A Course with Thomas Patrick Burke Six Wednesdays, April 15 to May 20 The dialogues of Plato are the philosophical foundation of Western ethics. They have a depth both of thought and feeling that makes them unique. For Plato is not only a great philosopher but also a great writer. …(Read More)
A Course with Thomas Patrick Burke Tuesday evenings, March 17 to April 21, 2009 Aristotle’s distinctive conception of the nature of God and his arguments for the existence of God are great achievements of Western thought, and ever since they were discovered during the Middle Ages a guideline not only …(Read More)
A Course with Thomas Patrick Burke Six Thursdays, February 26 to April 2, 2009 Adam Smith is renowned as the father of economics and also pilloried by some as the emblem of capitalism. On both counts he is more often honored (or condemned) than read. Surprisingly, even many economists do …(Read More)
A Course with Thomas Patrick Burke Tuesday evenings, January 20 to February 24, 2009 The Wynnewood Institute is adding a new dimension to its work. Our previous courses have all had a reference to society. This course, the first in a series called The Foundations of Western Theology, will deal …(Read More)
A Course with Prof. Thomas Patrick Burke Seven Tuesdays, January 12 to February 23 “If we are made in some degree for others, yet in a greater are we made for ourselves. It were contrary to feeling and indeed ridiculous to suppose a man had less right in himself than …(Read More)
A Course with Thomas Patrick Burke September 17 to October 22, 2008 “Social justice” has come to play a large role in our society. It produced the labor legislation of the 1930s which is still with us, as well as that of more recent times; it changed the meaning of …(Read More)
A Course with Arthur Waldron April 24 to May 13, 2008 The Second World War taught us that Western civilization can be affected by what happens in the East. Since the dawn of the modern era, when the West leapt ahead, China and India have been backward; but now, as …(Read More)
A Course with Professor Thomas Patrick Burke April 16 to July 2, 2008 Thomas Hobbes is considered by some the greatest political philosopher to have written in the English language. His work Leviathan, published in 1651 during the English Civil War, is a realistic, down-to-earth appraisal of human society which is …(Read More)
Spring 2007 What do we mean when we praise a landscape, a painting, a piece of music or a person as ‘beautiful’? Does this word have a single meaning, and does it denote a single value? Why do we describe the object of sexual attraction using the same term that …(Read More)
A Course with Professor Thomas Patrick Burke Spring 2007 Towards the close of the twentieth century the free society with free markets came to be accepted increasingly in the political life of nations around the globe as the ideal. This has largely been due to the work of outstanding thinkers …(Read More)