Philosophy as Service: Mendicant Metaphysics in the 21st Century - Invitation to Participate
“The Christian remains the guardian of that metaphysical wonderment which is the point of origin for philosophy and the continuation of which is the basis of its further existence.”
Year upon year, when the leaves are turning and the days grow shorter, the American Catholic Philosophical Association gathers scholars interested in understanding faith through philosophy and letting it ground rational acting. Should Franciscans be there as well? I attended twice, last year and this year. Many good discussions, with students or scholars early in their career or otherwise off the beaten track, hungry for new ideas, rewarded me for enduring what was, in the remainder, Thomism for Thomists.
Of course, I appreciate Thomism’s mix of simplicity and complexity when a pastoral need calls for a concise answer to a complex question. But for me, it is a starting point that propels me forward by making evident that life challenges us more profoundly than the first answer recognizes. I critique Thomism only when it is presupposed as the one true foundation. In one talk, the speaker humbly acknowledged that all in the audience were experts in Thomism. “I’m not,” I interjected.
My small contribution to the 2025 ACPA conference was to comment on a contributed paper by a young scholar with an interest in both medieval and modern Franciscans. It gave me an opportunity to say what it means to be a Franciscan: To act in the spirit of Luke 4:18 and “to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed.” The task for Franciscan philosophers is then to show what this means and how understanding it leads to acting in the spirit of this good news. However, our own strength will never suffice to complete this task (“the poor will always be with you”). To be heralds of the good news, philosophy can come to our aid and help us understand both the limits and the power of our actions. The ACPA conference is a good place to speak of this and learn from others.
Therefore, I want to ask you: Are you interested in participating in a satellite session on the topic of “Philosophy as Service: Mendicant Metaphysics in the 21st Century” as part of the next ACPA meeting, in Washington, DC, in 2026?
I chose this title carefully, but it is, of course, in need of further discussion. Philosophy for the sake of philosophy, as some kind of logic game, is not my interest. Philosophy should be useful, and it should be in the service of our mission. The quote from Hans Urs von Balthasar reminds us that metaphysics is not just either a joke or a distraction. How metaphysics grounds the understanding of our being has real consequences. I also think that we cannot understand our Franciscan tradition in isolation but only as one tradition in the larger context of mendicant traditions. We have much in common with Dominicans, Augustinians and Carmelites. Therefore, even though my outreach is firstly to my fellow Franciscans, I chose to suggest “medicant metaphysics” instead of “Franciscan metaphysics.”
If I have captured your interest, please respond. You can reach me at joachim.ostermann@utoronto.ca. I will be happy to facilitate a discussion among those who respond so that we can plan the next steps.
Joachim Ostermann, OFM
See my personal page here.