Frederick D. Wilhelmsen 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 a political commentator, assessing American politics and society from a traditionalist perspective and a political thinker, addressing what he perceived to be the failings of secular-liberal democracy. He principally 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 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 ". Wilhelmsen enjoyed a lively friendship and correspondence with Marshall McLuhan, who spent time at the University of Dallas in the 1970s.
Books
Author
Hilaire Belloc: No Alienated Man. A Study in Christian Integration. New York: Sheed and Ward, Inc., 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. The Paradoxical Structure of Existence. Irving, TX: The University of Dallas Press, 1970. Así pensamos. "Published under the pseudonym "Un Requeté") Madrid: Editorial Tradicionalista, 1977. 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, Publishers, 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 . Presentation by Miguel Ayuso. Barcelona: Ediciones Scire, SL, 2006.
Guardini, Romano. The End of the Modern World: A Search for Orientation. Trans. J. Theman and H. Burke. New York: Sheed and War, 1956. Seeds of Anarchy: A Study of Campus Revolution. Dallas: Argus Press, 1969.
