Prudence is practical wisdom.  It isn’t the same as being smart – you could be smart and not have it.  So what is it?  What is its “anatomy?”  How do we acquire it?  How is it related to the other virtues?  And how is it related to happiness?  Our readings will be drawn from the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the two or three wisest teachers about the subject in history.

Week 1: The anatomy of the virtues in general, and of prudence in particular.

Week 2: How the virtues in general are acquired; how prudence is acquired; the interdependence of the virtues, and how their interdependence affects their acquisition.

Week 3: “Ordinary” and ‘infused” prudence; prudence and the other virtues in relation to “imperfect” and “perfect” happiness.

About our scholar:

J. Budziszewski

Professor of Government and Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin

J. Budziszewski (Ph.D. Yale, 1981) is a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. His main area of research is the natural moral law, in which he is best known for his work on moral self-deception – on what happens when we tell ourselves that we don't know what we really do know. Among his other research interests are moral character, family and sexuality, religion and public life, toleration and liberty, and the unraveling of our common culture.

Budziszewski tries to compose his scholarly work in such a way that it is accessible to general readers, and his work for general readers in such a way that it offers something to scholars. Representative of his books in the former category are Commentary on Thomas Aquinas's Treatise on Law and Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Virtue Ethics (Cambridge), as well as The Line Through the Heart: Natural Law as Fact, Theory, and Sign of Contradiction (ISI Books).

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Representative of those in the latter category are What We Can’t Not Know: A Guide(Ignatius) and On the Meaning of Sex (ISI Books). Presently he is writing a book about happiness and ultimate purpose.

About this year's theme for our programs:

Prudence: a Word, a Virtue, a Theme

This year, following the requests of our students, the Austin Institute has developed its academic programming around a common theme that will unify the activities of the semester.

The focus of our fall programming is on the most underestimated and yet most needed virtue of prudence.

Prudence will also guide our practical choices for our programs. All in-person and/or online programming conform to current health guidelines. We want to keep everyone safe while providing program opportunities during this pandemic.