Plato's works are very readable. Since he was the father of philosophy, there was no technical vocabulary at the time. He wrote in the form of dialogues, so the prose is less dry than mere treatises. Aristotle is a little more difficult, but he

Chapter 10: The Splendor of Truth: Beauty (January 12, 2020)

Jan 12th, 2020 10m 18s

Beauty is the splendor of truth. If we find something that is truly beautiful, then we know that we have found something true. Most of the time, new scientific theories meet with great resistance within the scientific community; it takes a long

Chapter 9: Living the good life: Ethics, Part 2 (January 5, 2020)

Jan 5th, 2020 14m 30s

Ethics is about the good life. The study of happiness and virtue helps us understand how we ought to spend our time and live life to the fullest. This topic provides us with an answer to the age-old question about the meaning of life. What most

Chapter 8: Can money buy happiness: Ethics Part 1 (December 29, 2019)

Dec 29th, 2019 14m 49s

Happiness is one of the words that we use without giving a clear definition. So it is really easy to equivocate with that word (use the word in more than one sense). The types of happiness discussed in the first paragraph are types of happiness

Chapter 7: You should know the difference: Epistemology (December 22, 2019)

Dec 22nd, 2019 11m 58s

Due to man’s body-soul unity, we do not begin our lives knowing anything at all, but we are born with innate abilities. As we interact with the world, real objects impress themselves on our senses, and an image is formed in the intellect of tho

Chapter 6: The strangest object in the universe: Man (December 15, 2019)

Dec 15th, 2019 9m 44s

The vast majority of people would find it horrifying to never be able to interact with people ever again. It seems that we were built for each other. As Aristotle said, man is a social animal by nature. It is part of the essence of man to live

A Fool's Errand: Half-Time Pep Talk (December 8, 2019)

Dec 8th, 2019 7m 29s

Picture in your mind the cave. People are lined up in rows, all facing forward. Above and behind them there is a light that produces an image on a large wall in front of them. What does this sound like? A movie theater? And how often are we con

Chapter 5: I am nothing without You: God (December 1, 2019)

Dec 1st, 2019 13m 48s

I was once asked what my favorite topic in philosophy is. It took me a second to think through the various topics, but as soon as I thought of it, I knew it: God. This was a surprising answer to the person who asked the question, because God is

Chapter 4: Let’s be reasonable: Logic (November 24, 2019)

Nov 24th, 2019 13m 18s

The basic and most fundamental law of logic: the law of non-contradiction, which states that a thing cannot be and not be in the same way and at the same time. After all, I could look at a piece of paper folded like a chair and say, “That chair

Chapter 3: To be or not to be: Metaphysics (November 17, 2019)

Nov 17th, 2019 12m 56s

This study of the nature of existence is called Metaphysics. It is the most foundational topic in philosophy because anything else that we can talk about is something that exists, and it is sometimes called “first philosophy.” Metaphysics gets

Chapter 2: You can’t handle the truth (November 10, 2019)

Nov 10th, 2019 7m 33s

Aristotle defined truth in a way that is so simple that he used words which are only one syllable when translated into English: “To say of what is, that it is, or of what is not, that it is not, is true.” Let’s break that down. If something is

Chapter 1: Why philosophy? (November 3, 2019)

Nov 3rd, 2019 6m 13s

We all have a duty to engage in philosophy if we really want to be happy. No one becomes truly happy by accident. Wisdom (knowing what is important, not mere factual knowledge) is necessary for true happiness, and no one becomes wise accidental

A Fool's Errand by Matt D'Antuono - Introduction (October 27, 2019)

Oct 27th, 2019 11m 5s

The Church teaches that the mind is a good thing and that we ought to cultivate and learn critical thinking skills. True philosophy paves the way for thinking about God, morality, creation, and other topics important to Catholicism. This introd