intrinsic vs extrinsic meaning of a cathedral (e.g., Holy Sepulcher is the greatest of churches in terms of its intrinsic meaning, but it is not as great in its centrality as St. Peter's, which in a sense is the world's basilica)
necessity as an excuse and necessitation for deontic Box
the serious error argument for common ancestor (identical harmful mutations in widely separated species)
- has to consider constraints (mathematical, physical, chemical) that may increase chance of independent repetition or convergence
- somewhat complicated by functional variation over time
Competence requires courage for reasoned risks.
"Everyone knows that man is obliged in many instances to help his fellows with a simple, plain loan." Vix pervenit
legitimate profit in the context of lending
(1) loan without interest receiving free gift of thanks
(2) loan without interest as sine qua condition for participating in profitable contract
(3) loan with interest under legitimate extrinsic title concerning loss, risk, or service
(4) loan without interest with donation or grant for the service of lending
the oak park principle of civilization-building
how much of the work of 'representation' in psychology and neuroscience can be done by appeal to feedback and adaptation?
The machinery of modern civilization does not suffice to uphold civilization.
Spaemann's futurm exactum and Whitehead on God
representation compatibilism // free will compatibilism
inference to the best explanation as the structure of fictional worlds
particular judgment Sir 11:28
general judgment Wis 5:1-2
the functioning of hte peiorem rule for hybrid modal logics
Scripture as vocabulary-building
the Election of Israel as a historical precondition for speaking well of God
Holy Scripture
(1) Author: God as remote author, man as proximate (instrumental) author
(2) Exemplar: Divine Ideas as remote exemplar, Divine providential scheme in history as proximate exemplar
(3) Formal Character: Text as Tradition
(4) Material Character: Text qua sign with respect to its object (spiritual sense), text qua sign with respect to that by which it is a sign (literal sense)
(5) End: historical purpose of text as proximate end, salvation-historical purpose of text as remote end
-- all together thus constituting the text as disposed for teaching and grace (as instrumental mover)
-- which then is actually used as instrument for teaching and grace by the Holy Spirit as prime mover
tropological sense : anticipatory good :: anagogical sense : culminatory good
jury authority as an essential part of a healthy judiciary
pramanas as specific cases of ways of teaching (the kind that validate knowledge)
the pramanas as operative in the sacraments as signs
Schopenhauer's claim that the works of poets pasture peacefully side by side shows a remarkable ignorance of poetry.
Nationalism tends naturally to encourage revivals of paganism.
Hope is not merely a matter of probabilities.
a pramana as a stable layer of our experience of the world
the clerical aspects of logic and mathematics (keeping track of relevant things)
Metaphor often depends crucially on discernibility between one thing and another. Indeed, arguably it always does -- otherwise it would often be false literal speech.
chrismation // consecration of altar
"To walk straight to God is to walk in love." Cabasilas
arthapatti as a major principle in the interpretation of art
brevity as itself a form of pedagogical power
Empires generally excel at short-term solutions and little victories.
Hedonism is a philosophy of treachery.
an account of 'credence' that are more like voting than like balancing (nothing prevents such an account)
The Church is infallible in its general sense because it is united to the Word, and is infallible in the articulation of that sense because it is moved by the Spirit. It is authoritative even where not infallible because in reflecting on itself it reflects on a sign of higher things and on an icon whose Exemplar is in heaven, one that was caused to exist by divine authority to show divine things.
Trust is an excellent thing when armored with caution.
the maieutic work of the Holy Spirit
practical politics as the layering of reasons people already have
Consensus in physics is based on three things: deference to mathematics, assumption of the relevance of the mathematics, broad agreement on kinds of acceptable evidence.
methods as systems of practical maxims
Practical situations partly determine one's assumptions for one.
retaliatory vs presuppositional resistance to a position
Full rectification of names requires recognizing relation to exemplars.
Christ as tianxia zhicheng
Social interaction requires relatively little actual prediction of the behavior of our fellow human beings. What we don't bother to predict, or don't expect to be able to predict, or don't think it in any way possible to predict, is a far larger amount than the things we occasionally try to predict.
Moral self-culture is more about the present than the future.
Determinism tends to force a spectator-centered ethics.
free will compatibilism in psychology // design compatibilism in biology
It's interesting that we have mereological analogues for so many positions on mind and body. INdeed, we often talk about the problem mereologically. But totum in toto et in qualibet parte raises an interesting set of questions about our grounds for doing so. Likewise, we get into questions of alternative kinds of parts -- virtual, potential, hylomorphic, subjective.
Retorsion arguments are sensitive to the precise characterization of the universe of discourses.
New heritage grows from the ruins of old heritage.
When hazard is everywhere, anyone may fail; but the timid will certainly do so.
afterlife myths as different representations of philosophical posterity in the history of philosophy
Rigorous grasp of first principles can only be hardwon.
"The gates of the Mysteries are far more august and beneficial than the gates of Paradise." Cabasilas
It is one of the most important facts of human society that if something is considered an important value, or an important moral guidelines, people will try to use it to hide and 'spin' their evil deeds. The higher the thing, the more terrible the evils people try to mask with it.
| Scottish common sense theory of evidence | Nyaya-influence pramana theory |
|---|---|
| external and internal sense | pratyaksa |
| memory | smrti |
| causal inference | anumana |
| uniformity | arthapatti |
| analogy | upamana |
| testimony | sabda |
-- abhava would be folded under the others for Scottish
-- first principles and demonstration would be folded under others for Indian
gravity (boundary-fleeing) and levity (boundary-tending) in dynamic mereotopology
Upamana cannot reduce to mere perception, inference, testimony, or memory of likeness. therefore it seems we should see it as transfer of likeness to the new. Since it always involves descriptions, this suggests that it is in particular a transfer of description involving likeness. Since all pramanas are about actual existence, it is a way of linking actual existents, and the knowledge is of the link itself, newly recognized between this actual existence and others. Thus upamana is language-based classification (this is quite clear with dharmamatropomana, but is also found in other forms).
prudence as intrinsically maieutic
Each pramana yields a different sort of sameness.
self-governance, trade, security from violence
What makes something a tally? One possibility: a tally is an indefinite positing operation (indefinite in the sense that something is posited without knowing more than that). A difficulty here is that distinct tallies must posit distinct somethings. A possibility: a tally is a successor relation.
ringing the changes of conceptual variations
Dialogue without self-reflection is deceit.
Newman's Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent as an argument beforehand against the Principal Principle (the sun rising tomorrow, etc.).
flaw-finding and value-finding aproaches in argument
Truth is friend to truth.
- a religious order concerned with the press, the way some are concerned with schools and with hospitals
History has taken a wrong year every year since the dawn of the human race. Fortunately, that is not the only thing to be said.
polytheism as tending in practice to the principle of might makes right
the seven words of the Cross as summing up the Jewish experience in the history of Israel
People always try to solve philosophical problems by politics, whether it be that of the polis, or the patria, or the imperium, or modern liberalism.
The catholicity of the Church is the catholicity of Christ, its unity is the unity of Christ, its sanctity is the sanctity of Christ; but its apostolicity is its being from Christ and of Christ, proceeding from Him.
the one who is Christ sends || the many are sent as one
the holy Christ sanctifies || sinners are sanctified
the implicate universality of Christ || the explicate universality of the Church
apostolicity provides the links
(the apostolicity of the Church establishes a doctrine of appropriation for the unity, sanctity, and catholicity shared by the Church and Christ -- the unity, co-sanctity, and co-universality of the Head and the Body)
We reflect on ourselves by introspection, by inference, and by prediction.
three theories of corporate bodies (Michael Phillips)
(1) concession: corporations are artifacts of positive law
(2) aggregation: corporations are a nexus of contracts among individuals
(3) real entity: corporations are emergent agents
To be a citizen is not merely to be under a law to but also to contribute to a good the law serves.
Since human beings need the invisible to represented through the visible, such representation is necessarily part of our service of God.
Kantianism as a dualism of everything
(1) The invisible is cognized through the visible.
(2) The obligatory is a sign of what is sublime.
(3) The supernatural works through the natural.
prayer as the liberal art of faith
The solemnities of the Church are sensible representations and expressions of the intrinsic unity, sanctity, catholicity, and apostolicity of the faith.
Icons represent Christ in the saints and both express and occasion the prayers of the Church.
mimesis and catharsis as part of the normal functions of tradition
- note the role of the notion of hubris in heresiology, as well as pity and fear
