Curriculum Vitae
Welcome to my curriculum vitae. Below you'll find information on my academic background and links to my published work. For sample course syllabi, see the Sample Syllabi tab.
AoS: Medieval Philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Language, Thomas Aquinas
AoC: Action Theory, Philosophical Anthropology, Philosophy of Religion, Ancient Philosophy, Formal Logic
Table of contents
Education
PhD cand., Philosophy, The Center for Thomistic Studies at the University of St. Thomas (TX)
Dissertation: “Thomas Aquinas on the Accidentality and Essentiality of Being in Light of His Arabic and Logico-Grammatical Sources”
Director: Brian Carl. Committee: Thomas Osborne, Domenic D’Ettore
MA, Philosophy, The Center for Thomistic Studies at the University of St. Thomas (TX) (summa cum laude), May 2019
BA, Philosophy, Economics, Catholic studies, University of St. Thomas (MN) (summa cum laude)
Academic Publications
Elliot Polsky, "Why Are Accidents Included under Being per se," Nova et Vetera, forthcoming. [Winner of the Leo Elders Junior Scholar Essay Contest.] [PhilPapers][Academia.edu]
Elliot Polsky, "The Modern Semantic Principles behind Gilson's Existential Interpretation of Aquinas [Part 1]," Studia Gilsoniana, forthcoming. [PhilPapers][Academia.edu]
Elliot Polsky, "The Modern Semantic Principles behind Gilson's Existential Interpretation of Aquinas [Part 2]," Studia Gilsoniana, forthcoming. [PhilPapers][Academia.edu]
Elliot Polsky, "The Semantics of Divine Esse in Boethius," Nova et Vetera, forthcoming. [PhilPapers][Academia.edu]
Elliot Polsky, "The Real Distinction between Supposit and Nature in Angels in Thomas Aquinas," Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association (2023 meeting), forthcoming. [PhilPapers][Academia.edu]
Elliot Polsky, "Secunda Operatio Respicit Ipsum Esse Rei: An Evaluation of Jacques Maritain, Étienne Gilson, and Ralph McInerny on the Relation of Esse to the Intellect’s Two Operations," Nova et Vetera19, no. 2 (2021): 895–932. [PhilPapers] [Academia.edu]
Elliot Polsky, "Secondary Substance and Quod Quid Erat Esse: Aquinas on Reconciling the Divisions of 'Substance' in the Categories and Metaphysics," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 96, no. 1 (2022): 21–45. [PhilPapers] [Academia.edu] [ACPQ]
Elliot Polsky, "'In as Many Ways as Something is Predicated ... in that Many Ways is Something Signified to Be': The Logic Behind Thomas Aquinas’s Predication Thesis, Esse Substantiale, and Esse in Rerum Natura," Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 93 (2019): 263–92. [PhilPapers] [Academia.edu] [Pr. ACPA]
Elliot Polsky, "Thomas Aquinas on Grace as a Mysterious Kind of Creature," Studia Gilsoniana 10, no. 3 (2021): 545–78. [PhilPapers] [Academia.edu]
Elliot Polsky, "Thomistic Special Relativity: Length Contraction and Time Dilation Without the Fourth Dimension," Proceedings Sixth World Conference on Metaphysics 6 (2015): 1157–1169. [PhilPapers] [Academia.edu]
Academic Assignments and Service Work
Academic Assignments
Adjunct Faculty, Philosophy, University of St. Thomas (Houston, TX), 2020–present
Service Work and Other Work
Copyeditor, The Catholic University of America Press, June 2020–present
Referee for American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 2019–present
Reading Groups & Seminars
Uncertainty, Confidence, and Truth in the Sciences: Thomistic Philosophy and Natural Science Symposium, sponsored by the Thomistic Institute, The Catholic University of America, July 12–16, 2023.
Aquinas and "the Arabs" International Working Group (AAIWG), “Luis Xavier López-Farjeat, Classical Islamic Philosophy: A Thematic Introduction,” organized by Atefe Esmaili, Seth Kreeger, Nicoletta Nativo, Pooya Heybatollahi, Richard Taylor, Fall 2022–Spring 2023.
The City of God and Modernity: Culture and Ecclesiology, sponsored by the Institute for Human Ecology and the Thomistic Institute, The Catholic University of America, June 12–17, 2022.
Select Awards / Grants
Leo Elders Junior Scholar Essay Contest ($750)
Sponsor: Leo Elders Foundation
Title: "Why Are Accidents Included under Being per se?"
Thomas D. Sullivan Medal for Best Undergraduate Philosophical Essay ($500)
Sponsor: University of St. Thomas (MN), Philosophy Department
Title: “What to Make of Modes of Names: Filling an Important Gap in Aristotle’s On Interpretation”
Delta Epsilon Sigma National Research Essay Contest Champion ($500)
Topic: From Theology to Art: How the Development of Dominican Theology Motivated the Preaching of Dominican Sponsored Artists
Young Scholars Research Grant ($4,000)
Sponsor: University of St. Thomas (MN), Grants and Research Office
Topic: Special Relativity without the Fourth Dimension: Interpreting Einstein’s Physics with Aristotle’s Definition of Motion
Mentor: Thomas Feeney, PhD, MPhil, MSt
Collaborative Inquiry Grant ($1,500)
Sponsor: University of St. Thomas (MN), Grants and Research Office
Topic: Biology’s Accidental Species: The Compatibility of Multiple True Taxonomies with Aristotelian Essentialism
Mentor: Mark Spenser, PhD
Center of the American Experiment, Research Assistant ($1,500)
Mentor: Mitch Pearlstein, PhD
Topic: How Religious Institutions and Leaders Can Better Promote Healthy Marriages
Dissertation
Title: “Thomas Aquinas on the Accidentality and Essentiality of Being in Light of His Arabic and Logico-Grammatical Sources”
Description: The dissertation concerns the accidentality and essentiality of “being” (esse) in St. Thomas’s metaphysics. I approach this topic by attempting to reconstruct from the primary source texts how Aquinas himself read Latin Aristotle (esp. Metaph. V, c. 7), Latin Avicenna, William of Auvergne (on the two intentions of esse), and Latin Averroës (critique of Avicenna in In IV, V, and X Metaph.). While it is generally recognized that technical terms like “esse substantiale” and “actus entis / essendi” are central to Aquinas’s understanding of this topic, little attention has been given to the source and meaning of these terms in earlier medieval thought. I show that the term “esse substantiale” comes from twelfth-century logic and was already incorporated into the interpretation of Boethius in that century. Aquinas uses it to criticize William of Auvergne’s novel, Avicennian reading of Boethius in favor of a more traditional, twelfth-century interpretation. I show the roots of the phrase “actus entis / essendi” in the application of medieval grammar to metaphysics by authors in the 1240–1250s, especially the authors of the Summa halensis, Bonaventure, and Albert, drawing on the logical grammar of William of Sherwood and Peter of Spain.
Dissertation Outline:
Ch0: Introduction; Recent Attempts to Solve the Problem of the Accidentality and Essentiality of Being
Ch1: The Modern Origins of the Existential Reading of Aquinas in Maritain, Gilson, and Wippel
Ch2: Why is Every Predication a Predication of Being
Ch3: Being per accidens and per se
Ch4: Aquinas’s Averroistic Critique of William of Auvergne and Avicenna
Ch5: The Essentiality of Being: What is “Esse substantiale”? Why is Esse an “Act”?
Ch6: The Accidentality of Being: Why is Esse substantiale an “Accident”?
Graduate Coursework
Cumulative GPA: 3.933
Fall 2017
PHIL 5304 Thomistic Metaphysics (R. E. Houser)
PHIL 5345 Bioethics (Steven Jensen)
PHIL 6393 Thomistic Existentialism (John F. X. Knasas)
Spring 2018
PHIL 5314 Thomas Aquinas on Human Nature (Thomas Osborne)
PHIL 5359 Philosophical Latin (Michael Boler)
PHIL 5393 Contemporary Thomism: Personalism (John Hittinger)
Fall 2018
PHIL 5317 Philosophy of Nature / Philosophy of Science (John Hittinger)
PHIL 5338 Introduction to Thomistic Ethics (Fr. Joseph Pilsner)
PHIL 6393 Analytic Thomism (Christopher Martin)
Fall 2019
PHIL 5312 Natural Law (Steven Jensen)
PHIL 5398 Metaphysics of Jacques Maritain (John Hittinger)
PHIL 6392 Independent Study: “History of Formal Logic” [I.M. Bocheński, History of Formal Logic; Jan Łukasiewicz, Elements of Mathematical Logic; ibid., Aristotle’s Syllogistic from the Standpoint of Modern Formal Logic] (John Hittinger)
Spring 2020
PHIL 5332 Aquinas’s Commentary on the Metaphysics (Brian Carl)
PHIL 5334 Contemporary Logic (Christopher Martin)
PHIL 5363 Grace (Mirela Oliva)
PhD & MA comprehensive exams reading list | Spring 2019, fall–spring 2020–21
Ancient | Plato, Republic and Phaedo; Aristotle, Nicomachean ethics, Politics, Posterior analytics, De anima; Plotinus, Enneads(selections)
Medieval | Augustine, On Free Choice of the Will and On Christian Teaching; Anselm, Proslogion; Aquinas, De ente et essentia; ST I, qq. 1–13, qq. 44–46, qq. 75–87, I-II, qq. 1–20; Scotus (selections); Avicenna, Metaphysics of the Healing(complete)
Modern | Descartes, Meditations; Leibniz, Monadology and Discourse on Metaphysics; Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding; Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding; Kant, Prolegomena
Contemporary | Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (complete); Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals; Frege, “Sense and Reference”; Russell, “On Denoting” and “Descriptions”; Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations I; Quine, “From a Logical Point of View” and “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”
Thomistic | Étienne Gilson, Being and Some Philosophers; Jacques Maritain, A Preface to Metaphysics and Existence and the Existent; Yves Simon, Philosophy of Democratic Government; Joseph Owens, An Elementary Christian Metaphysics