Welcome to Insight and Beyond, a two-semester course given at Boston College by Professor Patrick Byrne of the Philosophy Department.

The course is a comprehensive examination of Bernard Lonergan’s magnum opus, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding, as well as certain texts that represent key developments in Lonergan’s thought after the publication of Insight.

The course is divided into two modules:

Module 1 covers PL 772 (Insight & Beyond I), which was taught in Fall 2009.
Module 2 covers PL 773 (Insight & Beyond II), which was taught in Spring 2010.

Professor Patrick Byrne in his office holding Insight

About the course, Professor Byrne wrote:

“Frequently I have been asked, ‘Why isn’t Lonergan better known? Why aren’t his ideas part of the contemporary, mainstream philosophical conversations?’ These questions are usually posed to me by people who have only recently come to appreciate the magnitude of Lonergan’s intellectual achievements, and are puzzled why he is so widely ignored in intellectual circles. Certainly part of the answer has to be the great obstacle posed by his masterwork, Insight. For one thing, it is 770 pages long (in its 1992 edition), and difficult reading throughout. In addition, its first five chapters are devoted to topics of the methods of the modern natural sciences, topics unfamiliar to most readers.”

This course and its video recording were undertaken in the hope of providing beginners (and perhaps also advanced scholars) with entry points and clarifications of Lonergan’s often difficult but valuable contributions. The video recordings of the lectures and student discussions are being made available to the larger community of those interested in exploring Insight.

The course was originally intended also to explore the developments in Lonergan’s post-Insight works on meaning, interpretation, history, ethics, values and religion in the second half of the course. However, class discussion of the 20 chapters of Insight itself required nearly the entirety of the two semesters.

All students shown in this series of video presentations have given their explicit permission to appear in them.

The Lonergan Institute is deeply indebted to Tim Lynch, retired professor of philosophy at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for his tireless work in transcribing the classes. Tim wishes to thank Susan Legere of the Lonergan Institute and his son, David Lynch, for their technical assistance throughout the process.