Story by Lillian Syren, Culture Editor
Everyone is familiar with the concepts of truth, beauty, and goodness, but how many people understand their formal role as the transcendentals in our daily lives? The transcendentals are features of reality which are found in everything, and in Catholic philosophy, their source is God. His absolute divine simplicity makes it so that all the attributes are united in Him, thus establishing their interconnectedness. In the material world, beauty surrounds us in things like nature and art; truth dwells within the calculations of mathematical equations and their singular answers; goodness lies in human acts. These major instances, however, do not box each transcendental into a small category, rather, they overlap in any instance where even one appears. The transcendentals are truly found in everything, and they cannot be separated in any way. To lack one is to lack them all, which is why it is so incredibly important to understand how they operate in both the metaphysical and material world.
This spring semester, the departments of Philosophy, History, Catholic Studies, and AQ Writing Center co-hosted the 2024 Symposium on the True, Good, and Beautiful. Students and faculty alike came together to present their academic and artistic work.
The Symposium had the pleasure of welcoming the college’s president, Dr. Alicia Córdoba, who gave a blend of an artistic and musical presentation titled “The Image Within the Music: What You Can See While Listening to Bach”, accompanied by Todd Wilkie and Madelaine Lane.
The symposium started with Mass in the Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Chapel and then moved to the stunning Brookby Estate for the presenters. The program of events had an incredibly wide range of mediums and subjects—from biology to poetry, economics to liturgical prayers, the program perfectly encapsulated the synthesis of the true, good, and beautiful in every aspect of life. Throughout the symposium, several students and faculty performed songs, both self-composed and selected masterworks, adding a strong alternate perspective of the transcendentals. In the presentation room, student artworks were featured on display as another testimony to the harmony and interconnectedness of the transcendentals in hands-on work.
The program overall was such a beautiful reflection of the true, good, and beautiful found in the academic and artistic worlds of both faculty and students here at Aquinas, and we are eager to see the topic and fruits of next year’s symposium. It was a huge success this year, and we hope that this tradition will continue throughout the years!
The Saint 