Three Seminars on Two-circuit Economics Discovered by Bernard Lonergan – Online free
Two-circuit economics: the future of economics
8 September 2026, 7.00-8.15pm (Melbourne time) – Click here for this presentation
Find more information about two-circuit economics here – books, articles, videos & websites
Introducing Innovative High School Economics
10 November 2026, 7.00-8.15pm (Melbourne time) – Register here free
Economics as the foundation of democracy
Dr Sean McNelis, Adjunct Research Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology presents on:
Two-circuit economics: the future of economics
Two-circuit economics offers an optimistic view of how transformations in an economy will lead to a just sharing of the world’s natural resources. It is the future of economics.
Chronic economic problems continue to plague every facet of human life. This seminar is an introduction to two-circuit economics which was discovered in the early 1940s by Bernard Lonergan – “one of the great overlooked intellectual discoveries of the t century”. Two-circuit economics begins with facts and data, rather than economic models. It distinguishes two distinct circuits of production, a basic circuit and a surplus circuit. This structure is operative in all economies, international, national and regional. It is operative in firms of all sizes, from small businesses to global corporations. Two-circuit economics reveals the key relationships by which to understand any economy and any economic event.
This is an introductory seminar which begins with data accessible to everyone seeking a better society and does not require specialist knowledge or training in economics.
Dr Sean McNelis is an Adjunct Research Fellow at Swinburne University of Technology. He has over 40 years’ experience in housing management, housing policy and advocacy and, housing research.
Over the past 20 years at Swinburne University, his research included: projects for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) on rental systems, homelessness services, asset management, housing for older people and rent regulation; housing strategies for local government; housing affordability indicators, and; quarterly reports on the private rental market in Victoria. In 2014, he published, Making Progress in Housing: A Framework for Collaborative Research (Routledge, London), which outlines a new framework for research and policy called Functional Collaboration based on the work of Canadian theologian, philosopher and economist, Bernard Lonergan.
His interests include: social housing policy, in particular housing finance and rental systems; housing for older persons; housing co-operatives; the foundations of housing research; futurology, and; the economic and philosophic writings of Bernard Lonergan.
His publications can be found on his website: artfulhousing.com.au/publications.
Introducing Innovative High School Economics
10 November 2026, 7.00-8.15pm (Melbourne time) – Register here
Dr James Duffy and Professor Emeritus Terrance Quinn present on:
Introducing Innovative High School Economics
This presentation will introduce a “make-believe” Year 12 introductory economics course in the year 2077. James Duffy and Terrance Quinn will share a few aspects of such a course and its concretely heuristic perspective.
The aim of the seminar includes stimulating the work of imagining a high school course that begins with “apparently trifling [economic] problems” and includes an ordered sequence of exercises that students would attempt. Another purpose is to inspire focused reflection on the character of high school students in 50 years.
A mock up syllabus, a few exercises, and “A Grade 12 Introductory Class in Economics” will be distributed two weeks in advance. Participants are encouraged to read these texts prior to the seminar.
James Duffy lives in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico. He holds an MA in philosophy from Boston College (1983–85) and a PhD in philosophy from Fordham University (1989–1996). He has taught undergraduate philosophy, theology, and interdisciplinary studies at the St. Mary’s University of Minnesota (1996–2001) and philosophy, core ethics, and ESL at the Tecnológico de Monterrey (2004–2024). From 2006 to 2008, he collaborated in the design of the Licenciatura en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (BA in Humanities and Social Sciences) at the Tecnológico. He co-edited Seeding the Positive Anthropocene (Axial Publishing, 2022) and has published articles in Divyadaan: Journal of Philosophy & Education, Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association and Revista Filosofía. He coordinates a series of dialectic exercises published in the Journal of Macrodynamic Analysis. Currently he is learning to dance salsa, bachata, and cumbia and volunteers at a migrant shelter in Morelia.
Professor Emeritus Terrance Quinn obtained is MSc in 1988 (mathematics) and his PhD in 1992 (mathematics). He held faculty positions in Ireland and then in the USA. At Middle Tennessee State University, he served as Chair of the Department of Mathematical Sciences (2006–2009) and Professor (2006–2018). He is now Professor Emeritus. He resides in his hometown, Toronto, Canada and is an active scholar. During his early career he published in pure and applied mathematics as well as in mathematics pedagogy. The works of Bernard Lonergan (1904–1984) and Philip McShane (1932–2020) grew to become major influences. He has ongoing publications in foundations of science and has been making inroads in economics, for which Lonergan’s discovery of the two-flow structuring of economies is foundational. More about Terrance Quinn and his publications can be found on his website: terrancequinn.com
Economics as the foundation of democracy
Robert Henman will present on:
Economics as the Foundation of Democracy
This seminar, through a discussion of the following six topics seeks to answer the question: How does a science of economics support democracy?
(1) Towards a definition of Democracy
(2) How establishment economics inhibits liberty and freedom
(3) The function of an economy
(4) Revolution in education towards an explanatory account of economic activity
(5) Implementation of general empirical method (GEM) through functional specialization (FS)
(6) The purpose of existence: Prioritizing development over living.
Robert Henman is a part-time faculty member at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He lectures on philosophy, ethics, peace studies and child studies. He has published articles in philosophy, ethics, theology, psychotherapy and meta-neuroscience. He has published two books on education and one on method in neuroscience. His most recent book published in 2026 is The Foundations of a Democratic Economy (Cambridge Scholars, Newcastle upon Tyne) in which he discusses the relationship between economics and politics, drawing on the work of Bernard Lonergan.