Vincent Ryan Ruggiero

VINCENT RYAN RUGGIERO, M.A., is Professor of Humanities Emeritus, State University of New York, Delhi College. Prior to his twenty-nine year career in education, he was a social caseworker and an industrial engineer. The author of twenty-one books, his trade books include Warning: Nonsense Is Destroying America and The Practice of Loving Kindness. His textbooks include The Art of Thinking and Beyond Feelings, both in 10th editions and available in Chinese as well as English, Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues, and A Guide to Sociological Thinking. His latest book, Corrupted Culture: Rediscovering America's Enduring Principles, Values, and Common Sense, is available at Amazon and in bookstores. Professor Ruggiero is internationally recognized as one of the pioneers of the Critical Thinking movement in education. Earlier in his career, he published essays in a variety of magazines and journals, including America, Catholic Mind, The Sign, The Lamp, and Catholic World.

How Did Trump Treat His Ghostwriter?

A friend of mine recently referred me to a New Yorker article entitled “Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter Tells All” and asked whether I thought the story would hurt Trump’s chances of winning the presidency. After reading the article, I concluded that it...

Eye of the Beholder

If you had a choice between a movie that was rated 5% (out of 100%) and one rated 84%, which would you choose? That’s a silly question. Surely you’d choose the one with the higher rating. But wait a moment. Suppose both ratings were for the same...

Ted Cruz’s Missed Opportunity

Senator Ted Cruz is a born-again Christian and the son of an Evangelical pastor who exhorts his congregation to “tithe mightily” and to be “biblically correct.” The senator has ignored the first exhortation and missed a singular opportunity to...

James Comey’s Costly Blunder

FBI director James Comey confirmed that Hillary Clinton acted “with great carelessness” in handling classified government information and was untruthful in a number of related matters. Yet he decided not to recommend prosecuting her. The reason that...

What Happened To Catholicism?

Catholics old enough to remember how different the Church was fifty or so years ago often wonder what happened to change it. The most common answer is the Second Vatican Council happened. But that answer raises more questions: What happened at that...

The Voters’ Dilemma

It is no exaggeration to say that the 2016 election will be one of the most important in many decades. The issues are numerous, ranging from budget deficits and the record national debt to jobs and taxation, immigration policy, military...

Trump’s Intellectual Difficulties

Since Donald Trump began campaigning for the presidency a year ago, his name-calling and denigration of individuals and groups and self-congratulatory proclamations have been continually reported and criticized. (See, for example, “The GOP Nightmare...

Stimulating Catholic Intellects: Part III

In Parts I and II, I noted that with Christianity under attack from secularism, selfism, socialism, and Islamism, Catholics need to be engaged in its defense. Their arguments should focus on reason more than faith because that is the focus their...