Red Letter Philosophy

We'd like to propose something radical this Father's Day.  Perhaps, fatherhood (and motherhood, for that matter) are not social constructs. Perhaps fatherhood is written into the fabric of reality?  Join us today for a reflection on Father's Day and Fatherhood.

"The truth is that people who worship health cannot remain healthy." In our day there are few ideals higher than health. Mental health, bodily health, environmental health. If Chesterton is right, it is a sign that we have become sick; we have forsaken the soul for the body; we are yoked and woke, but not awake. In this episode we sum up the second season and look ahead to the next.

Karl Marx wrote, "religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." For Marx, everything is to be understood in terms of material (economic) forces. But what if religion can't be understood in this way. If your hypothesis distorts the very thing it is intended to illuminate, then your hypothesis beco...

There are those, this very day, who would take your freedom from you; for your own good, of course. In a moral universe, there are competing values, and you can't have all values equally. Wars begin in conflicting ideas and values. This is why we memorialize our beloved dead. The next time you sit at a corner cafe, sipping lattes, in the cool breeze of Spring, remember someone gave his life for th...

G. K. Chesterton wrote, "take away the supernatural and what remains is the unnatural." When we lose an appreciation for "the useless", we lose the ability to see, and to hear, what is close to us; what should be apparent becomes obscure. In this episode we look at the concept of prayer; because to understand prayer is to understand friendship, music, and art. It is to understand those things that...

G. K. Chesterton wrote: "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?" Today on ASF, a rumination on the importance of mothers and motherhood.

We need food. We need water. Food and water feed our bodies. If Aristotle is right we need friends; friends who are "useless". They are the most valuable of friends. But what does friendship feed? Friendship does not feed the body. Perhaps our need for friendship, perhaps this highest expression of virtue, reveals that there is more to us than can be measured in a test tube; there is more to us th...

"Friendship is a necessity", wrote Aristotle.  This is especially true in trying times.  But not all friendships are worth pursing and maintaining.  Who are your friends and why does it matter?  These questions  (and more) explored in today's episode.

The greatest of all paradoxes is celebrated in Easter.  In Easter a symbol of death becomes a sign of life.  An instrument of torture becomes the signature of hope.  Easter reminds that If you want to live forever, you must die.  If you want to be first, you must make yourself last.  The only way up is down.  Happy Easter.

When we hear the word useless we may think of the word "worthless". But a useless thing can also be priceless. Beauty, friendship, worship, love: these things are useless. What does it say about us that we need useless things? There is something strange about us. What does it say about the world we live in that it is filled with useless things? There is something strange about it.

Very few philosophies are all darkness or all light; most are a mixture. If a philosophy was darkness though and through, no one would take it seriously. Or would they? This week we look at a philosophy that is more darkness than light; a philosophy that is, perhaps, the dominant ethical and aesthetic philosophy in the world today. Today we examine the futility of utility.

St. Patrick's Day tells us that there is a will in the fabric of the world.  Perhaps there is leprechaun in the green of the tall grass. Perhaps there is a Banshee's scream in the howl of the wind.  Thoughts on drinking, religion, and fairytales in today's episode.

What, if anything, does sexual desire reveal about who we are and what is best in life?   Our guest today is the greatest philosopher of the Enlightenment, and one of the most influential philosophers of all time, Immanuel Kant.  Join us as we explore the "cans" and "Kants" of sex.

Should we allow ourselves to be moved by the vicissitudes of life or should we seek to have a "stiff upper lip?"  In other words, are you  a Stoic or Hedonist?  Cat or dog?  Snob or slob?   All that and more in episode XII of A Strange Fire.

"This is our dilemma - either to taste and not to know, or to know and not to taste", wrote C. S. Lewis. Such is the nature of love. Love , it seems, cannot be captured by philosophy, for "love is wiser than philosophy", wrote Oscar Wilde. C. S. Lewis, Oscar Wilde, and the virtue of love on this episode of A Strange Fire

Pain and fear may break a man. But not all pain and suffering end in affliction. Sometimes pain and fear can end in happiness. Pleasure, pain, and happiness: the subject of this weeks episode of A Strange Fire.

The gods know too much to ask questions. The beasts know too little to ask questions. We, therefore, are neither gods nor beasts Suppose a person's goodness or excellence is tied to their function? What then is our function? What is then is our good?

We all want to be happy.  However, happiness can be an ambiguous word. For example, in today's age, being happy is often equated with feeling happy. But is how we feel who we are? Or is true happiness, and the true mirror of ourselves - our heart, our soul - best reflected not in our feelings, but in our actions? Join us, as Aristotle provides some answers.

Christmas breaks upon us, and everything changes. What was unknown is made known, what was mythic becomes historic. Come explore the reason for the season. Merry Christmas.

What is it at which all things aim? What is it that is desired for it's own sake? What is the virtue of virtues and the good of all goods? We finally arrive at an answer to central question of the season, and to one of the most important questions of life: What is best in life?

Two questions that cannot be separated: Who are you? Where are you going? Today we learn from a barbarian and a philosopher that our identities and our destinies are intertwined. You cannot discuss the good without discussing the existential. So, who are you and where are you going?

In his book, "Pensees", the great Blaise Pascal reflected on the brief span of his life, of any of our lives.   He wrote, "I take fright and am amazed to see myself here rather than there; there is no reason for me to be here rather than there, now rather than then.   Who put me here?   By whose command and act were this time and place allowed to me?"   To understand the fright at the heart of thi...

Nietzsche wrote, "He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how". Today we discuss what it is that makes life meaningful.  What could be more important?

Albert Camus, philosopher and novelist, once wrote that there was only one genuine philosophical problem: suicide.  Camus wrote that, "Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest . . .comes afterwards."  Are we, like the mythic Sisyphus, condemned to a life of futility, or is the futility of life itself a myth?

What is it about Halloween?  Is it the candy and dressing up?  Is it trick or treating in a decorated neighborhood?  Is it parties? What is it about the dark imagery, the witches, the vampires, and of course, the ghosts that make Halloween alluring?  Is there anything of substance behind this attraction to Halloween?  We argue in the affirmative.   H. P. Lovecraft, wrote, "Men of broader intellect...