Mark Shiffman, Ph.D.

Bio

Mark Shiffman is Professor of Philosophy and Program Director for Pre-Theology at Saint Patrick’s Seminary and is the founding Director of the Institute for Philosophy, Technology, and Politics. His scholarly work spans the fields of ancient philosophy, political theory, and the Catholic tradition. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago with a dissertation on the meaning of contemplation in Plato and Aristotle and has published extensively on Plutarch. His writings have appeared in Communio, Commonweal, First Things, Public Discourse, and New Polity.

Teaching Experience

Saint Patrick’s Seminary
Professor, Philosophy, 2025-present
Associate Professor, Philosophy, 2023-2025

Villanova University
Associate Professor, Department of Humanities, 2011-2022
Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities, 2006 to 2011
Arthur J. Ennis Postdoctoral Fellow, 2003 to 2006

University of Pennsylvania
Visiting Lecturer, Department of Political Science, “Ancient Political Thought,” Autumn 2007

University of Notre Dame
Visiting Assistant Professor, Program of Liberal Studies, Autumn 2002/Spring 2003
Adjunct Lecturer, Program of Liberal Studies, Spring 2001 and Spring 2002

University of Chicago
Lecturer, “Classics of Social and Political Thought,” Winter 1997, Spring 1999 and Autumn 1999
Lecturer, “Human Being and Citizen,” 1996-97
Teaching Assistant, Mathematical Sciences, 1992-96

CUNY-Brooklyn College
Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Classics, 1997-98

Areas of Specialization

Political Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Catholic Intellectual Tradition

Areas of Competence

History of Philosophy, History of Social and Political Thought, Ethics and Moral Psychology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Nature/Science/Technology, Hermeneutics, Philosophical Themes in Literature, Classical Philology

Funded Research

Imitatio Grant Research Fellowship, Spring 2023

Institute for Humane Studies Hayek Fund for Scholars, support for research project on the politics of dignity, Spring 2022

Administrative Experience

Saint Patrick’s Seminary
Coordinator, Pre-Theology Program, July 2024-present
Chair, Department of Philosophy, July 2024-present

Villanova University
Chair, Department of Humanities and Program of Classical Studies, 2016-2019
Acting Graduate Director, Program of Classical Studies, Spring 2012

Other
Director, Institute for Philosophy, Technology, and Politics, March 2024-present
Program Coordinator, The Lumen Christi Institute, 1998-2001

Publications

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What Is Ideology? Wiseblood Books, July 2023

“The Victimological Legitimation of the Modern State,” New Polity 3.2 (Spring 2022)

“The Other Seamless Garment: Laudato Si’ on the Human Relationship to Created Nature,” in Care for the World: Laudato Si’ and Catholic Social Thought in an Era of Climate Crisis (edited by Amanda Jaret and Frank Pasquale), Cambridge University Press (2019)

“Imagination and Memory Deformed: The Gnostic Resentment of the Limits of Embodied Life,” in Localism in the Mass Age: A Front Porch Republic Manifesto (edited by Mark Mitchell), Wipf and Stock (2018)

Aristotle’s De Anima, translation with notes and introduction, Hackett, 2010