PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES

The study of philosophy is an integral part of the seminary training of priests of our jurisdiction. The following are the primary branches of philosophical study which are covered in their course of study.

SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY
This course is a study of the most representative thinkers, beginning with St. Augustine and Boethius and ending with St. Albert the Great, St. Bonaventure, and St. Thomas Aquinas.

THOMISTIC PHILOSOPHY
Topics include Aquinas on medieval education; rise of universities; faith and reason; Aristotelian thought; Aquinas on the world and man; man as a moral agent; the meaning of life; the ultimate end of human action; the parameters of moral action; difference between knowledge and faith; God; the spirit of Thomism.

LOGIC
This course is an examination of the three operations of the intellect: simple apprehension, judgment and reasoning (inductive and deductive); figures and conversion of syllogisms, and fallacies.

CRITERIOLOGY
A study of that part of Logic which treats of those means or criteria whereby the mind attains truth, intrinsic and extrinsic, and their validity.

ETHICS
An analysis of man's ultimate end; human act, voluntariness, freedom and imputability; qualitative vs. quantitative ethics and contemporary applications; and Lublin Personalism. This course will examine the ethical teachings of various philosophers throughout history. Questions to be discussed include: "What is good? What makes a good life? How does one make ethical judgments?" Special attention is given to the role of virtues in the philosophy of St. Thomas.

METAPHYSICS
This course is a systematic study of being and the transcendentals; act and potency; essence and existence.

ONTOLOGY
A study of the science which treats of being in general; also called general metaphysics.

COSMOLOGY
This course is a survey of Greek, medieval, modern and major contemporary cosmologies emphasizing the principles and properties common to all natural being. Included are concepts of nature, material being, motion, time, space, quantity and causality.

PSYCHOLOGY
This is a specialized course concerning the mutual influence of the life and the emotions of moral practice. Special emphasis will be given to the nature of the emotions themselves, the repressive and affirmation neuroses, the freedom of the will in neurotics, and the influence of moral practice on the prevention of neuroses.

THEODICY
The study of the knowledge of God through the exercise of human reason alone. Also called Natural Theology.

EPISTEMOLOGY
This course studies the intellect's ability to know the truth and various solutions proposed in the history of philosophy, with emphasis on current epistemological problems.

THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
This course examines the Christian understanding of the human person before God. It reflects upon the doctrines of creation, sin, grace and hope.