Philosophy

Philosophy literally means the "love of wisdom." So, much like the liberal arts in general, it invites the student to participate in the joy of thinking. But what distinguishes philosophy from the other disciplines is that not only does it have its own tradition of great thinkers that stretches back to the Ancient Greeks but it also has its own field of concern. Philosophy points students toward the whole of reality and propels them into the mystery of Being. This mystery is not merely something to be solved, to be answered and then laid aside as finished. On the contrary, mystery, when understood as what Josef Pieper calls "the inexhaustibility of light," becomes the source and site of human desire and wisdom. It is this mystery at the heart of Being that philosophy seeks to find and explore the depths of.

Because it is concerned with the whole of reality, philosophy seeks to examine and illuminate the ultimate questions—mysteries—that concern the human being. What is the best life to live? What is the nature of the world? What is truth, beauty, goodness? What, after all, is Being? In this course we will be studying the works of Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine, among others, in order to enter into a dialogue with them and discover the essential and eternal truths of human existence.