Prof. Joshua Hochschild

Prof. Joshua Hochschild shows how Dante’s Paradiso offers a philosophically rich, Thomistic, and Neoplatonic vision of the cosmos in which goodness, truth, beauty, and peace name both God’s own life and the ordered, participatory structure of creation that our rational desire seeks to know and love.

Prof. Joshua Hochschild shows how St. John Henry Newman’s lifelong “struggle against liberalism” is best understood as an Aristotelian critique of false views of knowledge, in which liberalism reduces religion to private sentiment and denies the knowability of first principles, rather than as a merely political or ecclesiastical stance.

Prof. Joshua Hochschild argues that digital culture reshapes friendship and attention through Curiositas and acedia, offering a path of renewal by cultivating virtue, mindful leisure, and rooted communal belonging.

Prof. Joshua Hochschild argues that free will is not an illusion but a real, rational power by which human beings participate in God’s causality, and that the supposed “problem of free will” arises from a reductive modern picture of causation and human nature rather than from the classical Aristotelian–Thomistic framework.

Prof. Joshua Hochschild examines whether societies are natural by tracing the Aristotelian and Thomistic understanding of social forms, arguing that certain social bodies like families and states have intrinsic natures and purposes that fulfill the social aspect of human flourishing.

Prof. Joshua Hochschild explores the philosophical and theological dimensions of the Barbie movie, analyzing its narrative through the lens of storytelling, existentialism, and the thought of Aquinas, while engaging with diverse critical interpretations.

Prof. Joshua Hochschild analyzes how smartphones and digital technologies reshape our brains, habits, and sense of self by leveraging neuroscience and AI-driven behavioral design, warning that these tools commodify our attention, erode agency, and pose deep spiritual and ethical challenges that demand more than technocratic solutions.

Prof. Joshua Hochschild compares Plato’s philosophical exploration of love in the Symposium with John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, analyzing how both traditions address the unity of eros and agape, the meaning of embodied love, and the enduring questions of sexual ethics in light of Humanae Vitae.

Professor Hochschild explores the question of whether trees have souls through the lens of Aristotelian biology, emphasizing the importance of empirical observation and questioning modern biology's approach.

Professor Joshua Hochschild connects Theology of the Body with Aristotelian philosophy, arguing that it supports the concept of marriage as a natural community amidst modern challenges from social contract theory and technology.

Professor Joshua Hochschild argues that Aquinas' proofs for God's existence, specifically the first way, are simple, accessible, and not merely spiritual exercises, but rather starting points for a deeper understanding of God and the relationship b...

Professor Joshua Hochschild explores Aquinas's understanding of analogy in relation to divine simplicity, distinguishing between analogy as a likeness between things and analogy as a relation between the significations of terms, and argues that the...

This lecture was given on March 14th, 2024, at Fordham University.

This lecture was given on June 29th, 2024, at The Dominican House of Studies as a talk within "VERITAS", a newly launched conference series for Thomistic Institute student leaders. The Conference engaged the following theme: Why Be A Thomist?