Brian Kemple

  • Reintegration of the Human Soul

    The Lyceum Institute’s Humanitas Technica project returns to the American Catholic Philosophical Association’s annual conference. Below is the abstract around which our discussion panel, “Reintegration of the Human Soul in the Digital Age”, will be ordered. We plan to record the panel. We are subject to a technologically-mediated fragmentation of our very souls. This fracturing…

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  • Classics, Language, and Philosophy

    In this conversation, Richard Sharpe discusses his journey into the intellectual life, the significance of classical education, and the importance of language study. He emphasizes the integration of thinking and living well, the cultivation of habits in education, and the role of community in fostering a love for learning. The discussion highlights the virtue of…

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  • Who is My Enemy?

    A Philosophical Happy Hour inquiring into the nature of enmity, the distinction of public and personal enemies, and the morally rightful manner of holding oneself in opposition to others. We hear a lot these days about friends and enemies, and—it seems—not unreasonably.  The world seems awash in hostility.  But what is it, in fact, that…

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  • Beyond the University

    Meaningful change never happens overnight. It takes years to establish and generations to perfect. The Lyceum Institute aims to build a new future for education—knowing it will not come quickly or easily, but that from a few minds truly dedicated to the cause, we can bring new life to learning beyond the university. The renewal…

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  • Catharsis and the Intellectual Life

    In this conversation, Brian Kemple is joined by Daniel Wagner, a Faculty Fellow of the Lyceum Institute, in exploring the motivations behind intellectual pursuits, the significance of classical education, and the contrast between modern and classical educational philosophies. 00:00 – Introduction to Intellectual Pursuits 03:01 – Catharsis, Healing, and Philosophy 06:55 – Understanding Classical Education…

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  • The Suffering of Age

    A Philosophical Happy Hour making phenomenological investigation into the experience of aging—bodily, mentally, spiritually, morally, as carried out in action and passion from conception until death. We mark the passing years in many ways.  Anniversaries of first dates, of engagements, of weddings, of ordinations, of foundings for countries and companies alike—each noted by the year…

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  • Macbeth and the Fall of Soul

    On Thursday, October 16, from 6-8pm ET, members of the Lyceum Institute will gather to discuss the beginning of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth under the guidance of Dr. Mark McCullough, who is providing us lectures and readings to focus our understanding. There is much that we can learn from this great tragedy—and here we will focus…

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  • Lecutre: Self-Sufficiency of Happiness in the Nicomachean Ethics

    In 2024, the Lyceum Institute this thoughtful interpretation of a perennial difficulty in interpreting Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, presented by Joseph M. Cherny, PhD Candidate at the Center for Thomistic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX. Mr. Cherny asks: how is happiness self-sufficient? Does it find fulfillment in one good, or a…

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  • On Angelic Beings

    A Philosophical Happy Hour on why we should care about angelic beings and seek understanding of their existence. Nearly every culture in human history has voiced belief in supernatural beings—forces beyond our reckoning that possess powers to shape and change the world.  Indeed, any honest inquiry into the world, the cosmos, shows us wonders beyond…

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  • On What Could Be

    A Philosophical Happy Hour on the distinction of potentiality and possibility in both being and knowing. When we speak about what “could be”, we often unthinkingly use the words “possible” and “potential” as though they were interchangeable.  Yet beneath this ordinary use lies a subtle but nevertheless important distinction: a distinction that reaches into the…

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