Boston College

Profile

Laura L. Garcia teaches philosophy at Boston College.  She graduated summa cum laude from Westmont College with honors in philosophy and went on to receive an MA and PhD in philosophy (1983) from the University of Notre Dame.  Dr. Garcia specializes in philosophical theology and metaphysics, and has taught at Calvin College, the University of Notre Dame, the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minnesota), The Catholic University of America, Georgetown University and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Dr. Garcia’s work focuses on philosophical questions about the nature and attributes of God, the relationship between faith and reason, and the prospects for natural theology.  More recent interests include the basis of human dignity and its moral implications for bioethics and the dignity of women and children.

Dr. Garcia is a founding member and past Co-president of University Faculty for Life (1989), a multidisciplinary organization of faculty members speaking out for human life.  She has lectured internationally on life issues, marriage and family, and the vocation of women, and contributed essays and reviews to Crisis, New Oxford Review, Catholic Dossier and First Things.

Selected Publications

• “A Personalist Understanding of Human Work.”  Forthcoming in Proceedings of the American Maritain Association, 2005.
• “Modal Arguments for God.”  Forthcoming in Readings in the Philosophy of Religion, 2nd ed.  Editor Kelly James Clark.  Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2005.
• “Worth Dying For.”  Philosophy and Narnia.  Editors Jerry Walls and Gregory Bassham.  Popular Culture and Philosophy Series.  Chicago: Open Court, 2005.
• “Preserving Persons.” The Contribution of John Paul II to Bioethics.  Editor Christopher Tollefsen.  Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag (formerly Kluwer), 2004.
• “Ethics on One Wing.” Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Newsletter 26 (Fall 2003): 13-23.
• “Christians and the Joy of Sex.” National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 3 (Summer 2003): 257-264.
• “The Importance of Parental Choice” in Logos, summer 2003.