St. Justin Martyr

Christian Debris

Since I was hired over two decades ago to teach Medieval Philosophy at a secular, Brazilian university, I have had time and resources to plunge deeply into the medieval world.

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Four Contemporary Confusions

Life is confusing enough, but for the past century or so, four gratuitous confusions have been inoculated into our everyday consciousness, and I take great joy in calling their bluff.

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Artists Formerly Known as Saints

As the death of ‘Prince’ was emblazoned on the front pages of the Western world’s newspapers, I had to wonder – once again – why we treat musicians, actors and

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The Balboa Moment

In the autumn of 2013, I spent a night in Panama City on my way from Brazil to Massachusetts. Such pauses turn an otherwise burdensome 12 hour ordeal into two

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Something’s Missing

In any area of research, and particularly one which already boasts centuries of advances and impressive claims of conquest, new discoveries and even significant paradigm shifts (to use the catchphrase)

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What other philosophers say…

Here are about 20 minutes of a variety of English-speaking philosophers answering (or dodging) the question:  “What is philosophy?”  (courtesy of the website philosophybites.com). Most are surprised by the question,

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Why I like Tom

One of my students asked me once what it was I most admired in St. Thomas Aquinas (whom I tend to quote a lot). I’d never been asked that before,

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Pointing and Seeing Together

All babies point without training. No mother need instruct her infant to extend its tiny index finger and direct it at an object. They do it on their own, and

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Naked Facts

Modesty, as I understand it, is a form of respect we show to other people, acting and dressing in ways that address their higher faculties and do not arouse their

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Losing the Evidence

The “obvious” is that which goes without saying. Indeed, it only really goes when it isn’t said. When we say it anyway, it sounds tautological and intrusive. “The world is

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The Three Legs of the Stool

Our sensory and emotional lives are rooted in our bodies; our thinking and willing in our minds; our deepest aspirations and our slowly evolving character in our hearts. Our humanity is

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