Presence is based on form.
Half of politics is persuading others to classify things a particular way.
'Epistemology' was coined by James Ferrier, Institutes of Metaphysic (1854), as part of the triad epistemology - agnoiology - ontology.
Nowhere is tunnel vision more dangerous than in politics.
Rawlsian arguments against aristocracy usually exaggerate immobility, ignoring institutions (military, Church, guild) that at least complicate the caricature of everyone frozen by birth into a state of life.
It is impossible to establish a system of distribution that eliminates contingency and luck.
Effort should be rewarded, but is not the only, or even always the most important, thing that should be rewarded; nor does it make any sense to demand that all good whatsoever should only be had as a reward.
Rawls's difference principle falsely assumes that we are members of only one society.
Libertarian concepts of self-ownership treat persons as virtual quasi-property.
The oldest extant Manichaean temple is Cao'an in Jinjiang -- it survives because it was eventually turned into a Buddhist temple without much modification, and was for a long time thought to have originally been built as a Buddhist temple, with a slightly unusual representation of Buddha -- but it was unusal because it was originally Mani, and only Buddha later.
From each according to reason, to each according to reason.
"Christ *merited* salvation for his Church, and merit is the contrary of punishment." Chastek
"We individually cannot reasonably hope to attain the ultimate philosophy which we pursue; we can only seek it, therefore for the *community* of philosophers." Peirce
reincarnation as symbol of being freed from or tangled in layers of maya
The swift leap to violence is almost always bad strategy, even when it makes sense operationally.
the deimos and phobos of political contest
inferences of the sort 'possunt, quia posse videntur'
the work-hardening of arguments
In rhetoric as well as battle, effective siegework depends on preparation, that is, on fortification, provision, and watch.
"The existence of things consists in their regular behavior." Peirce
inherence, causation, systemic interrelation, representation, narration, internarration
an architecture of icons
relics as traces of providence ('trace' is perhaps too weak here, given its use in other contexts)
-- relics as commemorations of providential men and women
media of personal commemoration: name, memento (relic), image (icon)
the Church as super-relic
abductive inference as pattern recognition (cf. Peirce in "Pragmatism as the Logic of Abduction", on relation between abduction and perception)
Semo Sancus, the Sabine god of oaths/fides (from whom we get, with some modification, latinate words for 'holy'), was protector of: marriage, hospitality, law, commerce, and contract. He was sometimes possibly identified with Hercules (who also protected oaths), but this is based on limited data.
In the Simonian proto-Gnostic system, the five books of Moses were taken allegorically to represent the five senses.
All S is P & All S is Q -> All S is P&Q
All S is P & No S is Q-> No S is P&Q
All Sis P & Some S is Q -> Some S is P&Q
All S is P & Some S is not Q -> Some S is not P&Q
No S is P & No S is Q -> No S is P &Q
No S Is P & Some S is Q -> Some S is not P&Q
No S is P & Some S is not Q -> Some S is not P&Q
conscience as home, conscience as court
"Distinct cognition is nobler than confused cognition." Scotus
Scotus on concurring causes
(1) causes concurring in part (e.g., two men dragging same body -- they are on par as causes even if not equal in strength)
(2) causes not par
-- (2a) higher cause moves lower such that the lower does not act except by higher
-- -- (2a1) so that the lower receives the 'virtus' from the higher
-- -- (2a2) so that the lower is only moved to act by the higher ('virtus' from elsewhere, higher gives direction)
-- (2b) higher does not move lower but simply has the more complete power to act (with the two together being more complete)
fear of the Lord as practical recognition of his sublimity
solidarity
(1) co-being
(2) so as to contribute to each other's work
(3) with respect to justice, dignity, or peace.
If an object persists through time, this is not because it exists at various times, because existing *at* a time is not the same as existing *through* a time; we see this with the hypothetical of something nontemporal intruding at multiple instants of time.
All physical objects both endure and perdure, because whole and part are not the same in each.
A thing may exist at time t1 according to one measure and at time t2 according to another; this is repeatedly ignored by analytic philosophers.
the categorical imperative applied to families, nations, etc., which can have subjective principles of action
original vs adaptive translation
"'To be concluded' is in rational actions as 'to be moved' is in natural actions." Aquinas
four ways of intending an end
(1) actual: requires actual knowledge and willing of end, including choice of means expressly directed to the end
(2) virtual: requires prior actual willing of the end that influences present act, including choice of means
(3) habitual: possesses habit arising from prior willing, but this does not influence choice of means
(4) interpretative: does not exist, but there are reasons why it would if things were a little different
Commemoration is always for some good serving as an end.
Wisdom has a natural aptitude toward cooperation in contemplation of truth.
glory, formally speaking: clara notitia cum laude
glory, objectively speaking: completion of a being that inclines those who know it to praise (praiseworthy completeness)
Christ on Cross: Church Militant :: Christ in Tomb : Church Patient :: Christ Risen : Church Triumphant
actual design
descendant of design
-- strict: design still controlling
-- loose: design merely residual
presumptive design
Act according to the judgment of that conscience that could at the same time be treated as a universal tribunal.
conscience
- in its authoritative summons
- in its first advisory
- in its accusation
- in its defense
- in its judgment
- in its postjudicial reflection
modes of tribunal: right, erroneous, confused, scrupulous, doubtful, probable
evocative objects (Turkle)
(1) 'Father', 'Son', and 'Holy Spirit' are not synonyms of each other (i.e., not intensively interchangeable).
(2) 'Father', 'Son', and 'Holy Spirit' are not nonsynonymous ways of describing the same (i.e., not extensively interchangeable).
(3) The term 'God', applied to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is intensively & extensively interchangeable.
We are caught up in a creativity more fundamental than we are.
Tradition is projective & project-building.
the three habits involved in knowledge of morality: synderesis, moral science, prudence
imputability -> responsibility (dominion over acts) -> liberty
demonstration proper : condign merit :: demonstration ex convenientia : congruous merit
(indeed, one could figuratively speak of 'meriting' conclusions)
God can grant a dispensation from secondary precepts of natural law that concern creatures insofar as there is a significant difference between acting on one's own and acting as an instrument or agent of another.
means to end
(1) preparative
(2) contributive
(3) regulative
(4) constitutive
Lv 19 as outline of human holiness: right with respect to origin, with respect to attitude in obligations to God, with respect to attitude to other human beings, with respect to observation of the divine law
-- note that these are preceded in Lv 17 & 18 by nondefilement, the impediment-removing condition for holiness, and followed in Lv 20-22 by social safeguards to prevent defilements from entering into community, thus concerning the preventative condition for holiness.
Human reason is not a law unto itself; the law natural to it is a law that implies a law higher than it.
apparent miracle
(1) illusion
-- -- -- (a) physical (mis-sensing)
-- -- -- (b) testimonial (fiction)
-- -- -- (c) psychological (hallucination, delusion)
(2) natural event of unusual circumstances, with no identifiable significance
(3) diabolical work
(4) real divine miracle
(a) There are apparent miracles, in the broad sense of 'apparent'
(b) Apparent miracles that involve no sensory, testimonial, or psychological defects are genuine wonders, in a broad sense.
(c) Genuine wonders (in a broad sense) that are morally or theologically significant are supernatural wonders.
(d) Supernatural wonders that have an efficacy, utility, mode, end, personal involvement, and occasion appropriate to God are divine wonders.
Miracles are rare, but the human heart anticipates them. It is true that this can over-incline people to believe that they have occurred; but it is also true that it makes it impossible to argue that they are intrinsically incredible.
Holiness always involves relation to others.
holiness and belonging to God
The Sign of the Cross as a summary of the doctrines of the Trinity and the Redemption.
Each of he four elements in St. Thomas's definition of law may be exemplified to a greater or lesser degree.
Dooyeweerd's aspects as really capturing domains of human sense-making
poetic justice as an aesthetic anticipation of the juridical
All images are imitations of the Son as Image.
direct conspiracy theories (the ct is specifically about a cabal) vs indirect conspiracy theories (the ct is about soemthing else and uses appeal to assume conspiracy to interpret evidence along a certain line)
-- could be called 'cabal conspiracy theories' and 'opportunistic conspiracy theories'
"A scientific type is a concrete individual object that serves as an objective standard reference for, and realization of, the definition or taxon category it names." Alisa Bokulich
the doctrine of creation -> the modal structure of the world
We require virtue
(a) to give good determination to our capabilities
(b) to enable us to act well easily
(c) to enable us to act well consistently
community unions, like labor unions but for communities
human nature as first title to dominion over things, as regards their use
Another way to say this is that rational use of things for what human life requires is a human right and that other uses, rational or otherwise, presuppose this.
The sign is as it were the signified, the signified is as it were the sign. -- This gives important clue for understanding the phrase 'as it were'.
Authority exists to foster friendship and community.
Everything in a consumer society becomes packaging -- a packaging of politics (spin), a packaging of morals, a packaging of religion.
Human feelings are layers and layers.
correspondence between people as a literary making-common by giving and receiving
