Edward Macierowski | Benedictine College (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Edward Macierowski

Updated cv for November 2023.

“Brzezinski’s Anglo-American Grand Strategy in Ukraine” presents an encounter between two great g... more “Brzezinski’s Anglo-American Grand Strategy in Ukraine” presents an encounter between two great geopoliticians, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Aleksandr Geleyvich Dugin. The former was national security advisor to the American President Jimmy Carter; the latter taught geopolitics at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Federation. They agree that Eurasia contains the heartland or pivot for political control of the world; they agree that geopolitics analysis is a key method for establishing a grand strategy. They strongly disagree about whether a unipolar or a multipolar strategy is better. Against the background of their debate, we explore how their arguments play out on battle for Ukraine. They both rely upon the classic rivalry between sea power in America and the Atlanticist maritime alliance (NATO) and Russian land power based upon the Eurasian heartland. The current war in Ukraine seems to be predicated on an uncompromising opposition between a unipolar and a multipolar vision of the world, where sea power is identified with “democracy” and land power with “authoritarianism.” We explore whether geopolitics alone can resolve the dispute, or whether a resolution to the impasse may be aided by broadening the horizon to include also certain distinctions drawn from classical political philosophy and related studies. We conclude by considering what would count as “victory.”

Studia Gilsoniana, 2019

The author attempts to go beyond the study of the history of Islamic philosophy to the larger the... more The author attempts to go beyond the study of the history of Islamic philosophy to the larger theme of religious dialogue between Christians and Muslims. He explores first some of the conditions that are required for any successful Christian-Muslim conversation. Next, he turns to some of the central issues specific to dialogue between Christians and Muslims. In addressing these themes he points to resources that are particularly useful to those trying to teach introductory courses on this complex matter, and to give students an inkling of where they might look for further training to embark upon more advanced types of dialogue. In conclusion, the author returns to his starting point and considers various levels at which dialogue can be begun, even at an elementary stage.

Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, 1992

International Studies in Philosophy, 2004

International Philosophical Quarterly, 1996

Updated cv for November 2023.

Studia Gilsoniana, 2019

Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, 1992

International Studies in Philosophy, 2004

International Philosophical Quarterly, 1996

A brief letter addressed to American Senators and Representatives reviewing the background to the... more A brief letter addressed to American Senators and Representatives reviewing the background to the military crisis in Ukraine suggesting some counter-intuitive approaches to a solution.

This unpublished op-ed piece grew out of my exploration of the academic confrontation between the... more This unpublished op-ed piece grew out of my exploration of the academic confrontation between the American geopolitician Zbigniew Brzezinski and the Russian geopolitician Aleksandr Dugin and which has shifted to the battlefield in Ukraine. I argue that the Ukraine war continues a geopolitical mistake and a moral catastrophe. I include a Polish version in parallel. I would welcome fact-checking and refutation; if not that, recommendations of suitable venue for publication.

“Brzezinski vs Dugin on Anglo-American Grand Strategy in Ukraine” presents an encounter between t... more “Brzezinski vs Dugin on Anglo-American Grand Strategy in Ukraine” presents an encounter between two great geopoliticians, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Aleksandr Geleyvich Dugin. The former was national security advisor to the American President Jimmy Carter; the latter taught geopolitics at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Federation. They agree that Eurasia contains the heartland or pivot for political control of the world; they agree that geopolitics analysis is a key method for establishing a grand strategy. They strongly disagree about whether a unipolar or a multipolar strategy is better. Against the background of their debate, we explore how their arguments play out on battle for Ukraine. They both rely upon the classic rivalry between sea power in America and the Atlanticist maritime alliance (NATO) and Russian land power based upon the Eurasian heartland. The current war in Ukraine seems to be predicated on an uncompromising opposition between a unipolar and a multipolar vision of the world, where sea power is identified with “democracy” and land power with “authoritarianism.” We explore whether geopolitics alone can resolve the dispute, or whether a resolution to the impasse may be aided by broadening the horizon to include also certain distinctions drawn from classical political philosophy and related studies.

“A Russian Window on Anglo-American Grand Strategy” presents an encounter between two great geopo... more “A Russian Window on Anglo-American Grand Strategy” presents an encounter between two great geopoliticians, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Aleksandr Geleyvich Dugin. The former was national security advisor to the American President Jimmy Carter; the latter taught geopolitics at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Federation. They agree that Eurasia contains the heartland or pivot for political control of the world; they agree that geopolitics analysis is a key method for establishing a grand strategy. They strongly disagree about whether a unipolar or a multipolar strategy is better. Against the background of their debate, we explore how their arguments play out on battle for Ukraine. They both rely upon the classic rivalry between sea power in America and the Atlanticist maritime alliance (NATO) and Russian land power based upon the Eurasian heartland. The current war in Ukraine seems to be predicated on an uncompromising opposition between a unipolar and a multipolar vision of the world, where sea power is identified with “democracy” and land power with “authoritarianism.” We explore whether geopolitics alone can resolve the dispute, or whether a resolution to the impasse may be aided by broadening the horizon to include also certain distinctions drawn from classical political philosophy and related studies. (To be reduced to 8500 words.)

This article provides "A Russian Window on Anglo-American Grand Strategy" in two parts. The first... more This article provides "A Russian Window on Anglo-American Grand Strategy" in two parts. The first part contextualizes Aleksandr Dugin's 2011 book Geopolitika philosophically; the second gives an English translation of its detailed analytic table of contents. No English translation of the book itself has yet been published. Part I contrasts Russian and American politics, their current economic and spiritual rivalry in Ukraine, and a sketch of four of Dugin's books sketching philosophical issues behind his geopolitical project, which maps out his multipolar vision of the world in opposition to the Anglo-American maritime unipolar vision. He relies upon the classic rivalry between sea power in the form of NATO and land power based upon the Eurasian heartland. The current war in Ukraine seems to be predicated on an uncompromising opposition between a unipolar and a multipolar vision of the world.

This article provides "A Window on Russian Geopolitical Thought" in two parts. The first part con... more This article provides "A Window on Russian Geopolitical Thought" in two parts. The first part contextualizes Aleksandr Dugin's 2011 book Geopolitika; the second gives an English translation of its detailed analytic table of contents. No English translation of the book itself has yet been published. Part I contrasts Russian and American politics, their current economic and spiritual rivalry in Ukraine, and a sketch of four of Dugin's books contextualizing his geopolitical project, which maps out his multi-polar vision of the world in opposition to the Anglo-American maritime unipolar vision. He relies upon the classic rivalry between sea power in the form of NATO and land power based upon the Eurasian heartland. The current war in Ukraine seems to be predicated on an uncompromising opposition between a unipolar and a multipolar vision of the world.

This article provides "A Window on Russian Geopolitical Thought" in two parts. The first part con... more This article provides "A Window on Russian Geopolitical Thought" in two parts. The first part contextualizes Aleksandr Dugin's 2011 book Geopolitika; the second gives an English translation of its detailed analytic table of contents. No English translation of the book itself has yet been published. Part I contrasts Russian and American politics, their current economic and spiritual rivalry in Ukraine, and a sketch of four of Dugin's books contextualizing his geopolitical project, which maps out his multi-polar vision of the world in opposition to the Anglo-American maritime unipolar vision. He relies upon the classic rivalry between sea power in the form of NATO and land power based upon the Eurasian heartland. Biographical Note. E. M. Macierowski earned his B.A. from St. John's College in Annapolis, his Licentiate in Mediaeval Studies from the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Toronto. He also studied at the then-Imperial

For highly motivated students who want to get from knowing not even the Greek alphabet to reading... more For highly motivated students who want to get from knowing not even the Greek alphabet to reading the Greek text of Plato's Republic as quickly and smoothly as possible using a combination of repeated reading and targeted vocabulary acquisition even in the absence of a living teacher.

This includes books, articles, public lectures and conferences, but not Academia postings.

On May 2017-05-25 at Kalamazoo I proposed to survey the τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι and τὸ τί ἐστι texts in Ar... more On May 2017-05-25 at Kalamazoo I proposed to survey the τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι and τὸ τί ἐστι texts in Aristotle’s Metaphysics identified by Albert Schwegler in “Τὸ τί ἐστι, τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι und der Gebrauch des Dativs in der Formel τὸ ἑνὶ εἶναι” (Excurs I from his edition of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Tübingen 1847-48, vol. IV, 369-379). I have drafted a translation of that study and am supplementing it with selected English versions of the passages in question. For my spring 2018 seminar I have prepared a matrix in which to tabulate the 41 relevant Aristotelian passages from the Metaphysics with the various English versions published since the first one published in 1801. The participants in this seminar will be undergraduate philosophy majors innocent of Greek; the task will be for each participant to advance the notions of “essence” in a few of the forty available English versions with a view to comparing their philosophical significance. I hope to bring the results of this study to bear upon Averroes’s Tafsīr mā bacd aṭ-ṭabīcat and its Latin translation, and in St. Thomas Aquinas’s Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics.

This divisio textus of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is tabulated from that in the Marietti edit... more This divisio textus of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is tabulated from that in the Marietti edition and allows students to supply additional cells for finer reading.

The Marine Corps booklet on Strategy (MCDP 1-1) embeds some of the main tenets of Just War doctri... more The Marine Corps booklet on Strategy (MCDP 1-1) embeds some of the main tenets of Just War doctrine in American military planning. In 2013 I wrote a letter to the two senators for Kansas about a proposal for then-President Obama to intervene militarily in Syria. Today in 2019, the same principles should be applied and adapted to the current situation in the Arabian/Persian Gulf. The refugee crisis predicted in section 2.10 continues and spills over into Europe. How would the planned war in fact lead to a better subsequent peace?

This address "Truth in Democracies: A Study in Population Policy" compares and contrasts Lincoln'... more This address "Truth in Democracies: A Study in Population Policy" compares and contrasts Lincoln's Gettysburg Address with the National Security Study Memorandum 200.

Studia Gilsoniana, 2019

Here are the uncorrected page proofs of the article. I have just submitted the corrigenda.

Syllabus for Principles of Nature, 2019

This syllabus for a course on the Principles of Nature is intended for first-semester freshmen he... more This syllabus for a course on the Principles of Nature is intended for first-semester freshmen here at Benedictine College. This year I have linked it with a course on the Philosophy of Nature at the Dominican House of Study in Washington.

Spring 2019 Ethics syllabus.

This article provides “A Syllabus on Geopolitics: A Point of contact between US and Russian relat... more This article provides “A Syllabus on Geopolitics: A Point of contact between US and Russian relations 6 June 2024” provides an overview of Aleksandr Dugin’s Geopolitika in two parts. There is still no published English version of Dugin’s 2011 book but there is a 2023 Italian translation. The purpose of this article is to call attention to its contents and to urge a discussion of the issues it raises. The first part briefly sketches some of the chief controversies surrounding the life and works of Aleksandr Dugin’s; the second provides the detailed analytic table of contents translated from the Russian by machine and corrected by me.

Instructor: Macierowski The principal objective is to discuss the novel itself, especially its ph... more Instructor: Macierowski The principal objective is to discuss the novel itself, especially its philosophical and historical implications. Themes include the encounter of Christians and pagans, the problem and methods of persecution and Christian responses, the role of geography and topography, art, engineering, and architecture, the historical and literary sources used in creating the novel, Stoic and Epicurean philosophy, the theological and political setting of 19 th-century Europe (e.g., the political elimination of Poland during the 123-year partition by the Russian, Prussian, and Austro-Hungarian Empires), its reception in translations and films, the role of Sienkiewicz in the formation of John Paul II, how Christian teaching influenced pagan attitudes toward women, slaves, and foreigners, the elites and the poor. Student interest will help determine the selection and emphasis of the themes.

To assist you will the one "real book" in our coursein Ancient Philosophy, I have added summaries... more To assist you will the one "real book" in our coursein Ancient Philosophy, I have added summaries and outlines from Griffith's 2000 English version, the French Budé edition, and a couple of German editions along with the section summaries from J. Adam's 1902 Greek edition and have begun collating the corresponding divisions. For reference, in case you have read Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics or plan to do so soon, I'm adding Sparshott's collation of passages from the Republic as they line up with the Ethics.

The principal objective is to discuss the novel itself. Themes include the encounter of Christian... more The principal objective is to discuss the novel itself. Themes include the encounter of Christians and pagans, the problem and methods of persecution and Christian responses, the role of art, engineering, and architecture, the historical and literary sources used in creating the novel, the theological and political setting of 19 th-century Europe (e.g., the political elimination of Poland during the 123-year partition by the Russian, Prussian, and Austro-Hungarian Empires), its reception in translations and films, the role of Sienkiewicz in the formation of John Paul II, how Christian teaching influenced pagan attitudes toward women, slaves, and foreigners, the elites and the poor. Student interest will help determine the selection and emphasis of the themes. (1 credit. pass/Fail.)

For our proposed 1-credit Discovery seminar, it might help students if we asked them not only to ... more For our proposed 1-credit Discovery seminar, it might help students if we asked them not only to do the assigned readings, but also to offer a one or two sentence summary of the chief action in a chapter, to ask a question about the reading, or to draft a potential Discovery project. Amongst the possible small-scale projects I see would be tracking the itineraries of the chief characters in their journeys in and about Rome, preparing a character study dossier of one of the chief characters, looking up one of the historical characters mentioned in the novel, exploring how the Christian teaching affected the Roman attitude toward slavery, the role of women, looking at archaeological reports on the catacombs and Neronian Rome, the actions of Peter and Paul in Rome, the extra-canonical Quo vadis legend, the geographical setting of the Roman Empire, why Nero is said liked Greece and hated Rome, etc. Bigger Discovery projects might compare and contrast Quo vadis with Ben-Hur. Which would likely be more attractive in Europe? In America? Why? What philosophical or theological positions are implicit? What role did the work of Sienkiewicz have in the formation of Karol Wojtyła? How is a best-seller put together? Was Sienkiewicz concerned only with literary matters or might his work have additional apologetic or political implications? How does Sienkiewicz explore the interactions between pagan culture and the new Christian message? What sorts of interactions are conceivable between cultures? Clash? Dialogue? Persecution? Ghettoization? Assimilation? Do we have any analogous problems in dealing with diversity?

This document collates initial sentences of the half dozen most readily available English version... more This document collates initial sentences of the half dozen most readily available English versions of Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel Quo vadis by lining them up with the Polish text. It is intended to facilitate the use of the various versions, which sometimes do not divide the chapters in the same places, and to help students select a translation to read for a projected interdisciplinary course.

Bilingual text on Plato's divided line from Republic VI and VII with Alan Bloom's version and dir... more Bilingual text on Plato's divided line from Republic VI and VII with Alan Bloom's version and directions to compare and contrast it with Aristotle's division of the three theoretical sciences.

Resources for learning basic Italian and preparing for a summer in Florence

One of the most helpful ways of getting into a book is to examine its structure. To help you do t... more One of the most helpful ways of getting into a book is to examine its structure. To help you do that, I have presented three efforts that scholars have made to clarify how Plato's Meno is divided. I have left room for you to provide your own outlines in the last two columns. I have reserved the last two columns for you to do the same. If you find a better alternative, feel free to put it into column 4, but be sure to credit the source. If you have improvements of your own to suggest, put them in column 5 under your name.-E. M. Macierowski, Benedictine College August 2020. PHIL 3750 E: ETHICS. Platone Menone (Reale; ISBN 88-452-9084-0) Marginal headings drawn from ISBN 3-534-19095-5, vol. 2.

Philosophical Themes in the Confessions of St. Augustine, 2020

This is a reading log of an undergraduate seminar on Augustine's Confessions including a precis b... more This is a reading log of an undergraduate seminar on Augustine's Confessions including a precis by each of the students on one of the assigned texts as well as an English version of Reale's paraphrases on the chapters. Some of the 10 students chose not to release their names, but all have given permission to share their work. This document does not include their seminar papers nor the minutes of the seminar, portions of which were recorded on Zoom during the COVID outbreak of spring 2020.

This 2020 revision of my Beginning Greek syllabus includes resources on New Testament and Classic... more This 2020 revision of my Beginning Greek syllabus includes resources on New Testament and Classical Greek as well as additional resources on Homeric Greek audio CDs. These resources are offered as "summer reading" for those who have already completed an introductory course, though well-motivated students can use them for study at home.

Gospel according to Mark. Here is a triglott version of Mark’s Gospel (chapters 1-5) in Polish, t... more Gospel according to Mark. Here is a triglott version of Mark’s Gospel (chapters 1-5) in Polish, the Latin Vulgate, and the 1885 New Testament Greek in three parallel columns, verse by verse. My goal was to use the Greek and Latin as a Rosetta stone to facilitate dividing each version as much as possible into sense lines to help me learn how to read Polish. Perhaps Polish students of Greek or Latin could use it in the other direction. The Polish and Latin texts are borrowed from the WordPlanet site, which presents the Bible in many languages, often with accompanying audio; the Greek text is borrowed from the Perseus site, which, though without an accompanying audio, provides grammatical parsing. –E. M. Macierowski (October 2018).

Gospel according to Mark Here is a triglot version of Mark’s Gospel (chapters 12-16) in Polish, t... more Gospel according to Mark Here is a triglot version of Mark’s Gospel (chapters 12-16) in Polish, the Latin Vulgate, and the 1885 New Testament Greek in three parallel columns, verse by verse. My goal was to use the Greek and Latin as a Rosetta stone to facilitate dividing each version as much as possible into sense lines to help me learn how to read Polish. Perhaps Polish students of Greek or Latin could use it in the other direction. The Polish and Latin texts are borrowed from the WordPlanet site, which presents the Bible in many languages, often with accompanying audio; the Greek text is borrowed from the Perseus site, which, though without an accompanying audio, provides grammatical parsing.–E. M. Macierowski (October 2018).

Gospel according to Mark Here is a triglott version of Mark’s Gospel (chapters 6-11) in Polish, t... more Gospel according to Mark Here is a triglott version of Mark’s Gospel (chapters 6-11) in Polish, the Latin Vulgate, and the 1885 New Testament Greek in three parallel columns, verse by verse. My goal was to use the Greek and Latin as a Rosetta stone to facilitate dividing each version as much as possible into sense lines to help me learn how to read Polish. Perhaps Polish students of Greek or Latin could use it in the other direction. The Polish and Latin texts are borrowed from the WordPlanet site, which presents the Bible in many languages, often with accompanying audio; the Greek text is borrowed from the Perseus site, which, though without an accompanying audio, provides grammatical parsing.–E. M. Macierowski (October 2018).

The core texts are Plato's Meno and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Modern and recent ethical app... more The core texts are Plato's Meno and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Modern and recent ethical approaches are dealt with in passing.

Catalogue Description : This course is a general consideration of the philosophical questions ass... more Catalogue Description : This course is a general consideration of the philosophical questions assocaciated with the kinds of *change found in *natural entities. *Causality, *chance and *purpose in nature are also dealt with. Then the implications of this general account for *human *nature and the *cause of *nature itself are considered. Prerequisite: PHIL-2010 Logic. PHIL2310 Principles of Nature satisfies the college's core requirement in philosophy. 2. The objectives of the course: The goal of this course is to explore the being and *nature of *nature and to show how alternative views affect our understanding of other important topics-like God, man, and the world. (This year's course will explore Dante's use of the philosophy of nature especially in its background in Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas.)

This is an introductory consideration of logical theory: definitions, propositions , and reasonin... more This is an introductory consideration of logical theory: definitions, propositions , and reasoning. Students are taught both the methods used in logical analysis and the reasons behind them. The emphasis is upon dealing with arguments as they are expressed in everyday language. The fall 2016 version concentrates upon logic in its communicative dimension.

This 1-credit course on linguistic problems in the Aristotelian Metaphysics focuses on τὸ τί ἦν ε... more This 1-credit course on linguistic problems in the Aristotelian Metaphysics focuses on τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι, τὸ τί ἐστιν, and related terms. It is part of a project to commemorate the 2400th year since the birth of Aristotle.

These are my notes, in first draft, for a longish but unpublished review of Andrew G. Bostom's "T... more These are my notes, in first draft, for a longish but unpublished review of Andrew G. Bostom's "The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims." I have prepared several condensations, but would welcome informed comments on this, the fullest draft.

Studia Gilsoniana, 2019