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Curriculum Vitae

B.A., 91����, 2019; M.A., philosophy, University of Notre Dame, 2025; Ph.D., philosophy, University of Notre Dame (ABD); Instructor, University of Notre Dame, 2022, 2024; Tutor, 91����, 2025-. 

Profile

“I always dreamed of being a tutor,” says Andreas Waldstein (’19). The child of alumni academics Susie (Burnham ’78) and Michael Waldstein (’77) — and also an alumnus himself — it is no wonder Mr. Waldstein was drawn to the 91���� teaching faculty. “Even as a student, I knew I would love to teach here.” 

Born in Austria, Mr. Waldstein grew up touring Europe with his family. Surrounded by exquisite art, beautiful music, and rich culture, he developed a love for classical literature and languages. Reading Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason during his junior year at the College piqued his fascination with philosophy. “I found it so bizarre, but also so enthralling,” he observes. “Here was a magnificent edifice of thought that was so deeply wrong, but also so serious and great. That was when I decided to do graduate work in philosophy.” 

After graduating from the College in 2019, Mr. Waldstein went on to earn a master’s degree in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. For his doctoral dissertation, he chose to write on the metaphysics of beauty according to Sts. Thomas and Bonaventure. “In our culture, we tend to think that beauty is merely relative, completely in the eye of the beholder. I wanted to understand the older and truer view that beauty is an objective property of being.” 

In 2025, Mr. Waldstein fulfilled his dream when he returned to the California campus as a tutor. “This is a place where beauty is obviously being lived as a concrete ideal,” he says. “Being able to contribute to that is a true blessing.”

Presentations

• “St. Thomas on Beauty: A Defense” April 9, 2025: Thomas More College.
• “Scholastic Theories of Aesthetic Experience” The Bethany Workshop July 30, 2024: London (Enabled by a generous grant from the David Solomon Fund from the Center for Ethics and Culture).
• “Aristotle on the Beauty of God” The Human Person: 2023 Annual ACPA Meeting November 19, 2023: Houston.
• “How Many Formal Concepts? A Problem for Defenders of the Analogy of Being” Univocity and Analogy in the Long Thomist and Scotist Traditions October 26, 2023: Angelicum Thomistic Institute, Pontifical Angelicum University, Rome.
• “St. Thomas on The Intentionality of Thought” Thomistic Summer Conference: The Soul in the Philosophy and Theology of St. Thomas June 16, 2023: 91����, California.
• “Aquinas on Cognitive Intentionality” 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo May 11, 2023: Western Michigan University.
• “Soloviev and Some Scholastics on the Beauty (and Ugliness) of Nature” The Metaphysical Preambles to the Preambles of Faith: 2022 Annual ACPA Meeting November 20, 2022: New Orleans
• “William of Auvergne and Bonaventure on the Beauty of Creation” De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture Fall Conference November 10, 2022: University of Notre Dame.
• “William of Auvergne on the Metaphysics and Morals of Beauty” 2nd Notre Dame University KU Leuven Collaborative Workshop in Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy June 2, 2022: KU Leuven.
• “Cajetan on Formal Unity and Universals: Scotist Problems and Thomist Answers” Second Scholasticism, Analytic Metaphysics, Christian Apologetics: A Conference in Honor of Professor Stanislav Sousedík’s 90th Birthday October 28, 2021: Catholic Theological Faculty, Charles University, Prague.
• “Cajetan on Formal Unity and Universals” Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy Inaugural Conference October 5, 2021, University of Notre Dame.