Thomism

  • 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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  • New Publication: Humanitas Technica, Vol.1

    Humanitas Technica, Volume I presents in print the results of the Lyceum Institute’s first two years of inquiry into the relation between human beings and technology (note: all these texts are available online and free, but for those who prefer print, this is an excellent solution!). Its central claim is that technology should not be…

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  • Initial Retrospect: Human Formation in the Digital Age

    Last week, on 16-17 September 2026, we held our first ever in-person event, Human Formation in the Digital Age. The conference was an unqualified success. I do not mean it could not be improved—there are always things that can be done better. But I mean that it accomplished its purposes better than I could have…

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  • Seminar: Philosophy of Time, Part I

    Fall 2026 | Philosophy of Time, Part I: From Antiquity to the Renaissance | Philosophy Seminar Time governs nearly everything human beings do: days are divided into hours, work into schedules, lives into years; clocks and calendars coordinate our activities today with extraordinary precision, allowing a kind of punctuality unprecedented. Yet the ease with which…

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  • The Common Good and the Toleration of Evil

    Pornography, prostitution, gambling, capital punishment, slavery: each seems somehow evil, and yet—at one time or another—each has been tolerated by governments.  Do these tolerations violate the common good?  Our Philosophical Happy Hour takes up the unhappy question. How do we live rightly as members of a society when that society is permeated by evils?  There…

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  • Culture as a Technology

    “Culture”.  We hear the word all the time: the culture is in decline, we are losing our culture, we are fighting a culture war.  But ask someone to define culture, and you will likely receive many different answers—answers which consist primarily in listing what kinds of thing belong to culture: language, art, movies, music, politics,…

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  • For the Love of Wisdom

    What makes a human being “wise”?  What is “wisdom”?  Why is it important?  In an age of passionate reaction, it seems a virtue all too scarce, and most notably absent from those who govern.  Join our Philosophical Happy Hour to discuss its nature and pursuit. We have more knowledge, expertise, and access to information today…

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  • 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 “self” 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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  • What Does AI Use Do To Us?

    As AI use becomes increasingly widespread in the world, it becomes a pressing question to ask not only what effects it might produce in the world, but what consequences it has for users and their habits—and for the environment of thinking as a whole. Introducing SEPPUAI: A Semioethical Framework for Artificial Intelligence The Lyceum Institute…

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  • …Finishing Our Sentences?

    …Finishing Our Sentences? Language and the Habits of Thought in the Age of Generative AI Most discussion about artificial intelligence today tends toward either hype or panic.  Optimists see in it a miraculous tool, the future of scientific advancement, and a development not only to rival the industrial revolution in its transformative power, but—perhaps—one that…

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