Paul J. Glenn – Philosophy Series

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Eleven books by Monsignor Paul J. Glenn, gathered in a single set: a connected course in Scholastic philosophy that begins by asking what philosophy is, works through its great branches one by one, and ends with a journey through the entire Summa Theologica of St Thomas Aquinas.

Glenn wrote for Catholic college students and the general reading public, and he wrote to be understood. Each volume sets out its subject succinctly and clearly, without sacrificing depth, and the volumes build upon one another: Dialectics supplies the logical equipment every other discipline requires, whilst Cosmology introduces concepts on which Psychology, Ontology, Ethics and Theodicy depend. First published between 1929 and 1960, these books have remained almost continuously in print ever since.

THE ELEVEN VOLUMES

• An Introduction to Philosophy – What philosophy is, how it arose and who its great names are, with an outline of the seven master sciences that together make up philosophy.
• The History of Philosophy – The story of human thought, told in concise, clear language for the ordinary educated reader and tracing the continuous development of the philosophia perennis.
• Dialectics – The science of correct thinking: the three acts of the mind (forming ideas, judging and reasoning), and how to state an argument and detect a fallacy.
• Cosmology – The material universe studied in its deepest causes: what bodies are, matter and form, the origin of the world, and purpose in nature.
• Psychology – The traditional science of the soul, not experimental or clinical psychology: life, the human soul and its immortality, sensation, intellect, will and freedom.
• Ontology – The heart of philosophy, the study of being as being: essence and existence, actuality and potentiality, unity, truth and goodness, substance, accident and cause.
• Ethics – Moral philosophy from its general principles to the rights and duties of the individual, and on to the family, State, Church and world, war and peace included.
• Theodicy – Natural theology: the existence of God proved on the traditional model of St Thomas, and the fundamental truths that reason can know about Him.
• Sociology – Social life judged by the true nature and destiny of the human person: rights and duties, the family, State and Church, and the moral and economic problems of society.
• Apologetics – A clear and logical statement of the philosophy that is the backbone of the Catholic religion, equipping educated Catholics to understand its reasonableness and to interest others in it.
• A Tour of the Summa – The whole Summa from beginning to end in condensed paraphrase (not a translation or a digest), arranged so that the reader can turn at once to the exact place in St Thomas.

ABOUT MONSIGNOR PAUL J. GLENN

Monsignor Paul Joseph Glenn (1893–1957) was an American Catholic priest, philosopher and educator. Holding doctorates in philosophy and sacred theology, he taught philosophy at the College-Seminary of St Charles Borromeo in Columbus, Ohio, where he served as rector and principal from 1945 until his death. Beginning with The History of Philosophy in 1929, he produced the series of textbooks for which he is remembered; his final work, A Tour of the Summa, was published posthumously in 1960. His books endure because they present the Thomistic philosophical and theological tradition with clarity, simplicity and rigour.