Philosophy Department Faculty

Eileen Carroll Sweeney

Professor

Photo of Eileen Carroll Sweeney

Eileen Carroll Sweeney

Ph.D.

Contact

Stokes Hall North 221

Telephone: 617-552-3857

Email: eileen.sweeney@bc.edu

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin

Courses

History of theories of the passions

Philosophy of Language

Medieval Notions of Science

Thomas Aquinas on Nature

Aristotle: Ethics, Politics, Rhetoric

Modernism and the Arts

Medieval/Modern Political Theory

Research Interests

Medieval Philosophy

Philosophy of Language

Theories of the Passions

Political Philosophy

Office Hours

TH  1:00 - 3:00 p.m. or by appointment 

CV

Department

Philosophy

Profile

My main area of specialization is in the history of philosophy, especially the period from early Medieval to early Modern thought. I work on topics in the early and high middle ages on language, science and the liberal arts, the literary forms of Medieval philosophy, natural law, and the passions. I am interested not just theoretically but also practically in moral psychology and moral development, especially the role for affectivity, grounded in my experience teaching in the service-learning program at Boston College, PULSE, and taking part in an interdisciplinary working group on developing the virtues. I am currently working on two large research projects, one on a history of theories of the passions from Augustine to Kant, and the second on the transition from the organization of knowledge around the seven liberal arts to Aristotelian science from the 12th to the 13th century, as well as developing new courses and work in political theory.

recent publications

New Readings of Anselm of Canterbury’s Intellectual Methods, ed. with John Slotemaker. Brill, 2022.

“The Intersection of Gender and the Emotions: Concupiscence and its Discontents,” in Augustine and Gender. Edited by Kim Paffenroth and Maggie A. Labinski. Rowman and Littlefield, 2024, pp. 39-56.

“Anselm as Teacher: Reasoning about the Affections,” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly (Special Issue: Anselm). vol. 98 (2024), no. 2: 179-194.

“The Rhetoric of Medieval Speculative Writing,” Cambridge History of Rhetoric. Edited by Jill Ross and Frédérique Woerther. Cambridge University Press (at press)

“Alan of Lille on Scripture: Duality and Paradox,” in 'L'Ecriture à partir d'Origène jusqu'à à Laurent Valla. Edited by Valeria Ingegno and Gilbert Dahan. Brepols (at press)

“The Summa contra gentiles and Aristotelian Science,” in Critical Guide to Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Contra Gentiles. Edited by Thomas Osborne and Turner Nevitt. Cambridge University Press. (submitted)

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