Happiness
Links
Brown, Stuart. "Play, Spirit, and Character." On Being. National Public Radio , 2014.
DeMarco, Donald. "The Angelic Doctor's Five Remedies for Pain and Sorrow." National Catholic Register. 28 January 2016.
Spitzer, Robert. "Escaping Your Personal Hell." Magis Center of Reason and Faith. www.magiscenter.com. May 2014.
Spitzer. Fr. Robert J. "Happiness." Magis Center of Reason and Faith. YouTube. February 10, 2017. How can we find true happiness? What role does the love of friendship play? How can we combat unhappiness? Should we be stoic? What is the most effective response to suffering? Fr. Spitzer addresses dozens of questions about happiness in brief videos of about five minutes each.
Spitzer, Fr. Robert J. "Happiness, Suffering, and the Love of God: The Four Levels of Happiness." Magis Center of Reason and Faith. www.magiscenter.com. Audio. Dec. 2015.
Spitzer, Robert. "The Four Levels of Happiness." Magis Center of Reason and Faith. www.magiscenter.com. May 2014.
Spitzer, Fr. Robert J. "The Four Levels of Happiness." Healing the Culture. www.healingtheculture.com. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
Von Hildebrand, Alice. "In Defense of Feelings." Holy Spirit Interactive. www.holyspiritineractive.net.
Books
Cuddeback, John. Friendship: The Art of Happiness. Greeley: Epic Publishing, 2003. This book makes accessible Aristotle’s categorizations of friendship: the useful, the pleasurable, and the virtuous. Ideal for adolescents, young adults, and their parents as an aid to wise discernment in friendships.
Spitzer, Fr. Robert J. Finding True Happiness. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2015.
Vost, Kevin. One -Minute Aquinas: The Doctor's Quick Answers to Fundamental Questions. Manchester: Sophia Institute Press, 2014. How can we be happy? Do we have free will? Which habits shape our souls? Aquinas’ answers are offered in brief, comprehensible essays, written in a congenial style.
Human Nature
Links
Cuddeback, John. Human Nature & The Virtuous Life. Institute of Catholic Culture. Audio. March 2011.
Cuddeback, John. Who Are You? The Perennial Question of Mankind. Institute of Catholic Culture. Audio. Jan./Feb. 2007.
Books
Frankl, Viktor. Man's Search for Meaning. Buccaneer Books: New York, 1993. During internment in four concentration camps, psychiatrist Viktor Frankl pondered what motivated some prisoners to survive, and even exhibit kindness toward their fellow captives. His answer: “Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.”
Spitzer, Fr. Robert J. The Soul's Upward Yearning: Clues to Our Transcendent Nature from Experience and Reason. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2015.
Pro-Life Logic
Links
Kreeft, Peter. "Human Personhood." Peter Kreeft. www.peterkreeft.com. July 2015.
Kreeft, Peter. "Pro-Life Philosophy." Peter Kreeft. www.peterkeeft.com. March 2013, audio.
Olsen, Carl. "The Case Against Abortion: An Interview With Philosophy Professor Francis Beckwith." Ignatius Insight. www.ignatiusinsight.com. December 2007.
Spitzer, Fr. Robert J. Pro-Life Philosophy. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTz2uc3oTYE. Nov. 2013, video.
Spitzer, Fr. Robert J. "Ten Universal Principles: A Basic Primer on Respect for Life." Healing the Culture. www.healingtheculture.com. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
Stonestreet, John. "The New Pro-Life; Time for an Upgrade." Breakpoint Commentaries. 13 July 2012.
Books
Beckwith, Francis. Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. One of the most persuasive books in the defense of human life. Presents logical arguments to counter prevailing relativist arguments that favor abortion over life.
Spitzer, Fr. Robert J. Ten Universal Principles: A Brief Philosophy of the Life Issues. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011.
Materialism
Books
Barr, Stephen. Modern Physics and Ancient Faith. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 2003. Of particular interest is the section “What is Man?” where physicist Barr addresses free will and determinism, whether or not matter can understand, and how our minds differ from computers.
Smith, Angela. "Answering Materialism: The Intellectual Soul and Understanding Universals." Saint Gabriel Respect Life, June 2014.
Relativism/ Secularism
Links
Beckwith, Francis. "Philosophical Problems With Moral Relativism." Christian Research Institute. Retrieved Sept. 10, 2016.
Kreeft, Peter. "A Refutation of Moral Relativism." Peter Kreeft. www.peterkreeft.com. February 2003, audio.
Marcella, Gabriel and Angela Smith. "Respect for Life, Moral Relativism, and Catholic Education." Saint Gabriel Respect Life. September 2016.
Spitzer, Fr. Robert J. "The Four Levels of Success." Healing the Culture. www.healingtheculture.com. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
Stefanick, Chris. Absolute Relativism: The New Dictatorship and What to Do About It. www.youtube.com/watch?v=abGELJJZ2fo. 12 Aug. 2013
Suffering
DeMarco, Donald. "The Angelic Doctor's Five Remedies for Pain and Sorrow." National Catholic Register. 28 January 2016.
Miller, B.J. "Reframing Our Relationship to That We Don't Control." On Being. 28 Jan 2016. Palliative care physician and triple amputee B.J. Miller advises, "Let death be what takes us, not a lack of imagination."
Spitzer, Fr. Robert J. How to Suffer Well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ47ZtkS8x8. Napa Institute, September 2013.
Spitzer, Fr. Robert J. "The Four Levels of Suffering." Healing the Culture. www.healingtheculture.com. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
Transhumanism
Links
Fain, Leslie. "The Surprising Spread and Cultural Impact of Transhumanism." The Catholic World Report. Oct. 2013.
Fukuyama, Francis. "Transhumanism." Foreign Policy. 23 Oct. 2009.
Virtue
Links
Brown, Stuart. "Play, Spirit, and Character." On Being. National Public Radio , 2014.
Spitzer, Fr. Robert J. Virtue, Faith, and Freedom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K35MedRocc0 EWTN. Dec. 2015.
