Michael Pakaluk is Ordinary Professor of Political Economy at The Catholic University of America, Ordinarius of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Institute for Human Ecology. His scholarly work spans Aristotle, Aquinas, classical political economy, and Catholic social thought, which he teaches and writes about with equal facility.
He has published three books on Aristotle: the Clarendon Aristotle volume on Nicomachean Ethics VIII and IX; a widely used introduction to the Nicomachean Ethics with Cambridge University Press; and, co-edited with Giles Pearson, Moral Psychology and Human Action in Aristotle (Oxford, 2011). His first book, Other Selves: Philosophers on Friendship (Hackett, 1991), played a key role in the recovery of the philosophical investigation of friendship. His two books on accounting ethics with forensic accountant Mark Cheffers revolutionized that discipline by situating it in the framework of virtue theory.
His recent publications include The Shock of Holiness (Ignatius, 2025) and The Company We Keep (Scepter, 2025); he is also a lead author of Natural Law: Five Views (Zondervan, 2025). His book on natural law and civic friendship, Walk in the Good Path, will appear with The Catholic University of America Press in 2026.
Pakaluk is currently at work on Luke's Gospel and the Birth of Christian Romanticism, completing his celebrated series on the gospels: The Memoirs of St. Peter; Mary's Voice in the Gospel of John; and Be Good Bankers: The Economic Interpretation of Matthew's Gospel. A recognized Newman specialist, he is also writing a book on reading Newman as a philosopher.
His prose style has been compared to that of C. S. Lewis in its clarity, warmth, and argumentative precision. He writes regularly for The Catholic Thing and maintains a Substack on faith, reason, and culture.
Education
- A.B. Philosophy, Harvard College
- M.Litt Philosophy, University of Edinburgh
- Ph.D. Philosophy, Harvard University
Expertise
- Philosophy
- Politics
- Economics
- Classical Ethics
- Natural Law
Research Interest
- Virtue Ethics
- Natural Law
- John Henry Newman
- Thomistic Moral Psychology and Ethics
Teaching Interest
- Ethics
- Natural Law
- Political Economy
- Aristotle
- Aquinas
- Newman
- Brownson
- Markets and Prosperity
- Accounting Ethics
Courses Taught
- Business Ethics
- Professional Ethics for Accountants
- Liberty and the Common Good
- Markets and Prosperity
Publications
Select publications
Books
- Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
- Be Good Bankers: The Economic Interpretation of Matthew's Gospel. Regnery Gateway, 2025.
- The Company We Keep: True Friendship and Why It Matters. Scepter Press, 2025.
- Nicomachean Ethics VIII and IX, translation with commentary, Clarendon Aristotle Series, 1998.
Articles
- "Cleaving the Natural Law at Its Joints," The Thomist, 88 (2024): 41–76.
- "Degrees of Separation in the Phaedo," Phronesis, vol. 48, (2003), pp. 1–27.
- "Friendship and the Comparison of Goods," Phronesis 37, 1992, pp. 111–130.
- "The Egalitarianism of the Eudemian Ethics," Classical Quarterly, vol. 48, n. 2, 1998, pp. 411–432.
- "The Meaning of Aristotelian Magnanimity," Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, vol. 26, Spring 2004, pp. 241–275.
- "The Ultimate Final Argument," Review of Metaphysics, 63.3, 643–677, 2010.
- "A Defense of Scottish Commonsense," Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 52, 2002, 151–168. (Reprinted in John Haldane and Stephen Read, eds. The Philosophy of Thomas Reid: A Collection of Essays, Blackwell, 2003.)
- "A Claim of Conscience: The Duty to Prove Oneself a Resistor," with Catherine R. Pakaluk, The Linacre Quarterly, (2024); 0(0), 1–16.
Chapters
- "The Interpretation of Bertrand Russell's Gray's Elegy Argument," in A. Irvine and G. Wedeking, eds. Bertrand Russell and Analytic Philosophy, University of Toronto Press, 1993, 37–65.
- "Natural Law and Civil Society," in Simone Chambers and Will Kymlicka, eds., Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society, Princeton University Press, 2001, 131–150.
- "Is the Common Good of Political Society Limited and Instrumental?" Review of Metaphysics, vol. 55, 2001, pp. 799–816.
- "Structure and Method in Aquinas's Appropriation of Aristotelian Ethical Theory", in Tobias Hoffmann, Jörn Müller, and Matthias Perkams, eds., Aquinas and the Nicomachean Ethics, Cambridge University Press, 2015.
- "Reading Aristotle," in James Warren and F.C.C. Sheffield, eds., The Routledge Companion to Ancient Philosophy, Routledge, 2018.
- "The Unity of the Nicomachean Ethics," in Jon Miller, ed., Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: A Critical Guide, Cambridge University Press, 2013.
- "Aristotle" in the Cambridge History of Moral Philosophy, ed. Jens Timmermann and Sacha Golob, Cambridge University Press, 2017, pp. 42–56.
- "Aristotle on God as Creator," in Proceedings of the XVII Session of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas, Serge-Thomas Bonino and Guido Mazzotta, eds., Urbiana University Press, 2018, pp. 29–46.
- "Contempt in Classical Philosophy," in The Moral Psychology of Contempt, ed. Michelle Mason, Rowman and Littlefield, 2018, pp. 17–36.
- "The Meaning of Sex Differences and Marriage in Maritain," in Heidi Giebel, ed., The Things that Matter: Essays on the Later Work of Jacques Maritain, The Catholic University of America Press, 2018.
- "The Nineteenth-Century Transformation of American Universities and Colleges: Newman's Unrealized Ideals," in Juan Velez, editor, Newman's Educational Philosophy, Writing and Legacy. Gracewing, forthcoming, 2025.
- "Approaches to Reading Newman as a Philosopher," in J. Velez, ed. A Guide to John Henry Newman: His Life and Thought, The Catholic University of America Press, 2022.
- "Away from Omelas," in T. Borland and A. Hillman, eds., Dissenting Philosophers, Rowman and Littlefield, 2022.
Reviews
- M. Malink, Aristotle's Modal Syllogistic, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2014.03.04.
- C. Shields, Aristotle, reviewed in the Journal of Hellenic Studies, 2012.
- J. Howland, The Paradox of Political Philosophy, reviewed in Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2000 (2.36).
- A. Kenny, Aristotle on the Perfect Life, reviewed in Ancient Philosophy 15, 1995.
Select Lectures and Seminars
- "A Dumb Ox's Prayer to Bellow," Thomistic Summer Institute, Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, California, June 7, 2025.
- "The Gospel of St. John," Honors Program Distinguished Lecture Series, Providence College, Providence, RI, November 12, 2021.
- "Puzzles of Condolence: Why We are Pleased When a Friend Shares Our Sorrow," Aquinas Institute, Blackfriars, Oxford, May 20, 2017.
- "Identification and Identity in Aristotelian Friendship," Fall Lecture Series on Friendship, School of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America, September 30, 2016.
- "Aristotle a Living Authority for the American Founders," Research Seminar in Political Philosophy, Pembroke College, Oxford, England, March 18, 2015.
- “Accounting Professionalism and IFRS Convergence,” Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), Norwalk, CT, July 21, 2009.