Classical Liberalism A Lecture Series with Prof. Thomas Patrick Burke This lecture is in two parts. The first part is concerned with the foundations of marriage, the second with current discussions of it. I. The Foundations of Marriage 1. Why are there two sexes? They are not indispensable to …(Read More)
Classical Liberalism A Lecture Series with Prof. Thomas Patrick Burke Supporters of liberty have sometimes viewed theology as an enemy, not always without reason. And supporters of theology have sometimes returned the compliment—again not always without reason. But whether their reasons for these stances have been as fully conclusive …(Read More)
CONTENTS Being Alive Freedom of the Will, I Freedom of the Will, II Coercion Justice Property Natural Law Government Social Justice Discrimination Marriage Theology CHAPTER 1. BEING ALIVE Every human being is a distinct center of action. We know this about ourselves directly. We know from our experience of ourselves …(Read More)
Foundations of Liberty Or: The Intellectual Crisis of the Modern World A Lecture Series with Prof. Thomas Patrick Burke Preface These lectures are a sequel to my earlier series on the philosophy of liberty. That series took as its point of departure the interior freedom of the human will. Out of …(Read More)
Foundations of Liberty Or: The Intellectual Crisis of the Modern World A Lecture Series with Prof. Thomas Patrick Burke In the last lecture we saw, reading Plato’s dialogue Phaedo, how Socrates, in prison and awaiting execution, developed the concept of teleological explanation, explaining by reference to purposes rather than by reference to …(Read More)
Foundations of Liberty Or: The Intellectual Crisis of the Modern World A Lecture Series with Prof. Thomas Patrick Burke The intellectual crisis of the modern world is the conflict between the physical sciences and the basic human values. Physics and chemistry, together with much of biology, have been immensely successful in …(Read More)
Foundations of Liberty Or: The Intellectual Crisis of the Modern World A Lecture Series with Prof. Thomas Patrick Burke In the last lecture we saw Aristotle’s twofold reaction to Socrates’s demand for universal teleological explanation, i.e. explanation in terms of purposes or what is for the best. He accepted and implemented …(Read More)
Foundations of Liberty Or: The Intellectual Crisis of the Modern World A Lecture Series with Prof. Thomas Patrick Burke In the last lecture we saw that the new science that began to emerge in 1600 abandoned the search for Socratean and Aristotelian teleological explanation, not only for the inanimate world, but …(Read More)
Foundations of Liberty Or: The Intellectual Crisis of the Modern World A Lecture Series with Prof. Thomas Patrick Burke In recent lectures we have seen how the new science that emerged around 1600 is based on mechanicism, the theory that there is only one kind of causation in the world and …(Read More)
Foundations of Liberty Or: The Intellectual Crisis of the Modern World A Lecture Series with Prof. Thomas Patrick Burke In the last lecture we looked at some of the many ways in which living beings differ from dead and inanimate ones. The chief difference, we saw, is that they operate with …(Read More)