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Phillip Wodzinski
(Fall 2002 Newsletter)
 The
name Niccolo Machiavelli has come down to us through the centuries
as synonymous for amoral cunning and brute political force.
His classic work, The Prince, describes the means by
which a prince may gain and maintain power. One might wonder:
what good can come from Machiavelli?
One answer: Phillip Wodzinski.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, the oldest of five boys, Wodzinski
graduated from high school with a love for literature that
brought him to Xavier University in Cincinnati where he thought
he would major in it. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Thomas Wolfe, Franz
Kafka, and F. Scott Fitzgerald were among his favorite authors.
But in his freshman year, he happened on a political science
course, and the first text he read was The Prince.
It captivated him. How should a ruler keep power? How do morals
apply? Can one reign well without traditional virtue? He realized
that the questions Machiavelli raised were lasting, and not
of some passing trend. It got him thinking about the ultimate
issues of life. In short, it turned him into a student of
philosophy.
He devoured all the philosophy he could - Aristotle, Plato,
Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, Kant - and acquired a life-long
desire for truth in reading them. "I was fortunate to
have several very good professors," he explained. "Since
Xavier has no graduate school, the professors would expend
all their energies on undergrads, like me." Wodzinski
was one of only three philosophy majors in the school at the
time of his decision to adopt the major.
While at Xavier, he racked up an impressive array of honors:
The Archbishop McNicholas Philosophy Award, a National Endowment
for the Humanities Young Scholars Summer Fellowship, the Thomas
J. Savage, S.J., Scholarship for Study in the Humanities,
and, for four years straight, the Xavier University Presidential
Scholarship.
He was graduated magna cum laude and decided to pursue
further studies in political philosophy at Boston College
under the distinguished Plato scholar, Christopher Bruell,
and under the noted Thomist, Fr. Ernest Fortin. He obtained
his master's degree in political science and then became interested
in two modern philosophers, Immanuel Kant, and Georg Friedrich
Hegel.
Under Kant scholar Susan Shell, Wodzinski pursued his special
interest in Kant. Wodzinski became intrigued by certain under-appreciated
texts of Kant that illuminated Kant's thinking and influence
on religion in public life. Wodzinski found in Kant (along
with Baruch Spinoza) the fountainhead of modern religious
studies - studies which have tended to cast doubt on traditional
notions of Holy Scripture and which have generated the so-called
"historical Jesus."
Wodzinski was fascinated with this connection because he
was disturbed by the many modern theologians who are bent
on diluting matters of faith. "I couldn't understand
why they bothered to continue teaching theology. They don't
believe in God, the divinity of Christ, the possibility of
miracles, the redemption of mankind, and they seem to relish
the contortion of Scripture."
But in studying Kant, he found out what animated them this
way. "In Kant's mind, and in the mind of so many theologians
thereafter, religion is essentially a political, not a theological,
matter," he said. "The purpose of religion is not
to ascend to God, but is geared toward practical social, or
at best, moral, ends."
"For them, the sacramental meaning of the Eucharist
is subordinated to the cause for feeding the hungry. Feeding
the hungry becomes a paramount end, and Eucharistic devotion
is either ignored, construed in relation to it, or reduced
to a symbolism of 'community.' Hatred of hierarchy also follows.
The political end to be served is egalitarianism. Any organization
or religion based on a hierarchy, such as the Catholic Church,
is bad and must be restructured. Any political agenda predicated
on individual autonomy, such as abortion, contraception, euthanasia,
must be tolerated."
"My dissertation, however, will not be a polemic against
modernist theology. Rather, it is an attempt to demonstrate
the real depth and concreteness of Kant's political philosophy.
These can be grasped most clearly after a careful reading
of his works on theology and religious practice. Although
Kant is largely responsible for much of the disarray in theological
studies, he really does see the problem of religion in more
complexity than do his latter-day followers." He expects
to be done next spring.
Wodzinski has been sustained in his efforts by fellowships
from Boston College and The Harry and Lynde Bradley Foundation.
In 1999, he obtained a Scholarship for Culture Study in Germany,
at the Goethe-Institut Rothenburg. This fall, two of his papers
were accepted at the annual meeting of the American Political
Science Association, "Kant on War, Religion, and Eternal
Peace," and "The Political Implications of John
Paul II's Theology of the Body."
On completing his coursework at Boston College, Wodzinski
discerned that he would like to teach at the undergraduate
level. One of his advisors, Dr. Steven Brown, suggested he
would enjoy teaching at Thomas Aquinas College because of
its inter-disciplinary curriculum. He took a trip to the College
and got excited.
"I love philosophy, but I also thought it would be great
to plunge into mathematics, science, literature, and theology.
While philosophy is the highest human science, wisdom isn't
limited by departmental boundaries. The boundaries that pervade
so much of American higher education are really artificial.
Here, you get to see the life of the mind in full array."
"Plus, to see the Catholic dimension to it is awe-inspiring.
I was astounded when I got to take the Oath of Fidelity. Next
to witnessing my son's Baptism, it was the proudest thing
I've ever done. Most of my peers in graduate school would
have recoiled from doing that. I took it as a privilege."
Wodzinski's wife, Melissa, a native of Cleveland, has accompanied
him throughout his intellectual and geographical journey.
They met at Xavier where she was the "other one"
of three philosophy majors. They married after graduation
and she, too, pursued graduate studies at Boston College.
Her interests were Aristotle and Hobbes, but those became
subordinated to raising a family. She halted studies after
obtaining her Master's Degree and just before obtaining her
doctorate, all for the sake of motherhood. Their son, Thomas
Phillip was born shortly thereafter.
This fall, Wodzinski started teaching at the College. "I've
been really eager to teach under the seminar method. I tried
it in a class I was teaching while in graduate school and
it was a flop - none of the students wanted to talk; they
seemed shocked by the experience."
"Here, though, students thrive on it. The hardest part
for me is keeping on the fringes of the discussion. I have
to remind myself of the importance of letting students become
the primary agents in the learning process."
He has two sections of freshman language and one section
of junior seminar. And after his dissertation is finished,
he hopes to start up a Greek reading group for students. One
of the first works he lead in the junior seminar was - by
happenstance - Machiavelli's The Prince. "I had
been looking forward to this reading for months!," he
said. "And the class was terrific. I'm sure the students
got a lot more out of it than I did on my first reading. This
wasn't the first philosopher they had read, as it had been
for me. But I think they, too, were struck by some of the
things he was saying."
"Machiavelli takes things that are basically unspeakable
and raises them as legitimate questions: Can cruelty be a
virtue? Is it ever appropriate for a man to act as a beast?
Is religion a mere political tool? Just when exactly does
conduct or thought become blasphemous?"
"Normally, you don't like to think these thoughts. But
they may well be useful. While Aristotle and St. Thomas have
the correct vision of truth, Machiavelli forces students in
a difficult way to see that they are, in fact, correct. Only
by facing the full claims of the rivals of Aristotle and St.
Thomas can students truly appreciate them."
One owes thanks, then, to Machiavelli. Not only does he rouse
good questions. He rouses good tutors like Wodzinski.
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Fall 2002
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