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| Maudemarie Clark | |
|---|---|
| Name | Maudemarie Clark |
| Birth date | 1943 |
| Birth place | Buffalo, New York |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School tradition | Analytic philosophy |
| Main interests | Philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle |
| Notable ideas | Thomistic interpretation of Aristotle, historical scholarship on Aquinas |
| Influences | Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, Elizabeth Anscombe, G. E. M. Anscombe |
| Institutions | University of Notre Dame, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Michigan |
Maudemarie Clark is an American philosopher known for her scholarship on Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle and for contributions to philosophy of mind and action. She has held prominent academic positions and produced influential translations and commentaries that intersect with medieval studies, classical philology, and analytic philosophy. Clark's work bridges historical scholarship and contemporary debates, engaging with figures across the Western canon.
Clark was born in Buffalo, New York, and raised in a milieu attentive to liberal arts and Catholic intellectual traditions. She pursued undergraduate and graduate studies that combined classical languages, medieval studies, and analytic philosophy, studying under scholars who worked on Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, and Saint Augustine. Her education involved training in Latin and Greek philology useful for close readings of medieval manuscripts and scholastic commentaries associated with institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, and Oxford University. During graduate work she engaged with contemporaries influenced by Elizabeth Anscombe, G. E. M. Anscombe, and scholars in the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions like G. E. R. Lloyd and Paul Ricoeur.
Clark served on the faculty of several major research universities, holding appointments that included professorships and visiting chairs at institutions such as University of Notre Dame, University of California, Los Angeles, and University of Michigan. She participated in seminars and collaborative projects with centers devoted to medieval studies, such as Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, and the medieval programs at University of Cambridge and University of Oxford. Clark contributed to editorial boards associated with journals like The Journal of Philosophy, Mind (journal), Philosophical Review, History of Philosophy Quarterly, and periodicals oriented to medieval thought such as Mediaeval Studies. She held fellowships and visiting positions with organizations including the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Clark is noted for rigorous interpretive work on Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle that brought medieval texts into dialogue with contemporary issues in philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, and metaphysics. Her scholarship engages debates shaped by figures like Elizabeth Anscombe, G. E. M. Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Donald Davidson, Gilbert Ryle, and Jerry Fodor. She advanced readings of Aquinas that emphasize continuity with Aristotle against prevailing neo-Thomist reconstructions associated with scholars such as Henri de Lubac and Etienne Gilson. Clark's analyses intersect with commentators on scholastic natural philosophy like Aquinas of Naples and modern interpreters including Robert Pasnau, Norman Kretzmann, Brian Davies, and John Wippel.
Clark contributed to understanding of agent causation, intentional action, and the metaphysics of mind by drawing on Aristotelian hylomorphism and Thomistic soul-body schema. Her work converses with positions by David Lewis, Frank Jackson, David Chalmers, and Jaegwon Kim on physicalism and dualism, while also engaging historians like Jacques Maritain and contemporary Thomists such as Eleonore Stump and Giles of Rome. She brought textual-critical methods used by classical philologists like W. D. Ross and Heidegger-influenced interpreters into analytic debates, challenging readings by Etienne Gilson and others.
Clark authored and edited books, translations, and articles including critical editions and commentaries on Aquinas and Aristotle. Major works include scholarly monographs and editions that sit alongside canonical publications by Thomas Aquinas translators and editors like A. N. Whitehead (on Aristotle adaptations), Anthony Kenny, Edward Feser, Alasdair MacIntyre, and G. E. M. Anscombe. Her publications appeared in outlets such as Philosophical Quarterly, Review of Metaphysics, Journal of the History of Philosophy, The Thomist, and edited volumes from presses associated with Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Notre Dame Press. She collaborated with translators and commentators who work on medieval Latin texts, comparable to efforts by Catherine Pickstock, James Hankins, and Henri de Lubac-oriented scholars.
Clark received recognition from learned societies and foundations including fellowships and prizes from organizations such as the Guggenheim Foundation, American Philosophical Society, Medieval Academy of America, and the American Council of Learned Societies. Her work was honored by citations and invited lectures at venues like Harvard University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, and by endowed lecture series associated with the American Catholic Philosophical Association and the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy.
As a professor Clark supervised graduate dissertations and taught courses on Medieval Philosophy, Aristotle's De Anima, Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, ethics in the Aristotelian tradition associated with Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and readings influenced by Elizabeth Anscombe. She mentored students who went on to careers at institutions like Princeton University, Yale University, Georgetown University, University of Notre Dame, and Fordham University. Clark participated in summer schools, workshops, and seminars organized by groups such as Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, American Philosophical Association, and university-based centers for classical studies.
Clark's legacy lies in bridging historical exegesis of Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle with contemporary analytic debates on mind and action, influencing scholars across medieval studies and analytic philosophy. Her interpretive approach shaped scholarship by figures like Eleonore Stump, Robert Pasnau, John Haldane, Alasdair MacIntyre, and emerging scholars in programs at University of Notre Dame, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, and Institute for Advanced Study. Clark's editions and commentaries remain standard references for courses on scholasticism, Aristotelian psychology, and Thomistic metaphysics used in curricula at University of Notre Dame, Oxford University, Cambridge University, University of Toronto, and Boston College.
Category:American philosophers Category:Scholars of Thomas Aquinas Category:Philosophers of mind