Dashed Off XIV

filters as intermediate causes

the Spirit of recollection (Jn 14:26, 15:26,16:13-14) -- anamnesis/reminiscentia

the failure of the historical Jesus project to come to grips with the palaetiological problem

Isaiah 53 & Wis 2

undesigned coincidence as related to multiple attestation

All evidence is evidence only in the context of some kind of causal reasoning.

nobility & the overcoming of oppositions between abstract and concrete (cp immateriality)

manifestation & capability for it -> doing and enduring -> subject/object

corruptible-or-incorruptible as transcendental disjunction

"it is pleasing and enjoyable for one who knows the cause to observe how the likeness of the cause shines forth in the effect." Aquinas CT 1.170

diachronic goods & progressive goods

An adequate epistemology will also have to be a philosophy of education. (Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes all clearly meet at least this bar.)

"We never ascribe twoness or otherness in the absence of any perceived distinction at all." Blanshard
"Numbers themselves are always assumed in application to mark more than numerical differences."

Cheering is not purely emotive. To cheer at least implicates that the occasion of the cheering is something at which to cheer; and if you cheer at something loathsome, I may not only disapprove but disagree.

The category of causation is required for:
(1) an appropriate account of the external world
(2) an appropriate account of control
(3) an account of what it is to understand the world
(4) an account of the use of (2) and (3) with respect to (1) in experimentation and analysis of experiment

"...we reject an antecedent as the cause until it achieves approximate identity with the effect." Blanshard

conservation principles as guides for causal inquiry

As all things subject to divine providence are measured by eternal reason, all things partake in some way in eternal reason, namely, insofar as they are intelligible.

Authority cannot be determined entirely independently of merit, although the connection may be indirect.

A general council may have special eminence in point of unity, in point of sanctity, in point of catholicity, or in point of apostolicity, as long as it is not lacking eminence in the other notes.

Note that Palamas identifies (150ch70) divine energies with the Gifts.

Aquinas Cdn 2.2 on divine energies
"insofar as God is in Himself, He is hidden to us"

sacrament: one principle (Christ), two constituent aspects (matter and form), three qualities (power, wisdom, goodness; or perfection, purity, sanctity), four notes (unity, sanctity, catholicity, and apostolicity)

principled tolerations of defects in models

much of temptation consists in distraction from higher good.

interest-constraints on the formulation of positions

The pervasiveness of religion is one of the reasons that freedom of religion must have protections from government intrusion.

distraction : mind :: chance : nature

sensations as natural signs

three-dimensional overlap and permeation
three-dimensional overlap and the principle that two bodies cannot occupy one place

questions as cooperative propositions

"The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue; and if this cannot be inspired into our people in greater measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty." John Adams, letter to Zabdiel Adams 21 June 1776

The instrumental goodness of something requires that it have at least some features that are intrinsically good.

philosophy as the epic of the noblest things, the epic of the sublime

apparent good vs real good in Austen's novels

Every experiment builds on a more fundamental set of interactions with the physical world.

Free choice arises from our ability to distinguish real good from merely apparent good.

'good is to be done and sought, bad avoided' as applied to inquiry

What is not understood has not yet been proven.

the formation of arguments around irritants, like pearls

the durability of a claim or argument (its capacity for enduring serious, searching discussion among honest inquirers interested in truth)

Anything compared may be considered insofar as it is a measure or template for other things and thus as quasi-abstract. Anything abstract may be considered in hypothetical instance or example and thus as quasi-concrete.

The sacraments are not mere duties to God but rites in which God takes part.

In Zwingli, the Eucharist is entirely an act we do: "when you comfort yourself thus" "when you do internally what you represent externally".

pelagianism of the sacraments

The Eucharist is not merely a memorial of Christ's death, although it is that; it is a memorial of Christ. We must not merely remember him as a man on a Cross but as the Word made flesh, who died and rose and sits at the right hand of the Father, thence to judge of the livign and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

theories as effects of the world (the causal analysis then looks a lot like that for testimony)

quasi-merit structures in society

the Church as instrument of providence, as instrument of salvation, as bulwark, as moderating influence

Enoch as an inspiration for repentance Sir 44:16
the Minor Prophets and hope Sir 49:10

Theories of reference need to be considere din the context of theories of proof, since the two surely affect each other.

What before/after (temporal) accounts of causation get right is the directionality of act/potency, one particular version of which is measured by time. As Shepherd implicitly recognizes, however, the act/potency of composition is overlooked by these accounts, and thus one kind of real causation.

relics as part of the public prayer of the Church

"the person is a good towards which the only proper and adequate attitude is love" Wojtyla

convergence of evidence vs preponderance of evidence

the tendency to substitute diagnoses for argument

eclecticism -> analogies & aporia -gt; higher abstraction -> systematization

The justification and merit of Christ fully suffice for our ustification because they are not wholly external to us; the justice of Christ is participable, so that we may be made justice in Him. Our merits likewise are the mercy of God, for His justice is ours, by union with Him.

We regularly see subalternation of merit to merit in hierarchical social relation s(e.g., parent-child, ruler-subject, etc.): meriting so that others may merit.
the hierarchy of meritorious causes

promise as a foundation of merit
victory as a foundation of merit
(it seems common good would be relevant to birth)

Jeremiah 38:1-13 // Passion and Resurrection

Note the moral design argument in the Inference Section of the Milinda Panha

the modern tendency to confuse reason with analogues of reason

Sin corrupts loves.

religious painting : religious song :: icon : chant
(& thus thereis an intermediate 'hymn-stage' of painting)

To be an external thing that I can use is to be useful to common good.

'something like this' premises in arguments

Diamond: feasibilty, authority, just cause, [proportional preparation]
Box: last resort, declaration, right intention, proportionality

intelligibility as a "non-natural property"
intelligibility // permissibility
intelligibility intuitionism // moral intuitionism

Reason can do extraordinary things; but it cannot stand against the gates of hell.

the distinction between the really intelligible and the apparently intelligible

The cowardice of external action is sometimes just a matter of weakness; that of internal action is often a terrible corruption.

In a hierarchy, the lesser echoes the greater.

the fantasy genre as an intensification of metaphors

free choice as the structure of inquiry

A pattern is that which a mind can select out, thus the problem with trying to explain the mind entirely by patterns.

principles of church architecture: (1) order and wise planning; (2) reverence due to God; (3) durability; (4) moderation.

the interpenetration of saintly aspirations

Genuine originality derives from the authority of truth.

We all die by parts.

marriage as a participation of providence, as a way of recognizing personhood, as a component of moral society

analogy of our experiences of the sublime in art and in nature -> a sublimity-based design argument

How wholehearted even fully sincere repentance can be varies according to mood; this is why so many saints have asked for the gift of tears.

principles of good lectionary
(1) feasts of Our Lord, Our Lady, and important saints (esp. Apostles and saints with special foundational roles) take precedence over other readings.
(2) Scripture serves sacrament (in the context of the lectionary); while scripture has intrinsic value, its value is instrumental qua lectionary.
(3) The lectionary should assist in preserving and clarifying the articles of the faith.

Secular consciousness attempts to subjugate religious consciousness, treating itself as existing for itself, and religious consciousness as also existing for secular consciousness. Religious consciousness must take this into account, but it does this only by translating or transfiguring its secular labors into a holy work; and in the holy work the religious consciousness recognizes something that does not exist for secular consciousness, cannot exist for secular consciousness, transcends it in value and fundamentality entirely. And in this recognition lies the recognition that religious consciousness, at least in performing the holy work, does not exist for secular consciousness.

HoP and contingent approximation of necessary relations between arguments

Comfort is like sweet syrup: its value is great in small doses at the right time, but beyond a certain point it does not scale well.

shared beauty // common good

In natural languages in normal circumstances we work with genera of arguments, neighborhoods or families of arguments taken in functional terms.

the corporal works of mercy understood allegorically, tropologically, and anagogically

inference to the best explanation as quasi-aesthetic

enjoyment of tragedy // enjoyment of challenge (enjoyable difficulty)