Frederick Wilhelmsen

Frederick Daniel Wilhelmsen (1923 – 21 May 1996) was a distinguished Roman Catholic philosopher, noted, both as a professor and as a writer, for his explication and advancement of the Thomistic tradition. He also was an insightful political commentator, assessing American politics and society from a traditionalist perspective and an incisive political thinker, addressing many of the failings of secular-liberal democracy.

Career overview

Wilhelmsen was a professor at the University of Dallas from 1965 to his death in 1996. He also taught at the University of Santa Clara, the Al-Hikma University in Baghdad, the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, and lectured and taught classes at many other universities.

He was a prolific writer. Besides all the book publications listed below, he contributed articles to the following: America, The Angelus, The Commonweal, Faith & Reason, The Grail, The Intercollegiate Review, Modern Age, National Review, The Political Science Reviewer, Triumph, The University Bookman, and The Wanderer, among others.

He also was a founding editor of Triumph, a Roman Catholic monthly that sought the sacralization of American society.

In addition to assessing American politics and society, he was inspired by and extensively reflected upon Spanish politics and society. Alvaro d'Ors, a notable Spanish political philosopher, wrote that Wilhelmsen, an American from Detroit, was "the best interpreter of Spanish traditionalism, a body of political thought also known as Carlism, after King Charles V (Don Carlos)".

Wilhelmsen enjoyed a lively friendship and correspondence with Marshall McLuhan, who spent time at the University of Dallas in the 1970s.

Publications

Author

• Hilaire Belloc: No Alienated Man. A Study in Christian Integration. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1953.
• Man's Knowledge of Reality: An Introduction to Thomistic Epistemology. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1956.
• Omega: Last of the Barques. Westminster, MD: The Newman Press, 1956.
• The Metaphysics of Love. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1962.
• El Problema de la Trascendencia en la Metafísica Actual. Madrid: Ediciones Rialp, S.A. and Publicaciones de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad de Navarra, 1963.
• El Problema de Occidente y los Cristianos. Seville, Spain: Publicaciones de la Delegación Nacional del Requeté, 1964.
• La Ortodoxia Pública y los Poderes de la Irracionalidad. Madrid-Mexico City: Ediciones Rialp, S.A., Colección O Crece o Muere, 1965.
• La Evolución de los Cuerpos Intermedios, su Papel en la Hora Actual. Buenos Aires: Cruz y Fierro, 1967.
• The Paradoxical Structure of Existence. Irving, TX: The University of Dallas Press, 1970.
• Así Pensamos. Madrid: Editorial Tradicionalista, 1977 (published under the pseudonym "Un Requeté").
• Christianity and Political Philosophy. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1978.
• Citizen of Rome: Reflections from the Life of a Roman Catholic. LaSalle, IL: Sherwood Sugden & Company, 1980.
• Persona y Sociedad, ed., Nilda E. Bonansea. San Luis, Argentina: Universidad Nacional de San Luís, 1984.
• Being and Knowing: Reflections of a Thomist. Albany, NY: Preserving Christian Publications, 1991.
• Under Full Sail: Reflections and Tales. Frasier, MI: Alcuin Press, 1996.
• Los Saberes Políticos (ciencia, filosofía y teología políticas). Presentation by Miguel Ayuso. Barcelona: Ediciones Scire, SL, 2006.

Coauthor

• Cicero and the Politics of the Public Orthodoxy. Pamplona: Universidad de Navarra, 1965 (with Willmoore Kendall).
• The War in Man: Media and Machines. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1970 (with Jane Bret).
• Telepolitics: The Politics of Neuronic Man. Montreal and New York: Tundra Books, 1972 (with Jane Bret).

Editor

• Guardini, Romano. The End of the Modern World: A Search for Orientation. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1956 (trans. J. Theman and H. Burke).
• Seeds of Anarchy: A Study of Campus Revolution. Dallas: Argus Press, 1969.

Selected articles

• "Donoso Cortes and the Meaning of Political Power," The Intercollegiate Review, Vol. III, No. 3 (1967).
• "Hilaire Belloc: Defender of the Faith," The Catholic Writer: The Proceedings of the Wethersfield Institute, Vol. II (1989).
• "Sign, Faith and Society," Faith & Reason, Vol. XX, No. 2 (Summer 1994).

References

• Allitt, Patrick. Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America, 1950-1985. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993.
• Ayuso, Miguel. "Frederick D. Wilhelmsen y España". Foreword to R.A. Herrera, James Lehrberger, O.Cist., and M.E. Bradford, eds. Saints, Sovereigns, and Scholars: Studies in Honor of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1993.
• Ewbank, Michael B. "The Difference Diversity Makes". In R.A. Herrera, James Lehrberger, O. Cist., and M.E. Bradford, eds. Saints, Sovereigns, and Scholars: Studies in Honor of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1993.
• Henry, Michael. Introduction to "Christianity and Political Philosophy," by Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2014.
• Herrera, R.A., James Lehrberger, O.Cist, and M.E. Bradford, eds., Saints, Sovereigns, and Scholars: Studies in Honor of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1993.
• Kirk, Russell. "An Adventurer-Professor". In: Confessions of a Bohemian Tory. New York: Fleet Publishing Co., 1963.
• Lee, Patrick. Introduction to "The Metaphysics of Love," by Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2015.
• Lehrberger, O. Cist. James J. "Christendom’s Troubador: Frederick D. Wilhelmsen", The Intercollegiate Review (Spring, 1997): 52–55.
• Lehrberger, O. Cist. James J. Introduction to "The Paradoxical Structure of Existence," by Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2015.
• Marshner, William. Introduction to "Being and Knowing: Reflections of a Thomist," by Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2015.
• Nash, George H. The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America. New York: Basic Books, 1976.
• Nelson, Jeffrey O. "Wilhelmsen, Frederick D.". In: American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia, eds., Bruce Frohnen, Jeremy Beer, and Jeffrey O. Nelson. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2006, pp. 921–923.
• Popowski, Mark D. "The Political Thought of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen." The Catholic Social Science Review 20 (2015): 21–38.
• Popowski, Mark D. The Rise and Fall of Triumph: The History of a Radical Roman Catholic Magazine, 1966-1976. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2011.
• Santa Cruz, Manuel de [Alberto Ruiz de Galarreta]. Apuntes y Documentos para la Historia del Tradicionalismo Español, 1939-1966. Madrid, 29 volumes, 1979-1991, volumes 22-II, 23, 25-I and II, 26 and 27.
• Schaefer, Thomas. "Up from Alienation: The Wilhelmsian Vision of the Human Person". In R.A. Herrera, James Lehrberger, O.Cist., and M.E. Bradford, eds. Saints, Sovereigns, and Scholars: Studies in Honor of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1993.
• Schiller, Craig. The Guilty Conscience of a Conservative. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House Publishers, 1978.
• Unsigned. Frederick Daniel Wilhelmsen (Eminent Professor and Catholic Intellectual): A Tribute from the University of Dallas. Irving, TX: University of Dallas, 1998.

External links

• Faith & Reason Archives
• In Memoriam, Fredrick D. Wilhelmsen: One Year Later
• Works by Frederick Wilhelmsen at Hathi Trust
• Works by Frederick Wilhelmsen at Intercollegiate Studies Institute
• Works by Frederick Wilhelmsen at Unz.org
• Remembering Fritz Wilhelmsen