author
P. (Peter) Coffey
1876–1943
An Irish Catholic priest and philosopher, he spent decades teaching at Maynooth and writing clear, systematic works on logic, ontology, and epistemology. His books helped bring neo-scholastic philosophy to English-language students in the early 20th century.
1 Audiobook
Ontology, or the Theory of Being
by P. (Peter) Coffey
About the author
Born near Enfield, County Meath, in 1876, Peter Coffey was educated at the Meath diocesan seminary in Navan and at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He later studied at the University of Louvain, where he completed a doctorate in philosophy.
Coffey spent most of his career at Maynooth, serving as professor of philosophy from the early 1900s until his death in 1943. He was both a priest and a teacher, and his work was shaped by the neo-scholastic tradition, which aimed to present Catholic philosophy in a rigorous, structured way.
He is best known for books such as The Science of Logic, Ontology; or the Theory of Being, and Epistemology. Written for students as well as serious readers, these works explain major philosophical questions with patience and order, and they remain a useful window into Catholic intellectual life in his time.