My focus in philosophy is primarily modern and contemporary schools of thought, but I am deeply immersed in the history of philosophy, going back to Plato and Aristotle and running through the Middle Ages. In this way I am constantly in dialogue with ancient and medieval thinkers, even though I tend to concentrate on more recent perspectives in my research and teaching.

As regards my education, I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto in German and Philosophy and then studied for my MA and PhD at the Institute of Philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) in Belgium. My doctoral dissertation, under the supervision of Dr. Martin Moors, dealt with the later thought of the German philosopher Friedrich Schelling and is entitled: Truth and the Self: Schelling’s Redress of Modern Philosophy.

An abiding theme in my thinking since my graduate studies to the present day is the nature and dignity of the human person. To be sure, philosophical anthropology has consistently been the centerpiece of my philosophical reflections.

I am an active participant in the Canadian and American societies devoted to the philosophy of Jacques Maritain. I am currently the vice president of the Canadian Jacques Maritain Association and the editor of the academic journal Études maritainiennes – Maritain Studies. Maritain is an exemplary philosopher because he demonstrates what a philosopher should be: someone with boundless interests in pursuit of wisdom and truth. 

The main areas of my philosophical interests can be categorized in the following way:

• German philosophy
  
  • Kant and German Idealism, especially F. W. J. Schelling
  • Friedrich Nietzsche
     
• Modern philosophy
  
  • Especially Descartes
     
• Phenomenology
  
  • Husserl, Heidegger, Scheler, Merleau-Ponty, Sokolowski
     
• Philosophy of Human Nature
  
  • The foundation of human dignity
  • Soul and body
  • The immateriality of mind
  • The interpersonal basis of human nature
     
• Personalism
  
  • The philosophies of Jean Vanier, Jacques Maritain, Gabriel Marcel, Martin Buber
     
• Ethics
  
  • Sexual ethics
  • Marriage and the family
  • bioethics
     
• Philosophy of religion
  
  • God
  • Good and evil
  • The sacred and the profane
  • Faith and reason
     
• Metaphysics
  
  • Truth
  • Being
  • Freedom

Grants
Faculty Research Grant (2014)

Fellowships

Catholic University of Leuven Doctoral Scholarship (1999-2001)

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship (1998-2000)

J. Van de Wiele Doctoral Fellowship, Institute of Philosophy, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium (1997-98)

Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (DAAD) Summer Exchange Program Scholarship at the University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany (1993)