Past Events
May 23, 2020
Online Seminar Series on Love
Symposium by Plato
May 21, 2020
Online Seminar Series
The Plague by Albert Camus
Parts Three, Four, and Five
Free Community Online Seminar Series
May 18, 2020
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Paper 70
May 17, 2020
Online Seminar
Series on Anguish and the Absurd -
The Trial by Franz Kafka, Film directed
by Orson Welles
May 16, 2020
Online Seminar
Series On Marcel Proust - Swann's Way - Part I Combray, Chapter One
May 14, 2020
Online Seminar Series
The Plague by Albert Camus
Parts One and Two
Free Community Online Seminar Series
May 14, 2020
Eastern Classics
Bhagavad Gita - Chapters One and Two
May 9, 2020
Online Seminar
Series - Athens and Jerusalem:
Reason and Revelation - Part I
Genesis 1-3 and Leo Strauss - On the Interpretation of Genesis
Free Community Online Seminar Series
May 4, 2020
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Paper 69
May 2, 2020
Online Seminar
Series on Thucydides - The Peloponnesian
War - Book One
Free Community Online Seminar Series
April 30, 2020
Eastern Classics
Confucius - Analects - Chapter Seven
April 25, 2020
Online Seminar
Series - The Story Within the Story III - The Arabian Nights (selections)
Free Community Online Seminar Series
April 20, 2020
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Papers 66 and 68
Free Community Online Seminar Series
April 16, 2020
Eastern Classics
Confucius - Analects - Chapters Five and Six
April 11, 2020
Online Seminar
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Film and Text Pairing
Free Community Online Seminar Series
April 9, 2020
Eastern Classics
Confucius - Analects - Chapters Three and Four
Free Community Online Seminar Series
April 6, 2020
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Paper 65
March 28, 2020
Online Seminar
Democracy in America, Volume 2 (selections)
by Alexis de Tocqueville
February 29, 2020
Series - The Story Within the Story II - Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Free Community Seminar Series
February 25, 2020
Greek Philosophy
Phaedo by Plato, part II
Free Community Seminar Series
February 24, 2020
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Paper 52
February 22, 2020
Pragmatism by William James
Free Community Seminar Series
February 20, 2020
Eastern Classics
Confucius - Analects - Chapters One and Two
February 16, 2020
Ojai Chautauqua Panel Series on Education
Addressing Declining Public School Enrollment in Ojai
Free Community Seminar Series
February 11, 2020
Greek Philosophy
Phaedo by Plato, part I
Free Community Seminar Series
February 10, 2020
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Paper 51, part II
February 8, 2020
Series - The Story Within the Story I - The Decameron (selections)
Free Community Seminar Series
February 6, 2020
Eastern Classics
Confucius - Analects - Chapter One
Free Community Seminar Series
January 30, 2020
Eastern Classics
Tao Te Ching, Chapters 15, 18
Free Community Seminar Series
January 28, 2020
Greek Philosophy
Crito by Plato
Free Community Seminar Series
January 27, 2020
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Paper 51
Free Community Seminar Series
January 16, 2020
Eastern Classics
Tao Te Ching, Chapter Eight
Free Community Seminar Series
January 13, 2020
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Paper 10, Part 2
January 11, 2020
Experience and Education
by John Dewey
Free Community Seminar Series
January 6, 2020
Greek Philosophy
Apology part II by Plato
Free Community Seminar Series
December 23, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Paper 10, Part 1
Free Community Seminar Series
December 19, 2019
Eastern Classics
Tao Te Ching, Chapter Five
December 15, 2019
The Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane
Short Story and Film Presentation
Free Community Seminar Series
December 11, 2019
Greek Philosophy
Apology by Plato
Free Community Seminar Series
December 9, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Paper 9
December 7, 2019
Lyric Poetry of Emily Dickinson
and Sylvia Plath
Free Community Seminar Series
December 5, 2019
Eastern Classics
Tao Te Ching, Chapter Four
Free Community Seminar Series
November 25, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Paper 6
Free Community Seminar Series
November 21, 2019
Eastern Classics
Tao Te Ching, Chapter Three
Free Community Seminar Series
November 13, 2019
Greek Philosophy
Euthyphro by Plato
Free Community Seminar Series
November 11, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Papers 2
November 9, 2019
The Origin of Species (selections)
by Charles Darwin
Free Community Seminar Series
November 7, 2019
Eastern Classics
Tao Te Ching, Chapter Two
November 2, 2019
The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought (selections) by Thomas Kuhn
Free Community Seminar Series
October 28, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
Federalist Papers 1
Free Community Seminar Series
October 23, 2019
Greek Philosophy
Symposium by Plato - Part III
Free Community Seminar Series
October 17, 2019
Eastern Classics
Tao Te Ching, Chapter One
Free Community Seminar Series
October 14, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
The Articles of Confederation, Part III
September 28, 2019
Lincoln's Pre-Civil War Speeches:
Timely Thoughts on Enduring Political Institutions
Free Community Seminar Series
September 25, 2019
Greek Philosophy
Symposium by Plato - Part II
Free Community Seminar Series
September 23, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
The Articles of Confederation, Part II
September 14, 2019
Two Dialogues of Plato
Apology and Crito
Free Community Seminar Series
September 11, 2019
Greek Philosophy
Symposium by Plato - Part One
Free Community Seminar Series
September 9, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
The Articles of Confederation, Part I
August 31, 2019
The Theory of the Leisure Class - Part II
by Thorstein Veblen
Free Community Seminar Series
August 28, 2019
Greek Philosophy
Meno by Plato - Part Two
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Italian Movie Night II
The Bicycle Thieves
Free Community Seminar Series
August 26, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
The Declaration of Independence Part II
August 25, 2019
Ojai Chautauqua Panel Series on Education
What is Education For?
Free Community Seminar Series
August 14, 2019
Greek Philosophy
Meno by Plato - Part One
Free Community Seminar Series
August 12, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic - Take II
The Declaration of Independence
August 10, 2019
Billy Budd
by Herman Melville
Short Story and Film Presentation
August 4, 2019
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
by Bertolt Brecht
Seminar and Play Performance
August 3, 2019
Beyond Good and Evil - Part II
by Friedrich Nietzsche
July 28, 2019
Ojai Chautauqua Panel
Is Legal Cannabis Good for Ojai
June 30, 2019
Engage to Impact -
Series on Growth and Innovation
in Ojai Public Schools
Free Community Seminar Series
June 26, 2019
Early Greek Philosophy
Pythagoras - Golden Verses Part II
Free Community Seminar Series
June 20, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic
Letter from Birmingham Jail
June 15, 2019
An Inquiry of Nature -
Selections from Newton and Einstein
Free Community Seminar Series
June 12, 2019
Early Greek Philosophy
Pythagoras - Golden Verses Part I
Free Community Seminar Series
June 6, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic
Brown v. Board of Education
June 1, 2019
The Theory of the Leisure Class - Part I
by Thorstein Veblen
Free Community Seminar Series
May 22, 2019
Early Greek Philosophy
Pythagoras and Geometry continued
May 19, 2019
Responsibility and Judgement
(selections) by Hannah Arendt
Free Public Presentation
May 18, 2019
Adventurous Listening -
A Prelude to the Ojai Music Festival
May 18, 2019
Adventures in Listening:
New Music Since 1899
Free Community Seminar Series
May 16, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic
Plessy v. Ferguson and Dissenting View
Free Community Seminar Series
May 8, 2019
Early Greek Philosophy
Pythagoras and Geometry
Free Community Seminar Series
May 2, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic
Lincoln Douglas Debates
Free Community Seminar Series
April 24, 2019
Early Greek Philosophy
Democritus on Nature
April 20, 2019
Beyond Good and Evil, Part One, by Nietzsche
Free Community Seminar Series
April 18, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic
Dred Scott vs. Sanford
1857 Supreme Court Case
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Italian Movie Night
Cinema Paradiso
Sunday, April 14, 2019
The Miser by Molière
Seminar and Play Performance
Free Community Seminar Series
April 10, 2019
Early Greek Philosophy
Empedocles on Nature
April 6, 2019
One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel García Márquez
Free Community Seminar Series
April 4, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Constitution - Amendments 22-27
March 30, 2019
Ojai Chautauqua Panel
Not If... But When
Preparing for the Next Wildland Fire
Special Anniversary Celebration
March 23, 2019
The Spirit of Russia Through Story
The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol, Master and Man and The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy, and The Dream of a Ridiculous
Man by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Free Community Seminar Series
March 21, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Constitution - Amendments 15-21
Free Community Seminar Series
March 7, 2019
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Constitution - Amendment 14 revisited
March 2, 2019
The Dead by James Joyce
Short Story and Film Presentation
February 23, 2019
The Book of Ecclesiastes
January 26, 2019
Structural Anthropology - Part One
by Claude Levi-Strauss
Free Community Seminar Series
December 20, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Constitution - Amendments 11-14
December 8, 2018
Series - The Feminine - Part II
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Revelation by Flannery O'Connor
Free Community Seminar Series
December 6, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Constitution - Amendments 5-10
December 1, 2018
The Book of Genesis
Chapters 1-25
November 18, 2018
The Lady with the Dog
by Anton Chekhov
Short Story and Film Presentation
Free Community Seminar Series
November 15, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Constitution - Amendments1-4
November 3, 2018
The Analects of Confucius (selections)
Free Community Seminar Series
November 1, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Constitution - Articles Five, Six, Seven,
and Amendment I
Free Community Seminar Series
October 18, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Constitution - Articles Two, Three, and Four
October 13, 2018
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
Free Community Seminar Series
October 4, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Constitution - Article One
September 30, 2018
Ojai Chautauqua Panel
Water: Part III
What's Changing and What Might
Still Need to Change
September 22, 2018
Series - The Feminine
The Franklin's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, and the Introduction and Conclusion from The Second Sex
by Simone de Beauvoir
Free Community Seminar Series
September 20, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Federalist Papers 70, 78, and 85
September 9, 2018
Don Quixote and Man of La Mancha
Seminar and Play Performance
Free Community Seminar Series
September 6, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Federalist Papers 68 and 69
Free Community Seminar Series
August 30, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Federalist Papers 52 and 62
August 19, 2018
Three Days in the Country
Seminar and Play Performance
Free Community Seminar Series
August 16, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Federalist Paper 51
July 31-August 3, 2018
Four-Day Summer Intensive
Humanity's Place in the Natural World
Panel - Stewardship in the Ojai Valley
August 2, 2018
Free Community Seminar Series
July 19, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Federalist Paper 10 continued
Summer Pop-Up EventJuly 8, 2018
33 Variations
Play Performance and Post-Show
Gathering with the Director
Free Community Seminar Series
July 5, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Federalist Paper 10
Free Community Seminar Series
June 21, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Federalist Papers 6 and 9
Free Community Seminar Series
June 7, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Federalist Papers I and II
May 19, 2018
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Free Community Seminar Series
May 17, 2018
The Foundations of Our Republic
The Declaration of Independence, Part II
Free Community Seminar Series
May 3, 2018
The Foundations of Our RepublicThe Declaration of Independence, Part I
April 21, 2018
Double Header Event
The Aeneid by Virgil and
Selected Federalist Papers
April 15, 2018
Ojai Chautauqua Panel
Water: Part II
March 24, 2018
Aristotle on Friendship
March 18, 2018
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Seminar and Play Performance
February 24, 2018
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
February 17, 2018
Ojai Chautauqua Panel
Beyond the Whistle-Blowers: What comes next? Power, Gender, and Writing New Rules for the American Workplace
February 10, 2018
The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali
January 20, 2018
Can Machines Think? Computing and Intelligence by Alan Turing
November 19, 2017
The Ojai Chautauqua Panel
Tourism in the Ojai Valley
November 18, 2017
Continuing Series on Happiness
Kringelbach and Berridge - The Neurobiology of Pleasure and Happiness and, Steven Pinker - How the Mind Works (selections)
October 20, 2017
The Ojai Chautauqua Panel
An Evening with Dan Schnur and Warren Olney
October 14, 2017
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
September 23, 2017
Hans Jonas Mortality and Morality:
A Search for Good After Auschwitz - Part I
August 26, 2017
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
Seminar and Play Performance
June 17, 2017
Kristin Lavransdatter III - The Cross
by Sigrid Undset
June 3, 2017
Ojai Chautauqua Panel
Politics, Media, and Society
May 7, 2017
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
by Tennessee Williams
Seminar and Play Performance
May 6, 2017
Ojai Chautauqua Panel
An Unconventional Presidency - Donald Trump’s First One Hundred Days in Office
April 1, 2017
Thomas Aquinas on Faith and Reason
March 18, 2017
Reason in History by Hegel
February 4, 2017
The Future of an Illusion
by Sigmund Freud
January 7, 2017
Selections from The Quran and
The Life of Muhammad
December 10, 2016
Kristin Lavransdatter, Part II - The Wife
by Sigrid Undset
October 8, 2016
Ojai Chautauqua Panel
The 2016 Election - Part II
What Happens Next?
September 24, 2016
Spinoza - The Separation of Church and State
September 17, 2016
Ojai Chautauqua Panel
The 2016 Presidential Election Part I -
How Did We Get Here?
September 10, 2016
Continuing Series On Happiness
Augustine - City of God (selections)
June 5, 2016
Hedda Gabler by Ibsen
Seminar and play performance
April 16, 2016
Continuing Series on Happiness - Aristotle, selections from Nicomachean Ethics
March 19, 2016
Art and the Public Sphere
Rousseau and Aristophanes
February 13, 2016
On the Concept of Sin
Piper and Thomas Aquinas
January 30, 2016
Continuing Series on Happiness -
Seneca, Of a Happy LIfe
November 21, 2015
The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek
November 1, 2015
Uncle Vanya by Chekhov
Seminar and play performance
September 26, 2015
Beginning Series on Happiness
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and
two essays by Schopenhauer
June 27, 2015
The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
May 9, 2015
Love
Plato, Symposium
Shakespeare, Othello
April 11, 2015
The Wisdom of Genesis
Genesis, Chapters 1-3,
St. Augustine, Commentary on Genesis
March 14, 2015
On the Right Side of History
Heidegger, Reunion Speech
Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address
Thucydides, Pericles' Funeral Oration
February 21, 2015
On the Soul
Aristotle, On the Soul (selections),
and Leon Kass, NEH Lecture
January 31, 2015
Law and Conscience
Sophocles, Antigone,
Plato, Crito
Speeches from Lincoln and Jefferson
December 13, 2014
What is Charity?
Selections from Aristotle, Frost, O. Henry, Chekhov, the New Testament, and many more.
November 22, 2014
Short Stories of Willa Cather
Paul's Case, Neighbor Rosicky,
and Two Friends.
October 11, 2014
What is Life?
Erwin Schrodinger, What is Life?
Charles de Koninck, Is the Word “Life” Meaningful?
September 27, 2014
The Origin of Knowledge
Plato, Meno
Aristotle, Posterior Analytics (selections)
Descartes, Discourse on Method (selections)
August 30, 2014
Kristin Lavransdatter, Part I - The Wreath
by Sigrid Undset
June 14, 2014
Selections from The Book of Psalms
May 24, 2014
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich
Nietzsche- Parts 1 and 2
April 12, 2014
An Inquiry on Contemporary Music
March 15, 2014
Selections from The Upanishads
February 22, 2014
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Max Weber
January 18, 2014
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
December 14, 2013
Emily Dickinson - Selections
November 16, 2013
Russian Short Stories V
An Honest Thief by Dostoyevsky,
God Sees the Truth But Waits, and The Forged Coupon by Tolstoy, and The Darling by Chekov
October 5, 2013
The Phenomenon of Life by Hans Jonas - Part II Sixth Essay: The Nobility of Sight, plus the Appendix: Sight and Movement; and Seventh Essay: Image-making and the Freedom of Man
September 14, 2013
Emma by Jane Austen
April 27, 2013
Liberal Education and Its Critics
What is Liberal Education? and Liberal Education and Responsibility from Liberalism Ancient and Modern by Leo Strauss. Challenge to Liberal Thought by John Dewey and Education as Socialization and Individualization by Richard Rorty
March 9, 2013
The Bhagavad Gita and Our Demand
and Need from the Gita by Sri Aurobindo
February 9, 2013
The Iliad by Homer
January 26, 2013
The Nature of Art
Plotinus, Ennead I.6, On Beauty and
Search for the Real by Hans Hofmann
December 8, 2012
The Phenomenon of Life by Hans Jonas - selections: Introduction - On the Subjects
of a Philosophy of Life; Third Essay - Is God a Mathematician? The Meaning of Metabolism; Fifth Essay - Cybernetics and Purpose: A Critique
October 20, 2012
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Parts III and IV
September 22, 2012
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Parts I and II
May 19, 2012
The Book of Revelation
April 28, 2012
The Birth of Modern Theater
Hedda Gabler by Ibsen and The Seagull by Chekhov
March 31st, 2012
Democracy in America(selections)
by Alexis de Tocqueville
February 25th, 2012
Utopia by Thomas More
January 21st, 2012
Contemporary Issues II -
The Phenomenon of Life
Two essays from Hans Jonas - The Burden and Blessing of Mortality and Toward a Philosophy of Technology
December 10th, 2011
Why Should We Believe: Is Religious Faith Reasonable?
Selections of texts from Thomas Aquinas.
November 19th, 2011
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
October 8th, 2011
A Free Economy: A Source of Wealth or Misery?
Selections from The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith and The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
September 10th, 2011
Acting Rightly: Should We Trust Our Conscience?
Selections from Thomas Aquinas and Thomas More
May 7, 2011
Does God Make Sense?
Selections from Thomas Aquinas -
Summa Theologiae & selections from Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion
April 9, 2011
The Path of the Law
Selections from Thomas Aquinas -
Treatise on Law &
Oliver Wendell Holmes -
The Path of the Law
March 19, 2011
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
February 26, 2011
Aristotle on Sensation and the Soul
Selection from On the Soul
January 22, 2011
Between Life and Death
Henry James - The Beast in the Jungle, & The Alter of the Dead, James Joyce - The Dead
November 13, 2010
Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion
October 23, 2010
The Soul
Aristotle, Bk. I, ch. 7 of the Physics Aristotle,
Bk. II, ch. 1 of the De Anima
September 25, 2010
The Origin, Significance, and Wisdom of the Constitution - Part III
The Dred Scott Decision (edited)
The Seventh Lincoln Douglass Debate (edited)
July 31 - August 1, 2010
Special Event - The Winter's Tale
April 17-18, 2010
Contemporary Issues series
Man and the Environment
March 19-20, 2010
Contemporary Issues series
Frankenstein and the Ethics of Biotechnology
January 23, 2010
William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying
November 7, 2009
G. K. Chesterton - Orthodoxy
October 17, 2009
Series - The Origin, Significance, and
Wisdom of the Constitution - Part II
John Locke - Second Treatise of
Government (selections)
The Declaration of Independence
& The Constitution
September 12, 2009
Cervantes - Don Quixote
June 13 & 14, 2009
Ovid's Metamorphoses
June 6, 2009
Nature and Beyond
Pre-Socratic philosophers, Selections
The Portrait, Gogol
A Doll’s House, Ibsen
May 9, 2009
Heroic Women
Sigrid Undset, Gunnar's Daughter
Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House
March 28 & 29, 2009
Two Dialogues of Plato
Symposium and Phaedrus
February 7, 2009
Seminar Series - The Origin, Significance,
and Wisdom of the Constitution
Aristotle, Politics (selections)
January 17, 2009
Milton, Paradise Lost
December 6, 2008
Morality and Human Behavior
Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (selections)
Flannery O’Connor, The Lame Shall Enter First
November 15, 2008
Tragic Rulers - William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar, Macbeth
October 4 & 5, 2008
Human Being and History
Hegel, Introduction to The Philosophy of History
Heidegger, essays: The Question Concerning Technology and The Turning
September 6, 2008
The Qur'an
June 14, 2008
The Problem of Evil
Elie Wiesel, Night
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
May 24, 2008
Camus - The Myth of Sisyphus
April 26, 2008
Freud - Civilization and Its Discontents
March 15, 2008
Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky
February 16, 2008
Fear and Trembling by Kierkegaard
January 19, 2008
Flannery O'Connor
The Lame Shall Enter First ,
A Good Man is Hard to Find, &
The Life You Save May Be Your Own
November 9 & 10, 2007
A Weekend with Eva Brann
Lecture on November 9:
Aeschylus Eumenides : Modernity and Patriotism - held at Thomas Aquinas College
Aeschylus - The Persians
Thucydides - Selection from History of the Peloponnesian War
October 6, 2007
A Day on T . S. Eliot
Murder in the Cathedral
The Waste Land
September 15, 2007
Continuing Theme on Ethics
Sophocles - Antigone
Shakespeare - Hamlet
Lecture: Two Paradigms of Ethical Reflection by Mike McLean, Ph.D, Thomas Aquinas College
March 10, 2007
Continuing Theme on Ethics
Machiavelli - The Prince
February 9 & 10, 2007
Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics, Books I-III
January 13 & 14, 2007
A Weekend on Borges
The Circular Ruins, Ragnarök, The Maker,
The Aleph, Borges and I, August 25-1983,
The Garden of Forking Paths, The Witness, Everything and Nothing
November 11 & 12, 2006
Approaches to God
St. Thomas, Summa Theologiae, Part One, Chapter 13 - Articles 1-6, and 12 Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, Part One, Chapters 50-60
October 20 & 21, 2006
Russian Short Stories IV
Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Dostoevsky, The Gentle Creature
This seminar weekend will kick off with a dinner gathering on Friday night, beginning at 5:00pm, followed by a performance of the Valamm Ensemble from Russia, held at Thomas Aquinas College
Fundamental Seminars Program
September 23 & 24, 2006
Human Suffering
Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus
The Bible, The Book of Job
Epictetus, The Handbook
March 17 & 18, 2006
Liberty II
Ongoing series on Liberty, examining different views of freedom, responsibility, human happiness, and the providential order. Thomas Aquinas - selections from the Treatise on Law
February 11 & 12, 2006
Phenomenology III
Ongoing series on the underlying philosophical principles and developments of twentieth-century phenomenology.
Heidegger - further selections from Being and Time
January 7 & 8, 2006
A Weekend on James Joyce
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
December 17 & 18, 2005
Russian Short Stories III
Tolstoy, Father Sergius
Gogol, The Portrait
Chekhov, The Bet
November 12, 2005
Liberty I
The first in an ongoing series on Liberty. This series will examine different views of freedom, responsibility, human happiness, and the providential order.
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy
October 1 & 2, 2005
Phenomenology II
Ongoing series on the underlying philosophical principles and developments of twentieth-century phenomenology.Heidegger - selections from Being and Time
August 27 & 28, 2005
The Nature of Greek Tragedy
Aristotle, Poetics (chapters 1-18)
Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy
(chapters 1-15)
Euripides, Hippolytus (entire play)
June 4, 2005
The Divine Comedy III
Dante, Paradise
April 23 & 24, 2005
Beginning Series on Phenomenology
Selections from The Essential Husserl
March 19, 2005
The Passion of Christ
Film: The Passion of the Christ
The Gospel of Luke - entire work
The Gospel of John - Chapter 2, versus 1-11, and Chapters 13-19
The Gospel of Mathew - Chapters 26-27
January 15, 2005
Toni Morrison, Beloved
December 4, 2004
The Divine Comedy
Dante, Purgatory
October 16, 2004
The Divine Comedy
Dante, Inferno
September 25, 2004
Tolstoy, War and Peace
June 12 & 13, 2004
Special Event
A Weekend on Music
Man the Musician (selections)
by Victor Zuckerkandl &
Thinking About Music (selections)
by Lewis Rowell
Music selections include:
Josquin Desprez · Kyrie
Wolfgang Mozart · Menuetto, K. 355,
Elliott Carter · Poems by Frost, Bishop, etc. set to music
May 1 & 2, 2004
Faust
Christopher Marlowe:
Dr. Faustus - (A-Text version only)
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe:
Faust I - (complete)
Faust II - (acts IV and V)
March 19 & 20, 2004
The American Novel
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Herman Melville, Billy Budd
Willa Cather, My Antonia
February 20 & 21, 2004
The Book of Job
January 17, 2004
James Joyce, Dubliners
November 22 & 23, 2003
Transgression, Punishment, and Mercy - William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice
Measure for Measure
The Winter's Tale
October 11 & 12, 2003
Russian Short Stories II
Tolstoy , The Devil
Chekov , The Black Monk
Dostoevsky, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
September 6 & 7, 2003
The Gospel According to John
May 23 & 24, 2003
When is War Justified
Aquinas, On War, and On Murder
Wendell Berry, The Failure of War
James Sterba, Reconciling Pacifists and Just War Theorists
April 25 & 26, 2003
Is Lying Justifiable
Twain, Was it Heaven? Or Hell?
Aquinas, On Lying
Kant, On the Supposed Right to Lie
March 1 & 2, 2003
Satire and the Human Condition
Swift, Gulliver's Travels
January 17 & 18, 2003
Is Religious Belief Reasonable
Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian
Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book 1
Lewis, MereChristianity, Book 2
December 13 & 14, 2002
Justice and the Political Order Continued - Plato, The Republic VI-X
One-Day Intensive
October 12, 2002
The Nature of Sensation
Aristotle, On the Soul, Book Two
(sections 5, 6, 7, & 12 only)
Lecture: "Are Sensible Qualities Real?" - by Dr. Christopher Decaen
Dinner and Reception follow
November 23 & 24, 2002
Justice and the Political Order
Plato, The Republic I-V
September 6 & 7, 2002
Vengeance and Justice
Aeschylus, The Oresteia
June 28 & 29, 2002
The Nature of Comedy
Shakespeare, As You Like It
Chaucer, The Miller's Tale & The Reeve's Tale
Essays from Bergson, Goldsmith, & Hazlitt
One-Day Intensive
May 11, 2002
Aristotle, On the Soul
Book One Chapters 1-5,
Book Two Chapters 1-2
Lecture: "Thomistic Biology as an Antidote to the Reductionism of Modern Science" - by Dr. William Carroll of
Cornell College, Iowa
Dinner and Reception follow
One-Day Intensive
March 23, 2002
Aristotle, On Nature and Causality
Book Two, Chapters 1, 3
Book Two, Chapters 4-6, 8
Lecture: "Natures Act for an End"
by Dr. Robert Augros of
St. Anselm College, New Hampshire
Dinner and Reception follow
February 23 & 24, 2002
Aristotle, On the Principles of Nature
Book One, Chapters 1, 5-6
Book One, Chapter 7
Book One, Chapters 8-9
January 19 & 20, 2002
Human Suffering
Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus
The Bible, The Book of Job
Epictetus, The Handbook
December 14 &15, 2001
Existentialism
Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism
Sartre, No Exit and The Flies
Camus, The Stranger
November 17 & 18, 2001
Russian Short Stories
Gogol, The Nose, The Overcoat, The Calash
Chekhov, The Kiss, Gooseberries, The Bishop
Tolstoy, Master and Man
September 22 & 23, 2001
Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
July 6 & 7, 2001
Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
June 2 & 3, 2001
Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals
March 16 & 17, 2001
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (On Friendship)
Bk. VIII, Chapters 1-8
Bk. VIII, Chapter 9 – Bk. IX, Chapter 3
Bk. IX, Chapters 4-12
January 20 & 21, 2001
Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
December 15 & 16, 2000
Plato and Aristophanes
Plato, Protagoras
Aristophanes, The Clouds
November 17 & 18, 2000
Descartes, Meditations Concerning First Philosophy
September 22 & 23, 2000
The Nature of Poetry
Aristotle, Poetics, Chapters 1-6
Aristotle, Poetics, Chapters 7-15
Euripides, Hippolytus
July 8 & 9, 2000
Aristotle, Ethics I-III
June 16 & 17, 2000
Tyranny and Justice
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
Thomas Aquinas, On Kingship and Summa Theologiae (selections)
Machiavelli, The Prince
March 17 & 18, 2000
The Short Story
Flaubert, A Simple Heart and
St. Jullian Hospitalier
Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych
Flannery O'Connor, A Good Man is Hard to Findand The Enduring Chill
January 28 & 29, 2000
Augustine, The Confessions
November 13 & 14, 1999
Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
September 24 & 25, 1999
The Political Order
Aristotle, Politics (selections)
Rousseau, The Social Contract
Declaration of Independence and
The Federalist Papers (1, 10, 51)
June 18 & 19, 1999
Faith and Reason
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles
Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
St. Paul, Letter to the Galatians
Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians
April 23 & 24, 1999
The Origin of Knowledge
Plato, Meno
Aristotle, Posterior Analytics
Descartes, Discourse on Method
March 12 & 13, 1999
Law and Conscience
Sophocles, Antigone
Plato, Apology and Crito
Lincoln, selections
January 29 & 30, 1999
Human Action
The Holy Bible, Genesis, Chapters 1-25 v.11
Pre-Socratics and Epicurus
Freud, An Outline of Psychoanalysis
December 4 & 5, 1998
Love
Plato, Symposium
C. S. Lewis, Four Loves
Shakespeare, Othello
November 13 & 14, 1998
Does God Exist?
Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion
Blaise Pascal, Pensees
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Ques. 2
September 25 & 26, 1998
Morality and Human Action
Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
St. Thomas Aquinas, On Homicide