Red Letter Philosophy

As we continue recovering from being under the weather, we bring you one of our Easter favorites.  On this holiday episode of Red Letter Philosophy we ask the question, what’s so good about Good Friday?  We also discuss the frame or boundary that is Holy Week.  In the words of Peter Kreeft, “it takes boundaries to make anything interesting.  If a picture didn't have a frame, it would trail off into vague, boring everything-ness.  Life's most dramatic moments are her two frames: entrance and exit, beginning and end, birth and death.”

This St. Patrick’s Day finds us under the weather.  Rather than miss the day, we offer/bring one of our St Patrick’s Day favorites.  Is St. Patrick’s Day a celebration of the Irish; Irish history, Irish storytelling, Ireland herself, or is St. Patrick’s Day a celebration of a saint and of the one who molded the saint?  We couldn’t decide.  So, on this episode we offer you both one of Ireland’s finest sons and her greatest saint.  We offer for your listening pleasure The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde.

In this episode we contemplate the problems of silence and unbelief through the eyes of Jean Paul Sartre and Frederick Nietzsche.  Do these two great atheist philosophers agree, fundamentally, with the great Christian philosophers?  Take up and listen.

Every once in a while Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday fall on the same day; this episode is for such days.  Love and death are visitors from another world, doors in the wall of the world.  Join us as we contemplate love and death.

After a three month hiatus, Red Letter Philosophy returns.  The boys pick up their discussion of the problem of silence and the problem of unbelief.  In particular, they look at an intriguing argument from famed author, Andrew Klavan.

Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day: a trinity of holy and deathly days.  In an increasingly secular age, these days become excuses to indulge the appetites: hedonism & ghoulishness.  However, these days are days of profundity and depth when seen in the correct light.  Join us as we contemplate mystery, death, and spirit in this episode of Red Letter Philosophy.  

Do we live on a silent planet?  Are we merely insignificant specs of dust adrift in an indifferent cosmos?  Or do we have reason to think otherwise?  We’re on the road and searching for answers; join us, will you?

Do you struggle with belief?  Are you disturbed by the apparent silence (or indifference) of the universe?  If so, then this is the episode for you.  Join us for a discussion of belief, silence, and much more in this first episode of season six.

The Grand Canyon is a place where the veil between this world and the next world grows thin; a place where we learn to take life, but not ourselves, seriously.  In this episode, we look again at the death and spookiness that surrounds the canyon.

In this episode, we continue our contemplation of a mystery.  We began, two episodes ago, with G. K. Chesterton and his comment about seeing in “the light of the supernatural”.  In the last episode we continued our musings with Peter Kreeft and his comments about the sea within. Now, we come to Thomas Howard and his comments about perception & reality. 

The Summer of the supernatural continues.  In this episode we revisit and refresh a pervious episode, The Sea Within.  Perhaps the supernatural isn’t so far from the natural; perhaps what we call natural is supernatural from a certain point of view.

Approximately five years ago we posted our first episode.  The episode was, and is, titled, Life Is A Pigsty.  In this episode, we reexamine, and elaborate upon, that first episode.  Morrissey, Chesterton, & the messiness of life, on this episode of Red Letter Philosophy.

In this episode of Red Letter Philosophy, we bid farewell to season five.  We’ve  been on a metaphysical journey through Ancient, Medieval, Modern, and contemporary philosophy.  What conclusions can be drawn from our journey?  Will we make it back home?  “Tune in” and find out.

Is it, as Freud said, that we are projecting our fathers onto the face of God, or is it that we project our inner knowledge God onto the face of our fathers?  Do our desires and expectations come from a higher place?   In this episode of Red Letter Philosophy, we explore the relationship between fatherhood and reality.  Take up and listen.

Is it that nothing means anything or that everything means everything?  Two myths, two ways of understanding life and the world; the culmination of Augustine, Pascal, and our season: on this week’s Red Letter Philosophy.  Take up and listen.

St. Augustine’s wrote that “Amor meus, Pondus meum”; My love is my gravity.  Perhaps our search for what truth and reality is not only an intellectual search?  Perhaps the heart can have reasons of which reason knows nothing?  In this episode we take up these questions.

The essence of Motherhood: a metaphysical question.  Motherhood is surely many things, but if it is anything, it is also surely a kind of life, a life of prayer.  A mother is one who raises her mind and heart to God on behalf of her family, and that is something worth noting and celebrating.

Hume, contrary to popular belief, never intended to destroy belief in God.  He only meant to destroy a certain conception of belief, and belief in God.  In this episode we contemplate Hume’s criticism of, and argument for, belief in God.

The English philosopher and mathematician, W. K. Clifford, famously wrote that, “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.”  Clifford’s approach to belief has come to dominate the way many intellectuals approach matters of belief, especially belief in God.  In this episode we argue that Clifford neglected his Hume.  Hume’s approach to belief and God shows Clifford’s ethic to be vacuous and incoherent.  Take up and listen.  Hume, belief, and God on this episode of Red Letter Philosophy.

In honor of Holy Week, this week’s episode is devoted to the mystery of faith.  In keeping with this season, we contemplate this mystery with a Modern philosopher, Blaise Pascal.  Enjoy.

Philosopher Peter Kreeft wrote that David Hume was, “the most formidable, challenging, and difficult to refute skeptic in the history of human thought.  His logic is powerful.”  In this episode we taste the fruits of Hume’s empiricism.  Have the empiricists helped us to overcome radical skepticism?  Are we closer to touching the true, the good, and the beautiful?

Is St. Patrick’s Day a celebration of the Irish; Irish history, Irish storytelling, Ireland herself, or is St. Patrick’s Day a celebration of a saint and of the one who molded the saint?  We couldn’t decide.  So, on this episode we offer you both one of Ireland’s finest sons and her greatest saint.  We offer for your listening pleasure The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde.

David Hume was the last of the great British Empiricists.  He is the empiricist, nay, the philosopher of the Enlightenment, outside of perhaps Kant, who has exhibited the most influence over contemporary philosophers.  He was also a party guy.  Join us as we drink in some Hume and find out why he was (and is) such a big deal.

Bishop George Berkeley was one of the three great British Empiricists.  His view, Esse Est Percipi (To be is to be perceived), is as infamous as Descartes’ view, Cogito Ego Sum (I think, I am).  In this episode we imbibe the thoughts of one of the most peculiar philosophers of all-time.  Drink up!

Philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote that, “the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.”  In this episode we celebrate St. Valentine’s Day by contemplating the heart.  In particular, we read and reflect upon H.P. Lovecraft’s poem, "A Garden".

John Locke was first of the great British Empiricists.  Locke, and the empiricists who came after him, rejected the philosophy of the rationalists.  In this episode, we uncork the empiricists, and drink in their philosophy.  Truth, reality and Locke, on this week’s Red Letter Philosophy.

Why is there something rather than nothing?  This is a perennial philosophical question; a question taken up, perhaps most famously, by the Enlightenment rationalist, Leibniz.  Leibniz and God, on this episode of Red Letter Philosophy.

Meet G. W. F. Leibniz.  Leibniz is known as the last “universal genius”.  What does Leibniz have to say about truth and reality?  Is he worth imbibing?  In this episode, we take up these question.  All aboard the Red Letter Express.

What does it mean to believe? Is belief a virtue? This week we celebrate Christmas by pondering Christmas belief. In particular, we ponder these questions aboard The Polar Express.

17th century philosopher, Baruch Spinoza, wrote, “nothing exists from whose nature some effect does not follow.”  Spinoza, a philosophical child of Descartes’, sought to draw out the logical implications of Descartes’ philosophical revolution.  Monism, pantheism, and Spinoza on this week’s episode of Red Letter Philosophy.

What is ultimately real?  According to Descartes, reality is composed of two substances, mind and matter.  Why did Descartes think this?  More importantly, why should we care?  In this week’s episode, we take up these questions.

Is gratitude a virtue?  Gratitude is not listed among the four cardinal virtues.  Gratitude is not listed among the three theological virtues?  Should it be among the virtues?  Does the Thanksgiving holiday get overlooked?  A series of questions and reflections on the Thanksgiving holiday on this week’s Red Letter Philosophy.

In this episode, we continue to contemplate Descartes’ response to the challenge of nominalism, doubt, and radical skepticism.  In particular, we ponder a piece of wax.  Does a piece of wax hold the key to understanding knowledge, reality, and God?  Descartes and the meaning of it all, on this week’s Red Letter Philosophy.

The Red Letter Express resumes its journey.  After their encounter with Ockham, our hosts are in search of answers.  They are offered Cartesian Delight - the philosophy of Rene Descartes.  Does Descartes have the cure for what ails our hosts?  Rationalism, Skepticism, and Descartes on this week’s Red Letter Philosophy.

This Halloween we invite you to sit with the Clive, procurer of libations facilitator of seekers and wanderers.  Clive recites and reflects upon the poetic musings of H. P. Lovecraft.  He warns us to be wary of what the moon brings.  Happy Halloween.

The Red Letter Express makes its first unexpected stop.  Join our hosts as they try to make sense of their predicament.  Was the train derailed or is this a minor inconvenience?  The insights of Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas run into the challenge of nominalism and William of Ockham.

In this episode we join our hosts as they reflect upon the practical insight of Plato, and especially Aristotle.  The Red Letter Express chugs along peacefully allowing our hosts to contemplate the nature of change and relationships.  All aboard!

The Red Letter Express presses on.  In this episode, we temper last episode’s discussion of Parmenides and Heraclitus with a shot of Plato and Aristotle.  What is the one among the many?  What is the being in becoming?  What is the reality behind a world of appearances?  In this episode we imbibe responses from Plato and Aristotle. All aboard!

Join us as we embark on a journey. Invited by a man with no name to a destination unknown; we travel. In this inaugural episode, we encounter two ancient spirits, namely, Parmenides and Heraclitus. All aboard the Red Letter Express.

Peter Kreeft once said that “it takes boundaries to make anything interesting”. But summer is not only a boundary. What is it that draws us to it? What is it that we seek? Join us as we attempt to unpack its essence, in this final episode of our summer series.

Enchiladas and French fries?  Socks and sandals?  Bad taste, and the aesthetics of Summer, on this episode of Red Letter Philosophy.

This Summer, between seasons, we're talking about why we love Summer. Something in the imagination binds together the things of Summer. Last episode we contemplated the sounds of the Summer. This episode we imbibe the Cinema of the Summer. Join us as we contemplate one of the great movies of Summer, “Jaws”.

Two Summers ago, we reviewed Bruce Brown’s movie, The Endless Summer.  The film captured our desire, and our need, for Summer. Summer is a season, a foreshadow, and for some, a way of life.  Its literal meaning is in its metaphor.  This week we kick off the Summer season by imbibing the sounds of the Summer.  In this episode we contemplate The Beach Boys and Philosophy.

What do President John Adams, Bishop Fulton Sheen and the 4th of July have in common?  And why should you care?  Pull up a chair and celebrate the birth of the United States with some philosophical fireworks and an unusual brew of philosophers.

In this episode we close out season four.  What conclusions can be drawn, what similarities can be observed, amongst our four philosophers?  Join us for one last round with Blaise Pascal, G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

G. K. Chesterton wrote that, “God chooses ordinary men for fatherhood to accomplish His extraordinary plan.”  In this Father’s Day episode we contemplate the significance of the ordinary (ordinary men) and the dulness of the extraordinary (extraordinary men).

In this episode, we conclude our discussion of Wittgenstein, the Villain. In particular, we discuss the question, “does Wittgenstein illuminate or obscure our understanding of God?”

As we come to the end of our series on Wittgenstein, we look at an intelligent challenge to a Wittgensteinian understanding of life and language.  Is Wittgenstein a hero or villain?  In this episode we look at a charitable and intelligent argument for Wittgenstein, the villain.

G. K. Chesterton wrote that, “if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. […] If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change.”  In other words, if want to remember something, if you want others to remember something, then you cannot leave it alone.  You must remember.  In this Memorial Day episode of Red Letter Philosophy, we look at the thoughts of three philosophers on the nature and importance of memory.

Wittgenstein wrote that, “whereof one cannot be speak, thereof one must be silent".  Elsewhere he wrote that, “What can be shown cannot be said."  In this episode we examine what some call the later Wittgenstein.  Take up and listen as we contemplate the the Wittgenstein, the mystic.

Perhaps the idea most associated with Wittgenstein is the idea that life is a collection of “language games”.  Wittgenstein was a gamer.  In this episode of Red Letter Philosophy we explore the enigmatic concept of language games; in the process we discover how an obscene gesture altered the course of philosophy.

In this episode we pay homage to Motherhood.  We look at G.K. Chesterton’s claim that, “our race has thought it worth while to cast this burden on women… to keep common-sense in the world."  We add to our list of motherhood’s virtues: the source of common-sense.

Does philosophy entail skepticism?  Does philosophy lead one to solipsism, the belief that one cannot know the world outside one’s own head?  In this episode we look at one of Wittgenstein’s most well known arguments, the private language argument.  We explore Wittgenstein’s refutation of radical skepticism and the possibility of solipsism.

Passionate, profound, intense, divisive: words used to describe arguably the greatest philosopher of the 20th century, Ludwig Wittgenstein.  In this episode, we begin to consider the life and philosophy of Wittgenstein.  Was he an intellectual hero or villain?

On this holiday episode of Red Letter Philosophy we ask the question, what’s so good about Good Friday?  We also discuss the frame or boundary that is Holy Week.  In the words of Peter Kreeft, “it takes boundaries to make anything interesting.  If a picture didn't have a frame, it would trail off into vague, boring everything-ness.  Life's most dramatic moments are her two frames: entrance and exit, beginning and end, birth and death.”

C. S. Lewis wrote that, “Looking for God - or Heaven - by exploring space is like reading or seeing all Shakespeare's plays in the hope that you will find Shakespeare.”  In this episode, we look at an obscure essay of Lewis’ titled, “The Seeing Eye”.  In it we contemplate a theme that runs through the whole of Lewis’ oeuvre, namely, that our Post-Modern world has ears but can’t hear, has eyes but cannot see.

In this episode we discuss a profound insight given to us by the great C. S. Lewis. According to Lewis, we have one kind of experience looking at something and another kind of experience looking along something. Lewis wrote that, “it has been assumed without discussion that if you want the true account of religion you must go, not to religious people, but to anthropologists; that if you want the true account of sexual love you must go, not to lovers, but to psychologists.” In this episode, we exam this Modernist claim.

Today we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with one of Ireland’s most thoughtful sons, Oscar Wilde.  In this episode, we contemplate Oscar Wilde’s answer to the question, “why do we celebrate St. Patrick's Day?”  Take up and listen as we discuss an Irish vision of truth, beauty, goodness.

Previously, we discussed C. S. Lewis’ contention that myth transcends thought. In this episode we look at the fact that incarnation transcends myth. C. S. Lewis wrote that, “The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact.” Religious belief has a foot in both the concrete and the abstract; the empirical and the rational; the mythical and the factual. Until this is understood, the deepest truths will allude us.

C. S. Lewis wrote that, "What flows into you from the myth is not truth but reality (truth is always about something, but reality is that about which truth is), and, therefore, every myth becomes the father of innumerable truths on the abstract level."  What beauty is to love, and goodness is to happiness, so truth is to reality.  C. S. Lewis, truth, and reality: on this week’s Red Letter Philosophy.

C. S. Lewis wrote, “This is our dilemma—either to taste and not to know or to know and not to taste—or, more strictly, to lack one kind of knowledge because we are in an experience or to lack another kind because we are outside it.” Today we begin a five part deep-dive into the the thought of C. S. Lewis. We begin with one of his great essays, “Myth Became Fact.”

It’s Valentine’s Day!  St. Valentine's Day can be a stressful time for a lot of people, apparently.  Those in relationships don't want to disappoint, those not in relationships are depressed.  If you don't believe us, then look up something called “Galentine's Day”.  Today we contemplate C. S. Lewis’ claim that we should not take love too seriously.  If we do, then we do violence to our humanity. Lewis wrote that, “ It is not for nothing that every language and literature in the world is full of jokes about sex.”  Love, laughter, and Lewis, on this episode of Red Letter Philosophy.

The Modern and the post-Modern age is one of Dogmas unrecognized, consequences ignored, and paradoxes unseen. These are all confusions due to a disordered or absent eye for the empirical. Join us as we imbibe the insights of G.K. Chesterton one last time.

In this episode we look at Chesterton’s contention that common sense, or sanity, involves reason, but not reason alone.  Chesterton wrote that, “the madman is not the man who has lost reason.  The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason."  What it means to have common sense: on this week’s episode of Red Letter Philosophy.

Happy New Year!  In this episode, we make an argument: New Years, if it is to be meaningful, must be seen in the light of the Christmas season.  Cut out of its context, it is shrouded in deep black; its face and its form concealed.  Identity, destiny, and the New Year: on this week’s Red Letter Philosophy.

Merry Christmas! This week we reflect upon the second greatest Christmas story of all time, namely, Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Why do Advent and Christmas lend themselves to ghost stories? In a ghost story something seemingly insignificant happens. However, after the experience the world looks differently, feels differently. So, it is with Christmas. One, like the three wise men who came to visit Jesus, cannot have the encounter and return home unchanged.

G. K. Chesterton wrote that, “if disease is beautiful, it is generally someone else's disease. A blind man may be picturesque, but it requires two eyes to see the picture. And similarly even the wildest poetry of insanity can only be enjoyed by the sane.” How do we measure sanity in an insane world? And why should we care? On this episode of Red Letter Philosophy, we explore a philosophy of sanity.

G. K. Chesterton wrote that, “thoughts and theories were once judged by whether they tended to make a man lose his soul… all modern thoughts and theories may be judged by whether they tend to make a man lose his wits." From where do we begin, when we begin? We must agree to begin somewhere, if we are to talk and discover what is true, good, and beautiful. In this episode we look at Chesterton’s suggestion that we begin with sanity and madness.

Between Halloween and Christmas sits Thanksgiving Day (for Americans): Overlooked and under-appreciated. Join us as we drive the streets of “London” and contemplate the importance of Thanksgiving. We discuss the importance of food. Food, we conclude, feeds more than the body alone. In this episode we dine on Chesterton, Hemingway, and Oscar Wilde. Cheers!

What has gone wrong? What’s the problem with the world? In this episode we begin a fascinating walk with the late, great G. K. Chesterton. Chesterton may be the Plato to Pascal’s Socrates: original, compelling, poetic, philosophical, mystical, and prolific. Welcome to Pub Redd.

Life is strange.  All of it.  In this special Christmas episode, we examine the life of George Bailey.

Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all. Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

There is war in the night, no one knowing whom he strikes.  All depends on the philosophy of light.

Clandestine forces pushing you, pulling you; ever present in your life.  But it's not more knowledge that will open your eyes to their presence, it's wisdom.  An episode for those with eyes to see.

Men plot, God Laughs, so goes a Yiddish saying.  

Philosophers might say we find ourselves at an epistemological disadvantage.  We know our experiences and machinations can be more about appearance than reality.  We can be mistaken about what we've seen and what we've heard.  How else do you explain unrequited love?  It is not without reason that Shakespeare wrote:

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore, is wing’d Cupid painted blind” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream).  

But let not your hearts be troubled.  Life may be messy.  It may be difficult, if not impossible, to see all ends, but it does not follow that the darkness about us is complete and total.  

Stay tuned. 

"Life is a Pigsty.  And if you don't know this, then what do you know?"   ― Morrissey

“For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”   ― J. R. R. Tolkien

“You must wager. There is no choice, you are already committed”, wrote Blaise Pascal. In this, our final episode devoted to Pascal, we contemplate Pascal’s most influential philosophical essay, namely, The Wager. Does it make sense to wager that God is real? Does it make sense to wager on the life of belief? Pascal wrote, “learn from those who were once bound like you and who now wager all they have.” God, belief, and Pascal’s Wager on today’s Red Letter Philosophy.

What is the appeal of Halloween?  Is it candy?  Is it parties?  Is it scantily dressed women?  Is it fantasy?  Perhaps its appeal can be attributed to something else?  In “The Tomb”, H.P. Lovecraft wrote that, “There is no sharp distinction betwixt the real and the unreal."  Perhaps the appeal of Halloween lies in our intuition that there is no sharp distinction betwixt the real and the unreal, between nature and super nature.  In today’s episode we contemplate that reality which lies beyond the delicate physical and mental veil of our prosaic materialism.  Plus, a ghost story.

Pascal wrote that, “the whole cause of a man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.”  He also wrote that, “being unable to cure death, wretchedness, and ignorance, men have decided, in order to be happy, not to think about such things.”  In this episode, we look at why we find it so hard to sit quietly in our rooms; we look at why we decided to not think about such things; we look at why our lives are lives of diversion - and why this is spiritually dangerous.

In our day, have we sacrificed wisdom for science?  Understanding for calculation?  Mystery for problem solving? Perhaps this is partly why we have eyes but cannot see, and have ears but cannot hear.  On today’s episode of Red Letter Philosophy we contemplate the mystery of reason and reason’s impotence.

In this episode we continue our contemplation of Pascal, The Wise. Is it true that “curiosity is only vanity”? Is it true that “a trifle consoles us because a trifle upsets us?” Are our troubles fundamentally spiritual in nature? All this, and more, in this episode of Red Letter Philosophy.

Blaise Pascal was a scientist, philosopher, and mystic. He was one of the most profound thinkers to have ever lived. One cannot read Pascal and come away unchanged. In this episode we hope to prove that.

Summer’s almost gone. Throughout the Summer we have talked life, logic, and love. This week we sum it all up with a laugh. “They” say life imitates art; or is that art imitates life? Either way, this week we look at the spirits of the age as depicted in popular culture. We give you The Office and philosophy.

Ideally our hearts and minds align.  But, unfortunately, on this side of the veil these two faculties of perception are often divided.  One of the spirits of our age seems to be the spirit of feelings or psychology. In this episode we dialogue about the elevation of feelings and their disastrous consequences.

Some politicians, professors and activists talk about the “right side of history”. This idea is loaded with assumptions about the nature of history. Does history have meaning? Does it have a meaning beyond the actions of individuals? What is it? Pull up a chair, have a drink... let's talk.

We continue our discussion of the spirits of the age. In this episode we discuss the notion of “lived experience.” Is the idea of “lived experience” coherent? Is there only “my truth” and never the truth? Are we imprisoned in a solipsistic reality of our own making? No, no, and no. Pull up a chair, have a drink, and contemplate life and meaning with Red Letter Philosophy.

We’ve ditched the usual format for the Summer. in this, the inaugural episode of our “backstage” shows, your intractable hosts, Soz and Mot, ring in the Summer by discussing life, logic, and the spirit of the age.

What do the American Revolution, Patrick Henry, and Harry Potter have in common? Does the spirit of Patrick Henry endure or have we, like Harry Potter and the mirror of Erised, fallen into a dreamy and paralyzing hope? Get the answer to these questions and celebrate the American Revolution on the annual 4th of July episode of Red Letter Philosophy.

Marcus Aurelius may have been the only philosopher-king in history. In today’s episode we contemplate the fatherly advise of the philosopher-king. What does it mean to be a father? What does it mean to be manly? Why does it matter? These questions and more on this episode of Red Letter Philosophy.

“This is the end, beautiful friend” - James Morrison.

All endings may be deaths, but not all deaths are endings. And so it it is with this episode. We say goodbye to season three and our focus on beauty. We will always incorporate beauty into our episodes, but it won’t be our focus after this episode. So, today we discuss love, beauty, and death. Three doors in the walls of the world.

In this, the penultimate episode of season three, we finish our discussion of Kant’s philosophy of beauty. In this discussion, we come to see that through the contemplation of beauty, our powers of perception are deepened. We come to see that not all of reality can be captured in utilitarian and materialist terms.

In this episode we honor those who died in military service to their country. We reflect upon the thoughts of Pascal, who said “When I consider the brief span of my life… I take fright and am amazed to see myself here rather than there… Who put me here? By whose command and act were this time and place allotted to me?” Today we reflect upon the sacrifice of our beloved dead. Today is For the Fallen.

A few episodes ago we put out a show titled, “What Aquinas Said”.  In that episode we laid out Thomas Aquinas’ understanding of beauty.  Aquinas was the greatest Medieval philosopher. In today’s episode we contemplate what the greatest Modern philosopher, Immanuel Kant, said about beauty.  With Kant we may have a change of approach.  From Plato to Aquinas we talk about beauty, but in Kant we talk about aesthetics - or taste.

Welcome to our second annual Mother's Day episode. Join us as we meditate on the meaning of motherhood through poetry and prose. To quote G.K. Chesterton: “How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe?" How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No. A woman's function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness.”

In this episode we finish pondering an insight of Gene Simmons’, namely, that there is a difference between what tastes good and good taste. What does it say about our world that there is a difference between good and bad taste? What does it say about us? Come with us as we enter the realm of the objective but immaterial.

Discussions of beauty, especially in our day, are often discussed in terms of taste.  Taste, it is assumed, is a purely subjective thing.  However, in this episode we contemplate a proposition proffered by Gene Simmons, namely, that there is a difference between what tastes good and good taste.  Dig it.

The title of this week’s episode comes from the title of a book by Bishop Robert Barron. C. S. Lewis wrote, "This is our dilemma - either to taste and not to know of to know and not to taste.” In this episode we seek to bridge knowledge and taste by contemplating the architecture of the great Gothic cathedrals. In this contemplation we come to understand Thomas Aquinas, whom we met in the previous episode, more clearly.

“Then a shriek went up like the world’s last cry

From all nations under heaven,

And a master fell before a slave

And begged to be forgiven.”

So wrote G. K. Chesterton. A poetic reflection upon the meaning of Easter, on this episode of Red Letter Philosophy. Happy Easter.

In this episode we ask an empirical question: as we encounter beauty in this world, do we notice any patterns? Are there characteristics that all, or most, beautiful things posses? We take up this question with the greatest of Medieval philosophers, Saint Thomas Aquinas. Integrity, harmony, and clarity: this week on Red Letter Philosophy.

Escaping enslavement by the Irish, Patrick returns to his former captors, not for revenge; but liberation. Some reflections on St. Patrick on today’s special episode of Red Letter Philosophy.