In this materialistic age, time has become a commodity that can be bought and sold. This is evidenced by the place that the monetization of time holds in common parlance: “spend your time well,” “I have some free time,” “time is money,” etc. It is tragic to see time itself be corroded by the greed [...]
Thomas Aquinas’ cosmology and doctrine of the soul are vitalistic. Everything has a particular soul to it, and these souls have particular life-forces destined for particular ends. As a whole, the cosmos is meant to reflect and embody the graces of God: his beauty, love, and goodness. Such is to what all things are ultimately [...]
In his lectures about three musical geniuses—Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert—Dietrich von Hildebrand shows how the integration of music with spiritual and philosophic insight can enrich our musical understanding. Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, by Dietrich von Hildebrand, trans. John Henry Crosby (109 pages, Hildebrand Project, 2025) When a distinguished Catholic philosopher discourses on three distinguished composers of [...]
Now we’ve always been a happiness oriented culture. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and so forth. Right? But it’s taken a particularly interesting turn: the topic of “meaning” and “meaning in life” is coming to the fore. People, more and more, are talking about not just sheer contentedness, but what it is for [...]
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s romantic conservatism is passionate, incisive, and high-minded. His notion of the “Idea” is persuasive in regard to how it exists in human society, and he lit the way to resolving the ever-present conservative tension between theory and practice. The life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, if tumultuous and at times disastrous, was a [...]
If we wish to avoid the culture of death, we need to heed the words of the wisest. We need to use their wisdom to demolish those philosophies which are built on the shifting sands of falsehood. We need to invite Socrates, Plato and Aristotle into our classrooms and into our lives and our libraries. [...]
Should we be true to ourselves—or is this a meaningless cliche? In the great Hamlet, Polonius advises his son: “This above all—to thine own self be true” (I, 3). Oftentimes this kind of talk is used to justify the subjective view of reality that we truth-lovers oppose: “If I should just be me, then you have no business telling [...]
Plato’s contributions are indispensable, pointing us to a world beyond what we immediately sense and teaching us of our dignity and worth. But what parts of Plato are good for us, and what parts are not? Where does Plato end and Christianity begin? Those are the questions which thoughtful believers need to ponder. It has [...]
The question of the purpose of peace has troubled humanity from the time an ancient hand was first raised in anger. It is one thing to win a war and impose peace on a vanquished enemy, and altogether another thing to cultivate one’s own victorious city or nation once the wolf has been held at [...]
Critical theorists seek to confuse concepts through the manipulation of language and promote ideas that fail to correspond to reality. Academic theories designed to confuse rather than to clarify must be confronted with calm reason. This is the most charitable thing we can do for those who will come after us. Self-evident Truths It can [...]
Russell Hittinger’s new book, "On the Dignity of Society," articulates Catholic principles regarding the social order. One of the great themes of the book was the continuity between man’s nature and society. On the Dignity of Society by F. Russell Hittinger Is the history of philosophy full of philosophers rejecting past philosophers? Broadly, this may be [...]
Do you believe in a higher power, something that transcends the “human organism”? If this question is trivialized or ignored, we enter the very sound and soul of despair. Anthropology is the scientific study of human beings. Philosophy, literally translated, is the love of wisdom. Philosophical anthropology, then, is the scientific study of humans for [...]
Let us consider the case of a man who is facing a difficult decision—a decision, let us say, which will affect me. This decision involves a matter of some importance, and so I am deeply concerned that the man should make the right decision—right, suitable, impartial, just. I am not certain that he will in [...]
Who would have thought that so much philosophy could be found in such little poetry? Who would have thought that so much could be said in so few words? Next time you read Shakespeare, read carefully, and you may find more philosophy than first meets the eye. We have recently celebrated the feast of Corpus [...]