Spelunking With Plato

The Circle of the Disciplines:  Newman’s Vision of the Integration of Knowledge and the Catholic University (David P. Deavel)      In this dicussion with David Deavel, we take up Newman’s ‘Circle of Sciences,’ including the ways in which we bring together old and new disciplines as well as theoretical and applied disciplines in the contemporary university.  But what of research?  And what of the r...

In this conversation with David Deavel, we take up Newman’s understanding of liberal learning, including the role of interpersonal dialogue, Newman’s distinction between the university principle and the collegiate principle, and common misunderstandings of Newman’s  Idea of a University .  Finally, we consider the relation between the Catholic university and the Church and the role of ‘letters’ in...

In this conversation with Randy Smith, we consider the role of wonder in liberal learning as well as the challenges and the joys of being an interdisciplinary scholar.  We also explore the distinction between wonder, curiosity ( curiositas ), and a well ordered desire for knowledge ( studiositas ) as well as the proper ordering of the disciplines—the humanities, mathematics, and the sciences—withi...

Are the subjects at a university determined by the market and student demand?  And is the order between them a bit like the ingredients in a jambalaya?  At most universities, the answer to both questions is probably ‘yes.’  But at a Catholic university it should be different and in way that is a great good for the students.  In this lively conversation with Randy Smith, we  discuss how Bonaventure...

In this conversation we discuss the origins of the Center for Thomistic Studies within the context of the Thomistic revival and take up again the question of how one could, following Thomas, order the relation between the disciplines within the university.  This time the conversation looks to the particular roles of philosophy and theology in relation to each other and in relation to the seven lib...

Newman famously suggested that the disciplines, or parts of human knowledge, within a university should be complete and coherently ordered.  Before turning to Newman in a future conversation, we speak first with Brian Carl about St. Thomas’s understanding of what it means for something to be a ‘body of knowledge’ and how these bodies might be organized within a university.  Should bodies of knowle...

In this conversation with Michael Boler, we learn about how we might follow the Greeks in undertaking an integrated and embodied approach to liberal education.  How is liberal education an agon, a struggle, and a "return to the real"?  Why did the Greeks emphasize individual physical training (as opposed to team sports)?  Why do philosophy students smoke so much?  Why is a good...

In this conversation with Michael Boler, we learn about his intellectual journey as a “late bloomer,” the dynamics and pitfalls of a great books approach to education, and the joys and challenges of teaching students in our own age.  Along the way we consider the virtues of intellectual humility, wonder, and the importance of the perennial questions.  And in an age in which higher educat...

In this rich conversation,  Elizabeth Corey introduces us to the thought of Michael Oakeshott and what we can learn from him about being human and the practice of liberal education.  Oakeshott’s unique voice is needed more than ever and touches not only the life of liberal learning but on almost every sphere of human flourishing. Elizabeth Corey, Michael Oakeshott on Religion, Aesthetics...

In this wide ranging conversation with Elizabeth Corey, we take up the fundamental question that has animated this podcast series: What is liberal learning? Along the way we consider the challenges faced by those who would liberally educate students today (including our brightest students), the higher purposes of liberal education, and consider liberal education's future.  We also reflect on...

In this conversation we take up Shakespeare’s nearly infinite capacity to educate liberally all who encounter his works in deep and sustained ways. We also consider how Shakespeare liberally educates us in ways that complement how Dante teaches us. With particular attention to As You Like It , we examine how play—the play of supposition and the play of analogy—can be transferred to the classroom b...

In this conversation with Dr. Clint Brand, we explore what we can learn about liberal learning from Dante’s Divine Comedy . Taking Scott Crider’s recent essay on Dante as our point of departure, we explore how we might read the Commedia as “a series of pedagogical encounters.”  What can we discover about the roles of humility, wonder, love, the soul, dialectic, piety, poetry, and “submission...

In this conversation with Rachel Fulton Brown, we begin with Mary, the Seat of Wisdom, as a medieval symbol of liberal learning at the University of Paris, and all that she can teach those who desire to become wise.  From there we consider how a Marian thread unites things as disparate as iambic pentameter, rose windows, and the highest—albeit unexpected—gifts of contemplative grace. Along th...

In this conversation with Rachel Fulton Brown, we undertake a wide-ranging conversation about history and liberal learning, ranging from Herodotus, Augustine, and Martianus Capella to McLuhan and MacIntyre with many stops in between. Among the questions we consider: How does the Christian approach to liberal learning—and history within it—stand both at odds and in parallel with the ancient underst...

In this conversation with Margarita Mooney, we consider what can we learn from the Benedictine tradition—as communicated by Newman—as we seek to cultivate a university that is animated by liberal learning. What kind of ethos should emerge within a university from a liberal education that (1) integrates the full range of disciplines--including metaphysics and theology--(2) that seeks to form the fu...

What is liberal education? And what is it not? In this conversation Margarita Mooney Suarez introduces her vision of liberal learning by considering the nature of the person whom we educate, the means of liberal learning, and the challenges that liberal learning faces today. Along the way, we consider what role imitation, play, humor, and imagination fulfill in liberal education and what we might...

In this conversation Prof. Mirela Oliva takes up the big question of how we can come to know the meaning of life. She suggests that there are three questions bound up in one: (1) the cosmic question, “What is the meaning ‘of it all’?”; the ethical question, “What can I do to make my life meaningful?”; and the aesthetic question, “What is the story of my life?” (And who “writes” this story?) She al...

If Plato's Cave had Wi-Fi and Netflix, would we leave it? In this conversation with Prof. Mirela Oliva, we consider what it is that a philosopher "does" and the famous Allegory of Plato's Cave. Are we all trapped in this Cave? Under what conditions might we be willing to stay? We also consider: How can the search for knowledge and wisdom lead to a better life? And what role does humility play in o...

How can the study of history, understood as a branch of liberal learning, become a liberating education? Prof. Francesca Guerri offers an initial answer by giving us an account of her own intellectual and spiritual pilgrimage and the role of the study of history in that pilgrimage. Then, opening the discussion to more universal connections, Dr. Guerri takes up the themes of friendship, the nature...

What is one of the chief motivations for the study of history? Prof. Francesca Guerri suggests that it is “a passion for humanity.” But this is not a passion for abstractions. It is rather a passion for particular people, at particular times, in particular places, ordered to a particular end. In this conversation, Dr. Guerri introduces us to Matilda of Tuscany and her role in the investiture contr...

How much can and should Christians engage with non-Christian literature as part of a larger journey of intellectual formation? How can we fruitfully study pagan poets, historians, philosophers, and rhetoricians? And what role can music play in liberal learning? In this conversation, Prof. Squires leads us through a discussion of these questions and considers the strengths and weaknesses of great b...

What is the role of divine grace in liberal learning? And how should education relate to sources that of learning that may seem counter to the spirit of faith? In this conversation, Prof. Stuart Squires invites us into a consideration of two areas closely related to liberal learning.  First, if liberal learning seeks to bring students out of Plato's cave, what is the role of grace and worship...

How would Galileo and his work be received today? Most people think they know what happened to Galileo but often get the details mixed up. Yet even when the details are clear, how does Galileo’s life, work, and controversy still shape the culture of the university and the form of liberal learning? (Hint: Is there a secret cold war between the “trivium-ists” and the “quadrivium-ists.” And how would...

What did James Madison mean by “cool” (in reference to politics) and why is our political discourse so “hot” today?  Prof. Wolfe takes up the substance of Federalist 10, the so-called "liberalism wars," and the nature of America’s founding. Along the way, he offers commentary on Leo Strauss, Alasdair MacIntyre, Natural Law, integralism, and classical liberalism. And at the end he offers his o...

Is the discipline of physics the “Queen of the Sciences”? In this conversation with polymath and professor Jim Clarage, we discuss the ways in which the discipline of physics takes up all seven of the classical liberal arts. Along the way we consider other disciplines—music, mathematics, and theology—that also may fulfill this role and why Newman’s “circle of the sciences” remains relevant today....