Owens received his PhD in 1951 from the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, an affiliate of the University of Toronto, and remained at the institute as a teacher and distinguished researcher for the rest of his career. He authored nine books and almost 150 academic papers.

He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and served as president of the Metaphysical Society of America (1972), the Canadian Philosophical Association, the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, and the American Catholic Philosophical Association (which also awarded him its Aquinas Medal).

Books (authored and edited) edit

• Owens, Joseph (1951). The Doctrine of Being in the Aristotelian Metaphysics: A Study in the Greek Background of Mediaeval Thought. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 461 pages.
  • 2nd edition, revised. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 1963. 535 pages.
  • 3rd edition, revised. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 1978. 539 pages.
• St. Thomas and the future of metaphysics. Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press. 1957. 97 pages.
• A history of ancient Western philosophy. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. 1959. 434 pages.
• An elementary Christian metaphysics. Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing. 1963. 384 pages.

• (reissued). Houston, TX: Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas. 1985. 384 pages. ISBN 0-268-00916-3 (paper).

• The wisdom and ideas of Saint Thomas Aquinas. edited by Eugene Freeman and Joseph Owens. Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications. 1968.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) 158 pages.
• An interpretation of existence. Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing. 1968. 153 pages.
  • (reissued). Houston, TX: Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas. 1985. 153 pages. ISBN 0-268-01157-5 (paper).
• Human destiny: Some problems for Catholic philosophy. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press. 1985. 117 pages. ISBN 0-8132-0604-9 (cloth), ISBN 0-8132-0605-7 (paper).
• Towards a Christian philosophy. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press. 1990. 332 pages. ISBN 0-8132-0708-8.
• Cognition: an epistemological inquiry. Houston, TX: Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas. 1992. 373 pages. ISBN 0-268-00791-8.

Collected papers edit

• St. Thomas Aquinas on the existence of God: Collected papers of Joseph Owens. edited by John R. Catan. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1980.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) 291 pages. ISBN 0-87395-401-7.
• Aristotle, the collected papers of Joseph Owens. edited by John R. Catan. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1981.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) 264 pages. ISBN 0-87395-534-X (cloth), ISBN 0-87395-535-8 (paper).
• Some philosophical issues in moral matters: The collected ethical writings of Joseph Owens. edited by Dennis J. Billy and Terence Kennedy. Rome: Editiones Academiae Alphonsianae. 1996.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) 500 pages. ISBN 0-920980-68-6 (cloth).
• Aristotle's gradations of Being in Metaphysics E-Z. edited by Lloyd P. Gerson. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press. 2007.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) 256 pages. ISBN 1-58731-028-7 (cloth).

Secondary sources edit

• Graceful reason: essays in ancient and medieval philosophy presented to Joseph Owens, on the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday and the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination. edited by Lloyd P. Gerson. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 1983.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) 447 pages. ISBN 0-88844-804-X.

• John F. X. Knasas
• Anton Charles Pegis

• Obituary of Joseph Owens at thomistica.net
• A database of scholarship on Aristotle dedicated to Joseph Owens: [1]