Collegium Institute invites you to apply to the Fall 2025 Philosophy of Finance fellowship “Aquinas & the Market” This six-session seminar will explore how economic life might look if guided by a richer vision of human flourishing. It begins with a simple question: what is wealth for? Using Mary L. Hirschfeld’s Aquinas and the Market as our guide, we will examine how modern economics came to center on self-interest, incentives, and efficiency—while often setting aside questions of meaning, virtue, and the common good. Each session pairs Hirschfeld’s critique of contemporary economics with her proposal for a different approach rooted in the thought of Thomas Aquinas.
We will consider how ideas about happiness, practical reason, and justice shape the way we think about markets and the role of economic activity. Along the way, we will look at topics such as rational choice theory, the moral weight of consumption, the value of work, and the place of private property. Rather than offering a blueprint for reform, the seminar invites a deeper kind of reflection—on what it means to live well, and how economic systems might better serve that end. Sessions will be facilitated by Dr. Fernando Arteaga.
Dr. Arteaga serves as the Academic Director of the Penn Initiative for the Study of Markets at the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Economics, where he is also a Senior Fellow. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Dr. Arteaga is a board member of the Mexican Economic History Association and has published his research on the economic history of the Spanish Empire.
Dates: Fridays, 3:00-4:00pm
Sept. 12: Theological Economics - A Tense Dialogue
Sept. 19: Limits of Economic Rationality
Sept. 26: Metaphysical Foundations of a Good Life
Oct. 3: Virtue Ethics vs. Utility Maximization
Oct. 17: Economic Life as a Moral Practice
Oct. 24: Property, Justice, and the Humane Economy
Location: Fox-Fels Hall 2nd Floor Conference Room (3814 Walnut St)
To register, click the button below. Questions? Please contact Mary Lee (mlee@collegiuminstitute.org).