Thomas S. Hibbs

One of the marks of a virtuous character, according to Aristotle, is the performance of virtuous acts with ease and delight. On that basis, as well as others, Ralph McInerny was a remarkably virtuous man. One of Ralph’s most beautiful books is entitled The Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain: A Spiritual Life, the premise of which is that “we can find in the person of Jacques Maritain a model of the intellectual life in the pursuit of sanctity.” Those words certainly apply to Ralph… . . Continue Reading »

The Modern Philosophical Revolution: The Luminosity of Existence By David Walsh Cambridge, 518 pages, $29.99 CHARLES TAYLOR ONCE lamented that, on the topic of modernity, scholars seem divided into two camps: knockers and boosters. In The Modern Philosophical Revolution: The Luminosity of Existence . . . . Continue Reading »

Terry Eagleton’s Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate is an engaging, witty, and largely successful critique of the new atheists, especially Christopher Hitchens (author of God is Not Great ) and Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion ), whose delusional . . . . Continue Reading »

The Writings of Charles De Koninck, Volume 1 edited by Ralph McInerny University of Notre Dame Press, 496 pages, $50 Founder of the Laval school of Thomism, a school known for highlighting the importance of Aristotle for the thought of Thomas Aquinas, Charles De Koninck (1906-1965) is perhaps the . . . . Continue Reading »

Work on Oneself: ­Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Psychology by Fergus Kerr Institute for the Psychological Sciences Press, 119 pages, $19.95 As he lay dying, awaiting a last visit from friends, Ludwig Wittgenstein said, “Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life.” It was . . . . Continue Reading »

God and the Between by William Desmond Wiley-Blackwell, 368 pages, $44.95 Running through William Desmond’s latest book”the third in a series of philosophical reflections from the Irish philosopher”is a Nietzschean preoccupation with nihilism. Nietzsche, who called nihilism the . . . . Continue Reading »

“Happiness in this life is irrelevant,” Lady Marchmain (as played by Emma Thompson) tells the unbeliever Charles Ryder (played by Matthew Goode from Match Point ) in the recently released film version of Evelyn Waugh’s celebrated novel, Brideshead Revisited . “The only thing that . . . . Continue Reading »

The Open Secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology by Alister E. McGrath Wiley-Blackwell, 384 pages, $94.95 Søren Kierkegaard is an example of a philosopher who resists the modern attempt to reduce Christianity to some part of a philosophical system, some addendum to what self-sufficient . . . . Continue Reading »

With the record-setting release of The Dark Knight , his sequel to Batman Begins , Christopher Nolan, whose previous films include Memento , Insomnia , and The Prestige , stakes his claim to be our most inventive and most philosophical filmmaker. He has certainly surpassed M. Night Shyamalan, whose . . . . Continue Reading »

Counter-Experiences: Reading Jean-Luc Marion edited by Kevin Hart University of Notre Dame Press, 496 pages, $40 René Descartes is considered by many the founder of modern philosophy, but among the French he is considered even more the founder of French philosophy, the medium through which every . . . . Continue Reading »