Introducing Innovative High School Economics

presented by Dr James Duffy and Professor Emeritus Terrance Quinn

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.

This is the second of three seminars organised by Lonergan Australasia on two-circuit economics discovered by Bernard Lonergan. The third seminar on “Economics as the Foundation of Democracy” presented by Robert Henman will be on Tuesday 9 March 2027.

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.

Schedule: 40 minutes presentation and 30 minutes questions and discussion

Registration: https://lonergan.org.au/registration-2026-november/