nature

  • Technologizing Our Bodies

    Commonly, we find the human body today treated as a possession, a something-other which is distinct from the self.  This opposition of the โ€œselfโ€ to the body may result in various forms of neglect or abuse of the latter.  But it may also, in recognizing the importance of the body for life even as it…

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  • Technologyโ€™s Effects on Nature

    Commonly, we presume an opposition between the โ€œnaturalโ€ and the โ€œartificialโ€.ย  Usually, we assume the โ€œnaturalโ€ to be everything untouched by human hands, whereas the โ€œartificialโ€ is that which we have ourselves brought into being.ย  But this division not only ends up positing as irreconcilable the objects of our experience, it reinforces a false anthropological…

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  • On the Question of Beauty

    A Philosophical Happy Hour inquiring after the nature, perception, and intelligible of beauty and the beautiful. โ€œWhat is beauty?โ€ย  If you have spent any time of your life at all around centers of philosophical inquiry, or persons who enjoy questions of deep and abiding human significance, no doubt you have heard this asked.ย  Quite probably,…

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  • The Human Person and Artificial Intelligence

    Today we conclude our first white paper series, derived from the 2024 Difficulties of Technology seminar, with Modules 8 โ€“ Technology and the Whole Person and 9 โ€“ Consensus on Artificial Intelligence. These papers address the principal and characteristic harm of poorly designed, developed, and implemented technologyโ€”namely, its fragmentation of the human personโ€”and the specific…

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  • Humanitas Technica – Update

    Our on-going project of publishing the results and developments of the Humanitas Technica Project continues: today, adding a new theoretical paper by Adam Pugen (Faculty Fellow) and two more of our first white paper series. Reclaiming Communication Reclaiming Communication from Information: Knowing in the Digital Age โ€” This paper argues that digital media reduces communication…

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  • Reframing Our Understanding of Technology

    Technology is often discussed and conceived in extreme terms: triumphant progress, mastering nature; or self-inflicted catastrophic destruction. But rarely is the question askedโ€”and even more rarely answered wellโ€”what is technology? How are we affected in ourselves by our technologies? The 2024 Difficulties of Technology seminar, conducted within the multiyear Humanitas Technica project, asked these and…

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  • Seminar: Steps toward Dialectical Logic [Fall 2025]

    Announcement of our Fall 2025 seminar, โ€œWhat Kind of Certainty?: Steps Toward Dialectical Logicโ€โ€”have we overlooked an important Aristotelian text and tradition in our understanding of reasoning? Description Details All Lyceum Institute seminars include weekly readings, lectures, and live discussion sessions. The discussion sessions are recorded. This seminar includes extensive readings, but does not require…

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  • Seminar: The Opportunities of Technology [Fall 2025]

    Announcement of our Fall 2025 seminar, โ€œThe Opportunities of Technologyโ€โ€”how can we redeem the technological from its current abused status? Description Details All Lyceum Institute seminars include weekly readings, lectures, and live discussion sessions. The discussion sessions are recorded. This seminar includes extensive readings, but does not require advanced philosophical knowledge (nor does it have…

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  • Rethinking Nature: A Thomistic Approach to Environmental Philosophy

    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 โ€œresources.โ€ But what if there were another wayโ€”one rooted in a deeper understanding of nature, of the human person, and…

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  • Seminar: The Difficulties of Technology [Fall 2024]

    Description Details All Lyceum Institute seminars include weekly readings, lectures, and live discussion sessions. The discussion sessions are recorded. This seminar includes extensive readings, but does not require advanced philosophical knowledge. All required texts will be provided in PDF format. Priced from $60 per person. Discussion sessions occur on Saturdays at 1:45pmโ€“2:45pm ET (see world…

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