Lecture: The Centrality of Noble Goods for Human Flourishing
Last year, the Lyceum Institute hosted Dr. Daniel De Haan (Frederick Copleston Senior Research Fellow & Lecturer in Philosophy & Theology in the Catholic Tradition Blackfriars and Campion Hall / Research Fellow, Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford) for a colloquium presentation on “The Centrality of […]
Reading Circle: Peirce’s Harvard Lectures on Pragmatism
What is pragmatism—according to the man who coined the term, Charles Sanders Peirce? In 1903, C.S. Peirce (1839–1914) was invited by his friend, William James, to deliver a series of lectures on pragmatism at Harvard University. As the editors of The Essential Peirce, vol.2 write, in these lectures, “Peirce sought to build a case for […]
On Authentic Play
A Philosophical Happy Hour investigating the nature, significance, and importance of authentic play. What does it mean to play? Though we are all acquainted with play from an early age, we might be hard-pressed nonetheless to define it. On the one hand, it seems something common to higher animals: not only our pets—dogs and cats—but […]
On the Postmodern, Postliberal, and Postacademic
A Philosophical Happy Hour on the meaning of the postliberal, the postmodern, and the postacademic—and what we signify by “post-”. We do not think often enough about the meanings of words, especially those that have entered into the popular lexicon. The term ‘postmodern’ provides a good example of this unthinking, and in two ways. First […]
On the Experience of Evil in Our Souls
A Philosophical Happy Hour on the question: do we (some of us, all of us) need to experience evil—even sin, that experience of our own moral fault—in order to discover and know the good? Drawing upon some of the works of the great tradition, a member asks the question: “to what extent is it important […]
A Reflection on Magnificence
When I thanked a donor for making a generous contribution to our Endowment Fund, he sent a simple reply—one I was not expecting. “I’m glad to help and want to thank you for guiding us towards truth and good in a world sorely lacking in both.” I’m probably not the guide the world needs (or the […]
On Reality, Realism, and the “Real World”
A Philosophical Happy Hour on what makes something “real”, what is “reality”, what is “realism”, what belongs to the “real world”, how we know “the real”, and why it is important. “Just wait until you get into the real world.” “That isn’t a real problem.” “Get a real job.” We have all heard expressions such […]
On the Mystical
A Philosophical Happy Hour on the mystical, the esoteric, the unknown—the traditions of secret learning, their dangers, their refutation, and the true good of mystical contemplation “I believe the universe is a great symphony of numerical correspondences, I believe that numbers and their symbolisms provide a path to special knowledge”, says the antagonist of Umberto […]
On Perseverance: The Virtue of Resolution
A Philosophical Happy Hour on establishing and maintaining the virtue of perseverance and carrying through our resolutions. We often begin our new years, whether explicitly or not, with an intention to better ourselves. The old year almost invariably, upon reflection, provides us evident opportunities for self-improvement. Sometimes, this intentions are not only explicit, but grand: […]
On Having a Good Time: Festivity and Contemplation
A Philosophical Happy Hour on the possibility of festivity in a darkened world, including its intimate relationship to the capacity for contemplation. Do you know how to have a good time? What does that even mean? For many people, no doubt, it entails some combination of entertainment, camaraderie, joking, laughing, imbibing, and eating. But more […]
