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The Thomistic Institute

Flirting with Happiness: Aquinas on the Good Life – Fr. Alan O'Sullivan, O.P.

The Thomistic Institute

Fr. Alan O’Sullivan unpacks Aquinas on the good life, explaining why wealth, power, fame, and pleasure cannot be our ultimate happiness and how true beatitude is found in virtuous activity ordered to God. This lecture was given on October 23rd, 2025, at Trinity College Dublin. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speakers: Fr. Alan O’Sullivan, O.P. (Trinity College) is currently the chaplain of Trinity College, Dublin. He is a member of the Irish province of the Order of Preachers who studied at Blackfriars, Oxford. Keywords: Aquinas on the Good Life, Beatitude and True Happiness, Epicureanism, Limits of Wealth Power and Fame, Pleasure and the Highest Good, Restlessness and Desire for More, Virtue and Ordered Pleasure, Worldly Goods, Ultimate Happiness

Categories
Religion & Spirituality • Christianity
Society & Culture • Philosophy

About Podcast

The Thomistic Institute exists to promote Catholic truth in our contemporary world by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians at universities, in the Church, and in the wider public square. The thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Universal Doctor of the Church, is our touchstone.

The Thomistic Institute Podcast features the lectures and talks from our conferences, campus chapters events, intellectual retreats, livestream events, and much more.

Founded in 2009, the Thomistic Institute is part of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.