Philosophy Episodes

Sept. 8, 2025

Predictive AI, Manipulation, and Human Freedom According to Aquinas I…

Fr. Anselm Ramelow explores the tension between predictive artificial intelligence and human freedom, drawing on St. Thomas Aquinas to argue that while AI and social systems can influence and predict behavior to a certain degree, genuine free will and moral responsibility remain grounded in rationa…

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Sept. 5, 2025

AI and Interpersonal Relationships I Prof. Jordan Wales

Prof. Jordan Wales explores the ethical and spiritual implications of interpersonal relationships with artificial intelligence, emphasizing the dangers of mistaking AI’s simulated personhood for authentic human connection.

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Sept. 4, 2025

AI and Ethics I Fr. Anselm Ramelow, O.P.

Fr. Anselm Ramelow examines the ethical challenges of artificial intelligence, highlighting both its beneficial uses and its risks to human dignity, personal relationships, moral growth, and authenticity.

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Sept. 3, 2025

AI and Knowledge of the World I Prof. Jordan Wales

Prof. Jordan Wales explores how artificial intelligence and neural networks engage with meaning and knowledge, contrasting their statistical methods with the depth of human conceptual understanding rooted in philosophical and...

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Sept. 2, 2025

Mind, Matter, and Life: Can Machines be People, too? I Fr. Anselm Ram…

Fr. Anselm Ramelow examines whether machines can possess consciousness or personhood, arguing from philosophical and theological perspectives that artificial intelligence lacks the essential qualities of subjective experience...

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Sept. 1, 2025

AI and the Human Person I Prof. Jordan Wales

Prof. Jordan Wales critically examines the relationship between artificial intelligence and human personhood through the lens of Christian theology, exploring how AI challenges traditional notions of intelligence, consciousne...

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Aug. 29, 2025

The Neuroscience of Vice and Virtue I Dr. Paul LaPenna

Dr. Paul LaPenna delves into the neuroscience of vice and virtue, explaining how neuroplasticity, habit formation, and philosophical insights from figures like Aquinas inform our understanding of humility, magnanimity, pride, and vainglory in the development of moral character.

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Aug. 28, 2025

Origins of the Christian 'Just War' Tradition in Augustine's Anti-Man…

Fr. Andrew Hofer explores the origins of the Christian just war tradition through Augustine’s anti-Manichean writings, examining the theological debates around violence, authority, and moral law within early Christianity.

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Aug. 27, 2025

Drone Warfare and Just War Theory: Aquinas on the Virtuous Use of Vio…

Prof. Michael Krom analyzes the ethics of drone warfare through the lens of Aquinas’s just war tradition and virtue ethics, addressing moral principles of discrimination, proportionality, and the indispensability of human judgment in the use of violent technology.

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Aug. 26, 2025

Just War Theory I Prof. Joseph Capizzi

Prof. Joseph Capizzi presents the just war account within the Catholic tradition, arguing that the use of force in war can be a moral act of peacemaking grounded in pursuit of the common good, and emphasizing the importance of authority, intention, cause, proportionality, and distinction between gu…

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Aug. 25, 2025

Render Unto Caesar: Aquinas On the Relationship Between Religion and …

Prof. Michael Krom explores Thomas Aquinas’s view on the relationship between religion and politics, discussing the distinction between obligations to political authority and to God, as reflected in the biblical command to "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's."

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Aug. 14, 2025

Will Heaven Be Incredibly Boring? I Prof. Christopher Mooney

Prof. Christopher Mooney's lecture confronts the philosophical objection that heaven would be unbearably boring due to its infinite duration, arguing instead that Christian eternity is fulfilled in the beatific vision of God, which offers infinite and undiminished joy.

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Aug. 12, 2025

Brothers Karamazov: Manicheanism, Christian Existentialism and other …

Prof. Thomas Pfau offers an in-depth theological and philosophical analysis of Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, focusing on Ivan and Alyosha’s contrasting worldviews, the “Rebellion” and “Grand Inquisitor” chapters, and the novel’s profound exploration of freedom, suffering, and divine love.

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Aug. 11, 2025

Happiness Understood Psychologically and Theologically I Prof. Christ…

Prof. Christopher Kaczor explores the relationship between positive psychology and Catholic theology, uncovering how empirical psychological findings on happiness align with and deepen spiritual practices like gratitude, service, and forgiveness.

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Aug. 7, 2025

Thomas Aquinas on Charity I Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P.

Fr. Cajetan Cuddy provides an in-depth exploration of charity as the highest theological virtue in the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas, laying foundational principles for understanding just war, peace, and the ordered structure of the Christian moral life.

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Aug. 4, 2025

What Makes Laws Just? An Introduction to the Natural Law Tradition I …

Fr. Dominic Legge delves into the philosophical and moral considerations that determine whether laws are truly just, highlighting the ongoing relevance of these questions in contemporary society.

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Aug. 1, 2025

Can We Be Happy Without God? I Prof. Matthew Shea

Prof. Matthew Shea examines the classic philosophical question “Can we be happy without God?” by analyzing historical and contemporary perspectives on happiness, ultimately contrasting the limitations of atheistic views with the theistic argument for true human fulfillment in God.

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July 31, 2025

How to be a Little Less Awful: The Cultivation of Virtue I Prof. Timo…

Prof. Timothy J. Pawl examines the nature, divisions, and cultivation of virtue, harmonizing Christian moral wisdom with contemporary psychological research and offering eight practical steps to growing in virtue.

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July 30, 2025

From Apathy to Agape: Christian Encounters with Stoic Philosophy I Pr…

Prof. Thomas Ward explores the resurgence of Stoicism in modern culture and critically contrasts it with Christian philosophy, especially through the lens of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy, advocating for divine providence and the Christian virtues of hope and charity in place of Stoic apa…

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July 29, 2025

The Cardinal Virtues and Living Life Well I Prof. Raymond Hain

Prof. Raymond Hain examines the four cardinal virtues—prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance—tracing their philosophical and theological roots while exploring their essential role in living a morally excellent and flourishing human life.

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July 25, 2025

Catholic Teaching on Birth Control: Beyond Common Misunderstandings I…

Prof. Gina Noia explores the Catholic Church's nuanced teachings on birth control, responsible parenthood, and the moral distinctions between natural family planning, direct contraception, and sterilization, rooted in theological and philosophical reasoning.

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July 24, 2025

The Ethics of Abortion: Women's Rights, Human Life, and the Question …

Prof. Christopher Kaczor critically examines the ethics of abortion by exploring whether the unborn are alive and human, whether killing is justified, and whether bodily autonomy overrides other moral considerations.

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July 23, 2025

Thomistic Perspectives on True Artificial Intelligence I Prof. Jordan…

Prof. Jordan Wales offers a theological critique of artificial intelligence, examining the limitations of computational and behaviorist definitions of intelligence and emphasizing the need for intentionality, interior experience, and a Christian understanding rooted in Augustine.

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July 21, 2025

Are Science and Faith Compatible? I Prof. Karin Öberg

Harvard astronomer Prof. Karin Öberg examines the compatibility of science and faith, addressing perceived conflicts through philosophical, doctrinal, psychological, and historical lenses while emphasizing Catholic intellectual tradition and the role of reason.

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