JOHN TOMARCHIO, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy
Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085-1699
(610) 519-4719/john.tomarchio@villanova.edu
Education
Ph.D./M.A., October 1996/May 1993. The School of Philosophy, The Catholic University of
America, Washington, D.C. Honors & Scholarships: Doctoral Defense with Distinction, 1996;
Master’s Oral Exam Summa cum laude, 1993; Pi Gamma Mu, 1993; Homeland Foundation Grant,
1993-94; Penfield Scholarship, 1989-90; Board of Trustees Scholar, 1986-1989.
B.A., May 1984. Columbia College, Columbia University, New York, N.Y. Honors & Scholarships:
Valedictorian, Class of 1984; Albert Asher Green Memorial Prize, 1984; Phi Beta Kappa, 1983;
Jacoby Presidential Scholar, 1980-84.
Areas of Interest
Specialization: Classical Metaphysics. Thomas Aquinas.
Competence: History of Philosophy: Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern. Ethics.
Doctoral Dissertation: “The Modus Principle in the Writings of Thomas Aquinas.”
Master’s Thesis: “The Concept of Infinity in Aquinas’s Commentary on the Liber de causis.”
Fellowships & Grants
Villanova University Summer Research Fellowship. "Aquinas's Principle of Alterity: Medieval
Innovations in Metaphysics." Office of Research and Sponsored Projects, Villanova University, June
to August 1999.
National Endowment for the Humanities Post-Doctoral Fellowship. Core Curriculum Program,
College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, September 1996 to May 1998.
National Fulbright Research Fellowship. “Lexicological Research with the Index Thomisticus CDROM,” Milan-Rome, July 1994 to July 1995. Advisor: Dr. Roberto Busa.
Teaching
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Villanova University. Villanova, PA, 1998—Present.
Undergraduate Courses: “Metaphysics,” “Introduction to Thomas Aquinas,” “History of Medieval
Philosophy,” “God and Philosophy,” "Social & Political Philosophy," “Introduction to Philosophy,”
“Core Humanities Seminar (Ancient and Medieval).” Graduate Courses: “Metaphysics of Aquinas,”
"Aquinas's De veritate."
Lecturer, Core Curriculum Program, College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University. Boston, MA,
1997-98. Courses: “The Ancient World,” “Antiquity & the Medieval World,” “Core Humanities
Honors Seminar.”
Lecturer, School of Philosophy, Catholic University of America. Washington, D.C., Spring 1996.
Courses: “Modern Mind,” “Metaphysics,” “Philosophy of God,” “Contemporary Moral Issues.”
Articles
“Thomistic Axiomatics in an Age of Computers,” History of Philosophy Quarterly 16 (1999): 249-75.
“Four Indices for the Thomistic Axiom Omne quod recipitur in aliquo est in eo secundum modum
recipientis,” Mediaeval Studies 60 (1998): 315-67.
“Aquinas’s Division of Being According to Modes of Existing,” forthcoming in Review of
Metaphysics.
Translations
“Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology as a Dialectical Philosophy of Expression.” Translation of “La
fenomenologia di Merleau-Ponty come ripresa della philosophia perennis,” by Sandro Mancini,
International Philosophical Quarterly 36 (1996): 389-98.
“English Instructions for the Philologist.” Roberto Busa, “Istruzioni per Filologi in Italiano,” in Liber
Manualis, Thomae Aquinatis Opera Omnia cum Hypertextibus in CD-ROM, 2nd ed. (Milano:
Editoria Elettronica Editel, 1996), 67-93.
Book Reviews
Review of Anne Ashely Davenport's Measure of a Different Greatness (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1999), in
The Thomist 65 (2001): 141-45.
Review of Jan A. Aertsen's Medieval Philosophy and the Transcendentals: The Case of Thomas
Aquinas (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996), in The Thomist 63 (1999): 146-51.
Review of Commentary on the Book of Causes of St. Thomas Aquinas, Tr. Vincent A. Guagliardo et
al. (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1996), in The Thomist 61 (1997): 47780.
Review of Norman Kretzmann's the Metaphysics of Creation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999),
forthcoming in Philosophical Books.
Lectures and Papers
“Aquinas’s Reply to Parmenides.”
Invited Paper, Society for Medieval and Renaissance
Philosophy, 25th International Conference on Patristic, Mediaeval, and Renaissance Studies,
Villanova University, September 2000.
“Modes of Metaphysical Consideration.” 34th International Congress of Medieval Studies, Session of
the Center for Thomistic Studies, Western Michigan University, May 1999.
“The Complete Entity in an Existential Metaphysics.” 20th World Congress of Philosophy, Panel on
Medieval Philosophy, Boston University, August 1998.
“Computer Linguistics and Philosophical Interpretation.” 20th World Congress of Philosophy, Panel
on Philosophical Methodology, Boston University, August 1998.
“Aquinas’ Neoplatonic Hermeneutic of Intensive Infinity.” Conference on the Global & Multicultural
Dimensions of Ancient & Medieval Philosophy, Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, Binghamton
University, Binghamton, NY, October 1997.
“The Multiple Discourses of Aquinas’s Participation Metaphysics.” Invited Paper, Society for
Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, 22nd International Conference on Patristic, Mediaeval, and
Renaissance Studies, Villanova University, September 1997.
“Computational Lexicology In Exercito: A Use of the Index Thomisticus.” 32nd International
Congress on Medieval Studies, Session of the International Institute of Scholasticism, Western
Michigan University, May 1997.
“On Aquinas’s Use of the Axiom 'What is received is in the receiver according to the mode of the
receiver.’” Invited Lecture, Boston Colloquium for Medieval Philosophy, Boston College, January
1997.
Service
Program Committee, American Catholic Philosophical Association Annual Meeting, St. Paul, MN,
November 1999.
Paper Review Committee, American Organizing Committee, 20th World Congress of Philosophy,
Boston University, Boston, MA, Fall 1997.
Coordinator, The School of Philosophy Spring Lecture Series in the History of Philosophy, The
Catholic University of America, 1990.
Professional Memberships
American Philosophical Association.
American Catholic Philosophical Association.
Société Internationale Pour L’Etude De La Philosophie Médiévale.
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy.
The Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy.