What is True Leisure?
What do you do with your free time? What do you do with the precious minutes after work and before dinner? And what about the free moments…
Medieval Dignity, Modern Education
In the conclusion of her review of David Walsh’s book, The Politics of the Person as the Politics of Being, Macon Boczek challenges the author’s assertion that…
The Misuse and Abuse of Words: Reflecting on Misology with Plato and Josef Pieper
Introduction: The Corruption of Words Concerning the apparent abuse of the word “eternity,” Romano Guardini observes: “A word is not merely a sign to convey a meaning. …
On Josef Pieper
I. Introduction The original of this Paper was presented at the 2019 Meeting of the Eric Voegelin Society.[1] Its title was “The Political Philosophy of Josef Pieper.”…
Some Inflammatory Remarks about Philosophizing
All I had in all my classes were jocks trying to make up credit, you know? You know that feeling? They weren’t there to learn at all.…
The Fisher-Price God: A Call to Childlike Play
But let us ever praise him, and extol His bounty, following our delightful task To prune these growing Plants, and tend these Flow’rs, Which were it toilsome,…
Learning Through Stories: How to Start Teaching the Truth
Teaching and Learning[1] In Guide to Thomas Aquinas, Josef Pieper points out that Aquinas was attracted to the Order of Preachers, in good part, because of his…
The Shock of Philosophy: On Josef Pieper
From images of moral depravity on television and online to the perpetually bad-news news cycle to the blunders, improprieties, and worse of celebrities and politicians, the vile…
Culture and Education in Josef Pieper’s Thought
Josef Pieper is best known in this country for his work, Leisure as the Basis of Culture, and its companion essay, The Philosophical Act, published as one…
The Origins and Nature of the Academy
What Does Academic Mean? Two Essays on the Chances of the University. Josef Pieper. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine's Press. This short book includes an excellent…
How to Cure Your Boredom
Acedia and its Discontents: Metaphysical Boredom in an Empire of Desire. R. J. Snell. Kettering, OH: Angelico Press, 2015. Acedia and its Discontents is wonderful book to…