Thomism
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On Memory and its Training
A Philosophical Happy Hour on the nature, operations, and training of the memory. “This invention [of writing]”, says the Egyptian King Thamus, in Plato’s Phaedrus, “will produce forgetfulness in the souls who have learned it.” It perhaps shocks us, slightly at least, to read this condemnation of writing. But let us consider the rest of…
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On the Problem of Education
A Philosophical Happy Hour concerning the problem of universal education: should we educate everyone? To what extent? How? Why (not)? If we look today at the results of universal education, particularly over the past century, we may think that its institution was a mistake. The results are those of decline. High test scores in a…
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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…
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Historic Foundations
When we think of a Gothic cathedral, we tend to think upward: the spires of Cologne, the ascendant arches of Reims or Amiens; or the upward-soaring buttresses of Notre Dame de Paris; or the way one’s eyes are drawn along the high vault of a nave to the transepts or chancel. Perhaps we think of…
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On Restoring Humanity
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…
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On Rerum Novarum and the Future of Human Society
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…
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On Progress, Tradition, and Continuity
A philosophical reflection on the tensions between progress and tradition and their resolution through continuity All too often, the notions of progress and tradition alike are swallowed into the ideologies that make of them principles both absolute and opposed to one another. Put otherwise, when progressivism and traditionalism come to prevail, we often lose not…
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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 “resources.” But what if there were another way—one rooted in a deeper understanding of nature, of the human person, and…
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Reimagining Politics: Seminar on the Proposal for a Postliberal Order
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…
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Requiescat in Pace: Peter Redpath
Dr. Peter Redpath, a friend, adviser for the Lyceum Institute, and the external reader on my dissertation passed away on Palm Sunday. He was a champion of real education and someone who—in ways both direct and indirect—had an important impact on how I approach the intellectual life. He was faithful to the truth—but to his…