The Thomistic Institute

Latest Episodes:

Are the Virtues Natural? – Fr. John Sica, O.P. Oct 06, 2025

Show notes

Fr. John Sica explores whether virtues are natural by examining Aristotle and Aquinas, ultimately concluding that the virtues are not innate qualities, but are rather habituated character states that perfect human nature.

This lecture was given on May 31st, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.

Will you hand on the Faith to those who need it the most? Give by October 31st to film the next season of Aquinas 101! https://aquinas101.thomisticinstitute.org/oct25podcast

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Fr. John Sica, O.P. is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Providence College.

KeywoAristotelianism, Ethics, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Habits And Dispositions, Human Flourishing, Metaphysics, Morality, Nicomachean Ethics, Rational Powers, Virtue Theory

From Nature to Norm: How to Derive 'Ought' From 'Is' – Prof. Catherine Peters Oct 03, 2025

Show notes

Prof. Catherine Peters addresses the philosophical question of deriving moral 'ought' from descriptive 'is', arguing from a Thomistic natural law perspective that the essence of human nature grounds objective moral norms, bridging fact and value through teleology and reason.

This lecture was given on May 30th, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.

Will you hand on the Faith to those who need it the most? Give by October 31st to film the next season of Aquinas 101! https://aquinas101.thomisticinstitute.org/oct25podcast

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Catherine Peters is an associate professor of medieval philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Her work centers on issues of philosophical anthropology, metaphysics, and natural theology. She is passionate about translating medieval thought into modern terms and applying its insights to perennial questions such as “Who am I?” “What should I do?” and “Is there a God?” A frequent presenter in both the United States and Europe, her scholarship has been published in numerous volumes and journals, including The Thomist, New Blackfriars, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, The Journal of Islamic Philosophy, European Journal for the Study of Thomas Aquinas, Lex Naturalis, and Jesuit Higher Education. When not in the classroom, she can often be found in local coffee shops, at the dog park, or in a HIIT class.

Keywords: Anthropology, Eternal Law, Humean Empiricism, Law and Morality, Natural Law, Naturalistic Fallacy, Practical Reason, Rational Animal, Teleology, Treatise of Human Nature

The Natural and the Artificial – Prof. Christopher Frey Oct 02, 2025

Show notes

Prof. Christopher Frey examines the distinctions and interactions between natural and artificial entities, showing how art can complete, imitate, or even subvert nature within Aristotelian and Thomistic frameworks.

This lecture was given on May 30th, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Christopher Frey is currently the McFarlin Professor of Philosophy at The University of Tulsa. Prof. Frey works primarily in Ancient Greek philosophy, especially Aristotle’s natural philosophy and metaphysics. He also works in contemporary philosophy of perception and mind and has written extensively on the relationship between the intentionality and phenomenality of perceptual experience.

Keywords: Agriculture, Anthropocentrism, Aristotelianism, City-Building, Completion of Nature, External Principle, Homonymy, Natural Substance, Republic,Techne

Nature's Cheat Codes? On the Course of Nature and its Laws – Prof. John G. Brungardt Oct 01, 2025

Show notes

Prof. John Brungardt explores the concept of laws of nature as partial transcriptions of the natures of physical substances, emphasizing the interplay between philosophical tradition, scientific discovery, and metaphysical causality.

This lecture was given on May 30th, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.

Will you hand on the Faith to those who need it the most? Give by October 31st to film the next season of Aquinas 101! https://aquinas101.thomisticinstitute.org/oct25podcast

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

John G. Brungardt is an associate professor of philosophy at the School of Catholic Studies at Newman University.

As a philosopher, Catholic layman, and Dominican tertiary, his studies, teaching, and scholarship aim at continuing the philosophical tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, and their heirs. He attempts to bring their insights into meaningful dialogue with modern theories. His central interests lie in the philosophy of nature, the philosophy of science, as well as the philosophy of technology.

Keywords: Aristotelianism, Causality, Course of Nature, Divine Providence, Experimental Science, Human Reason, Metaphysics, Scholasticism, Scientific Laws, The Consolation of Philosophy

Aquinas on Nature and the Natural: Form and the Scale of 'Esse' – Fr. Raymund Snyder, O.P. Sep 30, 2025

Show notes

Fr. Raymund Snyder explores Thomas Aquinas’s metaphysics of nature, form, and the scale of being, emphasizing the integration of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic traditions and the unique Christian vision of creation, essence, and intellect.

This lecture was given on May 29th, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Fr. Raymund Snyder, O.P. is the Director of Campus Programs and Evangelization for the Thomistic Institute. He grew up in Wichita, Kansas and studied philosophy and classics at the University of Notre Dame. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2010 and was ordained a priest in 2016. He recently completed a licentiate in philosophy at the Catholic University of America. His academic interests include Metaphysics, Natural Theology, and Neoplatonism.

Keywords: Aristotelianism, Christian Distinction, Creation, Divine Names, Essence and Esse, Metaphysics, Natural Law, Neoplatonism, On the Nature of Man, Scale of Being

Aquinas on Nature and the Natural: Endoxa and Principles – Fr. Raymund Snyder, O.P. Sep 29, 2025

Show notes

Fr. Raymund Snyder explores the foundations of nature, natural philosophy, and metaphysics through a Thomistic lens, with special attention to Aristotelian principles, correlative pairs, and the interplay of form, substance, act, and potency in philosophical and theological discussion.

This lecture was given on May 29th, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Fr. Raymund Snyder, OP is the Director of Campus Programs and Evangelization for the Thomistic Institute. He grew up in Wichita, Kansas and studied philosophy and classics at the University of Notre Dame. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2010 and was ordained a priest in 2016. He recently completed a licentiate in philosophy at the Catholic University of America. His academic interests include Metaphysics, Natural Theology, and Neoplatonism.

Keywords: Act And Potency, Aristotelian Natural Philosophy, Aristotle, Beauty And Philosophy, Correlative Pairs, Endoxa, Essence And Being, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Metaphysics, Motion And Change

Usefulness and Elegance in Mathematics – Prof. Meraiah Martinez Sep 26, 2025

Show notes

Prof. Meraiah Martinez explores the beauty and usefulness of mathematics, emphasizing the delight mathematicians find in elegant proofs, structured abstractions, and the interplay between pure and applied mathematics across various fields.

This lecture was given on July 18th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Meraiah Martinez grew up moving between California and Colorado and graduated from BC in 2019. She received her M.S. (2021) and Ph.D. (2023) in mathematics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Meraiah’s primary research area is coding theory, although she greatly enjoys combinatorics, cryptography, and graph theory, as well. In her free time, she enjoys reading and making a variety of things from yarn.

Keywords: Algebra, Applied Mathematics, Coding Theory, Differential Equations, Euler’s Equation, Four Color Theorem, Pure Mathematics, Quadratic Formula, Susceptible Infectious Recovered Model, Topology

How Planetary Science Unifies the Search for Life Beyond Earth – Prof. Jonathan I. Lunine Sep 25, 2025

Show notes

Prof. Jonathan Lunine explains how planetary science unifies the search for life beyond Earth by integrating astronomy, geology, chemistry, and atmospheric science to investigate habitable environments on Mars, Europa, Enceladus, Titan, and exoplanets.

This lecture was given on July 18th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Jonathan Lunine is the Chief Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Professor of Planetary Science at Caltech in Pasadena, California. Beforehand, he was the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences and Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. Lunine is interested in how planets form and evolve, what processes maintain and establish habitability, and what kinds of exotic environments (methane lakes, etc.) might host a kind of chemistry sophisticated enough to be called "life". He pursues these interests through theoretical modeling and participation in spacecraft missions. He is co-investigator on the Juno mission now in orbit at Jupiter, using data from several instruments on the spacecraft, and on the MISE and gravity science teams for the Europa Clipper mission. He was on the Science Working Group for the James Webb Space Telescope, focusing on characterization of extrasolar planets and Kuiper Belt objects. Lunine has contributed to concept studies for a wide range of planetary and exoplanetary missions. Lunine is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has participated in or chaired a number of advisory and strategic planning committees for the Academy and for NASA.

Keywords: Astrobiology, Biosignatures, Enceladus, Europa, Exoplanets, Habitability, James Webb Space Telescope, Mars Exploration, Planetary Science, Titan

Nicolaus Steno and the Intersection of Disciplines in the Scientific Revolution – Prof. Nuno Castel-Branco Sep 24, 2025

Show notes

Prof. Nuno Castel-Branco examines Nicolaus Steno’s innovative use of focused interdisciplinarity during the Scientific Revolution, tracing Steno’s groundbreaking shift from anatomy to geology and theology by integrating mathematics, mechanical philosophy, and collaboration across European scientific circles.

This lecture was given on July 17th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Prof. Nuno Castel-Branco is a historian of early modern culture and science. He is especially interested in the social and intellectual interactions between disciplines such as physics, medicine, and theology in early modern Europe and its global expansion. He is currently concluding a book about the emergence of the new sciences in seventeenth-century Europe through the fascinating career of Nicolaus Steno. He argues that Steno’s greatest innovation was introducing methods and ideas from various disciplines, especially mathematics, and chymistry, into anatomy. Undergirding this variety of approaches was Steno’s ability to forge friendships with scholars, princes, artisans, and women. I use Steno’s career to uncover novel interactions between science and religion. His second project aims to improve our historical knowledge of how mathematicians, anatomists, and patrons cooperated in the early 1600s. This project builds upon his previous research on early modern Italy and the Iberian oceanic expansion. He is also interested in science and religion, for which he currently co-organizing two workshops at the Max Planck in Berlin.

Keywords: Anatomy, Epicureanism, Euclidean Geometry, Fossils, Galileo, Geology, Jesuit Mathematicians, Mathematics, Steno’s Laws of Stratigraphy, Theology

Dividing and Relating the Sciences in Aquinas – Fr. Philip-Neri Reese, O.P. Sep 23, 2025

Show notes

Fr. Philip-Neri Reese analyzes Aquinas’s method for dividing and relating the sciences, clarifying the distinction between speculative and practical sciences, the role of material and formal causes, and the concept of mixed or subalternated sciences.

This lecture was given on July 17th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Fr. Philip-Neri Reese is a Dominican friar of the Province of St Joseph and a Professor of Philosophy at the Pontifical University of St.Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome. He is also the principal investigator for the Angelicum Thomistic Institute’s new Project on Philosophy and the Thomistic Tradition. He received his Licentiate in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America in 2015 and his Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 2022. From 2015-2017 he taught philosophy at Providence College in Providence, RI. His main area of research is metaphysics and anything adjacent to it, with a special emphasis on the metaphysical thought of St. Thomas Aquinas and its subsequent reception and interpretation. His publications, however, range widely, including articles on philosophical anthropology, ethics, and economics. He is also an enthusiast of classical Indian philosophy. Fr Philip-Neri is a member of the American Philosophical Association, the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group, the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Thomism, and is currently serving on the executive committee of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.

Keywords: Aristotelianism, Causality, Formal and Material Division, Intellectual Virtues, Mathematics, Metaphysics, Mixed Sciences, Natural Philosophy, Practical Sciences, Summa Theologiae

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