Pax attended Notre Dame for undergraduate studies, received his master s degree from St. Louis University, and returned to Notre Dame to pursue his doctoral studies. Then came a year of postdoctoral work in Germany as well as sabbatical study in Mexico. A father of six three boys, three girls and now a grandfather of seven, he taught philosophy at Holy Cross from 1961 to 1991. He started painting 15 years ago, while he was still teaching, in an effort to understand the philosophical texts of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, who, according to Pax, studied the meaning of painting and the truth of painting. I had to do some hands-on work in painting to understand what he was saying, Pax said.
Painting is an attempt to see, and so is philosophy.
Both are concerned with questions of perception. In order to perceive, we have to be involved. Intellect must take that as the model. Perception is nascent thought. Thinking never leaves its roots.