A Philosophical Happy Hour on Jacques Ellul’s “Meditation on Inutility”, challenging us to think about the uselessness of human action. For this week’s Philosophical Happy Hour, we will take up a specific short text to read and discuss: the postscript to Jacques Ellul’s Politics of God and Politics of Man, titled “a meditation on inutility”.  […]

I would like to draw attention to two episodes of the American Maritain Association’s podcast, Maritain Musings, hosted by our own Dr. Matthew Minerd. The first features friend of the Lyceum Institute, Dr. Jim Jacobs, Director of Philosophy Programs at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana. Together with Dr. Minerd, Dr. Jacobs discusses the […]

Listen to Dr. Kirk Kanzelberger as he relates his intellectual journey through life—the continuous thread of learning—from young tragedy and early literacy, through music, moral formation through the literature of Tolkien, work in science, technology, semiotics, philosophy, and more. An enlightening and moving conversation that sheds great light on what it means to pursue knowledge […]

In this conversation, Adam Pugen explores how new technologies amplify aspects of the human psyche, particularly focusing on the differences between auditory and visual cultures. He discusses how these sensory modalities shape our experiences and perceptions in distinct ways—and the need for media literacy, the changes between television and digital, the thinking of Marshall McLuhan, […]

A Philosophical Happy Hour on… whatever! The fourth installment in our Felictates de Quodlibet series for 2025, in which we talk about whatever we want, so long as it is interesting, and for as long as we are interested. Or, to put this otherwise: do you have a philosophical question—any question whatsoever—you want seriously to […]

In this conversation, Francisco Plaza shares his journey into the intellectual life, influenced by his experiences moving from the US to Venezuela. He discusses the current state of education, the importance of classical education, and the role of political philosophy in understanding justice and order. Plaza emphasizes the need for a hierarchy of values in […]

The Lyceum Institute’s Humanitas Technica project returns to the American Catholic Philosophical Association’s annual conference. Below is the abstract around which our discussion panel, “Reintegration of the Human Soul in the Digital Age”, will be ordered. We plan to record the panel. We are subject to a technologically-mediated fragmentation of our very souls. This fracturing […]

Meaningful change never happens overnight. It takes years to establish and generations to perfect. The Lyceum Institute aims to build a new future for education—knowing it will not come quickly or easily, but that from a few minds truly dedicated to the cause, we can bring new life to learning beyond the university. The renewal […]

In this conversation, Brian Kemple is joined by Daniel Wagner, a Faculty Fellow of the Lyceum Institute, in exploring the motivations behind intellectual pursuits, the significance of classical education, and the contrast between modern and classical educational philosophies. 00:00 – Introduction to Intellectual Pursuits 03:01 – Catharsis, Healing, and Philosophy 06:55 – Understanding Classical Education […]

A Philosophical Happy Hour on why we should care about angelic beings and seek understanding of their existence. Nearly every culture in human history has voiced belief in supernatural beings—forces beyond our reckoning that possess powers to shape and change the world.  Indeed, any honest inquiry into the world, the cosmos, shows us wonders beyond […]