Former Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government (CCCG) Visiting Scholar Timothy Fortin, Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophical Theology at Seton Hall University, recently published a book titled On the Nature of Human Sexual Difference: A Symposium. This book, which Fortin worked on during his time with the CCCG, offers a “symposium” on the nature of human sexual differences by drawing on Thomistic philosophy, evolutionary thought, and the work of Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Butler, within the context of contemporary science.
Originally from the Washington, D.C., area, Fortin began his studies at Villanova University, where he pursued a degree in electrical engineering. After his first year, however, Fortin decided on a new path and transferred to Thomas Aquinas College (TAC) in California. At TAC, Fortin studied liberal arts in the school’s Great Books program. “My joke is that there's one elective at Thomas Aquinas College[,]…and that's whether or not you go to the school,” Fortin quipped, looking back on his alma mater’s fixed course of study.
Fortin followed up his undergraduate education by obtaining an M.A. in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America in 1999. However, Fortin was not satisfied: “I've always felt a tension between the abstract and the concrete, and philosophy is pretty abstract, so I decided to shift my focus back to the concrete.” In 2002, Fortin attended the Institute for Psychological Sciences in Arlington, Virginia, where he obtained an M.S. in Clinical Psychology. Fortin was struck by how much work still remained on the conceptual side of psychology, so he decided to continue his education with doctoral studies in philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, which he obtained in 2008.
After he finished his Ph.D. in Rome, Fortin went directly into teaching as an adjunct professor at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. “I was incredibly blessed and fortunate,” he recalled, both to have that experience and “to get a position at Seton Hall University, where I have been ever since.” At Seton Hall, Fortin works in the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology where he teaches philosophy: “I mostly teach the seminarians because my classes are geared towards teaching seminarians, but all the university kids can take my classes.” Fortin has now been at Seton Hall University for 15 years and thoroughly enjoys teaching there. When in 2020 he had a sabbatical coming up, he decided to spend it working on his book at the University of Notre Dame with the CCCG. Fortin chose to come to the center during his sabbatical in part due to his friendship with CCCG director Dr. Phillip Muñoz. “I got to know Dr. Muñoz really well some years ago in Washington, DC, and I've been in touch with him consistently since that time,” Fortin remembered. “Dr. Muñoz recognized that discussions regarding human sexual difference were really entering into the heart of our political debate,” Fortin elaborated, “and he invited me to apply for a visiting scholarship.”
Although Fortin was initially only going to be at Notre Dame for the spring semester of 2020, the opportunity arose to extend his stay through the fall semester of that year, so he did. While at Notre Dame, Fortin worked on his book. “The premise of the book,” Fortin explained, “is, as the title indicates, a discussion of the nature of human sexual difference.” Based on Plato’s Symposium, Fortin structures the book so that each different thinker gives a speech on their views on human sexual difference. “I start off by laying out the phenomena of human sexual difference that we have to explain,” Fortin said, “and then the evolutionists give a speech, Simone de Beauvoir gives a speech, Judith Butler gives a speech, and Thomas Aquinas, who I represent, gives his speech.” Then, in the final chapter, Fortin ties each together and argues for which explanation he finds most compelling.
“Obviously, I disagree with some of the views expressed by thinkers that I represent in my book,” Fortin explains, “but they are all very bright people, so I wanted to create a Rosetta Stone, of sorts, that people from different ideologies could look at so that they understand where their opponents are coming from.”
Although Fortin’s book was only published last year, he is already gearing up for his next project, which is a book discussing “the foundational question of whether there is a male and female soul.” Fortin reflects that he is “very thankful for the many ways that Dr. Muñoz and the Center have assisted him over the course of his career” and hopes that he will be able to visit Notre Dame again soon, even just to see a non-COVID year football game.