Paul Gaffney

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Associate ProfessorAssistant Chair
Philosophy
St. John's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Ph.D., Philosophy, The Catholic University of America, 1991M.A., Philosophy, The Catholic University of America, 1988B.S., Biology, Niagara University, 1981

AREAS OF INTEREST

  • Philosophy of law
  • Philosophy of language
  • Ethics
  • Philosophy of sport

Paul Gaffney has been a member of the Philosophy Department since 1989, serving as Chair since 2007. Dr. Gaffney has also regularly taught Business Ethics and other courses for the University’s summer program in Rome, Italy, since 1996. He was a Visiting Fellow at the  Institute for Public Philosophy at the University of North Dakota (Spring 2009), and has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Heritage Foundation. He serves as Councilor of the Metaphysical Society of America and as a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Philosophy of Sport. He is currently writing a book entitled Competition as Ideal: The Structure and Meaning of Antagonistic Relationships.

Undergraduate

  • Philosophy of the Human Person
  • Ethics
  • Business Ethics
  • Philosophy of Law
  • Philosophy of Language
  • Senior Seminar in Philosophy
  • Political Philosophy
  • Environmental Ethics

Graduate

  • Modern Political Theory
  • International Law
  • Ethics in Government
  • Business Ethics
  • Organizational Behavior

John Cabot University (Rome, Italy)

  • Business Ethics
  • Reasoning and Argumentation

“Deep and Wide: The Measure of Education,” in Proceedings of the 19th Annual International Conference of Greek Philosophy, edited by K. Boudouris, Ionia Publications, Athens, Greece, Summer 2008.

“The Meaning of Sport: Competition as a Form of Language,” in Ethics in Sports, edited by William Morgan, Routledge Press, Spring 2007.   

“Between Values and Codes: How Law and Culture Shape Each Other,” Proceedings of the 17th Annual International Conference of Greek Philosophy, edited by K. Boudouris, Ionia Publications, Athens, Greece, Fall 2006.

“Action and Reaction: The Problem of Revenge,” in Metaphysics 2003: Proceedings of the Second World Conference, edited by David Murray, Fondazione Idente di Studi e di Ricerca, Rome, Italy. Volume II, 20–28, Spring 2006.   

“The Athlete as Paradigm: Toward a More Competitive World,” in Proceedings of the 16th Annual International Conference of Greek Philosophy, edited by K. Boudouris, Ionia Publications, Athens, Greece, Spring 2006.

“The Hermeneutical Circle: Description and Ultimacy,” in The Metaphysical Quest (Dubuque: Kendhall Hunt), 311–27, September 1995.   

“The Morality of Legal Retribution,” Contemporary Philosophy, 11–17, September 1994.