Campus Lectures Episodes

Feb. 20, 2025

Do You Have a Soul? Are You Just a Cloud of Atoms? | Prof. Alexander …

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.

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Feb. 19, 2025

Neurobiology, Human Embodiment, and the Concept of Soul | Prof. Willi…

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...

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Feb. 18, 2025

Why Would a Biologist Believe in the Soul? | Prof. Jonathan Buttaci

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...

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Feb. 17, 2025

Evolution and the Soul | Prof. Christopher Baglow

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.

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Feb. 13, 2025

The Art of Dating | Prof. Michael Foley

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.

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Feb. 7, 2025

Cosmological Apologetics: For and Against Creation | Prof. William E.…

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 …

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Feb. 5, 2025

Aquinas's Shortest Way to God’s Existence, and How Darwinism Fits Wit…

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.

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Feb. 4, 2025

Is Atheism Rational? | Prof. John O'Callaghan

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.

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Feb. 3, 2025

More than Spiritual: Proofs for the Existence of God | Prof. Joshua H…

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...

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Jan. 31, 2025

Divine Causality and Human Freedom | Prof. W. Matthews Grant

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.

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Jan. 30, 2025

God's Response to the Problem of Evil | Dr. Medi Volpe

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.

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Jan. 24, 2025

Catholic Feminism | Erika Bachiochi

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...

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Jan. 23, 2025

True Courage: On Facing Death with Fortitude | Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.

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.

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Jan. 22, 2025

What is the Separated Human Soul? Incomplete Person, Survivalism or C…

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.

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Jan. 21, 2025

What Happens After Death? | Prof. Jeffrey Brower

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.

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