Campus Lectures Episodes

Fr. Gregory Pine discusses justice as a virtue that enables us to render to others what is due to them, exploring its characteristics of otherness, equality, and precision, while also acknowledging its limits and the need to go beyond justice in ou...

Dr. John Haldane examines the themes of evil and vice as portrayed in film and entertainment, utilizing philosophical concepts and specific examples like The Exorcist and Apocalypse Now, to analyze the ethical dimensions of these representations.

Fr. Gregory Pine explores the virtue of prudence as practical wisdom, emphasizing its role in navigating human limitations, ordering practical life, and integrating intellect and appetite to achieve human flourishing.

Professor Stephen Meredith explores the problem of evil, particularly in the context of disease, examining philosophical and theological perspectives, including those of Aquinas, Leibniz, and Voltaire, while also considering biological factors like...

Fr. Thomas Petri explicates St. Thomas Aquinas's understanding of God as ipsum esse subsistens (being itself), the source of all existence and goodness, and that evil is not a thing but an absence or deficiency of good within God's ultimate plan.

Professor Michael Krom evaluates the modern "Benedict Option" as a proposed Christian response to cultural decline, contrasting it with Saint Benedict’s historical withdrawal from Rome and analyzing its merits through Thomistic ethical frameworks g...

Professor Michael Wahl discusses the Catholic Church's position on abortion, emphasizing the importance of both scientific and philosophical arguments in defending the pro-life stance.

Professor Hochschild explores the question of whether trees have souls through the lens of Aristotelian biology, emphasizing the importance of empirical observation and questioning modern biology's approach.

Professor Pruss presents arguments against physicalist theories of mind, explores the challenges to biologism and functionalism, and discusses the possibility of consciousness in non-biological systems.

Professor William Hurlbut explores the relationship between neurobiology and the concept of the soul, examining the reductive scientific approach to life, the challenges posed by technology like large language models, cerebral organoids, and synthe...

Professor Jonathan Buttaci explores the concept of the soul as a biological principle, arguing for its relevance in scientific inquiry concerning living things, drawing from Aristotelian thought, and challenging the assumption that the soul is sole...

Professor Christopher Baglow explores the compatibility of evolutionary science with Catholic faith, focusing on the role of chance and divine providence, and defending the unique creation of the human soul.

Professor Michael Foley discusses dating as an art, addressing the challenges posed by the sexual revolution and social media, and offering advice for men and women to approach relationships with virtue and integrity.

Does the Big Bang prove God? In this lecture, Prof. William E. Carroll explores how cosmological arguments for and against a creator often get it wrong by confusing creation with a temporal beginning, a mistake that Thomas Aquinas can help us avoid...

Fr. Stephen Brock explains Aquinas's Fifth Way, focusing on the governance of things and how natural bodies without cognition display goal-oriented activity, ultimately placing the Fifth Way into dialogue with Darwinism.

Professor John O'Callaghan argues that atheism is not inherently irrational, exploring its varied historical meanings and proposing that, while not necessarily true, it can be a rational pursuit driven by a desire for truth.

Professor Joshua Hochschild argues that Aquinas' proofs for God's existence, specifically the first way, are simple, accessible, and not merely spiritual exercises, but rather starting points for a deeper understanding of God and the relationship b...

Professor Grant examines the traditional Christian doctrine of divine universal causality, exploring how God can be the cause of all things, including human free acts, and how this relates to our understanding of freedom and responsibility.

Dr. Medi Volpe explores God's response to the problem of evil by contrasting modern theodicy against the approach of early Christians, emphasizing the Incarnation and human action as integral to God's response.

In this lecture, Erika Bachiochi discusses Catholic feminism, her encounter with St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body and her subsequent intellectual journey, and the historical roots of feminism in Christian thought, particularly focusing on th...

Fr. Gregory Pine discusses the virtue of courage, exploring its complexities, its relationship to the passions, and its importance in living a complete and virtuous life.

Professor Daniel De Haan explores the Thomistic debate surrounding the nature of the separated human soul after death, contrasting survivalism, corruptionism, and incompletionism to understand whether the soul retains personhood after death.

Professor Jeffrey Brower explores Aquinas's view of human nature, contrasting it with materialism and substance dualism, focusing on the relationship between body and soul and what happens at death.

Professor Brad Lewis discusses the concept of the common good in politics, contrasting contemporary Catholic social teaching with Aquinas's view and addressing criticisms of both.