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From the Desk of the President

President Thomas E. Dillon

(Fall 2004 Newsletter)

[Index of Past Articles by President Dillon]

This summer I had the opportunity to read and discuss Plato's dialogue, the Euthyphro, one of the texts that you will take up at some point in the All-College Seminar. In that dialogue, Socrates encounters the young man Euthyphro as they both make their way toward a court of law--Socrates to be prosecuted by Meletus for allegedly corrupting the young and fabricating new gods; Euthyphro to prosecute his own father for the death of a slave, which Euthyphro calls "murder," though the facts of the case make his charge dubious, at best.

Euthyphro's friends and relatives think, as he himself acknowledges, that he is a maniac for prosecuting his own father, and Socrates is astonished that Euthyphro does not fear that he might be doing something wrong-something altogether impious. "This is not for an ordinary person to do," offers Socrates, "but only for one far advanced in wisdom." Euthyphro quickly agrees. "Yes, by heaven, far advanced," he crows, "but if I did not have an accurate knowledge of the gods and of piety and impiety, I should be good for nothing and would be no different than the general run of men."

It is here, as you might guess, that Socrates begins to bore in. "Tell me, Euthyphro, O wisest of men, just what is piety, and how does it relate to the gods?"

This question occupies most of the remainder of the dialogue, and what is interesting is that, upon examination, Euthyphro can give no accounting of piety, despite numerous attempts. It is left for Socrates to suggest that piety is a part of justice and, by means of a subtle and judicious example, that piety involves some kind of fear or awe.

Admonishing Euthyphro that perhaps he should have feared that he was risking the wrath of the gods on the chance that he was not doing the right thing in prosecuting his own father, Socrates again asks Euthyphro what he judges piety to be, hoping that a new line of inquiry will bear fruit. Euthyphro's response, however, is disengaging: "Another time, Socrates, for I am in a hurry and must be off this minute."

The dialogue ends with Socrates' ironic lament to Euthyphro, "I counted on showing Meletus that I gained wisdom about divine things from Euthyphro, and no longer out of ignorance made rash assertions and forged innovations with regard to them, but would lead a better life in the future."

The Nature of Liberal Education

Now, why have I spent time recounting this dialogue? Because in my view it is instructive about education, especially liberal education, which is the work of Thomas Aquinas College.

Socrates represents what higher education is at its best-he earnestly attempts to discover what is true, and he will not settle for easy answers. In his quest for wisdom, he reflects, he speculates, he asks penetrating questions, he makes distinctions, and he is willing to take time to sort things out in detail. He also cares about the young soul of Euthyphro-he desires to help prevent Euthyphro from making rash assertions out of ignorance and forging moral innovations. He wants, in fact, to help make it possible for Euthyphro to lead a better life in the future. His is a labor of love, and he aspires to help bring Euthyphro to what is true and good.

Euthyphro, on the other hand, represents what education too often has become-he is full of self importance, he lives in the world of mere opinion, and he is in a hurry to do, to act, without sufficient deliberation about the grounds of his proposed actions or adequate consideration of whether what he undertakes to do is rightly ordered and good.

In fact, we see in this dialogue that Euthyphro is finally unable to be educated because his dispositions are all wrong. He seeks not to do the arduous work necessary to attain genuine wisdom, but rather he is content to be glib and shallow, since his desire is to look good rather than to understand.

Make a Good Beginning

President Dillon greets Thomas Duffy, a freshman from Redmond, Washington.

Now, by enrolling in Thomas Aquinas College you are aligning yourselves with Socrates, whose conviction is that the search for truth is important and demands exacting thought and attention. Here you will not be urged to hurry off to do, but rather you will be encouraged to set aside these four years in order to carefully reflect about, among other things, what ought to be done. You will be challenged indeed to ask what is piety, what is justice, what can be known about God; and the answers to these questions will not be easy. The true road to wisdom is filled with difficulties and setbacks, but it is, nevertheless, the road most worth taking.

We on the faculty propose to help you make a good beginning on what will be a life-long journey, but it is your journey, and its success depends primarily on you - on your diligence, on your seriousness of purpose, and on your humility before the Truth.

In the College's curriculum, you will be reading and discussing the greatest works ever written - works that have defined eras and shaped civilizations. In a community of friends and under the guidance of tutors who care deeply about your good, you will seek to make reasoned judgments about the nature of reality.

Fully indulge your wonder as you progress through the curriculum; test what you think you know, and ponder what you do not know. Only by asking questions, only by deep reflection on the arts and sciences studied in our curriculum can you make what you are attempting to learn your own. The mind comprehends what is true only when it understands reasons and causes, and most often this does not occur except by our wrestling with problems, perplexities, and contradictions.

You will find, however, that as you do mathematics with Euclid and Apollonius, philosophy with Plato and Aristotle, and theology with Augustine and Aquinas, for example, your minds will begin to make progress, and you will indeed partake of the joys of learning.

The Benefit of the Teaching Church

And let me emphasize that even though we may be prone to error and uncertainty, and even though it is difficult to understand the truth about so many things, there is one great consolation all of us who are engaged in Catholic liberal education have - and that consolation is that we have God's revelation, mediated through the Church, as a guide in our intellectual endeavors.

Because our faith can illumine our reason, we can be confident that where our understanding is dark, it can be brought to light. After all, Our Lord tells us that He is the light of the world, and if we follow that light as it is reflected in the Gospels and the teaching Church, then we can advance in understanding and move toward wisdom - which has God both as its source and its end.

Socrates did not have the benefit of the teaching Church when he inquired about God and the most noble life for man - but we do. And consider Christ's own exhortation: "If you make my words your home, you will indeed be my disciples, you will learn the truth, and the truth will make you free."
This, of course, is a tremendous blessing - a blessing we should all be most grateful to have received.

Let us, then, begin this academic year with confidence and hope that, as we apply ourselves to the noble task before us, we shall indeed advance toward Truth and Wisdom.

-- Qtrly Newsletter, Fall 2004