Fr. Dominic Legge’s lecture traces the theological development of the concept of the Word through Augustine, Aristotle, and Aquinas, illuminating the evolution of Trinitarian analogy and the nature of human understanding in medieval philosophy.
Dr. Albert von Thurn und Taxis explores the 13th-century reception of Augustine’s account of memory, intellect, and will, analyzing how medieval philosophers navigated the tension between Augustinian and Aristotelian models of the rational soul.
Fr. Cajetan Cuddy explores the relationship between grace and nature, demonstrating how grace perfects, transforms, and preserves the continuity of human nature without destroying its fundamental reality.
Fr. Thomas Davenport examines the philosophical and scientific boundaries between the inanimate and the living, highlighting how Thomistic principles, spontaneous generation, and structured homogeneity offer new ways to understand life’s emergence and complexity.
Prof. Santiago Schnell’s lecture examines the challenges of measurement, scientific constants, and replicability in the life sciences, highlighting how philosophical and mathematical models are crucial for advancing biological research.
Prof. Keith Kozminski explores the plasma membrane’s evolving scientific understanding, highlighting its role as both boundary and bridge in cellular life through detailed analysis of structure, function, and paradigm shifts in biology.
Prof. John Cuddeback presents Thomistic wisdom for the pilgrimage to God emphasizing the importance of cleaving to the final end—God—as the ultimate rule and measure of all actions, fostering order and peace in the spiritual journey.
Prof. Paige Hochschild explores Thomistic wisdom for the pilgrimage to God, focusing on the virtues required for spiritual journey, the meanings of patience, hope, and memory, and the role of Dante’s Divine Comedy in illuminating the challenges and fulfillment of the pilgrim’s quest.
Prof. Raymond Hain examines whether beauty must be natural, exploring Thomistic metaphysics, twentieth-century debates between Maritain and Gilson, and contemporary examples from architecture and literature to probe the relationship between nature, artifice, and the beautiful.
Prof. Joshua Hochschild examines whether societies are natural by tracing the Aristotelian and Thomistic understanding of social forms, arguing that certain social bodies like families and states have intrinsic natures and purposes that fulfill the social aspect of human flourishing.
Fr. John Sica explores whether virtues are natural by examining Aristotle and Aquinas, ultimately concluding that the virtues are not innate qualities, but are rather habituated character states that perfect human nature.
Prof. Catherine Peters addresses the philosophical question of deriving moral ought from descriptive is, arguing from a Thomistic natural law perspective that the essence of human nature grounds objective moral norms, bridging fact and value through teleology and reason.
Prof. Christopher Frey examines the distinctions and interactions between natural and artificial entities, showing how art can complete, imitate, or even subvert nature within Aristotelian and Thomistic frameworks.
Prof. John Brungardt explores the concept of laws of nature as partial transcriptions of the natures of physical substances, emphasizing the interplay between philosophical tradition, scientific discovery, and metaphysical causality.
Fr. Raymund Snyder explores Thomas Aquinas’s metaphysics of nature, form, and the scale of being, emphasizing the integration of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic traditions and the unique Christian vision of creation, essence, and intellect.
Fr. Raymund Snyder explores the foundations of nature, natural philosophy, and metaphysics through a Thomistic lens, with special attention to Aristotelian principles, correlative pairs, and the interplay of form, substance, ...
Prof. Meraiah Martinez explores the beauty and usefulness of mathematics, emphasizing the delight mathematicians find in elegant proofs, structured abstractions, and the interplay between pure and applied mathematics across v...
Prof. Jonathan Lunine explains how planetary science unifies the search for life beyond Earth by integrating astronomy, geology, chemistry, and atmospheric science to investigate habitable environments on Mars, Europa, Encela...
Prof. Nuno Castel-Branco examines Nicolaus Steno’s innovative use of focused interdisciplinarity during the Scientific Revolution, tracing Steno’s groundbreaking shift from anatomy to geology and theology by integrating mathe...
Fr. Philip-Neri Reese analyzes Aquinas’s method for dividing and relating the sciences, clarifying the distinction between speculative and practical sciences, the role of material and formal causes, and the concept of mixed o...
Prof. Michael Gorman explores Aquinas’s foundational philosophy of the material world, detailing key concepts such as the four causes, hylomorphism, act and potency, matter and form, and the distinction between substantial an...
Sr. Anna Wray, redefines leadership as the practice of initiating genuine collaboration by rational wishing, deliberation, and action, exposing twelve common pitfalls that distort true agency and offering practical guidance f...
Fr. Gregory Pine discusses how involvement with the Thomistic Institute can help college students integrate faith, virtue, and personal vocation by fostering self-possession, authentic freedom, and meaningful relationships wi...
Prof. Michael Gorman demonstrates why becoming more philosophical is essential for intellectual autonomy and deeper understanding, emphasizing the importance of fundamental questioning, sustained attention, and personal intel...