The University of St. Thomas

College of Arts & Sciences | Department of Catholic Studies | Faculty

Dr. Kenneth Kemp

Dr. Kenneth Kemp

Dr. Kenneth W. Kemp

Associate Professor of Philosophy

kwkemp@stthomas.edu
Phone: (651) 962-5360

Office Location: JRC 217
Courses taught in Spring 2013
IDSC 480-08
21327		 HONORS Aquinas on Law 0800-0940 R MHC 211

2 Credit Hours

These interdisciplinary seminars are intended to develop integrating insights through an analysis of topics chosen from different disciplines. Often they are taught by two faculty members or by a visiting lecturer who holds one of the endowed chairs at the university. (IDSC 479 is used if the seminar has been approved to partially fulfill a requirement in the core curriculum.)
PHIL 214-16
20528		 Introductory Ethics 0955-1135 T R MHC 208

4 Credit Hours

An inquiry into the rational foundations and methods of ethics, with attention to the application of ethical principles to areas of personal conduct, institutional behavior and public policy, and diversity within and across cultures. This course, with PHIL 115, fulfills the Moral and Philosophical Reasoning requirement in the core curriculum. Prerequisite: PHIL 115 NOTE: Students who receive credit for PHIL 214 may not receive credit for PHIL 215.
PHIL 214-20
20627		 Introductory Ethics 1525-1700 T R MHC 206

4 Credit Hours

An inquiry into the rational foundations and methods of ethics, with attention to the application of ethical principles to areas of personal conduct, institutional behavior and public policy, and diversity within and across cultures. This course, with PHIL 115, fulfills the Moral and Philosophical Reasoning requirement in the core curriculum. Prerequisite: PHIL 115 NOTE: Students who receive credit for PHIL 214 may not receive credit for PHIL 215.
Courses taught in Fall 2013
PHIL 220-02
40316		 Logic 1330-1510 T R OEC 212

4 Credit Hours

This course provides students with skills for identifying, analyzing, and evaluating the sorts of reasoning encountered in natural language. Emphasis will be placed on attaining facility with different formal systems for representing and evaluating arguments - including propositional logic, Aristotelian syllogistic, first-order predicate calculus, and some of their simple extensions - as well as on acquiring the ability to apply these systems in the analysis and evaluation of arguments in ordinary and philosophical discourse. Prerequisite: PHIL 115

Academic History

B.S.Lang., Russian, Georgetown University, 1973
M.A., Slavic Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, 1975
M.A., Liberal Education, St. John’s College, 1980
M.A., History & Philosophy of Science, University of Notre Dame, 1983
Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, 1984

Expertise

Ethics
History & Philosophy of Science

Selected Publications

Translation (with Zuzanna Maslanka) of Józef Zycinski, God & Evolution (forthcoming from Catholic University of America Press, 2006).

“Scientific Method & Appeal to Supernatural Agency: A Christian Case for Modest Methodological Naturalism.” Logos 3 (2000) : 2: 165-205.

“Faith as a Virtue in Theology, Philosopy, & Natural Science.” Faith & Philosophy  15 (1998): 4: 462-477.

“Punishment as Just Cause of War.” Public Affairs Quarterly 10 (1996): 4: 335-354.

Review article on John Boswell’s Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, with Robert Kennedy. In Greek Orthodox Theological Review 41 (1996): 1: 57–80.

“The Possibility of Conflict Between Science & Christian Theology,” in Jitse M. van der Meer, ed., Facets of Faith & Science (University Press of America, 1996), pp. 247–266.

“Personal Pacifism.” Theological Studies 56: 1 (1995): 21–38.

“Speaking Falsely & Telling Lies,” with Thomas Sullivan. Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 67 (1993): 151-170.

“Conscientious Objection,” Public Affairs Quarterly  7 (1993): 4: 303-324.

Selected Presentations

"What is Academic Freedom?” A presentation at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture conference “Joy in the Truth,” 30 September 2005

“Marriage, Same-Sex Relationships and Legal Recognition.” A lecture at the Catholic University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland, October, 2004.