Fools, Fools, and More Fools

The post on the Ship of Fools at "Giornale Nuovo" reminds me of this delightful essay on the twenty or so different kinds of fools that Aquinas discusses in his works, from the insipiens to the stolidus to the stupidus to the fatuus. Alas, I am something of a vecors at times; fortunately, however, I am not incrassatus. One of the terms, inanis, empty-minded, is related to the word used in the Latin of Aquinas's citation from I Corinthians: "If Christ did not rise, our preaching is empty (inanis), and our faith is empty (inanis)". Helpfully, the essay ends with Aquinas's remedy for folly of every kind: mercy, and (in particular) prayer, instruction, and advice.