As always, dashed-off notes, to be taken with a grain of salt.
cooperation with external objects
practical knowledge of the externality of the world (cp. resistance, which can be seen as practical knowledge of independence)
Vagueness is always relative to an end.
Educational systems are systems of trust relationships.
system: list + principled reasons for items in list
beauty as such as a supposition for coherence of the world
the manifestation of unifying appropriateness
condign & congruous dignity
modalities as discovered by analogies
Liturgy, like Platonic Myth as understood by Olympiodorus, appeals to reason (by exhortation) and to spirit (by authoritative proclamation) and to imagination and the passions (by sign and symbol).
Serious and honest questions tend naturally to be pitched at a level lower than what is required to answer them; otherwise there would be scant reason to ask them.
The faith is not based on abstract metaphysics, but if you ask an abstract metaphysical question about it, it is absurd to demand that you not be given an abstract metaphysical answer.
The problem with phyletism is that it concedes too much to Babel and not enough to Pentecost.
the structure of conspiracy-theory thinking and the notion of priestcraft in early modern thought
rational soul: type
rational principles: principles
reasoning: coherence
memory & anticipation: conservation and anticipation
experience/history: assimilation
action: vigor
principles // conservation // vigor
organization // anticipation // assimilation
chronic vigor as (defeasible) sign of charity in doctrine.
Rosmini's celerity as closeness of fit between means and end
Every theodicy has implications for prudence.
viability: Diamond; inevitability: Box
The possibility of union with Truth itself is the precondition for the possibility of reasoning.
appreciation of arguments vs. acceptance of them
gratitude : grace :: justice : law
(cp Hobbes)
approaches to problem-solving
- transformation-of-problem approaches
- desiderata approaches
- trial-and-error approaches
- analogy-to-other-problems approaches
elements of the problem situation
- problem itself: problem aspects; solution requirements
- other problems: analogous problems
- path to solution: prior solving experience (habits of problem-solving)
- solution
Falsifiability and nonfalsifiability are said in many ways; there is not only one kind.
hyperanalogization as heuristic
hyperanalogization with trial as the primary principle undergirding the scientific revolution
measurement as a means of analogizing
dependency length minimization as a rhetorical constraint
exception as organizing hierarchies of universes of discourse
One of the key points of Frodo's pity for Gollum is that Frodo pitied him even without fully knowing how pitiable he truly was.
Even attending a poorly done Mass will teach a lot of good Catholic theology to those who have no prior experience with it.
the overwhelming importance of seeing law as a product of reason (even if sometimes defective reason)
- legislation as complex liberal art
classical utilitarianism & emergent pleasures from different combinations of utilities
honor in ownership, allegiance, and exchange
forms of nonconsonance-with-a-truth that are not inconsistency
We sometimes apply the word 'dignity' to mean 'consonance with dignity'.
immediate vs mediate consonance
direct vs symbolic consonance
sacramentalia and consonance with sacraments
Not all intrinsic goods are equally good.
peace, dignity, sufficiency, liberty, harmony, knowledge, virtue
decisive-battle refutations vs blockade refutations
We do not sense gaps in sensation; at least, they cannot be distinguished from mere changes or differences.
different conceptions of romance as meetaphors for inquiry into external world
gratitude-gifts, homage-gifts, encouragement-gifts, community-gifts
Kantianism as a reflection on unities (subject, series, system)
Romantic glorification of the past is dangerous, but so are most of the ways of avoiding it.
three primary rights of the faithful with regard to the liturgy
(1) that it be genuine and authentic
(2) that it be done appropriately and suitably to Church teaching
(3) that it be appropriate to the sacraments, and their natures, themselves
the sacramental interest of all the participants in the liturgical commonwealth
triadic families of arguments for existence of God:
possibility, essence, idea
partial act (becoming), complete act (being), duration (continuing to be)
intentionality, natural system, design
'karmic linkage' among databases
extensions as parts that are effects
An improvement, considered as such, is a kind of means.
The success of a longterm political movement depends almost wholly on how well those who are in it learn.
When probabilities are credences AND evidential measures AND chances of events AND accuracies of propositions, something is bound to break somewhere.
the five motives for trying to know (St. Bernard, 36.iii/3 on Song)
(1) base curiosity
(2) base vanity
(3) base gain
(4) charity
(5) prudence
The Incarnate Word is the efficient cause of human completion.
Christ's humanity: conjoined instrument :: Christ's sacraments : separated instruments
adoption as participation and image of natural filiation
Christianity begins with the filial piety of Christ.
The acquired virtue of religion is to God as Creator; the infused virtue of religion to God as Our Father. In the first we stand as creatures; in the second we stand as children, not metaphorical but adopted.
matrimony as remedy of concupiscence // Passion and baptism as remedy for original sin
(much stronger than mere parallel, actually)
God as integra causa amoris
Lv 9:6-24 and the Beatific Vision
deification or theosis as opposed to the falsehood of idols
- discussion of the falsehood of idols in Wis, Baruch, etc., as tracing by negative what belongs to our deification by grace
moral exemplarity of Passion // pedagogical influence of matrimony
For Christ's Passion to be morally exemplary, it must exhibit moral satisfaction.
the institution of the sacraments according to the Confession of Dositheus
(1) Baptism: Mt 28:19; Mk 16:16
(2) Chrismation: lk 24:49
(3) Priesthood: Lk 22:19; Mt 18:18
(4) Sacrifice: Mt 26-27; Jn 6:53
(5) Marriage: Mt 9:6
(6) Penance: Jn 22:23;Lk 13:3,5
(7) Holy Oil or Prayer Oil: Mk 6:13
- the Confession also notes apostolic witness for Chrism (2 Cor 1; also notes Dionysius); Marriage (Eph 5) and Unction (Jas 5).
- note Confession on Eucharist: 'being instituted by the Substantial Word, and hallowed by the invocation of the Holy Spirit, is perfected by the presence of the thing signified, i.e., of the Body and Blood of Christ'
the vicarious as instrumental
Tradition is the final cause of sacred doctrine as human act.
To be complete is actually to be according to a mode.
two major issues for any account of Beatific Vision: (1) proportionality (2) medium
grace // seminal reasons
principle, form, relation to another
'Sooth itself a-couths.'
can, could, couth, cunning
tool, build, stuff, lure
unknown cannot be learned from known
(1) boundness to perception
(2) bare difference
unknown can be learned from known
(1) by native means: (a) concept (b) mechanism
(2) by abstraction
decay rates of measurements
the linguistic turn as a form of positivism (language as measurement)
Possession conceptually requires free use or enjoyment. (Although may be potential, future, etc.)
global skepticism as conspiracy theory
human equality: origin, nature, end
Catherine of Siena (Dial 1.7): God distributes virtues diversely, not equally, so that we would work together in virtue.
the relation between humor and puzzlement about causes
pragmatic and moral arguments for God's existence // arguments for existence of free will?
recognizing ourselves as secondary subject, as secondary causes, as secondary unifiers of possibilities
fine-tuning arguments for the Church
Being able to will X entails being able to mean X.
speech acts and social acts as acts intrinsically related to other acts
humor & the ugly that doe snot displace or destroy the beautiful
regularist vs necessitarian acocunts of moral obligations
prima facie duties as ceteris paribus laws
gratitude as quasi-mereological
consent theories of obligation // regularist theories of laws of nature
sacraments as presumptively beneficial public goods
anarchism as a form of skepticism
the image of God with respect to the divine unity
the image of God with respect to the divine trinity
theodicies & convention-breaking in literary improvement
