Peter Coffey | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1876-04-09)9 April 1876 |
| Died | 7 January 1943(1943-01-07) (aged 66) Maynooth, Ireland |
| Education | |
| Education | Maynooth College University of Louvain University of Strasbourg |
| Philosophical work | |
| School | Neoscholasticism |
| Institutions | Maynooth College |
Peter Coffey (9 April 1876 – 7 January 1943) was an Irish Roman Catholic priest andneo-scholastic philosopher.
Coffey was educated at the Meath Diocesan Seminary in Navan, andSt Patrick's College, Maynooth (Maynooth College). He studied for his doctorate at theUniversity of Louvain,[2] and attended theUniversity of Strasbourg. He was ordained in 1900.
He was Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at Maynooth College from 1902 until his death. In his time, Coffey was considered one of the foremost Catholic intellectuals in Ireland.[3] He authored a number of books, including manuals ofThomistic philosophy:
His manuals were widely used in the education of Roman Catholic priests and theologians in the English-speaking world,[4] up until roughly the 1960s, but have since been largely ignored. He was a contributor of articles on philosophical subjects to theIrish Ecclesiastical Record, and to theCatholic Encyclopedia.[5]
The only book review thatLudwig Wittgenstein ever published, in 1913, was a scathing review of Coffey'sThe Science of Logic.[2][6][7] By contrast, in 1917, hisEpistemology was favourably reviewed byT. S. Eliot.[8][9][10]
In his 1903 articleThe Hexahemeron and Science, Coffey sought to find a middle ground in the conflict between natural sciences and the Catholic Church, seeing fault on both sides.[11]
Coffey advocated for a positive view oftrade unionism.[12] Some of Coffey's ideas on labour issues, however, incurred the displeasure of his superiors at Maynooth.[13]
Fr. Peter Coffey, onetime Professor at Maynooth in Ireland, and one of the country's "most eminent Catholic intellectuals"...
The most prolific neo-scholastic writer to-day is Peter Coffey, Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in Maynooth College, Ireland (b. 1876). We owe to him a system of philosophy based on a Thomistic foundation, broadly planned and fully worked out, which is much used for instruction in Roman Catholic theological seminaries, but has hardly aroused any notice outside their walls...
By 1917, reviewing Peter Coffey's Thomistic work,Epistemology, Eliot was writing that the Catholic Church was 'the only Church which can even pretend to maintain a philosophy of its own'.
Father Peter Coffey of Maynooth dealt positively with the powerful influence of trade unionism in bettering the conditions of the workers and in promoting harmony and prosperity among all classes.
Radical ideas were not welcomed. Peter Coffey, appointed to the chair of philosophy in 1902, was refused permission to publish The Financing of Industry and the Labour Question.
