The Tom Daly Oration is a biennial oration in honour of Fr Thomas Vincent (Tom) Daly, SJ (1924 – 2014), philosopher and teacher. The Oration pays tribute to his work and legacy. It precedes the biennial Australian Lonergan Workshop.

Tom Daly was renowned as the earliest and perhaps the leading exponent and teacher of Lonergan’s cognitional theory in Australia. His authority in Lonergan research was also highly valued overseas. Tom’s method of teaching Lonergan was unique, particularly in his use of exercises, puzzles and jokes. Though primarily a teacher of philosophy, Tom engaged with some of the most pressing issues of his time in ethics, bioethics, science, mathematics and human consciousness.

A short biography can be found here.

A collection of Tom’s published and unpublished works and some file notes are available on this website.  What is common to each of these works is Tom’s clarity about the dynamic and emerging ever-fertile notion of ‘understanding’ as the key (in thinking) to unity, dialogue and development, and its relation to what is given (in data) and consequent upon inquiry.

Click here to go to the collection.

Past orations
2015: Dr John Little
                  “Tom Daly, Map-maker of the Human Spirit”

2017: Professor Matthew Ogilvie (School of Philosophy and Theology, Notre Dame University, Perth)
                  “The Truth Will Set You Free”

2019: Dr Stephen Ames (Honorary Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne and an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Divinity)
                 “How might Lonergan help us in addressing the problem of natural evil?”

2021: Dr Robin Koning, SJ
                  “Authentic subjects transforming cultures: Fr Tom Daly’s contribution”

2023: John Boyd Turner
                “so what now? how do we make a history our children will delight to inherit? how do we make a history giving glory to the Trisagion?”

2025: Archbishop Clement Papa, Archbishop of Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea
                 “The PNG Experiment, and the Contribution of Bernard Lonergan and Tom Daly”