Dr. Paul Kidder's work is concentrated in the areas of metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics. He specializes in the philosophy of Bernard Lonergan and has interdisciplinary interests in urban studies and international development. He received his doctorate from Boston College in 1987 and he joined the Seattle University Philosophy Department in 1989.

Selected Publications

 “Philosophical Hermeneutics and the Ethical Function of Architecture,” Contemporary Aesthetics, Vol. 9 (2011). Full article
“Being and Interpretation for Lonergan and Heidegger,” Ultimate Reality and Meaning 30:3 (2009) 134-145.
“The Urbanist Ethics of Jane Jacobs,” Ethics, Place, and Environment 11:3 (2008): 253-66. Preview
"The Ontology of Interrogation in Lonergan and Merleau-Ponty." American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 78:1 (2004): 69-82.
"The Lonergan-Heidegger Difference," Philosophy and Theology, 15:2 (2003): 273-98.
"Interpretation and the Speechless Image," in A. Wiercinski, ed., Between Suspicion and Sympathy: Paul Ricoeur's Unstable Equilibrium. Toronto: The Hermeneutic Press, 2003: 460-8.
“Four Faces of Urban Design Ethics.” Arcade: Architecture/Design in the Northwest, 21:3 (Spring 2003): 33-4.
“The Future of American Cities.” Lonergan Workshop 17 (2002): 125-39.
"Modern Architecture and Ignatian Vision." Lonergan Workshop 15 (1999): 13-25.
"The Hermeneutic and Dialectic of Community in Development," International Journal
of Social Economics 24:11 (1997): 1191-1202. Abstract
"What Could Metaphysics Be? The Lonergan-Coreth Debate," The American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 69:4 (Autumn 1995): 557-72.
"Still Life and Landscape: The Sacred in Secular Attire," Lonergan Workshop 11 (1995): 21-34.
"Lonergan's Negative Dialectic," The International Philosophical Quarterly 30:3 (September 1990):299-309.
"What Is a Thing for Lonergan?" Method: Journal of Lonergan Studies 17:1
(March 1989): -17.
"Husserl's Paradox," Research in Phenomenology 17 (1987): 227-42.
"Lonergan and the Husserlian Problem of Transcendental Intersubjectivity," Method:
Journal of Lonergan Studies 4:1 (March 1986): 29-54.

Selected Presentations

“Joseph Flanagan and the Philosophical Hermeneutic of Modern Art,” Lonergan Workshop, June 2011.
“The Future of American Cities as a Moral Question,” St. Mary’s University Center for Professional Ethics, March 2011.
“Merleau-Ponty between Van Gogh and Gauguin,” Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition meeting, University of San Francisco, October 2010.
“The Ontological Valence of the Abstract Picture,” North American Society for Philosophical Hermeneutics meeting, Seattle University, September 2010.
“Hermeneutics and Global Human Development,” Wismer Global Thinking Conference, Seattle University, April 2010.
“Method in the Madness of West Coast Architecture,” West Coast Methods Institute, Loyola Marymount University, April 2010.
“Postmodern Architecture and the Greening of American Cities,” Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition meeting, Seattle University, October 2009.
"Spiritual Meaning in Architecture." Spiritual Life Institute, St. Martin's University, 2007.
“Thinking with Father Richardson.” Lonergan Workshop, Boston College, June 2006.
“Voegelin, Heidegger, and the Configuration of Historical Ontology.” American Political Science Association Conference, Washington, D.C., September, 2005. Full text
“Eric Voegelin’s Philosophical Hermeneutic.” Lonergan Workshop, Boston College, June, 2005.
"Method in Urban Studies," International Lonergan Conference, Regis College, Toronto, 2004.
"Existenz and Symbol for Jaspers and Voegelin." Jaspers Society of North America, Seattle, 2002.
"Meaning, Time, and Architecture." Ernest Becker Foundation, Seattle, 1999.
"The Dance of Death in Art." Ernest Becker Foundation, Seattle, 1998.
"Economic Development Ethics and the Mediation of Culture," West Coast Methods Institute, Santa Clara, 1997.
"Kandinsky's Confidence." International Merleau-Ponty Conference, Seattle, September 1997.
"The Banality of Famine." West Coast Methods Institute Conference, Santa Clara, 1995.

Professional Affiliations

American Philosophical Association (1982-present)
American Catholic Philosophical Association (1987-present)
Alpha Sigma Nu (elected 1986)
International Development Ethics Association (1993-present)
Lonergan Philosophical Society (1994-present)
Philosophers in Jesuit Education (1999-present)