought on the topics listed in the
course description.
Course Requirements
Class presentation (25%)
Final paper (50%)
Class participation (25%)
Course Schedule (meeting time TBA)
Week 1: Introduction and Background.
Reading:
Apologia Pro Vita Sua
Week 2: Philosophical Influences: Joseph Butler on Analogy, and Antecedent
Probabilities
Reading:
(1) Joseph Butler, Analogy of Religion, Introduction and Part I (“Of Natural
Religion”). Available online as part of the Christian Library of Ethereal
Classics (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/butler/analogy.html).
Recommended:
(2) Analysis of the structure of Butler’s argument, in an 1860 New York edition,
available on Google Books (search there for “editions:ISBN0827418620”).
(3) Analogy of Religion, Part II (“Of Revealed Religion”)
Week 3: Philosophical Influences. Joseph Butler on Conscience
Reading:
Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, available online as part of the
Christian Library of Ethereal Classics at
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/butler/sermons.html.
Sermon I, “Upon the Social Nature of Man”
2
Sermon II, “Upon the Natural Supremacy of Conscience”
Sermon III, “Upon the Natural Supremacy of Conscience”
Recommended:
Sermon XI, “Upon the Love of Our Neighbor”
Sermon XII, “Upon the Love of Our Neighbor”
Week 4: Miracles
Reading:
David Hume, Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, section 10, “Of
Miracles”
Newman, Essays on Miracles, Essay I, “The Miracles of Scripture”
Recommended:
(1) Joseph Butler, Analogy of Religion, Part II, ch. ii, “Of the Supposed Presumption
against a Revelation Considered as Miraculous”
(2) George Campbell, A Dissertation on Miracles, retrievable in various formats from
the Canadian Libraries Internet Archive
(http://www.archive.org/details/dissertationmira00campuoft); also available as
from Google Books.
Week 5: Faith and Reason
Reading:
Oxford University Sermons
Sermon X, “Faith and Reason, Contrasted as Habits of Mind”
Sermon XI, “The Nature of Faith in Relation to Reason”
Recommended:
Joseph Pieper, Belief and Faith (or, the discussion of ‘Faith’) in his book, Faith,
Hope, and Love.
St. Thomas Aquinas, S.T., IIa-IIae, q. 1 (“Of Faith”), aa. 1-2; q. 4 (“The Virtue of
Faith”), a. 3.
Week 6: Faith, Reason, and Charity
Reading:
(1) Oxford University Sermons
Sermon XII, “Love the Safeguard of Faith against Superstition”
Sermon XIII, “Implicit and Explicit Reason”
(2) Parochial and Plain Sermons
Vol. 6, sermon 23, “Faith without Demonstration”
Recommended:
St. Thomas Aquinas, S.T., IIa-IIae, q. 10, “Unbelief in General”, aa. 1-5.
Week 7: The Development of Ideas
Readings:
3
Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine
(1) Part I, Introduction, and 1. The Development of Ideas
(2) Part II, 5. Genuine Developments Contrasted with Corruptions
Recommended:
(1) Oxford University Sermons, Sermon XIV, “The Theory of Developments
in Religious Doctrine”
(2) Joseph Butler, Analogy of Religion, Part II, ch. I, “Of the Importance of
Christianity”
(3) Vere Chappell, “Locke’s Theory of Ideas”, in the Cambridge Companion
to Locke.
(4) Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (the remainder)
Week 8: Philosophical Themes, and a Portrait of Integrity
Reading:
Parochial and Plain Sermons
Vol. 1, sermon 2, “The Immortality of the Soul”
Vol. 1, sermon 15, “Religious Faith Rational”
Vol. 2, sermon 5, “Love of Relations and Friends”
Vol. 4, sermon 19, “The Mysteriousness of our Present Being”
Vol. 5, sermon 3, “Unreal Words”
Recommended:
Crosby, John, “John Henry Newman on Personal Influence”, in Personalist
Papers, Catholic University of America Press, 2004, pp. 221-243.
Week 9: Educational Ideals and Intellectual Virtue
Readings:
Idea of a University, Part I, University Teaching
Recommended:
Plato, Republic, books VI and VII
Week 10: Assent and Apprehension
Readings:
Grammar of Assent, Part I, “Assent and Apprehension”
ch. 1, “Modes of holding and apprehending Propositions”
ch. 2, “Assent considered as Apprehensive”
ch. 3, “The Apprehension of Propositions”
Recommended:
Richard Whateley, Logic, passim
Week 11: Notional versus Real Assent
Readings:
Grammar of Assent, Part II, “Assent and Inference”
4
ch. 4, “Notional and Real Assent”
ch. 5, “Apprehension and Assent in the matter of Religion”
Recommended:
Recommended:
H.H. Price, Belief, Gifford Lectures, Series Two, Lecture 5, “Newman’s
Distinction between Notional and Real Assent”, pp. 315-348.
Week 12: Unconditional Assent and Certainty
Readings:
Grammar of Assent, Part II, “Assent and Inference”
ch. 6, “Assent considered as Unconditional”
ch. 7, “Certitude”
Recommended:
Wittgenstein, On Certainty
Kienzler, Wolfgang, “Wittgenstein and John Henry Newman on Certainty”, in
Deepening Our Understanding of Wittgenstein (Grazer Philosophische Studien,
Volume 71, 2006), M. Kober, ed., 117-138
Week 13: The Illative Sense
Readings:
Grammar of Assent, Part II, “Assent and Inference”
ch.9, “Assent considered as Unconditional”
ch. 10, “Inference and Assent in the matter of Religion”
Recommended:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, I.3-4, VI.
Week 14: “Beyond” Reason, and Shining Light on “Unseen Realities”
Readings:
Philosophical Notebook
Recommended:
Parochial and Plain Sermons
vol. II, sermon 29, “The Powers of Nature”
vol. IV, sermon 14, “The Invisible World”
Wittgenstein, “Lecture on Ethics”
Select Bibliography (on Newman’s philosophical contributions)
ABOH B.C., John Henry Newman's Interpretation of John Locke on Assent and its
Implications in the Philosophy of Religion. Pont. Università Urbaniana, Roma 1997, 188
pp.
5
ACHTEN H., First Principles and Our Way to Faith. A Fundamental-theological Study
of John Henry Newman's Notion of First Prinicipals, D.Th., Università Gregoriana,
Roma 1993.
AQUINO, Frederick D., Communities of Informed Judgment: Newman’s Illative Sense
and Accounts of Rationality, Catholic University of America Press, 2004.
ARMOUR L., Newman, Anselm and the Proof of the Existence of God, International
Journal for Philosophy of Religion 19 (1986) 87-93.
ARTZ J., Newman in Contact with Kant's Thought. The Journal of Theological Studies
31 (1980) 517 - 535.
AVELING F., Universals and the Illative Sense. Dublin Review 137 (1905) 236 - 271.
BALELA SOLOR Y., The Concept of Knowledge in the Idea of a University of J. H.
Newman: Its Philosophical Background and its Revelance today (Extractum), Pontificia
Universitas Urbaniana, Roma 2000, 66 pp.
BOEKRAAD, A.J. and H. TRISTAM, The Argument from Conscience to the Existence
of God according to J. H. Newman, (Louvain: Nauwelaerts, 1961).
BRIODCKEL A.., Cardinal Newman's Theory of Knowledge. American Catholic
Quarterly 43 (1918) 508 - 604.
BROWN D. (Ed.), Newman: a Man for our Time. Centenary Essays, SPCK. London
1990, viii+168 pp.
CALLEGARI L., II pensiero filosofico di John Henry Newman. Dagli University
Sermons alIa Grammar of Assent: una risposta al liberalismo teologico. Università degli
studi di Parma, 1997, III, 205 pp.
CAMERON J., The Night Battle: Newman and Empiricism, Revue Thomiste, vol.14
(1906) 723 - 733; vol. 15 (1907) 222 - 231.
CHENK D., Newman's Complex Assent and Foundationalism, International Studies in
Philosophy 26 (1986) 229 - 240.
COLLINS, James, ed., Philosophical Readings in Cardinal Newman (Chicago: Henry
Regnery, 1961)
CROSBY, JOHN, “John Henry Newman on Personal Influence”, in Personalist Papers,
Catholic University of America Press, 2004, pp. 221-243.
CROSSON F.J., The semantics of the Grammar, Faith Philos. 7, n.2 (1990), 218 - 228.
6
DE SMET W., L'influence de Butler sur la théorie de la foi chez Newman, Ephemerides
Theologicae Lovanienses 39 (1963) 30 - 49.
DEVENEY C.J., The dialogical origin of natural religion. John Henry Newman on
natural religion in 'The Oxford University Sermons'. Dissertatio ad doctoratum, Roma,
Athenaeum Pont. Regina Apostolorum 1999, 83 pp.
DUPRE L., Newman and the Neoplatonic Tradition in England, 137 – 154 in
MERRIGAN T., KER I. (eds.), Newman and the Word (Papers- 2nd Oxford Int. Newman
Conference - Oriel College, Oxford, 10-13 August 1998), Vol. 27, Peeters Press, Louvain
2000, 260 pp.
ERB P.C., Newman and Aristotle on work, leisure, and liberal education, Communio 27,
no 4 (Winter 2000), 743 - 758.
FERREIRA, M. JAMIE, “Newman on Belief—Confidence, Proportionality, and
Probability”, Heythrop Journal, (1985) 26, 164-176.
FINNIS J., Conscience in the "Letter to the Duke of Norfolk", 401-418, in Brown, ed.
(1989).
JAKI S. (Ed.), Newman Today. Papers Presented at a Conference on John Henry Cardinal
Newman. Vol. I. The Proceedings of the Wethersfield Institute, New York City, 1988,
Ignatius Press, San Francisco 1989. 232 pp.
JAKI S., Newman's Assent to Reality, Natural and Supernatural, pp 189-220, in Jaki
(1989), vol. 1.
JAKI S.L., Newman and Science. The Downside Review 108/373 (1990), 282-294.
JAKI S., Newman and Miracles: The Downside Review 115 (1997) 193-214.
GANNON J., Newman and Metaphysics. Irish Ecclesiastical Record 69 (1947).
GARCÍA ALONSO G., J. H. Newman como autor filosófico. Revista Española de
Teología 61 (2001), 505 - 509.
GAUTHIER P., Newman, Jacques Maritain et l'éducation, pp. 235-244 in LEPELLEY C.
et VEYRIRAS P. (Eds), Newman et l'Histoire. Actes du colloque 1990 de l'Association
française des amis de John Henry Newman. Etudes Newmaniennes No. 8 - 1992, Presses
Universitaires de Lyon, Lyon 1992, 280 pp.
GRAVE S.A., Conscience in Newman's Thought. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1989, 191 pp.
7
HAMMOND, DAVID M., “Imagination in Newman’s Phenomenology of Cognition”,
Heythrop Journal (1988) 29, 21-32.
HOCHSCHILD J.P., The Re-Imagined Aristotelianism of John Henry Newman. Modern
Age 45 (2003) 333-342.
HUMMEL T.C., John Henry Newman and the Oriel Noetics. Anglican Theological
Review 74/2 (1992) 203-215.
JOHNSON M.P., Probability the guide of life: the influence of Butler's Analogy on
Keble and Newman. Anglican and Episcopal History 70 n° 3 (2001), 302 - 323.
KENNY A., Newman as a Philosopher of Religion. 98-122, in Brown, ed. (1989).
KER I., HILL A.G. (Eds.), Newman after a Hundred Years. Clarendon Press, Oxford
1990, XVI+470 pp.
KER I., L'originalità filosofica di Newman, 73-80 in GRASSI O., (Ed.}, John Henry
Newman: L'Idea di ragione. Atti del III Colloquio Internazionale del pensiero cristiano
organizzato da ISTRA (Milano, 22-23 Febbraio 1991}. Jaca Book, Milano 1992, 185 pp.
KER, I., “Newman’s Standing as a Philosopher”, Proceedings of the American Catholic
Philosophical Association, (2004) 78, 71-81.
KIENZLER, WOLFGANG, “Wittgenstein and John Henry Newman on Certainty”, in
Deepening Our Understanding of Wittgenstein (Grazer Philosophische Studien, Volume
71, 2006), M. Kober, ed., 117-138.
KLOCKER H.R., Newman and Causality, Heythrop Journal 6 (1965) 160 - 170.
LAMONT J.R., Newman and faith and rationality: International Journal for Philosophy
of Religion 40 (1996) 63-84.
LASH N., The Notion of 'Implicit' and 'Explicit' Reason in Newman's University
Sermons, a Difficulty, Heythrop Journal 11 (1970) 48 - 54.
MCCARTHY G., Newman, Foundationalism and the Ethics of Belief. Horizons 8 (1981)
60-80.
MITCHELL B., Newman as a Philosopher, 223-246, in Ker and Hill, eds. (1990).
MOLESKI M., Illative Sense and Tacit Knowledge: A Comparison of the Theological
Implications of the Epistemologies of J. H. Newman and Michael Polanyi. Theol. Diss.,
Catholic University of America, 1991, 424 pp.
8
MONZON ARAZO A., Newman y el personalismo, 889-903 in Revista Agustiniana,
John Henry Newman. I Centenario de su muerte (1890- 1990). ol. XXXI, No 96
(Septiembre-Diciembre 1990).
NAULTY R.A., Newman's Dispute with Locke, The Journal of the History of Philosophy
11 (1973) 453 - 477.
NAULTY R.A., Mackie's refutation of Newman, Sophia 26 (1987/2) 26 - 30.
NEWMAN Jay, Newman on the Strength of Beliefs. The Thomist 41 (1977) 1 - 61.
NEWMAN Jay, Newman on Love as the Safeguard of Faith. Scottish Journal of
Theology 2 (1979) 139 - 150.
NEWMAN, Jay, The Mental Philosophy of John Henry Newman (Ontario, Canada:
Wilfrid Laurier, 1986).
NEWMAN Jay, The Illative Sense vs. Interpretation: D'Arcy's Critique of Cardinal
Newman's Approach to Insight and Inference. American Catholic Philosophical
Quarterly 73 (1999), 179 - 191.
NEWMAN J.H., John Henry Newman. Scritti filosofici, Quindici Sermoni all'Università
di Oxford. Quaderno Filosofico. Saggio a Sostegno di una Grammatica dell'Assenso,
testo inglese a fronte. Introduction and translation by M. MARCHETTO, published by
M. MARCHETTO, Il pensiero occidentale, Bompiani, Milano 2005, CCLXXXIX+1787
pp.
NICHOLS A., John Henry Newman and the Illative Sense: Nichols Aidan, A Grammar
of Consent. The Existence of God in Christian Tradition, T&T Clark, Edinburgh 1991,
214 pp., 19-38.
O'ROURKE J., Newman's Illative Sense, Irish Ecclesiastical Record 61 (March 1943)
193 - 199.
PELIKAN J., The Idea of the University. A Reexamination. Yale University Press 1992,
238 pp.
PETITPAS H.M., Newman's Personalism : A Precursor to Existentialism, American
Benedictine Review 16 (March 1965) 84 - 96.
PETITPAS H.M., Newman's Idea of Science, Personalist 48 (1967) 297 - 316.
PHILLIPS D.Z., Antecendent Presumption, Faith, and Logic, 1-24 in KER I.&
T.MERRIGAN (Edd), Newman and Faith, (Papers - 3rd Oxford Int. Newman
Conference 2001.) Louvain Theological & Pastoral Monographs 31, Peeters Press, W.B.
Eerdmans, Louvain 2004, 217 pp.
9
PINERO M.& D.RAMON (Edd.), Introducción a la filosofía de J. H. Newman. Diálogo
Ecuménico 38 (2003) 301-257.
RATZINGER J., Conscience and Truth. (Presented at the 10th Workshop for Bishops,
Feb 1991, Dallas, TX, USA.) Benedict XVI and Cardinal Newman, Family Publications,
Oxford 2005, pp. 41-52.
RATZINGER J. Kardinal, Gewissen und Wahrheit, Ethos Nr. 1 (1993) 131-146.
RICHARDSON L., Newman and the Phenomenological Movement, Acta Philosophica
8/II (1999), 301 - 320.
ROBINSON J., Newman's Use of Butler's Arguments, Downside Review 76 (1958) 161 180.
RUPERT J., Newman and Bacon. The Downside Review 118 (2000), 45-70.
RUTLER G.W., El empirismo gramatical de Newman, 745-755 in Scripta theologica.
Revista de la Facultad de Teología de la Universidad de Navarra. Vol. XXII/3 (1990).
SHELDON, W.L. “The Ethics of Doubt—Cardinal Newman”, International Journal of
Ethics (1891) 1, 224-238.
SILLEM, EDWARD A., “Cardinal Newman’s Grammar of Assent on Conscience as a
Way to God”, Heythrop Journal (1964) 5, 377-401.
SPLETT J., Gewissen und Gewissensbegründung bei John Henry Newman, 33-50 in
GLÄSSER A. (Hrsg.), John Henry Newman. Vortragsreihe der Katholischen Universität
Eichstatt (Extemporalia 10), Franz-Sales-Verlag, Eichstatt 1991, 130 pp.
SULLIVAN Thomas D., The Problem of Certitude. Reflections on the Grammar of
Assent. T.A. RUSSMAN, (Ed.), Thomistic papers V, Center for Thomistic Studies,
Houston (Texas), 1990, 63 - 80.
TILLMAN M.K., The Personalist Epistemology of John Henry Newman, Proceedings of
the American Catholic Philosophical Association 60 (1986) 235 - 244.
TILLMAN M.K., Economies of Reason Newman and the 'Phronesis' Tradition, 45 – 53,
in MAGILL G. (Ed.) Discourse and Context. An Interdisciplinary Study of John Henry
Newman. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville 1993, xi + 220
pp.
TOOHEY J.J., Newman on the Criterion of Certitude, Irish Theological Quarterly 2 (Oct
1907) 444 - 453.
10
TOOHEY J.J., The Grammar of Assent and the Old Philosophy, Irish Theological
Quarterly 2 (Oct 1907) 466 - 484.
TRANCE E.C., Antecedent Assumptions and Affectivity in Newman's Moral
Epistemology. Pontificium Athenaeum Sanctae Crucis, Romae 1997, 221 pp.
VANDEN BUSSCHE J., George Spencer et John Henry Newman, pp. 187-200, in
ASSOCIATION FRANCAISE DES AMIS DE JOHN HENRY NEWMAN (Eds.),
Newman et ses Contemporains Catholiques, Etudes Newmaniennes N° 11 - 1995, 224pp.
VIAU M., La fonction argumentative dans les discours théologiques. L'exemple de la
'Grammaire de l'assentiment' de Newman, Laval théologique et philosophique 52 n°3
(1996), 681 - 701.
WARD W., Explicit and Implicit Thought, Dublin Review 13 (Oct 1869) 421 - 442.
WEBB, CLEMENT C.J., “Two Philosophers of the Oxford Movement”, Philosophy
(1933) 8, 273-284.
WIEDMANN F. John Henry Newman - ein Philosoph der Gegenwart, pp. 409-419 in
MÜNCHENER THEOLOGISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT, 43. Jahrgang, Heft 4, 1992, 389 468 pp..
WILLIAMS I., Faith and Scepticism: Newman and the Naturalist Tradition.
Philosophical Investigations 15 (1992) 51 - 66.
Grading:



A is for excellence;
B is for good work;
C represents the satisfactory bare minimum.
Expect the mean and average grades of the course to be around B.
Attendance:


each excused absence (athletic, medical, or serious family reason) must be made up
for
more than two unexcused absences constitute grounds for a failing grade
Integrity:

plagiarism and cheating are completely forbidden and will be dealt with severely.
11
Internet:


no online activity or texting during class
you may consult the internet only if invited to do so by the instructor
Workload:

plan on 8 hours preparation per week outside of class
Instructional method:

special attention in each class will be given to close reading and seminar-type
discussion of select passages
Special Needs:
Any student who needs an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should
contact me privately at the beginning of the semester to discuss your specific needs.
Please also contact the AMU Counseling Services Office to coordinate reasonable
accommodations for students with documented disabilities.
Disclaimer:
The instructor reserves the right to change or modify this course and the syllabus for
justifiable reasons, subject to appropriate and timely notice to the students enrolled in this
class.
12