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Artificial Intelligence in a Thomistic Key

talks
academic

Date & Time

Thu, 22 Jan 2026

17:00 - 18:30

Venue

Blackfriars Hall

St Giles, Oxford

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About this event

This lecture offers a Thomistic retrieval of perennial metaphysical and moral insights for contemporary reflection on artificial intelligence. Drawing on Thomas Aquinas and modern Neo-Thomist interlocutors such as Stanley Jaki, OSB, it considers ontological questions concerning the nature of AI, anthropological questions regarding its relation to human intelligence and agency, and ethical questions surrounding its design, use, and governance. It further situates these reflections within the hori...

Event Highlights

  • Thomistic approach to understanding artificial intelligence
  • Integration of Catholic Social Teaching with AI ethics
  • Exploration of ontological, anthropological, and ethical dimensions of AI
  • Part of a comprehensive lecture series on Thomistic thought
  • Open to all attendees with no registration required

Speaker

Fr Joseph Laracy

Associate Professor and Chairman of the Department of Systematic Theology at Seton Hall University

Joseph R. Laracy (S.T.D. Pontifical Gregorian University) is a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark and serves as associate professor and chairman of the Department of Systematic Theology at Seton Hall University, New Jersey, USA. He is also affiliated with the Seton Hall Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, the Program in Catholic Studies, the University Core Curriculum, and the University Honors Program. Father Laracy is the author of 'Theology and Science in the Thought of Ian Barbour: A Thomistic Evaluation for the Catholic Doctrine of Creation' (Peter Lang, 2021) and the co-editor with Paul Haffner of '2015 Stanley Jaki International Congress' (Gracewing, 2020). He is currently on a research sabbatical with the Faculty of Theology and Blackfriars Hall at Oxford University.

Programme

17:00-18:30

Ontological, Anthropological, and Ethical Reflections on Artificial Intelligence in a Thomistic Key

Lecture by Fr Joseph Laracy examining AI through the lens of Thomas Aquinas and Neo-Thomist thought, covering the nature of AI, its relation to human intelligence, and ethical considerations

Organized by: Aquinas Institute, Blackfriars Hall

Contact: aquinas@bfriars.ox.ac.uk

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Source:Blackfriars Hall
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