Nikolaj Zunic

Professor Zunic specializes in modern and contemporary continental philosophy, philosophical anthropology, and theistic personalism. He is a specialist on the thought of the German philosopher F. W. J. Schelling. He also researches and publishes on the twentieth century neo-Thomist philosopher Jacques Maritain. Other areas of interest include phenomenology, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, Christian philosophy, philosophy of culture, and ethics. He is the president of the Canadian Jacques Maritain Association.

The content that follows may only represent a portion of the Faculty member’s work.

Books

Schelling on Truth and Person: The Meaning of Positive Philosophy. Maryland, USA: Lexington Press, 2022.

Distinctions of Being: Philosophical Approaches to Reality. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2013.

Chapters

Zunic, Nikolaj. “The Gift of the Self and the Renewal of Humanism and Culture.” In Making Sense of Nonsense: Navigating Through the West’s Current Quagmire, edited by Scott Ventureyra, 709–26. Ottawa: True Freedom Press, 2022

“Maritain’s Concept of Virtue as a Form of Movement and its Application to Human Generation”, in The Things that Matter: Essays Inspired by the Later Work of Jacques Maritain, edited by Heidi M. Giebel. Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America Press. (2018)

“Aesthetic Education and the Redress of Morality”, in A Piercing Light: Beauty, Faith, and Human Transcendence, edited by James M. Jacobs. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic  University of America Press: 197 – 214. (2015)

“Philosophy and the Search for Peace”, in Redeeming Philosophy: From Metaphysics to Aesthetics, edited by John J. Conley, SJ., Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press: 297-312. (2014)

“The Measure of Morality”, in Aquinas & Maritain on Evil, edited by James G. Hanink. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press: 204 – 221. (2013)

“Sexual Ethics and the Purpose of Marriage”, in Love and Friendship: Maritain and the Tradition, edited by Montague Brown. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press: 243 – 254. (2013)

Journal Articles

"Schelling's Paths of Liberation from Pure Reason", The Review of Metaphysics, Vo. 71, Issue 3, 435-479. (2022)

"The Processes of Universio and Katabole in the Creation of the World", The Official Journal of the North American Schelling Society, Vol. 3, 1-18. (2021)

“On the Political and Metaphysical Meanings of the Family”, Études maritainiennes – Maritain Studies, Vol. XXXIII, 100-115. (2017)

“Matter, Spirit and Teleology in Human Generation”, Études maritainiennes-Maritain Studies, Vol. XXXII, 116-136. (2016)

“The Idea of Universal Justice in Plato, Kant, and Benedict XVI”, Philosophy, Culture, and Traditions, vol. 11, 173-194. (2015)

“The Theory and Praxis of Human Rights”, Philosophy, Culture, and Traditions, vol. 10, 53-71. (2014)         

“The Mystery of Intersubjectivity”, in Whence Intelligibility?, edited by Louis Perron, Washington, D. C.: The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 143-157. (2014)

“The Grace of Conversion: Reflections on the Sources of Religious Life”, Études maritainiennes-Maritain Studies, Vol. XXX, 53-70. (2014) 

HUMSC 101: Great Dialogues: Reflection and Action

PHIL 100J: Introduction to Philosophy

PHIL 120J: The Meaning of Life

PHIL 145: Critical Thinking

PHIL 204J: Philosophy and Culture

PHIL 210J: Human Nature

PHIL 219J: Practical Ethics

PHIL 230J: God and Philosophy

PHIL 262J: Postmodernist Philosophy

PHIL 284: Great Works: Modern

PHIL 286J: Great German Thinkers

PHIL 405: Studies in Modern Philosophy

PHIL 407: Studies in 19th- and 20th- Century Philosophy

PHIL 498: Directed Reading in Special Areas [Topic: Reason and Faith]

PHIL 498: Directed Reading in Special Areas [Topic: The Sacred and the Profane]

PHIL 498: Directed Reading in Special Areas [Topic: Heidegger's Being and Time]

Grants

Faculty Research Grant (2014)

Fellowships

Catholic University of Leuven Doctoral Scholarship (1999-2001)

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship (1998-2000)

J. Van de Wiele Doctoral Fellowship, Institute of Philosophy, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium (1997-98)

Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (DAAD) Summer Exchange Program Scholarship at the University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany (1993)

The content that follows may only represent a portion of the Faculty member’s work.

Professional

Editor, Études maritainiennes – Maritain Studies

Vice President, Canadian Jacques Maritain Association 

Administrative

St. Jerome's University

Acting Chair, Department of Philosophy (July-December 2018; January-June 2020)

Chair, Department of Philosophy (July 2023-June 2026)