Ethics and Culture Cast - Episodes Tagged with “Philosophy”

Episode 72: Bo Bonner

Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 16:00:00 -0400

Bo Bonner, senior advisor of mission initiatives and director of the Center for Human Flourishing at Mercy College of Health Sciences in Des Moines, joins us to chat about his journey to the Catholic faith, how St. John Henry Newman has hounded him throughout his career, and much more.

Special Guest: Bo Bonner.

Links:

Bo's Homepage — Bo Bonner has been involved in the Catholic teaching ministry (primarily Philosophy and Theology) since he converted in the midst of Protestant Seminary at Duke Divinity school in 2006. He is also a Benedictine Oblate at Our Lady of Clear Creek Monastery in Oklahoma. He has been married for over a decade to his wife Robyn, and so far has four children: Elias, Stella, Antonia, and Finnian. Bo was born on the feast of St. Blaise, the patron of throats, and has not stopped talking ever since.
Center for Human Flourishing — The Center for Human Flourishing aims to advance human flourishing through the study, pursuit, and production of practical wisdom in order to achieve sensible, real-world outcomes which promote the dignity, integrity, self-determination, and personal growth for the individuals and communities we serve.
In the Shadow of Success: COVID, Newman, & the Dignity of Patients & Learners in Medical Ed - Fall Conference 2021 — A panel featuring Bo Bonner (Mercy College), Kristin Collier (University of Michigan), and Brett Robinson (University of Notre Dame). From the 2021 Notre Dame Fall Conference, "I Have Called You By Name: Human Dignity in a Secular World". Session chair: Jose Bufill (Bur Oak Foundation).
Bound in Friendship - Fall Conference 2019 — Speakers: “Literature, Our Virtuous Friend: How Aristotle's Ethics and Poetics Inform Good Reading” by Bo Bonner (Mercy College of Health Sciences) “Virtue Friendship in the Catholic Literary Imagination” by Dorian Speed (Independent Scholar) “Friendship in the Literature of Addiction” by Eve Tushnet (Freelancer) Session Chair: Leigh Snead
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Episode 70: Paul Blaschko

Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 14:30:00 -0400

Paul Blaschko is an assistant teaching professor in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He heads up curriculum design and digital pedagogy for the God and the Good Life Program, and has recently been working to develop similar curricula at universities across the nation as part of an initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Blaschko completed an MA in philosophy at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, a PhD at the University of Notre Dame, and held the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship prior to being appointed to his current position.

Special Guest: Paul Blaschko.

Links:

The Good Life Method — For seekers of all stripes, philosophy is timeless self-care. Notre Dame philosophy professors Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko have reinvigorated this tradition in their wildly popular and influential undergraduate course “God and the Good Life,” in which they wrestle with the big questions about how to live and what makes life meaningful.
Sheedy Family Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society — The Sheedy Family Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society is a community at Notre Dame where students and professors dedicated to exploring business and the liberal arts can do so through dedicated coursework, collaborative research, meaningful dialogue, and purpose-driven career discernment.
ProfBlaschko on TikTok
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Episode 42: Therese Cory

Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 13:00:00 -0500

We chat with Therese Cory, an associate professor of Philosophy at Notre Dame and the newest member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas. We talk about reading Aquinas with undergraduates, the cross-cultural conversation around Aristotle's writings, and how the thought of St. Thomas is relevant to modern-day A.I. researchers.

Special Guest: Therese Cory.

Links:

Therese Cory's homepage
News: ND philosopher appointed to Vatican academy of St. Thomas Aquinas — Therese Cory, the John and Jean Oesterle Associate Professor of Thomistic Studies in the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Philosophy, has been named a member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas by Pope Francis. Cory is one of 50 total members and one of two women — the third in the academy’s history — to be so honored.
Book: Aquinas on Human Self-Knowledge — Self-knowledge is commonly thought to have become a topic of serious philosophical inquiry during the early modern period. Already in the thirteenth century, however, the medieval thinker Thomas Aquinas developed a sophisticated theory of self-knowledge, which Therese Scarpelli Cory presents as a project of reconciling the conflicting phenomena of self-opacity and privileged self-access. Situating Aquinas's theory within the mid-thirteenth-century debate and his own maturing thought on human nature, Cory investigates the kinds of self-knowledge that Aquinas describes and the questions they raise.
Book: The Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas: A Sketch (by Fr. Stephen Brock) — If Saint Thomas Aquinas was a great theologian, it is in no small part because he was a great philosopher. And he was a great philosopher because he was a great metaphysician. In the twentieth century, metaphysics was not much in vogue, among either theologians or even philosophers; but now it is making a comeback, and once the contours of Thomas's metaphysical vision are glimpsed, it looks like anything but a museum piece. It only needs some dusting off. Many are studying Thomas now for the answers that he might be able to give to current questions, but he is perhaps even more interesting for the questions that he can raise regarding current answers: about the physical world, about human life and knowledge, and (needless to say) about God. This book is aimed at helping those who are not experts in medieval thought to begin to enter into Thomas's philosophical point of view.
Lecture: Muslim Philosophers and the Christian Middle Ages — This lecture was offered by the University of Texas chapter of the Thomistic Institute in Austin on February 20th, 2019.
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Episode 23: Francis J. Beckwith

Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 16:00:00 -0500

Francis J. Beckwith is a philosopher who publishes and teaches in the areas of religion, jurisprudence, politics, and ethics. He is Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies and Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Philosophy at Baylor University. He is a longtime friend of the de Nicola Center, and joined us in Houston as we presented a mini version of our Vita Institute pro-life workshop for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. In our conversation we talked about some of the philosophical arguments surrounding the abortion debate.

Special Guest: Francis J. Beckwith.

Links:

Francis Beckwith website — You have arrived at the home page of Francis J. Beckwith, a philosopher who publishes and teaches in the areas of religion, jurisprudence, politics, and ethics.
Defending Life: A moral and legal case against abortion choice — Defending Life is the most comprehensive defense of the prolife position on abortion ever published. It is sophisticated, but still accessible to the ordinary citizen. Without high-pitched rhetoric or appeals to religion, the author offers a careful and respectful case for why the prolife view of human life is correct. He responds to the strongest prochoice arguments found in law, science, philosophy, politics, and the media. He explains and critiques Roe v. Wade, and he explains why virtually all the popular prochoice arguments fail.
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Episode 22: Matthew Mehan

Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 15:00:00 -0400

Matthew Mehan is a teacher at The Heights School in Washington, D.C. and The Worsham Teaching Fellow of Hillsdale College’s Washington DC Allan P. Kirby, Jr., Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a reader at the Folger Library. Matthew has been awarded the Claremont Institute’s Publius Fellowship as well as two fellowships from the Earhart Foundation. His first book is Mr. Mehan's Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals from TAN Books.

Special Guest: Matthew Mehan.

Links:

Matthew Mehan's Faculty Profile — Matthew Mehan began teaching at The Heights in 2000. He teaches History of Western Thought and the Sophomore U.S. History and American Literature “AmeriCore.”
Mr. Mehan's Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals — Mr. Mehan's Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals, or "M5," is a book of children's poetry beautifully complemented by a series of paintings that tell the story of the Dally and the Blug, their journey and friendship in a struggle against sadness. Readers encounter twenty-six mythical mammals along the way—witnessing good, evil, courage, humor, sadness, endurance, and hope—one poem at a time.
Las Vaquitas Lullaby (from M5) — Nestled among the paintings in M5 are a variety of beautiful but endangered or extinct animal species. Some of the creatures featured are based upon very real animals of the past that no longer exist. But one mythical mammal, La Vaquita, appearing in the Letter "V," is alive today! Happily, it is a very cute and very small wild porpoise; its babies are the size of a loaf of bread (which is maddeningly cute when you think about it). But sadly, the Vaquita is an extremely endangered wild porpoise, with only roughly ninety left in the wild. M5 author Matthew Mehan also wrote a “Las Vaquitas Lullaby” to help raise awareness which can be heard here.
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Episode 19: Rémi Brague

Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture — Thu, 10 May 2018 09:00:00 -0400

In this blockbuster episode, we welcome CEC Acting Director Patrick Deneen into the interviewer's chair for a conversation with philosopher Remi Brague, professor emeritus of Arabic and religious philosophy at the Sorbonne and Romano Guardini chair of philosophy (emeritus) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Professor Brague is the author of many books, including his masterwork trilogy consisting of "The Wisdom of the World: The Human Experience of the Universe in Western Thought" (2004), "The Law of God: The Philosophical History of an Idea" (2007), and the concluding volume to released in October 2018 as part of the Center's book series "Catholic Ideas for a Secular World" with the title, "The Kingdom of Man: The Genesis and Failure of the Modern Project".

Special Guests: Patrick Deneen and Rémi Brague.

Links:

The Kingdom of Man: Genesis and Failure of the Modern Project — Was humanity created, or do humans create themselves? In this eagerly awaited English translation of Le Règne de l’homme, the last volume of Rémi Brague’s trilogy on the philosophical development of anthropology in the West, Brague argues that with the dawn of the Enlightenment, Western societies rejected the transcendence of the past and looked instead to the progress fostered by the early modern present and the future. As scientific advances drained the cosmos of literal mystery, humanity increasingly devalued the theophilosophical mystery of being in favor of omniscience over one’s own existence. Brague narrates the intellectual disappearance of the natural order, replaced by a universal chaos upon which only humanity can impose order; he cites the vivid histories of the nation-state, economic evolution into capitalism, and technology as the tools of this new dominion, taken up voluntarily by humans for their own end rather than accepted from the deity for a divine purpose.
Book Series: Catholic Ideas for a Secular World — The purpose of this interdisciplinary series is to feature authors from around the world who will expand the influence of Catholic thought on the most important conversations in academia and the public square. The series is “Catholic” in the sense that the books will emphasize and engage the enduring themes of human dignity and flourishing, the common good, truth, beauty, justice, and freedom in ways that reflect and deepen principles affirmed by the Catholic Church for millennia. It is not limited to Catholic authors or even works that explicitly take Catholic principles as a point of departure. Its books are intended to demonstrate the diversity and enhance the relevance of these enduring themes and principles in numerous subjects, ranging from the arts and humanities to the sciences.
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Episode 11: Patrick J. Deneen

Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 16:00:00 -0500

Patrick J. Deneen holds a B.A. in English literature and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Rutgers University. He worked at the US Information Agency as a speechwriter and special advisor, was an Assistant Professor of Government at Princeton and an Associate Professor at Georgetown, and joined the Political Science faculty of Notre Dame in 2012. He is the author and editor of several books including The Odyssey of Political Theory (2000, winner of the APSA's Best First Book Award), Redeeming Democracy in America (2011), and his most recent book, Why Liberalism Failed, a new release from Yale University Press. His teaching and writing interests focus on the history of political thought, American political thought, religion and politics, and literature and politics. In the Spring 2018 semester, Patrick is serving as the Interim Director of the Center for Ethics and Culture while Carter Snead is on his own writing sabbatical.

Special Guest: Patrick Deneen.

Links:

Why Liberalism Failed — Of the three dominant ideologies of the twentieth century—fascism, communism, and liberalism—only the last remains. This has created a peculiar situation in which liberalism’s proponents tend to forget that it is an ideology and not the natural end-state of human political evolution. As Patrick Deneen argues in this provocative book, liberalism is built on a foundation of contradictions: it trumpets equal rights while fostering incomparable material inequality; its legitimacy rests on consent, yet it discourages civic commitments in favor of privatism; and in its pursuit of individual autonomy, it has given rise to the most far-reaching, comprehensive state system in human history. Here, Deneen offers an astringent warning that the centripetal forces now at work on our political culture are not superficial flaws but inherent features of a system whose success is generating its own failure.
Patrick J. Deneen at Notre Dame — Patrick's faculty webpage at ND's Political Science department page.
Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture — The homepage of the CEC.
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Episode 6: John O'Callaghan

Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 12:00:00 -0500

In this episode, we chat with John O'Callaghan, associate professor of philosophy, Director of the Jacques Maritain Center, and the 2017-18 Mary Ann Remick Senior Visiting Fellow at the Center for Ethics and Culture. We talk about teaching St. Thomas Aquinas to undergraduates, the work he's undertaking as the CEC's Remick Fellow, and the continuing relevance of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Special Guest: John O'Callaghan.

Links:

Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas — The Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas carries out a specific mission, which is to carry out research into, to defend, and to disseminate the doctrine of the Angelic Doctor, and, taking due account of contemporary cultural traditions, 'to develop further this part of Thomistic doctrine which deals with humanity, given that his assertions on the dignity of the human person and the use of his reason, in perfect harmony with the faith, make St. Thomas a teacher for our time' (Inter Munera Academiarum, n. 4).
ND Center for Ethics and Culture Fellows — The CEC has several types of fellowships for established and rising scholars, including two endowed fellowships: the Mary Ann Remick Senior Visiting Fellow and the Myser Fellow.
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Episode 4: David Solomon

Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 00:15:00 -0500

David Solomon, the founding director of the Center for Ethics and Culture, began his legendary career at Notre Dame in 1968 and retired in May 2016. During his tenure, he served as the director of undergraduate studies in the philosophy department, founded and directed the Arts & Letters/Science Honors Program, and directed the Notre Dame London Program. In addition to his service in academic administration, he taught ethics and medical ethics to thousands of undergraduate and graduate students and directed more than 40 doctoral dissertations.

Professor Solomon established the Center for Ethics and Culture in 1999 with the aim of bringing "the great treasures of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition to bear upon the most pressing ethical questions of the day." He handed the reins of the Center to current director Carter Snead in 2012.

Special Guest: David Solomon.

Links:

The CEC's David Solomon Fellowship — Director O. Carter Snead announced the establishment of a $1.25 million endowed graduate student fellowship honoring the Center's founding director, David Solomon. "Professor Solomon is the visionary who had the will, the creativity, the insight, the judgment, and the energy to create the Center for Ethics and Culture so many years ago," said Snead. "We are very pleased that, in perpetuity, there will be a David Solomon Fellow in the College of Arts and Letters who will share David's passion for the Catholic mission of the University of Notre Dame." (Dateline: December 1, 2016)
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Episode 2: Sean Kelsey

Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 16:00:00 -0400

Professor Sean Kelsey is an associate professor of philosophy and the chair of the Center's Faculty Advisory Committee. He is on sabbatical in 2017-18, writing a book on Aristotle's De Anima with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. We discuss the writing process, the Center's student formation work, and the role of the Center in supporting the Notre Dame's Catholic identity.

Special Guest: Sean Kelsey.

Links:

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