Wisdom has been the desire of history's greatest men since the world began.  King David, in 1000 BC, taught his son Solomon,

"Get wisdom...take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her. She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown."

This pursuit of wisdom is known as "Philosophy" and different philosophies represent different ideas of what wisdom is and how wisdom is attained.

We have the advantage of being spared the need to answer these questions for ourselves  since the Lord Jesus Christ, in  His own life and teaching and through His Church has answered them for us.  Our duty is to work to understand their answers and order our lives by them.

Contrary to what some might expect, the Catholic wise men have not discouraged the study of history's virtuous pagan philosophers.  The teachings of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, as well as those of Cicero have been respectfully commended to us by the doctors of the Church. 

In the CLAA's Philosophy program, we study Philosophy in three traditional divisions.  First, we study Physics, or Natural Philosophy, which consists in the analysis of the natural world.  Second, we study Metaphysics or the philosophy of the supernatural, which follows upon the study of the natural world.  Lastly, we study Ethics, or Moral Philosophy. 

Details on these courses will be made available as CLAA students prepare for them.  Currently, with our students making progress through their studies in classical language and reasoning there are no students ready for the study of classical philosophy.  These studies are locked to those who do not have the key that opens them and that key is the art of Reasoning, known as Logic or Analytics.  The art of Reasoning is the method by which these subjects are examined and understood.  We must not admit an artificial notion of philosophy as many modern schools do to cater to students who have not earned the privilege of studying philosophy truly, but patiently lay the foundation and leave these studies for their proper time.