Previous Posts
November 2024
11/14/24 - The Art of Division - My Notes on 4.1 of 'The Reasonable Person" by Mark Grannis
11/13/24 - The Pre Categories (types of subjects) - My Notes on Ch. 3.5 from "The Reasonable Person" by Mark Grannis
11/13/24 - The Essential Predicables - 3.6 - Notes on "The Reasonable Person" by Mark Grannis
11/7/24 - A Summary and Interpretation of Boethius' - "On The Holy Trinity"
11/4/24 - Summary of "The Aeneid" - Book I - by Virgil
October 2024
10/30/24 - An Short Ancient Greek Translation - Aesop's Fable 42 - The Treasure Hunt - "From Alpha to Omega" by Anne Groton
10/30/24 - The Non-Essential Predicables of Property (differentiae) and Accident - Ch. 3.7 from "The Reasonable Person" by Mark Grannis
10/24/24 - Chapter 8 - "Second Declension Neuter Nouns and First/Second Declension Adjectives" - "From Alpha to Omega" by Anne Groton
10/20/24 - An Outline of "The Apology" by Plato Along With Discussion Questions
10/14/24 - A Second Look at Plato's Euthyphro
10/8/24 - A Short Ancient Greek Translation - Aesop’s Fable 13 - "Fleeting Joys and Fleeing Fish" - From the Book "From Alpha to Omega"
10/8/24 - Outlining the Chapters of the "Poetics" By Aristotle
10/5/24 - A Greek Word Study on Aristotle's Categories Chs. 3 and 4
10/3/24 - Morality Belongs to the Gods, Not the King - Summary and Themes from "Antigone" by Sophocles
10/3/24 - The Four Pre-Categories from Ch. I an II of Aristotle's "Categories"
September 2024
9/26/24 - Human Interaction is Being Deformed - "Hiding Behind the Screen" by Roger Scruton
9/23/24 - Themes of Fate and Moral Blindness in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles
9/17/24 - The Moral Odyssey of Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus - Some Personal Thoughts on "The Odyssey" by Homer
9/16/24 - The Final Day Is Coming - Book 20 of "The Odyssey" by Homer
9/16/24 - Right Kingship, Humility, and Troy = Destroy - "The Odyssey" Book 19 - By Homer
9/16/24 - Irus, Melantho, More Acts of Hubris, and Penelope's Wiles - Book 18 of "The Odyssey" by Homer
9/16/24 - Acts of Hubris - "The Odyssey" Book 17 by Homer
9/12/24 - The Tragic Story of Phaethon - A Short Latin Translation
9/11/24 - The Future Active Indicative - Greek Lesson 6 - "From Alpha to Omega" by Anne Groton
9/9/24 - The Liturgy of the Table - Themes in "The Odyssey" Bks. IX - XII - By Homer
9/9/24 - A Short Latin Translation of Hesiod's "Works and Days" Passage About Pandora's Box - From Wheelock's Latin 6th Edition
9/5/24 - "A Fowl Plan Backfires" Aesop's Fable 55 - "From Alpha to Omega" by Anne Groton
9/2/24 - Some Personal Thoughts on Home and Hearth from "The Odyssey" Books V - VIII by Homer
9/2/24 - Festivity and Contest in Phaeacia - "The Odyssey" Book VIII by Homer
9/1/24 - Queen Arete and King Alcinous - "The Odyssey" Book VII - By Homer
9/1/24 - Entering Phaeacia - "The Odyssey" Book VI - By Homer
9/1/24 - The Paradoxes of Pleasure Island - "The Odyssey" Book V - By Homer
August 2024
8/27/24 - Greek Nouns and the 1st Declension Feminine Endings - "Lesson 4" - "From Alpha to Omega" by Anne Groton
8/25/24 - The Unicity of God - Chs. 15, 16, and 17 in the "Compendium of Theology" By St. Thomas Aquinas
8/25/24 - Time to Become a Man and Be Dangerous - "The Odyssey" Book I by Homer
8/20/24 - The Three First Principles of Logic - Law of Identity, Principle of Non Contradiction, and the Principle of Excluded Middle - Some Personal Thoughts
8/14/24 - Why Study Logic? - Introduction - "The Reasonable Person" - Mark Grannis
8/7/24 - Greek Accents… Holy Cow - Ch. 2 - The Greek Accents - “Form Alpha to Omega” by Anne Groton
July 2024
7/19/24 - LEARN ANCIENT GREEK WITH ME PART III - MY NOTES ON CH. 3 “Ω-VERBS - PRESENT ACTIVE INDICATIVE, INFINITIVE, AND IMPERATIVE” BY ANNE GROTON
7/9/24 - WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ART AND PORNOGRAPHY? - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS
June 2024
6/25/24 - LEARN ANCIENT GREEK WITH ME PART III - MY NOTES ON CH. 3 “Ω-VERBS - PRESENT ACTIVE INDICATIVE, INFINITIVE, AND IMPERATIVE” BY ANNE GROTON
6/25/24 - CH. 1 “WORDS, CONCEPTS, AND SIGNS” FROM “LOGIC: THE ART OF DEFINING AND REASONING” BY JOHN OESTERLE
6/19/24 - A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE METAPHYSICS OF GRAMMAR - A BOOK REVIEW OF “THE OFFICE OF ASSERTION” BY SCOTT CRIDER
6/13/24 - WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RHETORIC AND SOPHISTRY? - CH.1 - “THE OFFICE OF ASSERTION” BY SCOTT CRIDER
6/11/24 - INTRODUCING THE SYLLOGISM - INTRODUCTION TO “LOGIC: THE ART OF DEFINING AND REASONING” BY JOHN OESTERLE
6/10/24 - RITES OF CLOSURE AND STAGES OF MATURATION - “THE DISAPPEARANCE OF RITUALS” - CH. 3 BY BYUNG-CHUL HAN
6/9/24 - LEARN ANCIENT GREEK WITH ME - MY NOTES ON CH. 1 “INTRODUCTION TO THE GREEK ALPHABET” - “FROM ALPHA TO OMEGA" BY ANNE GROTON
6/4/24 - THE END OF LOVE AND ROMANCE - SEX AS PORNOGRAPHIC PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION - CH. 10 OF “THE DISAPPEARANCE OF RITUALS” BY BYUNG-CHUL HAN
May 2024
5/28/24 - WHAT STORY DOES SOCIETY ENACT IN TODAY'S CULT OF THE SUBJECTIVE SELF? "THE DISAPPEARANCE OF RITUALS" - CH. 2 BY BYUNG-CHUL HAN
5/26/24 - A LIFE WITHOUT RITUAL IS A DEATH THROUGH EGO-LIBIDO - CH. 1 FROM "THE DISAPPEARANCE OF RITUALS" BY BYUNG-CHUL HAN
5/19/24 - THE HERO'S JOURNEY, ADVENTURE, AND RISK - MOVIE REVIEW ON THEMES FROM "THE NEW WORLD" (2005) - DIRECTED BY TERRENCE MALICK
5/16/24 - THE INADEQUACY OF A SCIENTIFICALLY BASED VALUE SYSTEM IN WALKER PERCY’S THOUGHT - PAPER BY STEPHEN BEACH
April 2024
4/22/24 - GUEST POST - "AMERICAN CONSERVATISM: A CASE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA" - INTERCOLLEGIATE REVIEW - PAUL COLE BEACH
4/17/24 - INFINITE JEST - THE FIRST HUNDRED PAGES - DAVID FOSTER WALLACE
4/15/24 - SOME BEGINNING PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON MASCULINITY AND FATHERHOOD
4/12/24 - CAN I BUY ITEMS GENERATED BY SLAVE LABOR? - DISTINCTIONS IN THE TYPES OF COOPERATION IN EVIL - ARTICLE BY WILLIAM NEWTON IN HOMILETIC AND PASTORAL REVIEW
4/5/24 - WHERE FALSE STARTING POINTS CAN LEAD - A FEW THOUGHTS ON 17TH CENTURY IDEALISM - EXCERPTS FROM "THE SEARCH AFTER TRUTH" BY NICOLAS MALEBRANCHE
4/4/24 - "GREAT BOOKS, DEMOCRACY, AND TRUTH" - PROLOGUE TO "REFORMING EDUCATION: THE OPENING OF THE AMERICAN MIND" BY MORTIMER ADLER
March 2024
3/26/24 - SCIENTISM AND C.S. LEWIS - "THE MAGICIAN'S TWIN" BY JOHN G. WEST
3/22/24 - MORE ABOUT MY BOOK, "THE DRAMA OF METAPHYSICS: AN EXPLORATION INTO THE PSYCHOLOGICAL POWER OF WORLDVIEWS"
3/22/24 - THE PROBLEM OF "EXISTENTIAL NEUTRALITY" - "ON BEING AND THE ONE" CH. 1 FROM "BEING AND SOME PHILOSOPHERS" BY ETIENNE GILSON
3/20/24 - "LARS AND THE REAL GIRL" - A MOVIE REVIEW AND SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON DEALING WITH TRAUMA
3/20/24 - THE GROWING WAR AGAINST TELEOLOGY - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS
3/18/24 - ARISTOTLE’S REJECTION OF THE COINCIDENTAL NATURE OF SUBSTANTIAL FORMS - PAPER BY STEPHEN BEACH
3/13/24 - KAROL WOJTYLA’S RESPONSE TO 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY MATERIALIST PHILOSOPHIES OF MAN - PAPER BY STEPHEN BEACH
3/8/24 - "THE DREAM OF A RIDICULOUS MAN" - A SHORT STORY BY FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY
3/2/24 - ACHILLES AND HIS SON NEOPTOLEMUS - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON REJOICING IN THE FLOURISHING OF OUR CHILDREN - FROM BOOK XI OF "THE ODYSSEY" BY HOMER
February 2024
2/21/24 - WHAT ABOUT MAN CAN BE FREE IN THE 20TH CENTURY? - CH.1 "WHAT IS A FREE MAN?" FROM "MAN AGAINST MASS SOCIETY" BY GABRIEL MARCEL
2/7/24 - ARE WE REALLY HAPPY IN GOD? - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS
2/6/24 - PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON DEVELOPING A VALUE FRAMEWORK AND LIVING A LIFE OF MEANING
2/2/24 - THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL EPISTEMOLOGICAL CHOICES - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON THE NECESSITY OF FAITH
2/1/24 - A LIGHT WHICH ILLUMINES AND BLINDS - CH. 2 "THE NEGATIVE ELEMENT" FROM "THE SILENCE OF ST. THOMAS" BY JOSEF PIEPER
January 2024
1/31/24 - PARMENIDES' POEM AS A PROTO-CONCEPTION OF GOD - PRE-SOCRATIC FRAGMENTS
1/29/24 - THE MOST PRECIOUS REAL ESTATE - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON PROTECTING CHILDREN'S MINDS
1/26/24 - DOES MAN'S HAPPINESS CONSIST IN MONEY? - SUMMA THEOLOGIAE I-II Q2 AI BY THOMAS AQUINAS
1/25/24 - SOMETIMES IDEAS ONLY DIE WITH THEIR GENERATION - "THE GERANIUM" BY FLANNERY O'CONNOR
1/24/24 - HOW DOES ONE RECONCILE GOD'S PROVIDENCE AND MAN'S FREE WILL? - BOOK V FROM THE "CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY" BY BOETHIUS
1/23/24 - THE "DE-ESSENCING" OF WORDS - FINNEGAN'S WAKE BY JAMES JOYCE AND SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS
2023 Posts
December 2023
12/30/23 - HOW IS TRUTH DEFINED? - AJ AYER AND FC COPLESTON DEBATE ON THE BBC (JUNE 13TH, 1949) - PART II OF IX
12/27/23 - "ON THE USE OF PHILOSOPHY" BY JACQUES MARITAIN - INTERESTING QUOTES
12/08/23 - "GREEK WAYS OF THINKING" - CH. I FROM "THE GREEK PHILOSOPHERS" BY W.K.C. GUTHRIE
12/07/23 - "AN ABSURD REASONING" PART I - "THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS" BY ALBERT CAMUS
12/06/23 - "THE PLEASURE MACHINE" - A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT AND SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON THE FOUNDATIONS OF MORALITY
12/01/23 - ARE ALL THINGS PERMISSIBLE IN THE ABSENCE OF GOD? - EXCERPT FROM "THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV" - DOSTOYEVSKY
November 2023
11/21/23 - WHAT IS ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY (LOGICAL POSITIVISM)? - AJ AYER AND FC COPLESTON DEBATE ON THE BBC (JUNE 13TH, 1949) - PART I OF IX
11/15/23 - ROUSSEAUEAN THEORY - EXCERPTS FROM "THE SOCIAL CONTRACT" - BOOK I BY JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU
11/10/23 - THE TWO PATHS OF ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION - EXCERPT FROM CH. I OF "THE HUMAN CONDITION" BY HANNAH ARENDT
11/8/23 - AN ARGUMENT FOR THE SOUL AND GOD FROM "EXISTENTIAL DESIRE" - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS
11/6/23 - WHY DID DESCARTES TURN INWARD IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH? - DESCARTES' "DISCOURSE ON METHOD" PART ONE
October 2023
10/31/23 - The Search For Ultimate Causes Requires Openness To Truth - PREFATORY REMARKS TO "BEING AND SOME PHILOSOPHERS" BY ETIENNE GILSON
10/30/23 - THE SPIRIT OF THOMISM - "THE TWOFOLD CERTITUDE" - BY ETIENNE GILSON
10/13/23 - Design, Chance, and Randomness - Is There Teleology in Nature? - Book II of Aristotle's "Physics"
September 2023
9/12/23 - Creation is a Relation in Being Not a Temporal Event - Pt II Ch I - "Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas" by Etienne Gilson
9/12/23 - The Life of Socrates in Overview - "Examined Lives" by James Miller
9/5/23 - Development of the Human Consciousness - "The Stages of Life, Modern Man in Search of a Soul" - Carl Jung
August 2023
8/28/23 - There Is No Good In This World - "The Fall" by Albert Camus - Book Review
8/8/23 - What is Philosophy? - Philosophy as the Darkened Room - Some Personal Thoughts
8/2/23 - Tyrannical Authority - "In the Penal Colony" - Short Story by Franz Kafka
July 2023
7/26/23 - Literature As Thinly Veiled Nihilistic Philosophy - A Review of "The Stranger" by Albert Camus
7/19/23 - Wily Odysseus, Slaughter, and Restoration - "The Odyssey" Books XI - XXIV by Homer
7/18/23 - The Battle of the Wills - Personal Thoughts on the Idea of Power in Philosophy
7/12/23 - Cosmic Justice? - "A Good Man is Hard to Find" Short Story by Flannery O'Connor
7/7/23 - What Happened After the Iliad Leaves Off? - "The Odyssey" Books I - X by Homer
June 2023
6/28/23 - "Every one Belongs to Every one Else" - Ch. 3 of "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley and Some Personal Thoughts
6/26/23 - Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning of the Children - Ch. 2 of "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
6/25/23 - Welcome to the Human Hatchery Lab - Ch. 1 of "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
6/20/23 - Our Vision for Our Lives - "Man Has No Nature" Excerpts from "History as System" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
6/20/23 - The Notion of Fate in "The Iliad" - Reflecting on Books XI - XXIV - by Homer
6/15/23 - An Overview of Hegelian Philosophy - Philosophy: A Historical Survey With Essential Readings by Fieser and Stumpf
6/8/23 - A Few Thoughts and Reflections on Books (VI - X) The Iliad by Homer
6/1/23 - The Iliad by Homer - Books I-V - Some Beginning Thoughts
May 2023
5/27/23 - Persevering Through Dark Times - "Toward a Fateful Serenity" - Essay by Jacques Barzun
April 2023
4/27/23 - Marxist Tactics of Manipulation - "Animal Farm" by George Orwell
4/24/23 - Hegel's Pantheistic "World Spirit" - Excerpt from Hegel's "Philosophy of Right"
4/19/23 - Some Personal Thoughts on the Contradiction of Progressive Ideas Today
4/19/23 - Descartes' Destruction of Philosophy - Some Personal Thoughts on Descartes' "Meditations"
4/3/23 - "Heart of a Dog" - A Hilarious Satirical Soviet Novella by Mikhail Bulgakov
March 2023
3/23/23 - The State of Nature - Jean Jacques Rousseau's "Discourse on Inequality"
3/10/23 - A Disappointing Second Look at Borges' "Sect of the Phoenix" - Jorge Luis Borges
3/3/23 - What is the Identity of a Thing? - Aristotle's Four Causes - Bk II Ch III from "The Physics"
February 2023
2/28/23 - The Watch-Tower of God's Providence - Bk. IV Ch. VI of "The Consolation of Philosophy" by Boethius
January 2023
1/25/23 - Book Access - "The Gift of Wisdom" Ch. 16 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
1/25/23 - Book Access - "Mercy" Ch. 15 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
1/22/23 - Does Man's Happiness Consist in Power? - Summa Theologiae I-II Q2 A4 by Thomas Aquinas
1/22/23 - The Universe Has a Face - Defending Aristotle's Notion of Immaterial Form - Some Personal Thoughts
1/18/23 - The Conclusions of Science Can be Ghastly - "The Birthmark" - Nathanial Hawthorne
1/11/23 - "Araby" A Short Story from James Joyce's "Dubliners"
1/9/23 - Does Happiness Consist of Honor? - Summa Theologiae I-II Q2 A2 - Thomas Aquinas
1/6/23 - Does Man's Happiness Consist in Money? - Summa Theologiae I-II Q2 AI by Thomas Aquinas
1/5/23 - A Hierarchy of the Good - Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics Bk I Ch I - IV
2022 Posts
December 2022
12/24/22 - Book Access - "Charity" Ch. 14 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
12/22/22 - "Personal Life" A Humorous Short Story About Getting Old - by Mikhail Zoshchenko
12/15/22 - Themes of Ancient Philosophy - Intro to "Introductory Readings in Ancient Philosophy" - by CDC Reeve
12/09/22 - Personal Thoughts on Joseph Campbell's "Myths to Live By" - Ch. 1 "The Impact of Science on Myth"
12/03/22 - Book Access - "Fear of the Lord" Ch. 13 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
November 2022
11/22/22 - Political Terminology Needs to be Rethought - Some Personal Thoughts on the Political Spectrum
11/14/22 - Three Philosophical Stages of Life - A Brief Look at Soren Kierkegaard - Ch. 16 from "Philosophy" by Fieser and Stumpf
11/12/22 - The Unconscious as the Realm of Transformation - Prologue of "Hero With a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell
11/12/22 - Being Admitted to the Ward - Chs. 1-4 from "Cancer Ward" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
11/6/22 - Redefining the Word "Aristocracy" in the 20th Century - Ch. 2 from "The Revolt of the Masses" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
11/1/22 - Perpetuating the Necessary Object of Fear and Anxiety for Control - Ch. 7 "The Leaders of the Masses" by Mattias Desmet
October 2022
10/25/22 - The Infecting Process of Mass Formation Psychosis - Ch. 6 of "The Psychology of Totalitarianism" by Mattias Desmet
10/24/22 - "The Coming of the Masses" - Ch. 1 of "The Revolt of the Masses" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
10/19/22 - Politicians Should Have No Monetary Incentive - Excerpt from Plato's "Republic" - Paragraphs 417-419
10/17/22 - A Short Story on Corrupt Power - "The Empty Drum" by Leo Tolstoy
10/15/22 - The Metaphysical Ladder of Ascent to God - A First Look at Aquinas' Essay "De Ente et Essentia"
10/15/22 - Michel Foucault Advocates Sexual Deviency - Ch. 1 of "The History of Sexuality" by Michel Foucault
10/08/22 - How Should A Wise Man Act? - "Three Questions" A Short Story by Leo Tolstoy
10/06/22 - My Book Review of Part I (Chs. 1-5) of "The Psychology of Totalitarianism" by Mattias Desmet
September 2022
9/30/22 - A Brief Look at Immanuel Kant's Moral Philosophy - "In Our Time" Episode by the BBC
9/25/22 - Can Science be the Common Good of a Society? - Excerpt from "The Idiot" by Dostoyevsky
9/22/22 - A Third Defense of the Soul - Ideas are Eternal - "The Phaedo" Paragraphs 77 - 80 by Plato
9/19/22 - A Second Defense of the Immortal Soul - Learning as Recollection - Paragraphs 73-77 from "The Phaedo" by Plato
9/19/22 - "The Adventures of an Ape" - Soviet Satire - A Short Story by Mikhail Zoshchenko
9/17/22 - A Summary of the First Five Chapters - "Back Over the Road" Ch. 6 of The Evolution of Deductive Theory by Gasset
9/17/22 - "The Becoming of Opposites" - An Argument for the Immorality of the Soul - "The Phaedo" Paragraphs 70-73 - Plato
9/16/22 - The Legend of Eleusis - Ch. 1 "The Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites" by Dudley Wright
9/15/22 - Eidos and Teleology - Ch. 1 "Graven Images: Substitutes for True Morality" by Dietrich Von Hildebrand
9/14/22 - Some Personal Thoughts on God's Providence and Our Suffering
9/12/22 - The Heterogenous "I" - Ch. 4 "Some Lessons in Metaphysics" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
9/4/22 - The Importance of Preserving Culture - Ch. 1 from "The Crisis of Western Education" by Christopher Dawson
9/1/22 - Beginning as an Existentialist Metaphysician - Lesson III - "Some Lessons in Metaphysics" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
August 2022
8/29/22 - The Moscow Literary Society - "There Were Doings at Griboedov's" - Ch. 5 from "Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov
8/27/22 - The Mask of Aphrodite - Some Personal Thoughts Against Pornography
8/22/22 - "What a Principle Is" - Ch. 2 "Evolution of Deductive Theory" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
8/21/22 - "The Chase" - Ch. 4 - from "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov
8/19/22 - "The Seventh Proof" - Ch. 3 from "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov
8/18/22 - A Few Personal Thoughts About the Importance of "Ritual"
8/17/22 - The Devil Visits Moscow - "Never Talk With Strangers" - Ch. 1 from "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov
8/11/22 - The Mystery of Death and the Human Psyche - "The Soul and Death" - Essay by Carl G. Jung
8/7/22 - Struggles of a "True Believer" - An Incident at Krechetovka Station - Part I/II - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
July 2022
7/31/22 - Primordial Battle of Fire and Ice - Nordic Creation Myths
7/30/22 - The Secret is Revealed - Part 3/3 of "Prometheus Bound" by Aeschylus
7/26/22 - Prometheus' Gifts to Men - Part II of "Prometheus Bound" by Aeschylus
7/18/22 - The Nature of Infinity and Our Dependence in Being - "Metaphysics" Book II by Aristotle
7/17/22 - Prometheus is Chained in Punishment- Opening of "Prometheus Bound" by Aeschylus
7/11/22 - Art is the Sharing of Human Subjectivity - Excerpt from Ch. 5 of "What is Art?" by Leo Tolstoy and Some Personal Thoughts
7/11/22 - The Eastern Origins of Nazi "History" - Intro to Himmler's Crusade by Christopher Hale
7/5/22 - Book Access - "Hope" Ch. 12 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
June 2022
6/20/22 - Book Access - "The Gift of Knowledge" Ch. 11 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
6/19/22 - An Appointment In Berlin - Prelude to "Himmler's Crusade" by Christopher Hale
6/14/22 - The Field of "Neurotheology," and a Few Personal Thoughts on Scientism - Intro "Neurotheology" by Andrew Newberg
6/8/22 - The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler - Ch. 1 and 2 of "Church of Spies" by Mark Riebling
6/6/22 - The Justification of Genocide - The Nazi Weltanschauung - "Nazism 1918 -1945" by M.J. Thornton
6/3/22 - What Answers Can Materialism Give? - A Short Excerpt from "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy
May 2022
5/30/22 - Concept of "the Search" in the Midst of "Everydayness" - Excerpt from "The Moviegoer" by Walker Percy
5/23/22 - Foundations of Personalist Philosophy - Man as Substance-in-Relation - "Person and Being" by Norris Clarke S.J.
5/17/22 - What Knowledge Does Metaphysics Seek? - Book I of Aristotle's Metaphysics
5/16/22 - "A Stumbling Block to the Jews and Foolishness to Gentiles" - Some Personal Thoughts on Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot"
5/15/22 - Success in Tragedy? Thoughts about Joseph Frank's "Lecture Two - The Idiot"
5/13/22 - A Failed Novel? Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot" - "Lectures on Dostoyevsky" by Joseph Frank
5/11/22 - A Brief Explanation of Aristotelian Logic - Excerpt from Aristotle's "Posterior Analytics" Bk II
5/9/22 - A Light in the Darkness - Valedictory Speech 2022 Commencement - Holy Apostles College and Seminary
April 2022
4/29/22 - The Problem of Incomplete Information - Some Personal Thoughts
4/28/22 - The Fundamental Methods of Philosophizing - Ch. 3 "Evolution of Deductive Theory" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
4/26/22 - Response to YouTube video "Every Argument for God DEBUNKED!" - A Few Personal Thoughts
4/21/22 - Knowledge through the Use of Principles - Ch. 1 "The Idea of Principle in Leibnitz" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
4/19/22 - "The Circular Ruins" A Short Story by Jorge Luis Borges
4/18/22 - Book Access - "The Gift of Understanding" Ch. 10 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
4/16/22 - The Dichotomy of Being, The Singular and the Universal - Ch. 10 "The Evolution of Deductive Theory" by Gasset
4/14/22 - "A First Sorrow" - Short Story by Franz Kafka
4/14/22 - Greek Etymology of the "Concept" - Ch. 9 - The Evolution of Deductive Theory by Jose Ortega y Gasset
4/12/22 - The Existential Shock of Random Acts of Terror - Ch. 1 "The Gulag Archipelago" by Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn
4/10/22 - Who Controls the Interpretation of Reality? - "A Hunger Artist" Short Story by Franz Kafka
4/9/22 - The Temptation of "Secret Knowledge" - The Sect of the Phoenix - A Short Story by Jorge Borges
4/8/22 - "Marriage in God's Plan" - 1602 - 1620 - Catechism of the Catholic Church
4/7/22 - Book Access - "Faith" Ch. 9 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
4/5/22 - Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious - Paragraphs 1 - 43 - Carl G. Jung
March 2022
3/28/22 - "The Judgment" - A Story About Abuse - by Franz Kafka
3/23/22 - The Merciful Limitations of Human Perception - "Funes, the Memorious" - A Short Story By Jorge Luis Borges
3/23/22 - The Human Experience is One of Pilgrimage - The "Status Viatoris" - Ch. 1 of "On Hope" by Josef Pieper
3/22/22 - Book Access - "The Theological Virtues" Ch. 8 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
3/18/22 - The Psychology of the Shadow - Dostoyevsky's Novella "The Double"
3/18/22 - Aquinas' Four Types of Law - Summa Theologiae Prima Secundae - Questions 90 - 95
3/11/22 - Book Access - "Humility" Ch. 7 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
3/10/22 - No Easy Day - Personal Thoughts on "Hercules Must Choose Between Virtue and Vice" - Xenophon's Memorabilia
3/8/22 - Mary at the Foot of the Cross - "Stabat Mater" - A Literal Translation by GPQ
3/2/22 - Book Access - "The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit" Ch. 6 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
February 2022
2/27/22 - Nihilism as Worldview - Ch.1 (part I) of "Beyond Good and Evil" by Friedrich Nietzsche
2/27/22 - The Philosophical Search for God - Book Summary and Analysis of "God and Philosophy" by Etienne Gilson
2/24/22 - "I Will Tear Down My Barns" - Knowing St. Basil the Great of Caesarea
2/23/22 - Book Access - "The Vices" Ch. 5 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
2/21/22 - What is Most Real? - Some Personal Thoughts on Zeno's Paradoxes
2/7/22 - Book Access - "The Role of the Virtues in the Christian Life" Ch. 4 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
January 2022
1/30/22 - The Meaning of Religious Ritual and Metaphor - Some Personal Thoughts on Ch. 1 "Thou Art That" by Joseph Campbell
1/30/22 - Book Access - "An Overview of the Virtues" Ch. 3 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" by Dr. Christopher Gustafson STD
1/28/22 - Transhumanism and Suicide Pods ... What's the Connection? - Personal Thoughts from Dostoyevsky's "The Possessed"
1/27/22 - Design or Chance? - Plato's "Philebus" paragraphs 28b - 30d
1/22/22 - Book Access - "Lady Virtue" Ch. 2 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" by Dr. Christopher Gustafson STD
1/22/22 - A Desire for a Primitive Age - Gods and Beasts, The Nazis and the Occult - Ch. 2 by Dusty Sklar
1/21/22 - A Teetering German Society and the Revival of the Ancient Germanic Spirit - Ch. 1 "The Nazis and the Occult" Dusty Sklar
1/20/22 - Was Atheist Communism a Type of Religion? - "Atheism as Weltanschauung" from "Does God Exist?" by Hans Kung
1/18/22 - Why Does Philosophy Exist? - Ch. 28 "The Evolution of Deductive Theory" Jose Ortega y Gasset
1/17/22 - Why Philosophize in a World of Technology? - Book Review and Analysis - "In Defense of Philosophy" by Josef Pieper
1/16/22 - "The Secret Miracle" - A Short Story on the Nature of Time and Consciousness by Jorge Luis Borges
1/16/22 - Book Access - "A Forgotten World" Ch. 1 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" by Dr. Christopher Gustafson STD
1/13/22 - Science at the Service of Aryan Mysticism - "Occult History of the Third Reich" - Documentary
1/10/22 - The Abandonment of Tradition - Ch. 9 "The Origin of Philosophy" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
1/10/22 - Unsolved Questions in Aristotle's Work - Some (Incomplete) Personal Thoughts
1/7/22 - The Soil and Sub-Soil of Our Ideas and Worldview - Ch. 8 "The Origin of Philosophy" - Jose Ortega y Gasset
1/6/22 - The Religious, Philosophical, and Narrative World - Ch. 7 from "The Origin of Philosophy" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
1/5/22 - The Return to Paganism in 19th and 20th Century Germany - A Documentary on the Origin of Nazi Belief
1/2/22 - The Beauty of Ultimate Truths - A Few Personal Thoughts
2021 Posts
December 2021
12/30/21 - The Soviet Destruction of Man's Spirit - Book Review - "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
12/24/21 - The Philosophical Vocation - Plato's "Apology" Paragraphs 20-24 - and Some Personal Thoughts
12/17/21 - The Predictability of Human "Progress" - "On Violence" - Ch. 1 by Hannah Arendt
12/16/21 - The Philosopher Practices for Death - Plato's Phaedo - Paragraph 63 -70
12/15/21 - Is Radical Subjectivity a Path to Happiness? - "Existentialism is a Humanism" - Jean Paul Sartre
12/11/21 - Some Personal Thoughts on "Tree of Life" movie, Directed by Terrence Malick
12/2/21 - The Darwinian Foundations of Hitler's Racism - Excerpt from Mein Kampf
12/1/21 - The Marxian Rejection of Logic and Human Nature - "Theses on Feuerbach" - Karl Marx
12/1/21 - We Must Tear Down the Old Order - "Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right" by Karl Marx
November 2021
11/29/21 - Finding Happiness in the Natural Law? - "Personal Participation in the Thomistic Account of Natural Law" - Catherine Peters
11/27/21 - Thomas Aquinas' Notions of Personhood - "Thomistic Personalism" - Karol Wojtyla
11/25/21 - The Atheistic Destruction of Man - "The Dissolution of Man" - The Drama of Atheist Humanism - Henri De Lubac
11/22/21 - Establishing the Basis for Authentic Human Inter-Subjectivity - "Participation or Alienation" by Karol Wojtyla
11/19/21 - The Arithmetic of Moral Decisions - Excerpt from Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" Part I - Ch. VI
11/16/21 - The "Will to Life" as the "Will to Power" - Excerpt from "Beyond Good and Evil" by Fredrich Nietzsche
11/15/21 - An Overview of Kantian Philosophy Part I - Ch. 13 Philosophy: A Historical Survey With Essential Readings
11/09/21 - The Fundamental Human Story, Confronting the Dragon of Chaos - Lecture by Jordan Peterson
11/09/21 - Am I Simply a "Thinking Thing"? - Meditation 2 from Rene Descartes
11/08/21 - A Thomistic Look at Free Will - "St. Thomas and the Causes of Free Choice" by Lawrence Dewan
11/05/21 - "What is Enlightenment?" - Analysis of Immanuel Kant's Essay
11/02/21 - The Original Philosophical Question - "What Is It?" - More Personal Thoughts
11/01/21 - Are Man-Made Stories More Seductive Than Reality? "Tlon Uqbar Orbis Tertius" - A Short Story by Jorge Borges
October 2021
10/27/21 - Does Perception Affect Reality? - Berkeley's Idealism - Excerpts from "Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous"
10/25/21 - Is There Really a Separation Between the Mind and the World? Critiquing Descartes "Meditations" - A Few Personal Thoughts
10/21/21 - Beginning the Descent Into Rationalism - "Meditation 1" - Meditations on First Philosophy - Rene Descartes
10/20/21 - Teaching or Indoctrination? "Aquinas and His Understanding of Teaching and Learning" by Jānis Ozoliņš
10/15/21 - "Homo Homini Lupus - Man is a Wolf to Man" - Chs. 1-3, 5 from "De Cive" by Thomas Hobbes
10/13/21 - What Sets Humans Apart from Chimps? - "Humans And Apes: On Whether Language Usage..." by Marie George
10/8/21 - The Tactics of Politicians - Excerpts from Chs. 1, 15 -19, from "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli
10/7/21 - The Duality of Reality - Ch. 6 of "The Origin of Philosophy" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
10/4/21 - "Meditation on the Majesty of God" - Poem by 18th Century Russian poet, Mikhail Lomonosov
September 2021
9/30/21 - Aquinas on Monarchy - Bk I - Ch. 15 & 16 from "De Regno" by Thomas Aquinas
9/29/21 - The Ontology of Personhood - "Abortion in the Universal Encyclopedia of Philosophy" by Marek Czachorowski
9/27/21 - Ideology and Terror: A Novel Form of Government - Ch. 13 "The Origins of Totalitarianism" by Hannah Arendt
9/22/21 - Happiness and Virtue Theory - Ch. I and II of the Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
9/22/21 - A New Conception of Being and Personhood - "Person, Being, and St. Thomas" - Norris Clarke SJ
9/21/21 - The Noble Lie and the Myth of the Metals - Plato's Republic
9/20/21 - The Birth of the Social Contract - Plato's "Crito"
9/17/21 - Does Truth Begin in the Senses or in the Mind? - A Few Personal Thoughts
9/15/21 - A Look at St. Thomas' Fourth Proof for God - Summa Theologiae (PP, QII, AIII, I Answer That)
9/15/21 - The Story of Gyges' Invisibility Ring and the Nature of Justice - Plato's "Republic"
9/14/21 - A Look at St. Thomas Aquinas' Third Proof for the Existence of God - Summa Theologiae I, QII, AIII, I Answer That
9/14/21 - The Philosophical Method of Karol Wojtyla - by The Polish Christian Philosophy in the 20th Century
9/9/21 - What is the Origin of Morality? - Plato's "Euthyphro"
9/9/21 - "Conversation With the Supplicant" - A Short Story by Franz Kafka
9/8/21 - A Helpful Outline for Aquinas' First Three Ways to God in the Summa Theologiae
9/7/21 - Plato's "Myth of Er" - A Story of the Afterlife - Excerpt from Plato's "Republic"
9/7/21 - The Nature of "Wisdom" in Aquinas' Thought - "Wisdom Transformed by Love" - Thomas Hibbs
9/2/21 - The "Divided Line" and the Four Stages of Truth from Plato's "Republic"
9/2/21 - An Argument for the Immorality of the Soul - Excerpt from Plato's "Phaedo"
August 2021
8/31/21 - "Soviet Terror: A New Stalinism Emerging?" - Triumph Magazine - Paul Cole Beach
8/31/21 - The Allegory of the Cave - Plato's "Republic"
8/29/21 - The Sophists - Ch. 2 "Philosophy: a Historical Survey" by James Fieser
8/25/21 - "Aletheia," the Search for Truth - Ch. 5 The Origin of Philosophy by Jose Ortega y Gasset
8/24/21 - Who Were the Pre-Socratics and Why Were They Important? - "Philosophy: A Historical Survey" by James Fieser
8/20/21 - The Role of Philosophy in Human Life, "Know Thyself" - Introduction to Fides et Ratio by Pope John Paul II
8/12/21 - How to Weaponize a Population - Origins of Totalitarianism Ch.3 from Hannah Arendt
8/8/21 - "Critique of the Hegelian Dialectic and Philosophy as a Whole" - Karl Marx
8/4/21 - The Unity of Philosophy - Ch. 4 The Origin of Philosophy by Jose Ortega y Gasset
July 2021
7/31/21 - Aquinas on the Necessity of the Incarnation - Compendium of Theology 198-201
7/29/21 - A System of Values Through Science? - Experience and Nature Ch. 10 - John Dewey
7/23/21 - Aquinas on the Trinity - Compendium of Theology Questions 36-42, and 50-56
7/22/21 - Is a Scientific Morality Possible? Two 20th Century Perspectives (Video)
7/19/21 - The Four Types of Reason - Aristotle Topics - Parts I - XIII
7/19/21 - How Do We Know Something "Scientifically"? - Aristotle's Prior Analytics Bk. 1 - Ch 1-7
7/12/21 - How Are We Able To Speak About God? - Aquinas' Compendium of Theology Chs. 21-27
7/11/21 - Defining "Dialectical Series" - Ch. 3 The Origin of Philosophy by Jose Ortega y Gasset
7/11/21 - About This Blog
7/8/21 - Subjectivity as the First Solution for "Disorientation" - Ch 2. Some Lesson In Metaphysics by Jose Ortega y Gasset
June 2021
6/29/21 - Aspects of Reality Versus the Entirety - Ch. 2 The Origin of Philosophy by Jose Ortega y Gasset
6/27/21 - The Philosophical Past as Road Map - Ch. 1 - The Origin of Philosophy by Jose Ortega y Gasset
6/14/21 - An Orientating Story - Ch. 1 - Some Lessons in Metaphysics by Jose Ortega y Gasset
May 2021
5/4/21 - A Scientific Morality? Exploring the Possibility in the Thought of Jose Ortega y Gasset and John Dewey
April 2021
4/30/21 - A Shared Epistemology: The Human Pathology of Totalitarianism in the Thought of Hannah Arendt
4/22/21 - "The Great Tradition and the Nature of Totalitarianism" Lecture by Hannah Arendt
4/19/21 - Totalitarianism - Lecture at Oberlin College - Hannah Arendt
4/5/21 - The Problem of Perception Part II - Ch. 5 - "The Philosophy of Knowledge" by Kenneth Gallagher
4/2/21 - Annotated Bibliography - Epistemology Project
March 2021
3/30/21 - The Point of Departure - Ch. 3 from "The Philosophy of Knowledge" by Kenneth Gallagher
3/23/21 - Dostoyevsky on the Nature of Faith - from The Brothers Karamazov
3/19/21 - Excerpt 2 on the Death Penalty from The Idiot
3/15/21 - "The Status of Knowing" - Ch. 1 from "The Philosophy of Knowledge" by Kenneth T Gallagher
3/11/21 - "Object and Meaning" - Ch. 1 from "Maps of Meaning" by Jordan Peterson
February 2021
2/26/21 - Excerpt 1 on the Death Penalty from The Idiot
2/24/21 - Some Personal Thoughts on Lying - Excerpt from "The Brothers Karamazov" by F. Dostoyevsky
2/23/21 - The Object of Philosophy as the Universe - Ch. 4 of "What Is Philosophy?" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
2/18/21 - "Hi, I'm Atom" - A Satirical Poem of Materialism Based on "Money is King" from the Carmina Burana
2/18/21 - Critiquing the Atheist Humanist Manifesto
2/13/21 - Arguments Against Materialism - Ch. 3 from "What is Philosophy?" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
2/5/21 - How to Destroy a Country in Four Easy Steps
January 2021
1/25/21 - Faith in the Intelligibility of Being - A Response to Humean Skepticism
1/17/21 - A First Attempt at the Nature of Philosophy from an Existentialist - Ch. 2 of "What is Philosophy?" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
1/15/21 - Interpreting Violence in the Book of Joshua through Wisdom Chapter 12
1/14/21 - Perspectivism and the Understanding of History - Ch. 1 of "What is Philosophy by Jose Ortega y Gasset
1/13/21 - What is the Definition of "Science?" - Some Personal Thoughts
10/30/24 - The Non-Essential Predicables of Property (differentiae) and Accident - Ch. 3.7 from "The Reasonable Person" by Mark Grannis
10/24/24 - Chapter 8 - "Second Declension Neuter Nouns and First/Second Declension Adjectives" - "From Alpha to Omega" by Anne Groton
10/20/24 - An Outline of "The Apology" by Plato Along With Discussion Questions
10/14/24 - A Second Look at Plato's Euthyphro
10/8/24 - A Short Ancient Greek Translation - Aesop’s Fable 13 - "Fleeting Joys and Fleeing Fish" - From the Book "From Alpha to Omega"
10/8/24 - Outlining the Chapters of the "Poetics" By Aristotle
10/5/24 - A Greek Word Study on Aristotle's Categories Chs. 3 and 4
10/3/24 - Morality Belongs to the Gods, Not the King - Summary and Themes from "Antigone" by Sophocles
10/3/24 - The Four Pre-Categories from Ch. I an II of Aristotle's "Categories"
September 2024
9/26/24 - Human Interaction is Being Deformed - "Hiding Behind the Screen" by Roger Scruton
9/23/24 - Themes of Fate and Moral Blindness in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles
9/17/24 - The Moral Odyssey of Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus - Some Personal Thoughts on "The Odyssey" by Homer
9/16/24 - The Final Day Is Coming - Book 20 of "The Odyssey" by Homer
9/16/24 - Right Kingship, Humility, and Troy = Destroy - "The Odyssey" Book 19 - By Homer
9/16/24 - Irus, Melantho, More Acts of Hubris, and Penelope's Wiles - Book 18 of "The Odyssey" by Homer
9/16/24 - Acts of Hubris - "The Odyssey" Book 17 by Homer
9/12/24 - The Tragic Story of Phaethon - A Short Latin Translation
9/11/24 - The Future Active Indicative - Greek Lesson 6 - "From Alpha to Omega" by Anne Groton
9/9/24 - The Liturgy of the Table - Themes in "The Odyssey" Bks. IX - XII - By Homer
9/9/24 - A Short Latin Translation of Hesiod's "Works and Days" Passage About Pandora's Box - From Wheelock's Latin 6th Edition
9/5/24 - "A Fowl Plan Backfires" Aesop's Fable 55 - "From Alpha to Omega" by Anne Groton
9/2/24 - Some Personal Thoughts on Home and Hearth from "The Odyssey" Books V - VIII by Homer
9/2/24 - Festivity and Contest in Phaeacia - "The Odyssey" Book VIII by Homer
9/1/24 - Queen Arete and King Alcinous - "The Odyssey" Book VII - By Homer
9/1/24 - Entering Phaeacia - "The Odyssey" Book VI - By Homer
9/1/24 - The Paradoxes of Pleasure Island - "The Odyssey" Book V - By Homer
August 2024
8/27/24 - Greek Nouns and the 1st Declension Feminine Endings - "Lesson 4" - "From Alpha to Omega" by Anne Groton
8/25/24 - The Unicity of God - Chs. 15, 16, and 17 in the "Compendium of Theology" By St. Thomas Aquinas
8/25/24 - Time to Become a Man and Be Dangerous - "The Odyssey" Book I by Homer
8/20/24 - The Three First Principles of Logic - Law of Identity, Principle of Non Contradiction, and the Principle of Excluded Middle - Some Personal Thoughts
8/14/24 - Why Study Logic? - Introduction - "The Reasonable Person" - Mark Grannis
8/7/24 - Greek Accents… Holy Cow - Ch. 2 - The Greek Accents - “Form Alpha to Omega” by Anne Groton
July 2024
7/19/24 - LEARN ANCIENT GREEK WITH ME PART III - MY NOTES ON CH. 3 “Ω-VERBS - PRESENT ACTIVE INDICATIVE, INFINITIVE, AND IMPERATIVE” BY ANNE GROTON
7/9/24 - WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ART AND PORNOGRAPHY? - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS
June 2024
6/25/24 - LEARN ANCIENT GREEK WITH ME PART III - MY NOTES ON CH. 3 “Ω-VERBS - PRESENT ACTIVE INDICATIVE, INFINITIVE, AND IMPERATIVE” BY ANNE GROTON
6/25/24 - CH. 1 “WORDS, CONCEPTS, AND SIGNS” FROM “LOGIC: THE ART OF DEFINING AND REASONING” BY JOHN OESTERLE
6/19/24 - A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE METAPHYSICS OF GRAMMAR - A BOOK REVIEW OF “THE OFFICE OF ASSERTION” BY SCOTT CRIDER
6/13/24 - WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RHETORIC AND SOPHISTRY? - CH.1 - “THE OFFICE OF ASSERTION” BY SCOTT CRIDER
6/11/24 - INTRODUCING THE SYLLOGISM - INTRODUCTION TO “LOGIC: THE ART OF DEFINING AND REASONING” BY JOHN OESTERLE
6/10/24 - RITES OF CLOSURE AND STAGES OF MATURATION - “THE DISAPPEARANCE OF RITUALS” - CH. 3 BY BYUNG-CHUL HAN
6/9/24 - LEARN ANCIENT GREEK WITH ME - MY NOTES ON CH. 1 “INTRODUCTION TO THE GREEK ALPHABET” - “FROM ALPHA TO OMEGA" BY ANNE GROTON
6/4/24 - THE END OF LOVE AND ROMANCE - SEX AS PORNOGRAPHIC PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION - CH. 10 OF “THE DISAPPEARANCE OF RITUALS” BY BYUNG-CHUL HAN
May 2024
5/28/24 - WHAT STORY DOES SOCIETY ENACT IN TODAY'S CULT OF THE SUBJECTIVE SELF? "THE DISAPPEARANCE OF RITUALS" - CH. 2 BY BYUNG-CHUL HAN
5/26/24 - A LIFE WITHOUT RITUAL IS A DEATH THROUGH EGO-LIBIDO - CH. 1 FROM "THE DISAPPEARANCE OF RITUALS" BY BYUNG-CHUL HAN
5/19/24 - THE HERO'S JOURNEY, ADVENTURE, AND RISK - MOVIE REVIEW ON THEMES FROM "THE NEW WORLD" (2005) - DIRECTED BY TERRENCE MALICK
5/16/24 - THE INADEQUACY OF A SCIENTIFICALLY BASED VALUE SYSTEM IN WALKER PERCY’S THOUGHT - PAPER BY STEPHEN BEACH
April 2024
4/22/24 - GUEST POST - "AMERICAN CONSERVATISM: A CASE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA" - INTERCOLLEGIATE REVIEW - PAUL COLE BEACH
4/17/24 - INFINITE JEST - THE FIRST HUNDRED PAGES - DAVID FOSTER WALLACE
4/15/24 - SOME BEGINNING PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON MASCULINITY AND FATHERHOOD
4/12/24 - CAN I BUY ITEMS GENERATED BY SLAVE LABOR? - DISTINCTIONS IN THE TYPES OF COOPERATION IN EVIL - ARTICLE BY WILLIAM NEWTON IN HOMILETIC AND PASTORAL REVIEW
4/5/24 - WHERE FALSE STARTING POINTS CAN LEAD - A FEW THOUGHTS ON 17TH CENTURY IDEALISM - EXCERPTS FROM "THE SEARCH AFTER TRUTH" BY NICOLAS MALEBRANCHE
4/4/24 - "GREAT BOOKS, DEMOCRACY, AND TRUTH" - PROLOGUE TO "REFORMING EDUCATION: THE OPENING OF THE AMERICAN MIND" BY MORTIMER ADLER
March 2024
3/26/24 - SCIENTISM AND C.S. LEWIS - "THE MAGICIAN'S TWIN" BY JOHN G. WEST
3/22/24 - MORE ABOUT MY BOOK, "THE DRAMA OF METAPHYSICS: AN EXPLORATION INTO THE PSYCHOLOGICAL POWER OF WORLDVIEWS"
3/22/24 - THE PROBLEM OF "EXISTENTIAL NEUTRALITY" - "ON BEING AND THE ONE" CH. 1 FROM "BEING AND SOME PHILOSOPHERS" BY ETIENNE GILSON
3/20/24 - "LARS AND THE REAL GIRL" - A MOVIE REVIEW AND SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON DEALING WITH TRAUMA
3/20/24 - THE GROWING WAR AGAINST TELEOLOGY - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS
3/18/24 - ARISTOTLE’S REJECTION OF THE COINCIDENTAL NATURE OF SUBSTANTIAL FORMS - PAPER BY STEPHEN BEACH
3/13/24 - KAROL WOJTYLA’S RESPONSE TO 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY MATERIALIST PHILOSOPHIES OF MAN - PAPER BY STEPHEN BEACH
3/8/24 - "THE DREAM OF A RIDICULOUS MAN" - A SHORT STORY BY FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY
3/2/24 - ACHILLES AND HIS SON NEOPTOLEMUS - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON REJOICING IN THE FLOURISHING OF OUR CHILDREN - FROM BOOK XI OF "THE ODYSSEY" BY HOMER
February 2024
2/21/24 - WHAT ABOUT MAN CAN BE FREE IN THE 20TH CENTURY? - CH.1 "WHAT IS A FREE MAN?" FROM "MAN AGAINST MASS SOCIETY" BY GABRIEL MARCEL
2/7/24 - ARE WE REALLY HAPPY IN GOD? - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS
2/6/24 - PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON DEVELOPING A VALUE FRAMEWORK AND LIVING A LIFE OF MEANING
2/2/24 - THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL EPISTEMOLOGICAL CHOICES - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON THE NECESSITY OF FAITH
2/1/24 - A LIGHT WHICH ILLUMINES AND BLINDS - CH. 2 "THE NEGATIVE ELEMENT" FROM "THE SILENCE OF ST. THOMAS" BY JOSEF PIEPER
January 2024
1/31/24 - PARMENIDES' POEM AS A PROTO-CONCEPTION OF GOD - PRE-SOCRATIC FRAGMENTS
1/29/24 - THE MOST PRECIOUS REAL ESTATE - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON PROTECTING CHILDREN'S MINDS
1/26/24 - DOES MAN'S HAPPINESS CONSIST IN MONEY? - SUMMA THEOLOGIAE I-II Q2 AI BY THOMAS AQUINAS
1/25/24 - SOMETIMES IDEAS ONLY DIE WITH THEIR GENERATION - "THE GERANIUM" BY FLANNERY O'CONNOR
1/24/24 - HOW DOES ONE RECONCILE GOD'S PROVIDENCE AND MAN'S FREE WILL? - BOOK V FROM THE "CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY" BY BOETHIUS
1/23/24 - THE "DE-ESSENCING" OF WORDS - FINNEGAN'S WAKE BY JAMES JOYCE AND SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS
2023 Posts
December 2023
12/30/23 - HOW IS TRUTH DEFINED? - AJ AYER AND FC COPLESTON DEBATE ON THE BBC (JUNE 13TH, 1949) - PART II OF IX
12/27/23 - "ON THE USE OF PHILOSOPHY" BY JACQUES MARITAIN - INTERESTING QUOTES
12/08/23 - "GREEK WAYS OF THINKING" - CH. I FROM "THE GREEK PHILOSOPHERS" BY W.K.C. GUTHRIE
12/07/23 - "AN ABSURD REASONING" PART I - "THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS" BY ALBERT CAMUS
12/06/23 - "THE PLEASURE MACHINE" - A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT AND SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON THE FOUNDATIONS OF MORALITY
12/01/23 - ARE ALL THINGS PERMISSIBLE IN THE ABSENCE OF GOD? - EXCERPT FROM "THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV" - DOSTOYEVSKY
November 2023
11/21/23 - WHAT IS ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY (LOGICAL POSITIVISM)? - AJ AYER AND FC COPLESTON DEBATE ON THE BBC (JUNE 13TH, 1949) - PART I OF IX
11/15/23 - ROUSSEAUEAN THEORY - EXCERPTS FROM "THE SOCIAL CONTRACT" - BOOK I BY JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU
11/10/23 - THE TWO PATHS OF ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION - EXCERPT FROM CH. I OF "THE HUMAN CONDITION" BY HANNAH ARENDT
11/8/23 - AN ARGUMENT FOR THE SOUL AND GOD FROM "EXISTENTIAL DESIRE" - SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS
11/6/23 - WHY DID DESCARTES TURN INWARD IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH? - DESCARTES' "DISCOURSE ON METHOD" PART ONE
October 2023
10/31/23 - The Search For Ultimate Causes Requires Openness To Truth - PREFATORY REMARKS TO "BEING AND SOME PHILOSOPHERS" BY ETIENNE GILSON
10/30/23 - THE SPIRIT OF THOMISM - "THE TWOFOLD CERTITUDE" - BY ETIENNE GILSON
10/13/23 - Design, Chance, and Randomness - Is There Teleology in Nature? - Book II of Aristotle's "Physics"
September 2023
9/12/23 - Creation is a Relation in Being Not a Temporal Event - Pt II Ch I - "Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas" by Etienne Gilson
9/12/23 - The Life of Socrates in Overview - "Examined Lives" by James Miller
9/5/23 - Development of the Human Consciousness - "The Stages of Life, Modern Man in Search of a Soul" - Carl Jung
August 2023
8/28/23 - There Is No Good In This World - "The Fall" by Albert Camus - Book Review
8/8/23 - What is Philosophy? - Philosophy as the Darkened Room - Some Personal Thoughts
8/2/23 - Tyrannical Authority - "In the Penal Colony" - Short Story by Franz Kafka
July 2023
7/26/23 - Literature As Thinly Veiled Nihilistic Philosophy - A Review of "The Stranger" by Albert Camus
7/19/23 - Wily Odysseus, Slaughter, and Restoration - "The Odyssey" Books XI - XXIV by Homer
7/18/23 - The Battle of the Wills - Personal Thoughts on the Idea of Power in Philosophy
7/12/23 - Cosmic Justice? - "A Good Man is Hard to Find" Short Story by Flannery O'Connor
7/7/23 - What Happened After the Iliad Leaves Off? - "The Odyssey" Books I - X by Homer
June 2023
6/28/23 - "Every one Belongs to Every one Else" - Ch. 3 of "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley and Some Personal Thoughts
6/26/23 - Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning of the Children - Ch. 2 of "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
6/25/23 - Welcome to the Human Hatchery Lab - Ch. 1 of "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
6/20/23 - Our Vision for Our Lives - "Man Has No Nature" Excerpts from "History as System" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
6/20/23 - The Notion of Fate in "The Iliad" - Reflecting on Books XI - XXIV - by Homer
6/15/23 - An Overview of Hegelian Philosophy - Philosophy: A Historical Survey With Essential Readings by Fieser and Stumpf
6/8/23 - A Few Thoughts and Reflections on Books (VI - X) The Iliad by Homer
6/1/23 - The Iliad by Homer - Books I-V - Some Beginning Thoughts
May 2023
5/27/23 - Persevering Through Dark Times - "Toward a Fateful Serenity" - Essay by Jacques Barzun
April 2023
4/27/23 - Marxist Tactics of Manipulation - "Animal Farm" by George Orwell
4/24/23 - Hegel's Pantheistic "World Spirit" - Excerpt from Hegel's "Philosophy of Right"
4/19/23 - Some Personal Thoughts on the Contradiction of Progressive Ideas Today
4/19/23 - Descartes' Destruction of Philosophy - Some Personal Thoughts on Descartes' "Meditations"
4/3/23 - "Heart of a Dog" - A Hilarious Satirical Soviet Novella by Mikhail Bulgakov
March 2023
3/23/23 - The State of Nature - Jean Jacques Rousseau's "Discourse on Inequality"
3/10/23 - A Disappointing Second Look at Borges' "Sect of the Phoenix" - Jorge Luis Borges
3/3/23 - What is the Identity of a Thing? - Aristotle's Four Causes - Bk II Ch III from "The Physics"
February 2023
2/28/23 - The Watch-Tower of God's Providence - Bk. IV Ch. VI of "The Consolation of Philosophy" by Boethius
January 2023
1/25/23 - Book Access - "The Gift of Wisdom" Ch. 16 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
1/25/23 - Book Access - "Mercy" Ch. 15 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
1/22/23 - Does Man's Happiness Consist in Power? - Summa Theologiae I-II Q2 A4 by Thomas Aquinas
1/22/23 - The Universe Has a Face - Defending Aristotle's Notion of Immaterial Form - Some Personal Thoughts
1/18/23 - The Conclusions of Science Can be Ghastly - "The Birthmark" - Nathanial Hawthorne
1/11/23 - "Araby" A Short Story from James Joyce's "Dubliners"
1/9/23 - Does Happiness Consist of Honor? - Summa Theologiae I-II Q2 A2 - Thomas Aquinas
1/6/23 - Does Man's Happiness Consist in Money? - Summa Theologiae I-II Q2 AI by Thomas Aquinas
1/5/23 - A Hierarchy of the Good - Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics Bk I Ch I - IV
2022 Posts
December 2022
12/24/22 - Book Access - "Charity" Ch. 14 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
12/22/22 - "Personal Life" A Humorous Short Story About Getting Old - by Mikhail Zoshchenko
12/15/22 - Themes of Ancient Philosophy - Intro to "Introductory Readings in Ancient Philosophy" - by CDC Reeve
12/09/22 - Personal Thoughts on Joseph Campbell's "Myths to Live By" - Ch. 1 "The Impact of Science on Myth"
12/03/22 - Book Access - "Fear of the Lord" Ch. 13 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
November 2022
11/22/22 - Political Terminology Needs to be Rethought - Some Personal Thoughts on the Political Spectrum
11/14/22 - Three Philosophical Stages of Life - A Brief Look at Soren Kierkegaard - Ch. 16 from "Philosophy" by Fieser and Stumpf
11/12/22 - The Unconscious as the Realm of Transformation - Prologue of "Hero With a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell
11/12/22 - Being Admitted to the Ward - Chs. 1-4 from "Cancer Ward" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
11/6/22 - Redefining the Word "Aristocracy" in the 20th Century - Ch. 2 from "The Revolt of the Masses" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
11/1/22 - Perpetuating the Necessary Object of Fear and Anxiety for Control - Ch. 7 "The Leaders of the Masses" by Mattias Desmet
October 2022
10/25/22 - The Infecting Process of Mass Formation Psychosis - Ch. 6 of "The Psychology of Totalitarianism" by Mattias Desmet
10/24/22 - "The Coming of the Masses" - Ch. 1 of "The Revolt of the Masses" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
10/19/22 - Politicians Should Have No Monetary Incentive - Excerpt from Plato's "Republic" - Paragraphs 417-419
10/17/22 - A Short Story on Corrupt Power - "The Empty Drum" by Leo Tolstoy
10/15/22 - The Metaphysical Ladder of Ascent to God - A First Look at Aquinas' Essay "De Ente et Essentia"
10/15/22 - Michel Foucault Advocates Sexual Deviency - Ch. 1 of "The History of Sexuality" by Michel Foucault
10/08/22 - How Should A Wise Man Act? - "Three Questions" A Short Story by Leo Tolstoy
10/06/22 - My Book Review of Part I (Chs. 1-5) of "The Psychology of Totalitarianism" by Mattias Desmet
September 2022
9/30/22 - A Brief Look at Immanuel Kant's Moral Philosophy - "In Our Time" Episode by the BBC
9/25/22 - Can Science be the Common Good of a Society? - Excerpt from "The Idiot" by Dostoyevsky
9/22/22 - A Third Defense of the Soul - Ideas are Eternal - "The Phaedo" Paragraphs 77 - 80 by Plato
9/19/22 - A Second Defense of the Immortal Soul - Learning as Recollection - Paragraphs 73-77 from "The Phaedo" by Plato
9/19/22 - "The Adventures of an Ape" - Soviet Satire - A Short Story by Mikhail Zoshchenko
9/17/22 - A Summary of the First Five Chapters - "Back Over the Road" Ch. 6 of The Evolution of Deductive Theory by Gasset
9/17/22 - "The Becoming of Opposites" - An Argument for the Immorality of the Soul - "The Phaedo" Paragraphs 70-73 - Plato
9/16/22 - The Legend of Eleusis - Ch. 1 "The Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites" by Dudley Wright
9/15/22 - Eidos and Teleology - Ch. 1 "Graven Images: Substitutes for True Morality" by Dietrich Von Hildebrand
9/14/22 - Some Personal Thoughts on God's Providence and Our Suffering
9/12/22 - The Heterogenous "I" - Ch. 4 "Some Lessons in Metaphysics" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
9/4/22 - The Importance of Preserving Culture - Ch. 1 from "The Crisis of Western Education" by Christopher Dawson
9/1/22 - Beginning as an Existentialist Metaphysician - Lesson III - "Some Lessons in Metaphysics" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
August 2022
8/29/22 - The Moscow Literary Society - "There Were Doings at Griboedov's" - Ch. 5 from "Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov
8/27/22 - The Mask of Aphrodite - Some Personal Thoughts Against Pornography
8/22/22 - "What a Principle Is" - Ch. 2 "Evolution of Deductive Theory" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
8/21/22 - "The Chase" - Ch. 4 - from "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov
8/19/22 - "The Seventh Proof" - Ch. 3 from "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov
8/18/22 - A Few Personal Thoughts About the Importance of "Ritual"
8/17/22 - The Devil Visits Moscow - "Never Talk With Strangers" - Ch. 1 from "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov
8/11/22 - The Mystery of Death and the Human Psyche - "The Soul and Death" - Essay by Carl G. Jung
8/7/22 - Struggles of a "True Believer" - An Incident at Krechetovka Station - Part I/II - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
July 2022
7/31/22 - Primordial Battle of Fire and Ice - Nordic Creation Myths
7/30/22 - The Secret is Revealed - Part 3/3 of "Prometheus Bound" by Aeschylus
7/26/22 - Prometheus' Gifts to Men - Part II of "Prometheus Bound" by Aeschylus
7/18/22 - The Nature of Infinity and Our Dependence in Being - "Metaphysics" Book II by Aristotle
7/17/22 - Prometheus is Chained in Punishment- Opening of "Prometheus Bound" by Aeschylus
7/11/22 - Art is the Sharing of Human Subjectivity - Excerpt from Ch. 5 of "What is Art?" by Leo Tolstoy and Some Personal Thoughts
7/11/22 - The Eastern Origins of Nazi "History" - Intro to Himmler's Crusade by Christopher Hale
7/5/22 - Book Access - "Hope" Ch. 12 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
June 2022
6/20/22 - Book Access - "The Gift of Knowledge" Ch. 11 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
6/19/22 - An Appointment In Berlin - Prelude to "Himmler's Crusade" by Christopher Hale
6/14/22 - The Field of "Neurotheology," and a Few Personal Thoughts on Scientism - Intro "Neurotheology" by Andrew Newberg
6/8/22 - The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler - Ch. 1 and 2 of "Church of Spies" by Mark Riebling
6/6/22 - The Justification of Genocide - The Nazi Weltanschauung - "Nazism 1918 -1945" by M.J. Thornton
6/3/22 - What Answers Can Materialism Give? - A Short Excerpt from "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy
May 2022
5/30/22 - Concept of "the Search" in the Midst of "Everydayness" - Excerpt from "The Moviegoer" by Walker Percy
5/23/22 - Foundations of Personalist Philosophy - Man as Substance-in-Relation - "Person and Being" by Norris Clarke S.J.
5/17/22 - What Knowledge Does Metaphysics Seek? - Book I of Aristotle's Metaphysics
5/16/22 - "A Stumbling Block to the Jews and Foolishness to Gentiles" - Some Personal Thoughts on Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot"
5/15/22 - Success in Tragedy? Thoughts about Joseph Frank's "Lecture Two - The Idiot"
5/13/22 - A Failed Novel? Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot" - "Lectures on Dostoyevsky" by Joseph Frank
5/11/22 - A Brief Explanation of Aristotelian Logic - Excerpt from Aristotle's "Posterior Analytics" Bk II
5/9/22 - A Light in the Darkness - Valedictory Speech 2022 Commencement - Holy Apostles College and Seminary
April 2022
4/29/22 - The Problem of Incomplete Information - Some Personal Thoughts
4/28/22 - The Fundamental Methods of Philosophizing - Ch. 3 "Evolution of Deductive Theory" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
4/26/22 - Response to YouTube video "Every Argument for God DEBUNKED!" - A Few Personal Thoughts
4/21/22 - Knowledge through the Use of Principles - Ch. 1 "The Idea of Principle in Leibnitz" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
4/19/22 - "The Circular Ruins" A Short Story by Jorge Luis Borges
4/18/22 - Book Access - "The Gift of Understanding" Ch. 10 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
4/16/22 - The Dichotomy of Being, The Singular and the Universal - Ch. 10 "The Evolution of Deductive Theory" by Gasset
4/14/22 - "A First Sorrow" - Short Story by Franz Kafka
4/14/22 - Greek Etymology of the "Concept" - Ch. 9 - The Evolution of Deductive Theory by Jose Ortega y Gasset
4/12/22 - The Existential Shock of Random Acts of Terror - Ch. 1 "The Gulag Archipelago" by Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn
4/10/22 - Who Controls the Interpretation of Reality? - "A Hunger Artist" Short Story by Franz Kafka
4/9/22 - The Temptation of "Secret Knowledge" - The Sect of the Phoenix - A Short Story by Jorge Borges
4/8/22 - "Marriage in God's Plan" - 1602 - 1620 - Catechism of the Catholic Church
4/7/22 - Book Access - "Faith" Ch. 9 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
4/5/22 - Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious - Paragraphs 1 - 43 - Carl G. Jung
March 2022
3/28/22 - "The Judgment" - A Story About Abuse - by Franz Kafka
3/23/22 - The Merciful Limitations of Human Perception - "Funes, the Memorious" - A Short Story By Jorge Luis Borges
3/23/22 - The Human Experience is One of Pilgrimage - The "Status Viatoris" - Ch. 1 of "On Hope" by Josef Pieper
3/22/22 - Book Access - "The Theological Virtues" Ch. 8 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
3/18/22 - The Psychology of the Shadow - Dostoyevsky's Novella "The Double"
3/18/22 - Aquinas' Four Types of Law - Summa Theologiae Prima Secundae - Questions 90 - 95
3/11/22 - Book Access - "Humility" Ch. 7 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
3/10/22 - No Easy Day - Personal Thoughts on "Hercules Must Choose Between Virtue and Vice" - Xenophon's Memorabilia
3/8/22 - Mary at the Foot of the Cross - "Stabat Mater" - A Literal Translation by GPQ
3/2/22 - Book Access - "The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit" Ch. 6 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
February 2022
2/27/22 - Nihilism as Worldview - Ch.1 (part I) of "Beyond Good and Evil" by Friedrich Nietzsche
2/27/22 - The Philosophical Search for God - Book Summary and Analysis of "God and Philosophy" by Etienne Gilson
2/24/22 - "I Will Tear Down My Barns" - Knowing St. Basil the Great of Caesarea
2/23/22 - Book Access - "The Vices" Ch. 5 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
2/21/22 - What is Most Real? - Some Personal Thoughts on Zeno's Paradoxes
2/7/22 - Book Access - "The Role of the Virtues in the Christian Life" Ch. 4 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" Dr. Gustafson
January 2022
1/30/22 - The Meaning of Religious Ritual and Metaphor - Some Personal Thoughts on Ch. 1 "Thou Art That" by Joseph Campbell
1/30/22 - Book Access - "An Overview of the Virtues" Ch. 3 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" by Dr. Christopher Gustafson STD
1/28/22 - Transhumanism and Suicide Pods ... What's the Connection? - Personal Thoughts from Dostoyevsky's "The Possessed"
1/27/22 - Design or Chance? - Plato's "Philebus" paragraphs 28b - 30d
1/22/22 - Book Access - "Lady Virtue" Ch. 2 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" by Dr. Christopher Gustafson STD
1/22/22 - A Desire for a Primitive Age - Gods and Beasts, The Nazis and the Occult - Ch. 2 by Dusty Sklar
1/21/22 - A Teetering German Society and the Revival of the Ancient Germanic Spirit - Ch. 1 "The Nazis and the Occult" Dusty Sklar
1/20/22 - Was Atheist Communism a Type of Religion? - "Atheism as Weltanschauung" from "Does God Exist?" by Hans Kung
1/18/22 - Why Does Philosophy Exist? - Ch. 28 "The Evolution of Deductive Theory" Jose Ortega y Gasset
1/17/22 - Why Philosophize in a World of Technology? - Book Review and Analysis - "In Defense of Philosophy" by Josef Pieper
1/16/22 - "The Secret Miracle" - A Short Story on the Nature of Time and Consciousness by Jorge Luis Borges
1/16/22 - Book Access - "A Forgotten World" Ch. 1 of "Virtue Stands in the Middle" by Dr. Christopher Gustafson STD
1/13/22 - Science at the Service of Aryan Mysticism - "Occult History of the Third Reich" - Documentary
1/10/22 - The Abandonment of Tradition - Ch. 9 "The Origin of Philosophy" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
1/10/22 - Unsolved Questions in Aristotle's Work - Some (Incomplete) Personal Thoughts
1/7/22 - The Soil and Sub-Soil of Our Ideas and Worldview - Ch. 8 "The Origin of Philosophy" - Jose Ortega y Gasset
1/6/22 - The Religious, Philosophical, and Narrative World - Ch. 7 from "The Origin of Philosophy" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
1/5/22 - The Return to Paganism in 19th and 20th Century Germany - A Documentary on the Origin of Nazi Belief
1/2/22 - The Beauty of Ultimate Truths - A Few Personal Thoughts
2021 Posts
December 2021
12/30/21 - The Soviet Destruction of Man's Spirit - Book Review - "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
12/24/21 - The Philosophical Vocation - Plato's "Apology" Paragraphs 20-24 - and Some Personal Thoughts
12/17/21 - The Predictability of Human "Progress" - "On Violence" - Ch. 1 by Hannah Arendt
12/16/21 - The Philosopher Practices for Death - Plato's Phaedo - Paragraph 63 -70
12/15/21 - Is Radical Subjectivity a Path to Happiness? - "Existentialism is a Humanism" - Jean Paul Sartre
12/11/21 - Some Personal Thoughts on "Tree of Life" movie, Directed by Terrence Malick
12/2/21 - The Darwinian Foundations of Hitler's Racism - Excerpt from Mein Kampf
12/1/21 - The Marxian Rejection of Logic and Human Nature - "Theses on Feuerbach" - Karl Marx
12/1/21 - We Must Tear Down the Old Order - "Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right" by Karl Marx
November 2021
11/29/21 - Finding Happiness in the Natural Law? - "Personal Participation in the Thomistic Account of Natural Law" - Catherine Peters
11/27/21 - Thomas Aquinas' Notions of Personhood - "Thomistic Personalism" - Karol Wojtyla
11/25/21 - The Atheistic Destruction of Man - "The Dissolution of Man" - The Drama of Atheist Humanism - Henri De Lubac
11/22/21 - Establishing the Basis for Authentic Human Inter-Subjectivity - "Participation or Alienation" by Karol Wojtyla
11/19/21 - The Arithmetic of Moral Decisions - Excerpt from Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" Part I - Ch. VI
11/16/21 - The "Will to Life" as the "Will to Power" - Excerpt from "Beyond Good and Evil" by Fredrich Nietzsche
11/15/21 - An Overview of Kantian Philosophy Part I - Ch. 13 Philosophy: A Historical Survey With Essential Readings
11/09/21 - The Fundamental Human Story, Confronting the Dragon of Chaos - Lecture by Jordan Peterson
11/09/21 - Am I Simply a "Thinking Thing"? - Meditation 2 from Rene Descartes
11/08/21 - A Thomistic Look at Free Will - "St. Thomas and the Causes of Free Choice" by Lawrence Dewan
11/05/21 - "What is Enlightenment?" - Analysis of Immanuel Kant's Essay
11/02/21 - The Original Philosophical Question - "What Is It?" - More Personal Thoughts
11/01/21 - Are Man-Made Stories More Seductive Than Reality? "Tlon Uqbar Orbis Tertius" - A Short Story by Jorge Borges
October 2021
10/27/21 - Does Perception Affect Reality? - Berkeley's Idealism - Excerpts from "Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous"
10/25/21 - Is There Really a Separation Between the Mind and the World? Critiquing Descartes "Meditations" - A Few Personal Thoughts
10/21/21 - Beginning the Descent Into Rationalism - "Meditation 1" - Meditations on First Philosophy - Rene Descartes
10/20/21 - Teaching or Indoctrination? "Aquinas and His Understanding of Teaching and Learning" by Jānis Ozoliņš
10/15/21 - "Homo Homini Lupus - Man is a Wolf to Man" - Chs. 1-3, 5 from "De Cive" by Thomas Hobbes
10/13/21 - What Sets Humans Apart from Chimps? - "Humans And Apes: On Whether Language Usage..." by Marie George
10/8/21 - The Tactics of Politicians - Excerpts from Chs. 1, 15 -19, from "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli
10/7/21 - The Duality of Reality - Ch. 6 of "The Origin of Philosophy" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
10/4/21 - "Meditation on the Majesty of God" - Poem by 18th Century Russian poet, Mikhail Lomonosov
September 2021
9/30/21 - Aquinas on Monarchy - Bk I - Ch. 15 & 16 from "De Regno" by Thomas Aquinas
9/29/21 - The Ontology of Personhood - "Abortion in the Universal Encyclopedia of Philosophy" by Marek Czachorowski
9/27/21 - Ideology and Terror: A Novel Form of Government - Ch. 13 "The Origins of Totalitarianism" by Hannah Arendt
9/22/21 - Happiness and Virtue Theory - Ch. I and II of the Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
9/22/21 - A New Conception of Being and Personhood - "Person, Being, and St. Thomas" - Norris Clarke SJ
9/21/21 - The Noble Lie and the Myth of the Metals - Plato's Republic
9/20/21 - The Birth of the Social Contract - Plato's "Crito"
9/17/21 - Does Truth Begin in the Senses or in the Mind? - A Few Personal Thoughts
9/15/21 - A Look at St. Thomas' Fourth Proof for God - Summa Theologiae (PP, QII, AIII, I Answer That)
9/15/21 - The Story of Gyges' Invisibility Ring and the Nature of Justice - Plato's "Republic"
9/14/21 - A Look at St. Thomas Aquinas' Third Proof for the Existence of God - Summa Theologiae I, QII, AIII, I Answer That
9/14/21 - The Philosophical Method of Karol Wojtyla - by The Polish Christian Philosophy in the 20th Century
9/9/21 - What is the Origin of Morality? - Plato's "Euthyphro"
9/9/21 - "Conversation With the Supplicant" - A Short Story by Franz Kafka
9/8/21 - A Helpful Outline for Aquinas' First Three Ways to God in the Summa Theologiae
9/7/21 - Plato's "Myth of Er" - A Story of the Afterlife - Excerpt from Plato's "Republic"
9/7/21 - The Nature of "Wisdom" in Aquinas' Thought - "Wisdom Transformed by Love" - Thomas Hibbs
9/2/21 - The "Divided Line" and the Four Stages of Truth from Plato's "Republic"
9/2/21 - An Argument for the Immorality of the Soul - Excerpt from Plato's "Phaedo"
August 2021
8/31/21 - "Soviet Terror: A New Stalinism Emerging?" - Triumph Magazine - Paul Cole Beach
8/31/21 - The Allegory of the Cave - Plato's "Republic"
8/29/21 - The Sophists - Ch. 2 "Philosophy: a Historical Survey" by James Fieser
8/25/21 - "Aletheia," the Search for Truth - Ch. 5 The Origin of Philosophy by Jose Ortega y Gasset
8/24/21 - Who Were the Pre-Socratics and Why Were They Important? - "Philosophy: A Historical Survey" by James Fieser
8/20/21 - The Role of Philosophy in Human Life, "Know Thyself" - Introduction to Fides et Ratio by Pope John Paul II
8/12/21 - How to Weaponize a Population - Origins of Totalitarianism Ch.3 from Hannah Arendt
8/8/21 - "Critique of the Hegelian Dialectic and Philosophy as a Whole" - Karl Marx
8/4/21 - The Unity of Philosophy - Ch. 4 The Origin of Philosophy by Jose Ortega y Gasset
July 2021
7/31/21 - Aquinas on the Necessity of the Incarnation - Compendium of Theology 198-201
7/29/21 - A System of Values Through Science? - Experience and Nature Ch. 10 - John Dewey
7/23/21 - Aquinas on the Trinity - Compendium of Theology Questions 36-42, and 50-56
7/22/21 - Is a Scientific Morality Possible? Two 20th Century Perspectives (Video)
7/19/21 - The Four Types of Reason - Aristotle Topics - Parts I - XIII
7/19/21 - How Do We Know Something "Scientifically"? - Aristotle's Prior Analytics Bk. 1 - Ch 1-7
7/12/21 - How Are We Able To Speak About God? - Aquinas' Compendium of Theology Chs. 21-27
7/11/21 - Defining "Dialectical Series" - Ch. 3 The Origin of Philosophy by Jose Ortega y Gasset
7/11/21 - About This Blog
7/8/21 - Subjectivity as the First Solution for "Disorientation" - Ch 2. Some Lesson In Metaphysics by Jose Ortega y Gasset
June 2021
6/29/21 - Aspects of Reality Versus the Entirety - Ch. 2 The Origin of Philosophy by Jose Ortega y Gasset
6/27/21 - The Philosophical Past as Road Map - Ch. 1 - The Origin of Philosophy by Jose Ortega y Gasset
6/14/21 - An Orientating Story - Ch. 1 - Some Lessons in Metaphysics by Jose Ortega y Gasset
May 2021
5/4/21 - A Scientific Morality? Exploring the Possibility in the Thought of Jose Ortega y Gasset and John Dewey
April 2021
4/30/21 - A Shared Epistemology: The Human Pathology of Totalitarianism in the Thought of Hannah Arendt
4/22/21 - "The Great Tradition and the Nature of Totalitarianism" Lecture by Hannah Arendt
4/19/21 - Totalitarianism - Lecture at Oberlin College - Hannah Arendt
4/5/21 - The Problem of Perception Part II - Ch. 5 - "The Philosophy of Knowledge" by Kenneth Gallagher
4/2/21 - Annotated Bibliography - Epistemology Project
March 2021
3/30/21 - The Point of Departure - Ch. 3 from "The Philosophy of Knowledge" by Kenneth Gallagher
3/23/21 - Dostoyevsky on the Nature of Faith - from The Brothers Karamazov
3/19/21 - Excerpt 2 on the Death Penalty from The Idiot
3/15/21 - "The Status of Knowing" - Ch. 1 from "The Philosophy of Knowledge" by Kenneth T Gallagher
3/11/21 - "Object and Meaning" - Ch. 1 from "Maps of Meaning" by Jordan Peterson
February 2021
2/26/21 - Excerpt 1 on the Death Penalty from The Idiot
2/24/21 - Some Personal Thoughts on Lying - Excerpt from "The Brothers Karamazov" by F. Dostoyevsky
2/23/21 - The Object of Philosophy as the Universe - Ch. 4 of "What Is Philosophy?" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
2/18/21 - "Hi, I'm Atom" - A Satirical Poem of Materialism Based on "Money is King" from the Carmina Burana
2/18/21 - Critiquing the Atheist Humanist Manifesto
2/13/21 - Arguments Against Materialism - Ch. 3 from "What is Philosophy?" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
2/5/21 - How to Destroy a Country in Four Easy Steps
January 2021
1/25/21 - Faith in the Intelligibility of Being - A Response to Humean Skepticism
1/17/21 - A First Attempt at the Nature of Philosophy from an Existentialist - Ch. 2 of "What is Philosophy?" by Jose Ortega y Gasset
1/15/21 - Interpreting Violence in the Book of Joshua through Wisdom Chapter 12
1/14/21 - Perspectivism and the Understanding of History - Ch. 1 of "What is Philosophy by Jose Ortega y Gasset
1/13/21 - What is the Definition of "Science?" - Some Personal Thoughts
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