Philosophy Episodes

July 18, 2025

Woman as Companion and as Mother | Sr. Elinor Gardner, O.P.

Sr. Elinor Gardner explores the vocation of women as companion and mother, drawing on Edith Stein’s philosophy to highlight the natural ethos of femininity as a gift received from God, characterized by a unique capacity for nurturing and companionship that shapes both family and professional life.

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July 17, 2025

True Fatherhood as Archetype of Masculine Virtue | Prof. John Cuddeba…

Prof. John Cuddeback explores true fatherhood as the archetype of masculine virtue, examining its modes, challenges, and unique virtues through the lenses of Aristotelian philosophy, domestic prudence, and scriptural figures like Joseph.

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July 16, 2025

Household as Natural Revelation of Masculinity and Femininity | Prof.…

Prof. John Cuddeback explores how the household serves as a natural revelation of masculinity and femininity, emphasizing the complementarity of men and women, the significance of virtue, and the essential roles of fatherhood and motherhood.

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July 11, 2025

The Mission of the University and the Role of the Humanities | Prof. …

Prof. Michael Foley critically examines the authentic role of the humanities in the modern American university, contrasting the consumerist and human models of education while advocating for self-emptying, integrated knowledge, and the cultivation of wonder.

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July 10, 2025

Aesthetics, Mozart, and the Pathways of Beauty | Prof. George Corbett

Prof. George Corbett explores the philosophical and theological foundations of beauty through Mozart’s music, highlighting the "pathway of beauty" as a means of encountering the divine and engaging culture.

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July 9, 2025

Objective Beauty in a Subjective World | Prof. Jan C. Bentz

Prof. Jan C. Bentz examines the nature of beauty, arguing that beauty is not merely subjective but possesses objective and transcendent qualities rooted in metaphysical, ethical, and theological traditions from Plato and Aristotle to Aquinas.

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July 8, 2025

Becoming Human: Barbie, Storytelling, and Aquinas on Self-Knowledge |…

Prof. Joshua Hochschild explores the philosophical and theological dimensions of the Barbie movie, analyzing its narrative through the lens of storytelling, existentialism, and the thought of Aquinas, while engaging with diverse critical interpretations.

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July 7, 2025

Recovering the Image of God in Man (and Woman) | Sr. Elinor Gardner, …

Sr. Elinor Gardner explores the Christian understanding of virtue, emphasizing the theological and cardinal virtues as foundational to human excellence and the restoration of the image of God in man and woman.

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July 4, 2025

Created Equal: An Interpretation and Defense of the American Proposit…

Prof. Christopher Kaczor rigorously defends the inclusive interpretation of the Declaration of Independence, arguing that "all men are created equal" refers to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, or status, drawing on historical documents, the founders' intentions, and philosophical influenc…

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June 30, 2025

Free Will and the Brain | Fr. Anselm Ramelow, O.P.

Fr. Anselm Ramelow explores the philosophical and scientific debates surrounding free will, examining cultural attitudes, neuroscience experiments like Benjamin Libet's, and the necessity of free will for rational thought and...

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June 27, 2025

Could God Weep or Feel Pain? Christ's Assumption of Human Suffering f…

Prof. Paul Gondreau explores whether God could truly experience human emotions and suffering by examining Christ’s full humanity, the Church’s response to heresies like docetism and monophysitism, and the Aristotelian-Thomist...

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June 25, 2025

Is Anything More Tortuous than the Human Heart? I Prof. Steven Jensen

Prof. Steven Jensen analyzes the complexity of the human heart by distinguishing the interplay between emotions and will, drawing on Aquinas and Aristotle to explain how passions like love, desire, sorrow, anxiety, guilt, vai...

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June 24, 2025

Pope John Paul II's Salvifici Doloris I Prof. Gina Noia

Prof. Gina Noia explores Catholic teaching on medical treatment decision-making, focusing on how suffering, prudence, and the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary means inform ethical choices in end-of-life care, eu...

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June 23, 2025

Suffering and End-of-Life Care I Prof. Gina Noia

Prof. Gina Noia explores Catholic teaching on end-of-life care, suffering, and medical treatment decision-making, highlighting the nuanced distinction between morally obligatory and optional treatments within the Catholic eth...

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June 13, 2025

The Convertibility of Being and Goodness | Prof. Thomas Ward

Prof. Thomas Ward explores the Thomistic concept of the convertibility of being and goodness, examining how the privation theory of evil and the essential natures of things underpin the intrinsic goodness of all that exists, ...

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June 11, 2025

A Method for Metaethics | Prof. Candace Vogler

Prof. Candace Vogler analyzes the concept of the highest good in metaethics, comparing the views of Mill, Kant, and Aquinas, and explores how the pursuit of the highest good shapes moral philosophy and practical reasoning. Th...

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June 10, 2025

How Could a Good God Allow Horrible Diseases? | Prof. Stephen Meredith

Prof. Stephen Meredith examines why a good and all-powerful God would allow horrible diseases, weaving together scientific explanations, philosophical arguments from figures like Boethius and Aquinas, and personal anecdotes t...

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June 9, 2025

Evil as Privation | Prof. Thomas Ward

Prof. Thomas Ward explains the classical Christian theory that evil is not a real entity but a privation of goodness, drawing from thinkers like Augustine, Aquinas, and Boethius to address philosophical and theological challe...

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June 5, 2025

Wonderment, Contemplation, and Friendship with God | Fr. Cassian Derb…

Fr. Cassian Derbes explores how wonderment, contemplation, and friendship with God are essential to the Christian life, drawing on insights from Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and literary works such as A River Runs Through...

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June 2, 2025

Key Principles for a Happy Life | Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.

Fr. Gregory Pine explores the principles for a happy life by drawing on Aristotelian and Thomistic philosophy, focusing on the concept of beatitude as the fullness of flourishing rooted in the nature of God and human beings. ...

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May 30, 2025

What Happens After Death | Prof. Jeffrey Brower

Prof. Jeffrey Brower defends Aquinas’s hylomorphic account of human nature, arguing that the soul, as the body’s substantial form, ensures metaphysical unity while allowing for postmortem survival, offering a coherent alterna...

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May 23, 2025

How Is My iPhone Changing Me? | Prof. Joshua Hochschild

Prof. Joshua Hochschild analyzes how smartphones and digital technologies reshape our brains, habits, and sense of self by leveraging neuroscience and AI-driven behavioral design, warning that these tools commodify our attention, erode agency, and pose deep spiritual and ethical challenges that dem…

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May 22, 2025

Transhumanism: The New Eugenics | Prof. Steven Jensen

Prof. Steven Jensen critically examines transhumanism as a new form of eugenics, arguing that the pursuit of human enhancement through technologies like genetic engineering and brain-computer interfaces repeats the ethical pitfalls of historical eugenics by neglecting the importance of human nature…

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May 21, 2025

What Can We Learn from Aquinas About AI? | Prof. Gyula Klima

Prof. Gyula Klima uses Aquinas’ philosophy of mind to argue that human intelligence, rooted in immaterial universal concept formation, is metaphysically distinct from artificial general intelligence (AGI), though AGI can still serve as a powerful tool for enhancing human understanding and life.

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