reality

  • On the Effects of Curiosity

    Do you want to know “what is happening”? Cannot resist peeking behind that curtain, over that fence, clicking that link?  Join our Philosophical Happy Hour in this member-led discussion of curiosity. Curiosity Aristotle starts his Metaphysics with the claim that “All men naturally desire knowledge.” (1.1.1.980a21-2, Tredenick Translation). To modern eyes he seems to be…

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  • We All Dress Like the Emperor

    I would dare to say that everyone raised in the Western world has taken “privacy” for granted as a natural right: such that, aside from voluntary participation in the public, each of us is protected from our activities being known.  Is this a fairy tale?  Join our Philosophical Happy Hour as we pry back the…

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  • What is “Reality”?

    We often say that things are or are not real.  But what does this really mean?  Though a common conception upon which we all rely, “reality” proves rather slippery to describe.  Join our Philosophical Happy Hour as we try to grasp it. What do we mean when we call something “real”?  It sounds simple—almost embarrassingly…

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  • The Death and Evolution of Education – Epilogue: Building New Institutions

    This is the epilogue to a four-part series on the Death and Evolution of Education, which seeks to explain why we cannot rely upon the university to provide the intellectual formation necessary for the common good, but must “evolve” a new approach to learning. Part I: Introduction can be found here, Part II: The Hostile…

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  • The Death and Evolution of Education – Part IV: Evolution of Higher Education

    This is the fourth in a four-part series on the Death and Evolution of Education, which seeks to explain why we cannot rely upon the university to provide the intellectual formation necessary for the common good, but must “evolve” a new approach to learning. Part I: Introduction can be found here, Part II: The Hostile…

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  • The Death and Evolution of Education – Part III: Maladapted Universities

    This is the third in a four-part series on the Death and Evolution of Education, which seeks to explain why we cannot rely upon the university to provide the intellectual formation necessary for the common good, but must “evolve” a new approach to learning. Part I: Introduction can be found here, and Part II: The…

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  • The Death and Evolution of Education – Part II: The Hostile Environment

    This is the second in a four-part series on the Death and Evolution of Education, which seeks to explain why we cannot rely upon the university to provide the intellectual formation necessary for the common good, but must “evolve” a new approach to learning. Part I: Introduction can be found here. In this, Part II:…

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  • Why the Study of Signs

    A Philosophical Happy Hour on why the study of signs constitutes the recovery of genuine philosophy and may result in the infusion of philosophical habits into culture. Few words common in modern “intellectual” environments sound as sophisticated or are used as carelessly as “semiotics”.  Given that it is often associated with French structuralism or deconstructionism,…

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  • 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…

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  • Interview: On Being as First Known

    St. Thomas Aquinas presents in the corpus of his work (at, e.g., De veritate q.1, a.1, Summa Theologiae Ia-IIae, q.94, a.2, and In Metaphysicorum, lib.4, lec.3, n.605) the claim that what the intellect first conceives is being and that the intellect further resolves all conceptions into being. Illud autem quod primo intellectus concipit quasi notissimum,…

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