With discussion sessions beginning this coming Saturday (9/23), I would be remiss if I did not put out a final call for registration in our Fall seminars. We have three provocative offerings, each of which promises to confront the errors of modernity in radically differing ways.
Rosenstock’s insights have to do above all with speech, time and history – topics infamous for their unpredictability, and fractious in their irreducibility to mere ratiocination or univocal definition. Aristotle, after all, reminds us that, due to the very nature of human events, there will never be a science of history. And yet, with all the ambiguities and surprises, it is in time and history that we live and move and have our being. We use propositions and syllogisms, but they do not provide us with a human dwelling, nor can they console us in our trials.
The term “phenomenology” has received a multitude of meanings over the past several centuries but today refers primarily to the loose collection of approaches initiated by Edmund Husserl with his 1900 (and revised in 1913) Logichse Untersuchungen, or Logical Investigations. Yet these approaches, while all see in phenomenology something foundational about how it is that human beings know, vary widely in their conduct. Prominent among them, and very frequently misunderstood, is the phenomenological approach advocated by Martin Heidegger—who, although perhaps the best-known of Husserl’s students, also perhaps departs the most radically among all the phenomenologists from his one-time teacher.
The importance of habit’s influence on action has been well noted by Saint Thomas and his followers (as, indeed, by all thoughtful followers of Aristotle) with respect to virtue and vice. This influence will be only as it were, however, an incidental object of our study. For, of particular importance in this seminar will be not only a consideration of habits as developing the individual, but as constituting the intersubjective reality of environment, community, and culture: of habits not only as they cause a coalescence of actuality in the human being (secundum se) but between human beings and the world (ad aliud).
Put otherwise, if we are to understand the full importance of habit, we cannot see it merely as something within ourselves as individuals but must recognize its influence on how we relate amongst ourselves.
Rosenstock-Huessy’s is a powerful and original mind. What is most important in his work is the understanding of the relevance of traditional values to a civilization still undergoing revolutionary transformations; and this contribution will gain rather than lose significance in the future.
Join us for an invigorating seminar that delves into the profound thought of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, a Jewish convert to Christianity, World War I veteran, and multifaceted thinker of the 20th century. A maverick philosopher and teacher, Rosenstock-Huessy emigrated from Nazi Germany to Harvard—where he was marginalized both for an interdisciplinary approach (before it was fashionable) and for unapologetically using the word “God” frequently in class. Thankfully he found a congenial home at Dartmouth College where his thought was given free reign until his death in 1973. Despite often being overlooked by conventional academia, his vast collection of works continues to resonate with contemporary scholars and has been praised as seminal by many critics.
The seminar promises to unlock the sui generis insights and methodologies that set Rosenstock-Huessy apart. His philosophical contributions defy easy categorization but open doors to understanding aspects of reality previously unnoticed. His ideas, stemming from unexpected cultural corners, offer a refreshing perspective on time, speech, and history—topics notoriously challenging to pin down.
Seminar Goals
Participants will explore Rosenstock’s enduring insights, focusing on his unique “grammatical method” of understanding. This approach safeguards against the modern tendency to reduce human reality to mere “scientific” statements. The discussion will also probe his perspective on the precedence of the second person over the first in our encounter with reality, his critique of prioritizing space over time, and his innovative “Cross of Reality” to reorient human consciousness.
Furthermore, the seminar will address Rosenstock-Huessy’s theories on the origin of language, emphasizing the primacy of hearing over seeing. It will also explore his alignment with other “speech thinkers” of the last century and his intricate understanding of history as a central theme converging all his insights.
This seminar invites scholars, students, and curious minds to engage with the challenging and inspiring works of this often-underappreciated thinker. It offers a stimulating journey into philosophical realms that continue to enrich and provoke our modern understanding of the cosmos and our place within it. Join us for this enlightening exploration that promises to be both intellectual revelation and tribute to one of the past century’s most intriguing and neglected minds.
1. The “Impure Thinker” that was Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy Readings: » [Primary] ERH. “Teaching Too Late – Learning Too Early,” from I Am an Impure Thinker, 91-114; Wayne Cristaudo et al. “Introduction: Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy (1888–1973)”, in Culture, Theory and Critique, 2015, vol. 56, 1 (12 pages). » [Secondary] Peter Leithart. “The Relevance of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy,” First Things, 06.28.07 (seven pages); Wayne Cristaudo. “Why Rosenstock-Huessy Matters: Personal reflections on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of his death,” unpubl., 2023 (29 pages).
September 30
2. Philosophy, Language and 20th Century “Speech-Thinkers” Readings: » [Primary] ERH. “The Uni-Versity of Logic, Language, Literature,” chapter 3 of Speech and Reality, 67-97. » [Secondary] Harold Stahmer. ” ‘Speech-Letters’ and ‘Speech-Thinking’: Franz Rosenzweig and Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy,” Modern Judaism, Feb. 1984, 57-81.
October 7
3. The Grammar Before and Beyond Our Grade-School Primers Readings: » [Primary] ERH. “In Defense of the Grammatical Method,” chapter 1 in Speech and Reality, 9-44. “The Grammar of the Soul,” from Practical Knowledge of the Soul, ch. 5, 18-33. » [Secondary] ERH. “Grammatical Health,” “Genus (Gender) and Life,” and “Editor’s Postscript,” chapters 12, 13 and 14 of The Origin of Speech, 110-129.
October 14
4. Time vis-à-vis Space in the “Cross of Reality” Readings: » [Primary] ERH. “Articulated Speech,” chapter 2 from Speech and Reality, 45-66. » [Secondary] ERH. “The Penetration of the Cross,” ch. 7 in The Christian Future (165-198); Peter Leithart. “The Cross of Reality,” unpubl., 2017 (11 pages).
October 21
BREAK
October 28
5. Human Speech – Evolved Ululation, or the Posterity of Poetry? Readings: » [Primary] ERH. “The Authentic Moment of Speech,” “The Four Diseases of Speech,” and “Church and State of Primitive Man,” from The Origin of Speech, the first three chapters, 2-27. » [Secondary] ERH. “The Speech of the Community,” ch. 9 from Practical Knowledge of the Soul, 48-61; “The Four Phases of Speech,” and “The Quadrilateral of Human Logic,” from I Am an Impure Thinker, 53-68.
November 4
6. History and Its Revolutions Readings: » [Primary] selections from Out of Revolution. » [Secondary] Norman Fiering. “Heritage vs. History: ERH as a “Physician of Memory,” from Understanding Rosenstock-Huessy, 60-93.
November 11
7. “Judaism Despite Christianity” Readings: » [Primary] ERH. “Prologue/Epilogue to the Letters – 50 Years Later,” 71-76; 171-194, from Judaism Despite Christianity -The Letters on Christianity and Judaism between ERH and Franz Rosenzweig. » [Secondary] Raymond Huessy. “A Reflection on the 1916 Correspondence between Rosenstock and Rosenberg,” in The Fruit of Our Lips, 303-311.
November 18
8. The Christian Future Readings: » [Primary]chapters from ERH. The Christian Future, 1946, and passages from The Fruit of Our Lips, 2021. » [Secondary] Peter Leithart. “Future and the Christian Era,” Theopolis, 2017.
Registration
Lyceum Institute seminar costs are structured on a principle of financial subsidiarity. There are three payment levels, priced according to likely levels of income. If you wish to take a seminar but cannot afford the suggested rate, it is acceptable to sign up at a less-expensive level. The idea is: pay what you can. Those who can pay more, should, so that those who cannot pay as much, need not. Lyceum Institute members receive a further discount (see here for details).
One payment covers all 8 weeks.
If you prefer an alternative payment method (i.e., not PayPal), use our contact form and state whether you prefer to pay as a Participant, Patron, or Benefactor, and an invoice will be emailed to you.
[2023 Fall] Rosenstock’s Thought – Public Benefactor
Upper-tier payment. Recommended for those with full-time employment in well-paying professions and sufficient resources to provide a little more.
$200.00
[2023 Fall] Rosenstock’s Thought – Public Patron
Middle-tier payment. Recommended for those with full-time employment and children, or for those in professions that do not pay as well as they ought, such as clergy and teachers.
$135.00
[2023 Fall] Rosenstock’s Thought – Public Participant
Basic payment. Recommended for those who are currently students, with part-time employment, or who cannot afford to pay more at the moment.
Phenomenology, a term rich with various meanings through history, is now commonly recognized as a collection of intellectual pathways pioneered by Edmund Husserl in his seminal work, Logische Untersuchungen or Logical Investigations (1900, revised in 1913 to coincide with the more-developed Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy). These philosophical explorations, all grounded in the foundational study of human understanding, are as diverse as they are profound. One remarkable and often misunderstood approach within this tradition is that of Martin Heidegger: a distinguished student of Husserl, but one whose interpretations diverge sharply from those of his mentor.
Join us for this eight-week seminar (the first of two) that delves into the complexities of Heidegger’s phenomenological method. Beginning with a contrast to the background that shaped his thinking, followed by an examination of Heidegger’s own conceptualization of his method, and culminating in a rigorous exploration of his groundbreaking work, Being and Time (Sein und Zeit), this course offers a comprehensive study of Heideggerian phenomenology. A focused consideration of his thought-provoking essay, “On the Essence of Truth” (Vom Wesen der Wahrheit), will reveal both the merits and shortcomings of Heidegger’s approach.
Discover Phenomenology
Phenomenological Method: Discover the unique manner in which Heidegger conducts his own phenomenology—or “fundamental ontology”—by reading his most important works.
The Question of Being: Learn how Heidegger reinvigorated the question of being and opened new avenues for philosophical understanding across traditions.
World and Meaning: Investigate the structures of the World (Welt) and Meaning (Sinn and Bedeutung) through Heidegger’s philosophy.
Method & Structure
The seminar, designed for those familiar with the Western philosophical tradition, consists of:
Weekly Recorded Lectures: 40-60+ minute lectures expositing the work of Heidegger and attempting to make it more clearly intelligible.
Discussion Sessions: Participants and the instructor gather to discuss weekly readings and lecture every Saturday at 3:00-4:00 pm ET.
Reading: The primary text is Heidegger’s Being and Time with additional readings provided in PDF.
Time Commitment: Expect 8-10 hours per week for reading, lectures, and discussion.
Auditing or Completing: Participants who write an essay may “Complete” the seminar (and be considered for publication in Reality).
Meaningful Postmodernity
What distinguishes this seminar is its focus on demystifying the often-obscure thoughts of one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century. Under the instructor’s guidance, participants will navigate the intricate terrains of phenomenology and the question of being, gaining insights that resonate deeply with human existence and intellectual curiosity.
Embark on this philosophical adventure with the Lyceum Institute, and unravel the mysteries of Being through the eyes of Heidegger. Whether you are a seasoned scholar of phenomenology or simply eager to explore these profound questions, this seminar offers a rare opportunity to engage with the complex landscape of modern philosophy. Register today and join a community dedicated to rigorous intellectual pursuit and enlightening discussion.
The Phenomenological Background » Lecture: Distinction and Methodological Outline Readings: » Required: Selections from Heidegger. » Kemple, “Heidegger’s Roots”.
September 30
The Concept of Being » Lecture: The Seinsfrage Readings: » Required: Being and Time, Introduction (21-64). » Supplement: Sheehan, “Phenomenology and the Formulation of the Question”.
October 7
Being Re-Situated » Lecture: Dasein Readings: » Required: Being and Time, 67-90. » Supplement: Kemple, “Phenomenology as Fundamental Ontology”.
October 14
Constitution of the World » Lecture: Welt Readings: » Required: Being and Time, 91-148. » Supplement: Kemple, “Phenomenology as Fundamental Ontology”.
October 21
BREAK
October 28
The Da of Dasein » Lecture: Being-With and Being-In Readings: » Required: Being and Time, 149-179. » Supplement: Kemple, “Phenomenology as Fundamental Ontology”.
November 4
Cognitive Unfolding of Dasein » Lecture: The Hermeneutic Circle Readings: » Required: Being and Time, 179-224. » Supplement: Kemple, “Sein and Knowledge”.
November 11
The Sein of Dasein » Lecture: Reality and the Reference to Care Readings: » Required: Being and Time, 225-278. » Supplement: Kemple, “Sein and Knowledge”.
November 18
Fundament of the Truth Relation » Lecture: Truth as Unconcealment Readings: » Required: “On the Essence of Truth”. » Supplement: Capobianco, “Reaffirming the ‘Truth of Being’”.
Registration
Lyceum Institute seminar costs are structured on a principle of financial subsidiarity. There are three payment levels, priced according to likely levels of income. If you wish to take a seminar but cannot afford the suggested rate, it is acceptable to sign up at a less-expensive level. The idea is: pay what you can. Those who can pay more, should, so that those who cannot pay as much, need not. Lyceum Institute members receive a further discount (see here for details).
One payment covers all 8 weeks.
If you prefer an alternative payment method (i.e., not PayPal), use our contact form and state whether you prefer to pay as a Participant, Patron, or Benefactor, and an invoice will be emailed to you.
[2023 Fall] Phenomenology: Heidegger’s Method I – Public Benefactor
Upper-tier payment. Recommended for those with full-time employment in well-paying professions and sufficient resources to provide a little more.
$200.00
[2023 Fall] Phenomenology: Heidegger’s Method I – Public Patron
Middle-tier payment. Recommended for those with full-time employment and children, or for those in professions that do not pay as well as they ought, such as clergy and teachers.
$135.00
[2023 Fall] Phenomenology: Heidegger’s Method I – Public Participant
Basic payment. Recommended for those who are currently students, with part-time employment, or who cannot afford to pay more at the moment.
In a world where habits often seem synonymous with unconscious and automatic reactions, it is time to revisit and explore the true depth and meaning of this vital aspect of human existence. The Lyceum Institute is pleased to present an 8-week intensive seminar on “Thomistic Psychology: Human Habits and Experience of the World.” Guided by the profound insights of Thomas Aquinas, the seminar will open up new horizons in understanding the complex reality of habits in human life.
Why Study Habits and Experience? The modern understanding of habit is often reduced to mere patterns of behavior. However, this seminar takes a unique approach, delving into the Thomistic tradition to unveil a more profound, multifaceted, and richer perspective. Further, this course intertwines the insights of Thomistic psychology with those derived from semiotics and phenomenology to examine not only the intrapersonal dimension of habits but also the intersubjective reality in community, culture, and environment.
Understanding Habits in Depth: Learn about Thomas Aquinas’s treatment of habit as a coalescent actuality, shaping our actions, virtues, and vices, and how it stands in contrast to contemporary notions.
Cultural Habit: Discover the influence of habits on how we relate amongst ourselves, a theme rarely drawn out explicitly in Thomistic texts but profoundly vital in our interconnected world.
The Role of Other Traditions: Though focused on St. Thomas, we will take a diverse approach by invoking traditions such as semiotics and phenomenology and engage with authors like Felix Ravaisson, who have written extensively on habit.
Method & Structure
The seminar, designed for those with prior study in or familiarity with Thomistic Psychology, consists of:
Weekly Recorded Lectures: 40-60+ minute lectures exploring concepts, arguments, and potential developments within the tradition.
Discussion Sessions: Engage in collective inquiry and civil debate with fellow participants and the instructor every Saturday at 1:00-2:00 pm ET.
Reading: Primary texts include Aquinas’ Summa theologiae (ST Ia-IIae) with additional readings provided in PDF.
Time Commitment: Expect 8 hours per week for reading, lectures, and discussion.
Auditing or Completing: Participants who write an essay may “Complete” the seminar (and be considered for publication in Reality).
Richness of Experience
This is not just a seminar but a deeply engaging experience that promises to enrich your understanding of human nature and the world around us. It allows an immersive exploration of texts, lectures, and lively discussions, bringing resolution to difficulties, enhancing intellectual curiosity, and directing further inquiry.
It is more than learning; it’s participation in a dynamic intellectual community, sharing thoughts, engaging in constructive debates, and fostering a collective pursuit of wisdom. Your contribution will not only enlighten you but others as well, and you’ll have the opportunity to have your work potentially evaluated for publication.
Join us at the Lyceum Institute for this enlightening journey, a course that goes beyond the conventional, offering a unique perspective that could redefine your understanding of habits and their role in human experience. Challenge your thoughts, deepen your insights, and be a part of a meaningful dialogue about human nature and culture. Register today for “Thomistic Psychology: Human Habits and Experience of the World,” and rediscover the richness of human existence.
The Nature of Habit » Lecture: Paradigms of Habit Readings: » Required: ST Ia-IIae, q.49. » Supplement: Selections from neuroscientific and psychological writings.
September 30
The Being of Habits » Lecture: Locus Habituum Readings: » Required: ST Ia-IIae, q.50. » Supplement: Robert Brennan, “The Habits of Man” in Thomistic Psychology.
October 7
Formation and Increase of Habits » Lecture: Determining the Indeterminate Readings: » Required: ST Ia-IIae, q.51-52. » Supplement: Selections from C.S. Peirce.
October 14
The Unity of Habits » Lecture: Order and Union Readings: » Required: ST Ia-IIae, q.53-54. » Supplement: Notes on feedback loops and neuroplasticity.
October 21
BREAK
October 28
Virtues as Habits » Lecture: Holding the Self Well Readings: » Required: ST Ia-IIae, q.55-56. » Supplement: Yves Simon, “Work and Culture”.
November 4
Moral and Intellectual Virtue » Lecture: Holding toward the World Readings: » Required: ST Ia-IIae, q.57-58. » Supplement: Yves Simon, “Work and Culture”.
November 11
Habituation toward Virtue or Vice » Lecture: Struggle within the World Readings: » Required: ST Ia-IIae, q.63, a.1-2, 4; q.71, a.1-4. » Supplement: Josef Pieper, “Doing and Signifying”.
November 18
The Habit of Responsibility » Lecture: Culture and Habit Readings: » Required: Selections from Thomas Aquinas. » Supplement: John Deely, “Philosophy and Experience”.
Registration
Lyceum Institute seminar costs are structured on a principle of financial subsidiarity. There are three payment levels, priced according to likely levels of income. If you wish to take a seminar but cannot afford the suggested rate, it is acceptable to sign up at a less-expensive level. The idea is: pay what you can. Those who can pay more, should, so that those who cannot pay as much, need not. Lyceum Institute members receive a further discount (see here for details).
One payment covers all 8 weeks.
If you prefer an alternative payment method (i.e., not PayPal), use our contact form and state whether you prefer to pay as a Participant, Patron, or Benefactor, and an invoice will be emailed to you.
[2023 Fall] Thomistic Psych: World and Habit – Public Benefactor
Upper-tier payment. Recommended for those with full-time employment in well-paying professions and sufficient resources to provide a little more.
$200.00
[2023 Fall] Thomistic Psych: World and Habit – Public Patron
Middle-tier payment. Recommended for those with full-time employment and children, or for those in professions that do not pay as well as they ought, such as clergy and teachers.
$135.00
[2023 Fall] Thomistic Psych: World and Habit – Public Participant
Basic payment. Recommended for those who are currently students, with part-time employment, or who cannot afford to pay more at the moment.
Law: the word, to many, conjures images of the courtroom or a legislature—ponderous tomes of tediously-written jargon rendering a complex web of oft-arbitrary-seeming stipulations and impingements. So prevalent is this imagery that to speak of the “natural law” sounds often like a mere metaphor. Exacerbating this “metaphorical” tenor of the phrase has been its use in ideological battles. Sometimes it is made a shield against criticism; other times, a sword to cut down proposals. But again and again, as history well shows, return to the notion is made, and not coincidentally when threat is made to the coherence of “nature” as normative in human experience.
The revival of interest in natural law in our own time is certainly related to the devastations wrought by positivism and existentialism in the intellectual and political life of a considerable part of Western society, which it is generally agreed is undergoing rapid and radical transformations. By our own example, then, we realize how the theory of natural law may be influenced by the aspirations of a society, at a certain moment of its evolution, and how great is the danger for that theory of becoming nothing more than an expression of these aspirations.
Simon 1965: The Tradition of Natural Law: A Philosopher’s Reflections, 27.
Rather than capitulate theory of the natural law to these “aspirations of a society”, one ought instead to understand what that law is. Perhaps most poignantly, we need to understand how that law is known. How do we discover the first principles of the natural law? How do these principles inform our moral reasoning? Join us for this 8-week seminar, led by Dr. Matthew Minerd, to investigate these and other related questions. Deadline for registration is 5 July 2023.
Lecture 1: Problematizing the Natural Law Historical overview of the Natural Law; Gleanings from the history of natural law thinkers; lay of the land in some contemporary natural law debates. Readings: » Simon, chs. 1 and 2.
July 15
Lecture 2: Theoretical Issues in the Background of Natural Law Discussions Discussion of various themes in the background when discussing the natural law: nature, freedom, reason, natural theology, action theory. Reading: » Simon, ch. 3.
July 22
Lecture 3: Law in General: Its Nature, Division, and Properties Reading of Thomas Aquinas’s treatment of law in general. Closest attention will be given to the general definition of law and the particular divisions of law. Reading: » ST I-II, q. 90–92. » Simon, ch. 4.
July 29
Lecture 4: Natural Law and Human Law Reading of Thomas Aquinas’s treatment of natural law and human law, the latter considered as a concretization of the natural law. Reading (same for weeks 4 and 5): » ST I-II, q. 93–97. » Simon, ch. 5.
August 5
BREAK
August 12
Lecture 5: Natural Law and Human Law (continued) Reading of Thomas Aquinas’s treatment of natural law and human law, the latter considered as a concretization of the natural law. Reading (same for weeks 4 and 5): » ST I-II, q. 93–97. » Simon, ch. 5.
August 19
Lecture 6: The Noetics of the Natural Law Introduction to the critiques of practical reason needed for understanding how the natural law is known. (This will develop themes that we will have already encountered in Simon). Reading: » Minerd, Matthew K. “A Note on Synderesis, Moral Science, and Knowledge of the Natural Law.” Lex naturalis 5 (2020): 43–55. » Rhonheimer, Martin. “Practical Reason and the ‘Naturally Rational’: On the Doctrine of the Natural Law as a Principle of Praxis in Thomas Aquinas.”
August 26
Lecture 7: Some Basic Discussion of New Natural Law and its Critics The NNLT has developed quite a bit in the past sixty years. It has many branches, more than we can cover in an introductory seminar. We will consider a terminus a quo in an important early article by Germain Grisez and a terminus ad quem in a recent critique by Steven Jensen. Readings: » Grisez, Germain G. “The First Principle of Practical Reason: A Commentary on the Summa Theologiae, 1-2, Question 94, Article 2.” Natural Law Forum 10 (1965): 168–201. » Jensen, Steven J. “The Fatal Flaw of New Natural Law Action Theory.” The Thomist 86, no. 4 (October 2022): 543–572.
September 2
Lecture 8: Final Thoughts about the Natural Law Discussion of the place of Natural Law in Thomism. Some comments on the place of natural law in early Christianity and in Orthodox thought. Closing remarks on the importance / state of the natural law today Readings: » Harakas, Stanley. “Eastern Orthodox Perspectives on Natural Law.” Selected Papers from the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Christian Ethics (1977): 41-56. » Bourke, Vernon J. “Is Thomas Aquinas a Natural Law Ethicist?” The Monist 58, no. 1 (1974): 52–66. » Simon, ch. 6.
Registration
Lyceum Institute seminar costs are structured on a principle of financial subsidiarity. There are three payment levels, priced according to likely levels of income. If you wish to take a seminar but cannot afford the suggested rate, it is acceptable to sign up at a less-expensive level. The idea is: pay what you can. Those who can pay more, should, so that those who cannot pay as much, need not. Lyceum Institute members receive a further discount (see here for details).
One payment covers all 8 weeks.
If you prefer an alternative payment method (i.e., not PayPal), use our contact form and state whether you prefer to pay as a Participant, Patron, or Benefactor, and an invoice will be emailed to you.
[2023 Summer] Moral Noetic – Public Participant
A payment level recommended for those who are currently students, who are between jobs, or who have part-time employment.
$60.00
[2023 Summer] Moral Noetic – Public Patron
Recommended for those in professions that do not pay as well as they ought and for whom continued education is especially important (including professors and clergy). Helps allow us to subsidize lower-cost registrations.
$135.00
[2023 Summer] Moral Noetic – Public Benefactor
Recommended for those with fulltime employment in well-paying professions and sufficient resources to provide a little more. Greatly aids us in allowing to subsidize lower-cost registrations.
What is phenomenology? This question has been asked, indeed, seemingly since the word “phenomenology” was first introduced. It is a question, also, which gives testimony to a point often made by John Deely: efforts at philosophical innovation require either the posit of a neologism, in which case no one understands its significance, or the effort at adapting an old term to a new meaning, in which case everyone will attempt to interpret your new meaning by the old. Despite this confusion, phenomenology has continued to exercise an influence for just as long as its meaning has been questioned.
In an effort, therefore, to provide a much-needed clarification—not by mere didactic exposition but by a “genuine repetition” of the inquiry that led to its development—this seminar will endeavor to re-discover phenomenology from its very roots. Accordingly, we focus our inquiry primarily on the thought of Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), the first founder of phenomenology as a formal movement within philosophy. But we will also expand our considerations into the practical application of phenomenological method for understanding various aspects of human experience, including what it means in fact to be a human person, and to dwell among and with other persons.
By our inquiry into phenomenology, we hope to clarify both what it is, itself, and its fittingness in the context of philosophical inquiry broadly speaking. This seminar, taught by Drs. Daniel Wagner and Brian Kemple, will lead students through the tangle and into the clearing. View the syllabus here.
Break with Reality: The Need for Phenomenology Lecture 1: Classical Sense-Realism and the Modern Break Readings: » “Key Texts on Sense-Realism in Aristotle & St. Thomas Aquinas” and “The Modern Break”.
June 10
The History and Question of Phenomenology Lecture 2: Origins and Methodologies Reading: » [Required] Spiegelberg 1956: “Introduction” and “Part One: The Preparatory Phase, Chapter One: Franz Brentano” (1-52). » [Recommended] Moran 2000: Introduction to Phenomenology, 1-22.
June 17
The Phenomenological Attitude Lecture 3: From Natural to Phenomenological Attitude via the Phenomenological Ἐποχή Reading (same for weeks 3 and 4): » [Required] Husserl 1907: The Idea of Phenomenology, 1914: Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and a Phenomenological Philosophy,51-62 (§27–32). » [Recommended] Moran 2000: Introduction to Phenomenology, 124-163.
June 24
First Fruits of the Phenomenological Reduction Lecture 4: Intentionality, Νοησίσ-Νοημα, and the End of Idealism Reading: » [Required] Husserl 1907: The Idea of Phenomenology, 1914: Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and a Phenomenological Philosophy,51-62 (§27–32). » [Recommended] Moran 2000: Introduction to Phenomenology, 124-163.
July 1
BREAK
July 8
The Self and the Other Lecture 5: Other Persons, Empathy, Intersubjectivity, and Objective Truth Reading: » [Required] Husserl 1931: Cartesian Meditations, Meditation V. » [Recommended] Selections from Stein 1916: On the Problem of Empathy.
July 15
Structures of Experience Lecture 6: Perception, Memory, and Language Reading: » [Required] Sokolowski 2000: Introduction to Phenomenology, c.5-7. » [Recommended] Excerpts from various authors.
July 22
Structures of the Lifeworld Lecture 7: Temporality, Science, and Meaning Readings: » [Required] Sokolowski 2000: Introduction to Phenomenology, c.9-11. » [Recommended] Moran 2000: Introduction to Phenomenology, 164-191.
July 29
Phenomenology of Personhood Lecture 8: Reflections upon Intentional Consciousness Readings: » [Required] Spaemann 1996: Persons, 1-40. » [Recommended] Wojtyła c.1965: Person and Act: The Introductory and Fundamental Reflections (36-58).
Registration
Lyceum Institute seminar costs are structured on a principle of financial subsidiarity. There are three payment levels, priced according to likely levels of income. If you wish to take a seminar but cannot afford the suggested rate, it is acceptable to sign up at a less-expensive level. The idea is: pay what you can. Those who can pay more, should, so that those who cannot pay as much, need not. Lyceum Institute members receive a further discount (see here for details).
One payment covers all 8 weeks.
[2023 Summer] Phenomenology: An Introduction – Public Participant
A payment level recommended for those who are currently students, who are between jobs, or who have part-time employment.
$60.00
[2023 Summer] Phenomenology: An Introduction
Recommended for those in professions that do not pay as well as they ought and for whom continued education is especially important (including professors and clergy). Helps allow us to subsidize lower-cost registrations.
$135.00
[2023 Summer] Phenomenology: An Introduction
Recommended for those with fulltime employment in well-paying professions and sufficient resources to provide a little more. Greatly aids us in allowing to subsidize lower-cost registrations.
This seminar has been cancelled and will be offered instead at a later date TBD.
Can we have a democratic government in an increasingly post-liberal world? Must we return to a strict hierarchy if we are to abandon the “liberal experiment” that has rendered increasing ailment in recent decades? These are not questions with simple or straightforward answers. To answer them, we would be foolish both to ignore St. Thomas Aquinas and to caricaturize his thought to fit facile solutions. Thankfully, though under the auspices of a somewhat different world, great Thomistic thinkers have already anticipated the question and can provide us guidance going forward.
The famous saying of Aristotle that man is a political animal does not mean only that man is naturally made to live in society; it also means that man naturally asks to lead a political life and to participate actively in the life of the political community. It is upon this posulate of human nature that political liberties and political rights rest, and particularly the right of suffrage. Perhaps it is easier for men to renounce active participation in political life; in certain cases it may even have happened that they felt happier and freer from care while dwelling in the commonwealth as political slaves, or while passively handing over to the leaders all the care of the management of the community. But in this case they gave up a privilege proper to their nature, one of those privileges which, in a sense, makes life more difficult and which brings with it a greater or lesser amount of labor, strain and suffering, but which corresponds to human dignity.
Jacques Maritain, The Rights of Man and Natural Law.
Many are familiar with Jacques Maritain, great Thomist author and figure of the twentieth century: a man who wrote on topics far and wide, and strove most of his life to bring a living Thomism into a broader public. Fewer are familiar with the thought of Yves Simon, scion of Maritain’s approach to understanding St. Thomas, and an adept thinker and careful author in his own right.
Among Simon’s many contributions is his Philosophy of Democratic Government, a work which presents the core insights of Maritain concerning the nature of democracy in a more deeply-rooted scholarly appraisal of St. Thomas, and rife with many additional insights of Simon’s own. Using this text as our basis, this seminar, taught by Dr. Francisco Plaza, will revisit these twentieth-century thinkers and discern how their thought can help address the troubles of our own times. View the syllabus here. Registration closes June 2.
Lecture 1: Christianity and Democracy Readings: » Jacques Maritain, Christianity and Democracy, pages 3 to 63
June 10
Lecture 2: General Theory of Government Reading: » Yves Simon, Philosophy of Democratic Government, pages 1 to 71.
June 17
Lecture 3: Democratic Freedom Reading: » Yves Simon, Philosophy of Democratic Government, pages 72 to 143.
June 24
Lecture 4: Sovereignty in Democracy Reading: » Yves Simon, Philosophy of Democratic Government, pages 144 to 194.
July 1
BREAK
July 8
Lecture 5: Democratic Equality Reading: » Yves Simon, Philosophy of Democratic Government, pages 195 to 259.
July 15
Lecture 6: Democracy and Technology Reading: » Yves Simon, Philosophy of Democratic Government, pages 260 to 321.
July 22
Lecture 7: The Failure of Liberalism Readings: » Patrick Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed, pages 1 to 42; pages to 179 to 198.
July 29
Lecture 8: Freedom, Nature, Community, and Democracy Readings: » Yves Simon Reader, pages 134 to 148; pages 267 to 284; pages 289 to 298; pages 399 to 414; pages 433 to 446.
It has often been suggested, and not without ample reason and evidence, that the importance of a great thinker never finds itself as potently realized during the thinker’s own lifetime. The significance of truly great thoughts, that is, take not only decades but centuries to unfold. Thus, when it is claimed that John Henry Newman will be seen as the transitional figure between the modern and post-modern ages, much as Augustine was between antiquity and the medieval, it should be recognized that this claim points not to a past recognition but one dawning at this very hour. Certainly, Newman’s work carried weight in his own time, as did Augustine’s. Will Newman’s name grow to the same greatness?
Augustine’s Confessions, like Newman’s Apologia; his City of God, like Newman’s Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine; and his On Christian Teaching, like Newman’s Idea of a University, all show striking parallels between the writings of the two saints. But it is in their most systematic works that we find an even more remarkable parallel. Living a life contemporaneous with the early definitions of nature and person in theology, in On the Trinity, Augustine trained his genius on the ultimate mystery of the Triune God, easily the most challenging and the most fertile of all Christian doctrines.
Newman, living amidst the modern world’s storms of doubt and confusion, along with its celebrated, and risky “turn to the subject,” directed his attention instead to a meticulous study of the very act of faith – that movement of the human intellect that enables it to assent to such teachings in the first place. What he discovered were insights of such uncommon luminosity that not only theology, but all knowledge – of whatever type – found itself newly vindicated. By showing the role that pre-rational belief plays in every venture of human knowing, and the complexities of assent in consolidating our opinions and certitudes, he seemed to be turning epistemology on its head. The result was easily his most demanding and in retrospect his most revolutionary book: The Grammar of Assent. To this book the seminar will direct a more focused attention. Also Newman’s oft misunderstood celebration of conscience can only be grasped from within the perspectives laid open by this book.
These initial comparisons between the two saints are being made only in the interest of portraying Newman as a kind of modern Augustine. It will be suggested that what Augustine meant for the subsequent medieval centuries, Newman represents for late modernity and post-modernity. It will be his four books that will be the focus of our study. Augustine’s thought has already been folded into the fields of Christian reflection during the long 15 centuries that separate the two men’s lives. Newman’s ideas, on the other hand, are just beginning to be fully appreciated. For most of our readings, we shall follow selections chosen from each of the four works in sequence: from the Apologia, the Essay, the Idea, and the Grammar.Access to the seminar, taught by Fr. Scott Randall Paine, PhD, begins on 1 April 2023. View the syllabus here.
Lecture 1: Overview of the Life, Work and Legacy of John Henry Newman Readings: » [Primary] Sheridan Gilley. “Life and Writings”. » [Secondary] Afterword to Ian Ker’s biography of JHN.
April 22
Lecture 2: Apologia Pro Vita Sua – “The Story of a Mind” Reading: » [Primary] Selected excerpts from the Apologia. » [Secondary] Ian Ker. John Henry Newman: A Biography. » [Secondary] Robert C. Christie. The Logic of Conversion: The Harmony of Heart, Will, Mind, and Imagination in John Henry Newman.
April 29
Lecture 3: Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine – From Seed to Fruit Reading: » [Primary] Selected excerpts from the Essay. » [Secondary] Bogdan Dolenc. “Newman’s Essay… Its Genesis and Enduring Relevance”.
May 6
Lecture 4: The Idea of a University – Newman’s Vision of Liberal Education Reading: » [Primary] Selected excerpts from the Idea. » [Secondary] Mark van Doren. “Liberal Education,” from Liberal Education. » [Secondary] Jarislav Pelikan. The Idea of a University: a Reexamination.
May 13
BREAK
May 20
Lecture 5: Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent I – Notional and Real Assent Reading: » [Primary] Selected excerpts from the Grammar, Part 1: “Assent and Apprehension.” » [Secondary] Michael Polanyi. “The Logic of Affirmation”, in Personal Knowledge.
May 27
Lecture 6: Grammar of Assent II – The Illative Sense Reading: » [Primary] Further selected excerpts from the Grammar, Part 2: “Assent and Inference.” » [Secondary] John Deely. “Knowledge” from Introducing Semiotic: Its History and Doctrine. » L.M. Régis. “Assent or Value Judgment About the Truth of First Principles,” in Epistemology.
June 3
Lecture 7: Newman and the Conscience Readings: » [Primary] Selected excerpts from the Grammar and other works. » [Secondary] Gerard J. Hughes. “Conscience,” in Cambridge Companion to JHN. » Bernard Dive. “Introduction” to John Henry Newman and the Imagination.
June 10
Lecture 8: Newman Today – A Church Doctor for the 21st Century Readings: » [Primary] Discourse and Homily for the Beatification of John Henry Newman, Pope Benedict XVI, 2010 » [Primary] Newman’s “Biglietto Speech,” 1879. » [Secondary] Erich Przywara. A Newman Synthesis, selections.
Registration
Lyceum Institute seminar costs are structured on a principle of financial subsidiarity. There are three payment levels, priced according to likely levels of income. If you wish to take a seminar but cannot afford the suggested rate, it is acceptable to sign up at a less-expensive level. The idea is: pay what you can. Those who can pay more, should, so that those who cannot pay as much, need not. Lyceum Institute members receive a further discount (see here for details).
One payment covers all 8 weeks.
Registration is closed — thank you for your interest and perhaps we’ll see you in one of our upcoming seminars!
Quid est veritas? A question, doubtless, familiar to many: “What is truth?” Today, whether put into those exact words or others like them, we witness a similar disdain for beliefs that there exists a truth and that we may know it. Seldom, however does this scorn rise from genuine intellectual conviction in the posit of radical relativism or of an intellectual nihilism—such conviction warring against what it proposes to uphold. Rather, for many, the rejection of truth is born from despair mingled with vice: sloth, pride, and lust. Truth gives rise to norms, and accepting norms requires that we evaluate the quality of our actions.
Yet… all human beings, as Aristotle rightly tells us at the outset of his Metaphysics, desire to know. The despair over truth’s attainment, and the lostness to vice, are not insurmountable obstacles. While recovery from vice takes many acts of will—opting for the arduous good rather than the facile but shallow pleasure—we need truth to discern what goods are genuine, and which are false. Here, as in so many other places, we find Thomas Aquinas to be a guiding light.
Thomas Aquinas held his first series of “disputed questions”, De veritate, over the course of the three years of his first regency at the University of Paris, 1256-1259. He was then in his early thirties. The structure of the “disputation” – both live and in its published form – reflects the continual raising of questions and resolution of difficulties between teacher and students engaged together in common, probing inquiry. This particular series of disputations, according to Aquinas’s biographer J.-P. Torrell, shows us “the genius of the young master… a genius in motion, perpetually in the act of discovery”.
Though we know this work as De veritate (On Truth), in fact Thomas and his students were occupied with two great themes: the true and the good. These two have a transcendental character: that is, each is a name for being itself, albeit under the aspect of a relation to mind (the true) or to appetite (the good). These two great themes yielded a total of 253 discussions (“articles”) ranged under a total of 29 areas of inquiry (“questions”). Access to the seminar, taught by Kirk Kanzelberger, PhD, begins on 1 April 2023.
Week 1: Being and the True I Lecture: “Truth as communication of being and mind” Readings: » De Veritate (DV) 1, aa. 1-3, 5.
April 22
Week 2: Being and the True II Lecture: “Truth and mutability, truth and falsity” Reading: » DV 1, aa. 6, 8-12.
April 29
Week 3: Divine Knowledge I Lecture: “Divine knowledge as divine perfection” Reading: » DV 2, aa. 1-5, 8, 12.
May 6
Week 4: The Idea of a University – Newman’s Vision of Liberal Education Lecture: “Divine knowledge as cause of the creature” Reading: » DV 2, aa. 13-15. » DV 3, aa. 1-3.
May 13
BREAK
May 20
Week 5: Human Cognition I Lecture: “The understanding animal” Reading: » DV 10, aa. 1-6.
May 27
Week 6: Human Cognition II Lecture: “The understanding animal understanding itself” Reading: » DV 10, aa. 8-9. » DV 11, aa. 1-2.
June 3
Week 7: Faith Lecture: “Knowledge beyond nature” Readings: » DV 10, aa. 11-13. » DV 14, aa. 1-3.
June 10
Week 8: Practical Knowledge Lecture: “Synderesis and conscience” Readings: » DV 16, aa. 1-3. » DV 17, aa. 1-3.
Registration
Lyceum Institute seminar costs are structured on a principle of financial subsidiarity. There are three payment levels, priced according to likely levels of income. If you wish to take a seminar but cannot afford the suggested rate, it is acceptable to sign up at a less-expensive level. The idea is: pay what you can. Those who can pay more, should, so that those who cannot pay as much, need not. Lyceum Institute members receive a further discount (see here for details).
One payment covers all 8 weeks.
Registration is closed — thank you for your interest and perhaps we’ll see you in one of our upcoming seminars!
What is a sign? It is a deceptively difficult question—deceptive because we think we know when we have never bothered truly to ask the question. We believe that we see and hear signs everywhere: guiding our use of streets, telling us where to exit, the location of the bathroom, what dangers might lie ahead, and so on. But in truth, though we experience signification in these instances, the things we identify as the “signs”—the on the street corner, the glowing plastic “EXIT” over a fire door, the nondescript white silhouette of a representatively feminine shape over one door, the print of a large clawed mammal in soft dirt—are only a part of the signs that we experience. The truth hides in a reality far more complex and far more interesting. Discovery and understanding of this hidden reality impacts our understanding of the whole universe, and of ourselves not least of all.
We name this a seminar in “semiotics”, and so one might expect that it concerns thinkers and issues raised no earlier than the late 19th or early 20th centuries, at which time Charles Sanders Peirce (10 September 1839—1914 April 19) retrieved the term from its neglected proposal in John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding. But—while certainly we will be concerned with many of the issues that preoccupied Peirce and his successors—we find their genesis not in the twilight of modernity, but the twilight instead of the Latin Age. For Peirce was inspired in much of his thinking by the Conimbricenses, a 16th-17th century semi-anonymous group of Jesuit scholars who wrote extensively and profoundly on signs. These same Conimbricenses were, moreover, the teachers of João Poinsot, variously known also as Juan de S. Thoma, Joannes a Sancto Thoma, John of St. Thomas, or, in our usage here, John Poinsot (9 July 1589—1644 June 15).
Poinsot, who took the religious name Joannes a Sancto Thoma upon entering the Dominican Order in 1610 to signify his fidelity to the great saint’s thought, died just six years before René Descartes (31 March 1596–1650 February 11) and yet, despite a much greater profundity of thought and insight, has remained relatively unknown (at least when compared to his French counterpart). Indeed, where Descartes began in earnest the Modern Age of philosophy, with its characteristic Way of Ideas, Poinsot brought to a close the Latin Age. Their relative fame and obscurity to history follow from complex causes. One of these, no doubt, is that while Descartes wrote short and accessible texts, Poinsot crafted both a CursusPhilosophicus and an (incomplete) Cursus Theologicus—each many thousands of pages.
Within this Cursus Philosophicus we find a textually-dispersed but nevertheless conceptually-united Tractatus de Signis, a Treatise on Signs [required]. This treatise has been extracted, arranged, translated, and editorialized in an edition by John Deely (26 April 1942—2017 January 7), first published in 1985 and again in 2013. A careful examination of this text reveals that, while Poinsot may have been the “evening star” of the Latin Age, he proves also the “morning star” of the new, genuinely post-modern era, the Age of Relation. In this seminar, we will study this Tractatus de Signis with close attention. Access to the seminar begins on 18 March 2023.
(required in bold) Copy of the Tractatus de Signis is required. Available from St. Augustine’s Press or other booksellers (1st edition acceptable).
18 March—April 8
Preparatory Phase: All participants are expected to read widely from a selection of articles and texts—including reading required texts in advance—while joining in communal textual discussion.
No discussions are scheduled during this phase, but it is pivotal for entering correctly into the active discussion phase (15 April—June 10).
April 15
Week 1: Preliminaries: Entry into the Tractatus Lecture: An Abbreviated History of Semiotics Readings: » Poinsot 1632: Tractatus de Signis (TDS) 4–39. » Deely 1994: “A Morning and Evening Star” » Deely 2009: Augustine & Poinsot, 3–59. » Kemple 2022: “Augustine: Instituting the Given Sign” and “Aquinas: The Metaphysics behind Semiosis”.
April 22
Week 2: Cognition-Dependent Being Lecture: Entia Rationis and the Constitutive Acts of the Mind Reading: » Poinsot 1632: TDS, 40–76. » Maritain 1959: Degrees of Knowledge, 118–44. » Doyle 1994: “Poinsot on the Knowability of Beings of Reason”.
April 29
Week 3: Relational Being Lecture: The Nature and Kinds of Relation Reading: » Poinsot 1632: TDS, 78–112. » Deely 1985: “Editorial Afterword” in TDS, 472–89.
May 6
Week 4: Sign-Relations Lecture: The Being Proper to Signs Reading: » Poinsot 1632: TDS, 114–52. » Deely 1990: “Signs: The Medium of Semiosis” in Basics of Semiotics. » Kemple 2022: “Poinsot: The Essence of the Sign”.
May 13
BREAK
May 20
Week 5: Triadic Elements of the Sign-Relation Lecture: Cognitive Powers and Objects Reading: » Poinsot 1632: TDS, 153–92. » Deely 2009: Purely Objective Reality, 14–37.
May 27
Week 6: The Causality and Extension of Signs Lecture: The Degrees of Specifying Causality Reading: » Poinsot 1632: TDS, 193–219. » Deely 1994: New Beginnings, 151–82.
June 3
Week 7: Division of Signs, Part I Lecture: Toward an Understanding of Concepts Readings: » Poinsot 1632: TDS, 220–61. » Beuchot 1994: “Intentionality in John Poinsot”.
June 10
Week 8: Division of Signs, Part II Lecture: Toward an Understanding of Language Readings: » Poinsot 1632: TDS, 262–83. » Maritain 1957: “Language and the Theory of Sign”.
10 June—July 2
Writing Phase: All participants in the seminar are not onlyencouraged but expected to submit an essay of no less than 3000 words pertaining to the Tractatus de Signis of Poinsot.
The essay may be evaluated for publication in Reality.
Registration
Lyceum Institute seminar costs are structured on a principle of financial subsidiarity. There are three payment levels, priced according to likely levels of income. If you wish to take a seminar but cannot afford the suggested rate, it is acceptable to sign up at a less-expensive level. The idea is: pay what you can. Those who can pay more, should, so that those who cannot pay as much, need not. Lyceum Institute members receive a further discount (see here for details).
One payment covers all 8 weeks.
This is an advanced seminar, tantamount to a graduate course in difficulty and intensity. Students should be familiar with the Scholastic and especially Thomistic traditions, or at the very least, with the semiotic work of John Deely.
Registration is closed — thank you for your interest and perhaps we’ll see you in one of our upcoming seminars!
on the street corner, the glowing plastic “EXIT” over a fire door, the nondescript white silhouette of a representatively feminine shape over one door, the print of a large clawed mammal in soft dirt—are only a part of the signs that we experience. The truth hides in a reality far more complex and far more interesting. Discovery and understanding of this hidden reality impacts our understanding of the whole universe, and of ourselves not least of all.