God and the Good Life: Exploring Philosophy as a Way of Life

Presented by Paul Blaschko

For thousands of years, philosophers have been asking and answering some of the deepest and most pressing practical questions: What makes a life good? Which are the essential or ultimate goals we should set ourselves in attempting to live well? Can we know whether God exists, or what it would take for our lives to be meaningful? In this seminar -- based on Notre Dame's popular God and the Good Life course -- Paul Blaschko will lead participants through a series of reflective exercises aimed at exploring these questions in the context of our own lives, and at connecting us up with a deep philosophical tradition. We'll consider insights about how to live well from thinkers as diverse as Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, St. Thomas Aquinas, Elizabeth Anscombe, and James Baldwin. Participants will leave with a sketch of their own "Philosophy Apology," a document that captures their current vision of the Good Life and lays out some experiments they can use to test out that view moving forward.

About Paul Blaschko

Paul Blaschko is an assistant teaching professor in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He heads up curriculum design and digital pedagogy for the God and the Good Life Program, and has recently been working to develop similar curricula at universities across the nation as part of an initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Blaschko completed an MA in philosophy at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, a PhD at the University of Notre Dame in 2018, and held the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship prior to being appointed to his current position.