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”. […]
Lecture: The Analogous Use of Words
Last year, the Lyceum Instituted hosted Dr. Domenic D’Ettore (Dean, Division of Liberal Studies and professor of Philosophy with the Center for Thomistic Studies at the University of St. Thomas, TX), a careful and insight scholar of the Latin Thomist tradition and an expert on analogy. Drawing on his great expertise, Dr. D’Ettore presents for […]
Scholastic Latin Course
Though a single language, Latin finds diverse expression across the centuries of its use. The student familiar with Cicero and Seneca will different modes of expression in Abelard and Aquinas. But Scholastic Latin, albeit less rhetorically fluid than many of the great classical authors, has a beauty all its own—a spiritual depth and a philosophical […]
Discovering Meaning in the Cosmos
A Philosophical Happy Hour on the struggle against nihilism—cosmological and psychological—and inadequate methods to assure ourselves of meaning in the cosmos. What is meaning? What do we mean when we say the word? What does the word signify? It is one of those funny words that everyone seemingly believes himself to know and yet which […]
On the Renaissance and Human Dignity
A Philosophical Happy Hour on the notion of human dignity as conveyed through thinkers of the Renaissance. The philosophy of the Renaissance—a somewhat deceptive but now inescapably common name for the movement, occurring roughly (with some notable outliers) between 1350–1650, to retrieve Platonic thinking, emphasize the arts of grammar and rhetoric over that of logic, […]
On Contemporary Atheism
A Philosophical Happy Hour centered around a reading of Jacques Maritain’s essay, “The Meaning of Contemporary Atheism”. Included in a collection of essays under the title, The Range of Reason, we find Jacques Maritain’s, “The Meaning of Contemporary Atheism”. We will gather this Wednesday (2/26/25) to discuss this essay’s primary intention—explaining what it means and […]
The Analogous Use of Words
Continuing our Colloquium series for the year 2024, we are delighted to host Dr. Domenic D’Ettore (Dean, Division of Liberal Studies and professor of Philosophy with the Center for Thomistic Studies at the University of St. Thomas, TX), a careful and insight scholar of the Latin Thomist tradition and an expert on analogy. Drawing on […]
Seminar: The Doctrine of Analogy [Fall 2024]
Description Details All Lyceum Institute seminars include weekly readings, lectures, and live discussion sessions. The discussion sessions are recorded. This advanced seminar includes extensive readings. All required texts will be provided in PDF format. Priced from $60 per person. Discussion sessions occur on Saturdays at 11:15am–12:15pm ET (see world times here), beginning on September 28 […]
On Arguing God’s Existence
A Philosophical Happy Hour on the Unseriousness of Modern Objectors It has become fashionable for analytic philosophers in recent years[1] to attack arguments for the existence of God. These attacks, though their permutations are quite numerous, ordinarily attempt to show that the conception of God somehow entails a contradiction. These might include some form of […]
