The line between the mind-independent and the mind-dependent is not sharp.
Given what is classified as evidence, there remains the question of how it is to be classified with respect to other evidence; this is usually worked out prudentially in the course of inquiry.
possible vs. actualesque
-- these overlap, but some things that are actualesque are not actually possible despite their likeness to actual things, and some things that are possible are so divergent from the actual that they are not actualesque.
-- the difference between the two plays an important role in the history of mathematics.
-- consider thought experiments in this light.
the negotiable credit instrument as the key discovery of modern banking
-- this presupposes the invention of the terminal partnership (which allowed firms to have many branches) and the Italian method of accounting (which vastly improved record-keeping).
(1) formation of status by classification
(2) imputation of thing to status by declaration or regulation
(3) use of status as functional means to end
proposition, illustration, confirmation, conclusion
subject, specification, illustration, conclusion
Society may be sustained by relics of positive purpose long after it has begun to ruin.
Ontic/alethic powers in social contexts generate deontic powers.
contextual capabilities of animals and plants within ecosystems
the gospel as public good, nonrivalled and nonexcludable
evidence we-know-not-for-what (unexpected anomalies seem a good example of this)
Guala takes the perfectly controlled experiment to instantiate Mill's Method of Difference and takes it to presuppose a manipulation account of causation, in which we discover new causes against a field of causes already known or at least reasonably suspected.
inductions within the experiment vs inductions from the experiment
Controlled experiment seems to have its privileged place in science largely due to pragmatic convenience, as simplifying the reasoning required to use the experiment.
Part of a scientific field is the formation of an 'archive' of established phenomena. (This is something the early Royal Society understood very well, since they had a profound need for expanding their archive, but tends to be overlooked by people following after, who have not experienced the limitations of lacking a developed archive.)
acts of teaching: administrative, suggestive, instructive, judicative
passions as modes of overlapping the world
'evidence' as an ascription of function to something in a cognitive system
bishop : Moses :: priest : Aaron :: deacon : Hur
Ecclesial teaching is infallibly certain in teaching continually, in teaching universally, and in teaching solemnly.
ANGEL
interior concept of the mind -- concept as word of the heart -- speech by concept becoming intelligible sign (nutus)
CHURCH
Word in itself as received -- intelligible Word in gospel and prayer -- Word in sensible proclamation
MAN
interior concept of the mind -- concept as word of the heart -- speech by framing sensible sign for concept
"When the mind turns itself to actually considering what it habitually possesses, one is speaking to oneself: for the concept itself of the mind is called 'inner word'." Aquinas
In communication our mind is hidden by will and by body.
To say that something is realistic is to say it has noticeable features which are associated with real things, in a more noticeable way than other things do.
"Angels acquire knowledge of things through an influx of divine light; in the same that things themselves come forth into being from God, representations or likenesses of things are imprinted on the angelic intellect by God." Aquinas
God --> physical world --> human objective world
God --> angelic objective world
Our 'objective world depends on the physical world; the angelic 'objective world' depends on what is prior to the physical world, and they know the physical world as it were eminently in its intelligibility and providential role.
sources of Catholic doctrine
(1) that which is taught by all Christians
(2) the consensus of the Fathers in interpreting Scripture
(3) that which is shared by all the liturgies of the apostolic churches
(4) that which is determined by provincial councils received by the whole Church
(5) that which is determined by general councils so as to be received by the whole Church
(6) that which is consistently taught by bishops in communion with the pope
(7) that which is taught by the pope in cooperation with all the bishops
(8) that which is determined by the pope acting on behalf of the whole Church
The method of theological censures served the function of making clear that the Church teaches in many ways and not solely with definitions, but some have been confused by it and have thought the censures themselves were the point. The method of censures fell out of favor, but nothing was put in its place, with the result being confusion and many dubious theories of magisterial teaching.
salvage archaeology
Aristotle's account of magnanimity implies a kind of honor, or something that satisfies the desire for honor, that exceeds anything we usually call honor.
"honor is clearly the greatest of external goods" NE 1123b
'We are in need of salvation.'
We: anthropology
are in need: hamartiology
of salvation: soteriology
International law arises out of diplomacy; diplomacy depends on rites.
"All human thought and opinion contain an arbitrary, accidental element, dependent on the limitations in circumstances, power, and bent of the individual; an element of error, in short. But human opinion universally tends in the long run to a definite form, which is the truth." Peirce
"The interpretant of a proposition is its predicate; its object is the things denoted by its subject or subjects (including its grammatical objects, direct and indirect, etc.).'
Iconic signs may represent either
(1) in simple qualities: images
(2) in relations: diagrams
(3) in representative character: metaphors
the co-phaneron
confession as the sacrament of the fear of the Lord
In Christ, humanity has both subjective and objective union with God.
Friendship is the foundation of civilization.
rites : prudence :: laws : justice
Bureaucracy's effectiveness depends heavily on the agency and responsibility of people who use it.
Self-reliance, despite assumptions people make based on the name, is not individualistic; it is something made possible and built up by a community, in which people deliberately cultivate practices for the purpose of not overburdening others. The self-reliant are in this sense people of maximal public usefulness, each cpaable of pitching something of value into the whole project.
Testimony may suffice to suspect that X is the case even when it is not adequate for knowing or even having a firm opinion that it is the case.
The ecclesial magisterium is commagisterial.
the magisterium of the Church as instrumental teaching agency, as participating teaching authority, as teaching with divine teaching as object
the exitus and reditus of magisterium
principle, purity, purpose
Polyamory in practice seems to tend toward insularity.
Our sign-heritage serves as a reserve of resources and instruments for problem-solving.
It is immensely enlightening to see multiple logical systems working through the same argument.
Memories are not atomistic; they are more like nodes in a network or even overlaps in space.
Many of our pleasures are cases of things such that placent iuxta modum.
Maya abandonment theories
(1) War -- but the 9th century was relatively peaceful (much more so than the previous century)
(2) Drought -- but many of the cities have clear access to major water sources
(3) Environmental Degradation -- certainly occurred, but not throughout the entire region
(4) Volcanic Weather -- changes by abandonments weren't confined to the area of the Maya, although they were sometimes more sporadic and uneven elsewhere; eruption can't explain American Southwest or West Mexico or even Teotihuacan-area abandonments
(5) Pandemic -- would explain a lot, but lacking in positive evidence
(6) Ritual Move -- cities becoming necropolises; this definitely happened on smaller scale -- but why everyone within a a few decades? Could it be Mayan astrology and calendrical divination? This would explain timing (association with long count) but we don't know why they would have done this in particular, and we find abandonment in areas not on Mayan calendar
In a free country with rule of law, the laws must be such as to be tolerable to any significantly large group of the population. This is a weak requirement, but it is often violated, in part because legislation cannot itself guarantee it.
humanitarian traditions as playing an important part in the role of the laity in the Church
Magisterium is always magisterial -- 'ordinary' and 'extraordinary' hav different meaning and scope depending on the 'of' (Church, council, pope, bishop, etc.).
The Church has its magisterium as first student.
"...people are said to teach others inasmuch as, by signs, they manifest to the others the reasoning process which they themselves go through by their own natural reason. And thus, through the instrumentality, as it were, of what is told them, the natural reason of pupils arrives at a knowledge of the things which they did not known." Aquinas (DV 11.1)
"The teacher leads thte pupil to knowledge of things he does not know in the same way taht one directs himself through the process of discovering something he does not know."
"It is the duty of all teachers to make themselves easily understood." ST 2-1.101.2
liturgy as the meditation of the Church as a whole
Tradition, like experiences, gives a grasp of principle.
the passive magisterium as the intrinsic potential of disciple as disciple
conservation laws as signs of seminal reasons
The values that matter for moral life are the values of the prudent person.
The judgment of the Church does not replace individual judgment, but frames it.
The self-disclosure of being is not confined to consciousness; as being is disclosed to consciousness, there is never-ending suggestion that this is but a corner of a broader disclosure.
"An example is most efficacious when it both attracts and guides to the height of virtue." Bonaventure
--- note causal structure here.
Lv 7:20 & the eucharist
Nm 10:10 & commemoration
To say that the Body and Blood appear to the *senses* as bread and wine is not to say that they appear to *consciousness* as such; for instance, to the former the eucharist is not even a memorial, but to the latter it is; in consciousness, the senses are experienced as limited sources of information, however important.
the new heaven and new earth as physicality more directly expressive of grace and glory
All power is manifested through intention and gift.
All art is a conversation of sorts between the artisan and the material, including the quasi-material factors of the environment that aid the disposition of the material.
computer programs as products of art/skill that are echoes of art/skill
Computers are artifacts that imitate productive skill; but we cannot make computers that imitate the other intellectual virtues, except insofar as they have a likeness to productive skill.
the perpetual churn of learning
The family is always already a plural subject.
There are multiple kinds of sovereignty; diplomatic sovereignty is not the same as legislative sovereignty.
"Never was any science invented at any particular time, but from the beginning of the world knowledge has grown slowly and is still not complete at this very age." Pierre Duhem
"At the centre of the human heart, is the longing for an absolute good, a longing which is always there and is never appeased by any object in this world." Simone Weil
