Michael Torre

Michael D. Torre received a PhD in 1983 and joined the USF philosophy department in 1989. He is now its senior member. He has served as the department chair and as the coordinator of its ethics sections. Professor Torre has been a past vice-president of the Institut Internationale Jacques Maritain, and is currently serving on its Scientific Committee. He was the second general editor of the American Maritain Association's series of publications from 2009-2013, and its president from 2012-2016. He has taught numerous courses for the department, especially on ancient and medieval philosophy and the major figures of those periods: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas. He has also taught a number of core courses in philosophy: Logic, the Human Person, Ethics, and the Philosophy of Religion.

Professor Torre’s research interests have focused on the "interface" between reason and faith, nature and grace, and philosophy and theology, and with their common issues, such as the existence and nature of God, the relation between providence and free will, or the relation between providence and evil. He has published on various aspects on the thought of Thomas Aquinas and especially on the problem of God's permission of sin. As his presidency of the AMA indicates, he also has written widely on contemporary Thomists, particularly on Jacques Maritain and Yves R. Simon, and given courses on contemporary Thomists. He has just edited a book on the best of the Yves R. Simon’s philosophical writings, due to appear in 2020 with the University of Notre Dame Press.

• "interface" between reason and faith
• Nature and grace
• Philosophy and theology
• Existence and nature of God
• The relation between providence and free will or providence and evil

• Coordinator of Ethics sections
• Department Chair of Philosophy
• President and General Editor of AMA Publications
• Vice-President of the Institut Internationale Jacques Maritain

• "Aquinas and the Credibility of God". Logos 3:2 (Spring, 2000): 107-17.
• "Greene's Saints: The Whiskey Priest, Scobie, Sarah." Logos 7:1 (Winter, 2004): 63-77.
• “Murray After 50 Years: Reflections on America and Its Proposition”. In The Renewal of Civilization: Essays in Honor of Jacques Maritain. Edited by Gavin T. Colvert. Washington, D.C.: American Maritain Association, 2010, 59-81.
• “The Portrait of Evil in The Lord of the Rings: Reflections Personal, Literary, and Theological”. Logos 5:4 (Fall, 2002): 65-74.
• “To Philosophize for the Faith: Maritain’s Intellectual Vocation”. In The Vocation of the Catholic Philosopher: From Maritain to John Paul II. Edited by John P. Hittinger. Washington, D.C.: American Maritain Association, 2010, 110-31.