Description Democracy without Nations?: The Fate of Self-Government in Europe (4 weeks) [March–April]This work, now over twenty years old, retains clear relevance today in light of the current crisis of the nation-state as a political form. The book is an extended essay on some of the consequences of late–twentieth-century changes in European governance. As an […]

Why we need digital monasteries for the layman, and what that means. The Roman Empire was inarguably among the greatest imperial powers ever to have existed.  It spanned the breadth of all Europe, crossed into Britain, swept south along the Mediterranean, and held much of the world in order for hundreds of years.  But over […]

A polemic on why the lukewarm “center” cannot hold. There is an episode of the sitcom Parks and Recreation featuring a cult that named themselves “the Reasonabilists”.[1]  The cult worships “Zorp, the giant lizard god who will destroy the earth with his cleansing fire of judgment.”  When asked why the cultists call themselves “the Reasonabilists”, […]

A Philosophical Happy Hour continuing our investigation into economics, politics, Catholic Social teaching, and the restoration of the good life for humanity. Last week, our Philosophical Happy Hour asked what Rerum Novarum, the 1891 Encyclical promulgated by Pope Leo XIII—and chief inspiration for the newly-elected Pope Leo XIV’s choice of name—could tell us about the […]

A Philosophical Happy Hour investigating the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, highlighting key passages and inquiring into their relevance today for considering the future of human society. Rerum novarum semel excitata cupidine, Pope Leo XII begins his famed Encyclical of 1891, “The desire of new things once having been aroused”, passes beyond the […]

What does it mean to care for creation? In an age dominated by climate rhetoric and ecological anxiety, conversations about the environment often drift into extremes: either sentimental reverence for nature or technocratic management of “resources.” But what if there were another way—one rooted in a deeper understanding of nature, of the human person, and […]

What comes after liberalism? In some sense for centuries, and most definitely for the past several decades, Western politics have been shaped by a largely presupposed consensus towards liberalism—an ideology founded upon individual autonomy, procedural neutrality, and technocratic governance. But today, cracks are widening in presumed foundation. Whether in the erosion of public trust, the […]

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 […]

Can democracy be saved? Ours, on both the left and the right, seems to be a world viewed increasingly through post-liberal lenses.  Must we return to a strict hierarchy if we are to abandon the “liberal experiment” that has rendered increasing ailment in recent decades—if, that is, we are not to lapse into socialist totalitarianism?  […]

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 […]