Mar 24, 20219 minFortifying the Intellectual LifeI recently read Zena Hitz's book, Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life (Princeton, 2020). I highly recommend it....
Aug 26, 20202 minHow Much Can I Love My Hat?Sometimes I think that a saint is someone who is capable of loving a hat more than I currently love anything. You get to a strange...
Aug 17, 20202 minDivine IdeasWhen I hear the words "creation" and even "creationism," I don't usually think of the old debates about "creation vs evolution." Instead...
Jun 10, 20205 minJoy, Discipline, and SacrificeSometimes the good life demands sacrifice. It is written, Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends....
Jun 1, 20204 minRightly Ordered Loves and Intensity of FeelingWhat it means for a virtue to regulate an appetite has nothing to do with diminishing appetite as such. It has to do with ordering an...
May 25, 20204 minDisability and Medieval Philosophy?Yes. My friend, Scott Williams, has put together an excellent book bringing the academic field of disability studies into dialogue with...
May 20, 20201 minOne Wine is Left in the Broken BowlWhat is left for the cold grey soul That moans like a wounded dove? One wine is left in the broken bowl 'Tis, to love, and love, and...
May 20, 20201 minWhat Forms Will Your Loves Call Forth? Here is an audio file of some commentary I gave on Charles Williams' novel, The Place of the Lion. I originally recorded this for my...
May 11, 20203 minConformity to the RealPhilosophy is an activity and all activities aim at the good. What good does Philosophy aim at? Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding. These...
Apr 16, 20201 minWhat it is Like to do PhilosophyWhat is it like to do philosophy? Here is an image. Imagine a rock on a calm sandy beach. The waves slowly wash up, caressing the rock,...
Apr 9, 20203 minPracticing GratitudeBy the practice of gratitude I mean a lot more than observing all rules of etiquette about when and how to express gratitude to another...
Apr 7, 20204 minSheltering CourageouslyThe Scythians fight by flying. This is what Socrates tells us, anyway, in Plato’s Laches. He asks Laches himself what courage is, and...
May 15, 20191 minDuns Scotus on Natural Law and Divine FreedomI have a new paper out today, "A Most Mitigated Friar: Scotus on Natural Law and Divine Freedom." It shows how Scotus reconciles the...
Feb 25, 20192 min(I'm) Down with ImmortalityBernard Williams has a famous paper, "The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality." I've been studying the paper and...