Brian Kemple, PhD
Executive Director
My name is Brian Kemple and I hold a PhD in Philosophy from the University of St. Thomas, in Houston TX. I have written two scholarly books (Ens Primum Cognitum in Thomas Aquinas and the Tradition and The Intersection of Semiotics and Phenomenology: Peirce and Heidegger in Dialogue), two books intended for the seriously philosophically-minded public (an Introduction to Philosophical Principles and Linguistic Signification: A Classical and Semiotic Course in Grammar & Composition), a number of scholarly articles and a few public-oriented ones, as well. Previously, I have taught at the Wentworth Institute for Technology and the University of St. Thomas (TX). Additionally, I have worked as a private marketing and educational consultant (especially to PhD students).
After spending a few years in conventional university teaching, I began to see the structure of academia as inhibiting rather than enabling philosophical thinking, both for professors and for students. I realized I had a choice: I could continue striving to fix a broken system from within, or I could try to build something new—risky, but better, if it worked, a new and better kind of institute. Thus, the Lyceum Institute was born in 2019, and it has been my honor to continue leading it since.
In addition to being the Executive Director of the Lyceum Institute—where I teach philosophy seminars, reading circles, and courses in the Trivium program—I am the Executive Editor of Reality: a Journal for Philosophical Discourse, which similarly operates in contrast to the standard practices of academia.
richard sharpe, MA
director of languages
Greetings! I serve as the Lyceum’s director of languages. I hold an MA in Philosophy from Duquesne University and a BA in both Philosophy and Classical Studies from the Pontifical College Josephinum.
I currently teach Latin and Greek at the Lyceum. I have taught a mix of Latin, Greek, and German (as well as Trivium-related material and more) for over fifteen years in both formal institutional and private tutoring settings.
Though I have enjoyed language study since childhood, my love of languages surged especially due to the academic requirement of reading, interpreting, and translating philosophical and theological texts. I am convinced not only that any text is understood best if read in its original language, but also that the text as a whole must be interpreted in relation to the tradition(s) in which it is situated.
In addition to “formal” language study and teaching, I continue research in my main philosophical interests, chiefly: a) the engagement of scholastic metaphysics and hermeneutic phenomenology; b) the histories (and interweaving) of personalism, existentialism, and dialogical philosophy; and c) the philosophy of comedy.
GEOFFREY A. MEADOWS, MA
executive assistant
I am currently the Head of Upper School at Tulsa Classical Academy. I received my B.A. from St. Mary’s College of California (magna cum laude) and my M.A. from the Center for Thomistic Studies at University of St. Thomas, Houston. I have two published articles one of which won the ACPA’s “Young Scholar’s Award”.
Previously, I taught philosophy at University of St. Thomas, Texas Southern University, Lone Star Community College, and Houston Community College (Central). I was also a teacher of humane letters (history, literature, and philosophy) and Euclid’s Elements at a classical school in Scottsdale, AZ. I have designed curriculum for classical schools and trained new teachers in the traditional liberal arts as well as techniques in seminar.
Academically my interests are in neo-Aristotelian and Thomistic natural philosophy and metaphysics with a special emphasis on its engagement with contemporary physics and cognitive neuroscience.
