On Gratitude and Debts
A Philosophical Happy Hour on gratitude and the repayment of gifts—that is, the satisfaction of debts for the gratuitously-given—through the insight of St. Thomas Aquinas. The virtue of gratitude, St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, “always inclines, insofar as possible, to pay back something greater” than one has received. In a world of diminished personal bonds, […]
On Human Uselessness
A Philosophical Happy Hour on Jacques Ellul’s “Meditation on Inutility”, challenging us to think about the uselessness of human action. For this week’s Philosophical Happy Hour, we will take up a specific short text to read and discuss: the postscript to Jacques Ellul’s Politics of God and Politics of Man, titled “a meditation on inutility”. […]
Maritain Musings
I would like to draw attention to two episodes of the American Maritain Association’s podcast, Maritain Musings, hosted by our own Dr. Matthew Minerd. The first features friend of the Lyceum Institute, Dr. Jim Jacobs, Director of Philosophy Programs at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana. Together with Dr. Minerd, Dr. Jacobs discusses the […]
On Making Distinctions
A Philosophical Happy Hour on distinctions, the doctrine of their kinds, and the importance making them correctly. The failure to make good distinctions characterizes the stupidity of our age. Observe the social networks and see how few distinctions are proposed, how unquestioning the categories, how obstinate every adherent to his or her ideology! How many […]
Felicitates de Quodlibet, II.4
A Philosophical Happy Hour on… whatever! The fourth installment in our Felictates de Quodlibet series for 2025, in which we talk about whatever we want, so long as it is interesting, and for as long as we are interested. Or, to put this otherwise: do you have a philosophical question—any question whatsoever—you want seriously to […]
On Morality, Law, and the Exercise of Choice
A Philosophical Happy Hour on the relationship between morality and law, and what falls to our exercise of choice. St. Thomas Aquinas defines law as an ordinance of reason ordered to the common good, promulgated by one who holds responsibility for the community. This broad but precise definition allows us to distinguish kinds of law […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
