To know logical truths is not to know a list of propositions.
cause: (1) diversity of substance (2) dependence of one on another
conjoined instrumental causes
A. Entitative
-- (1) by contact (pen in hand)
-- (2) by real union (hand of man)
-- (3) by immediate presence (sense for intellect)
B. Causative
-- (4) by action (telephone wire by use)
forces as instrumentalities for eduction of material forms
effect in cause
-- (1) in that the effect is encompassed by the action of the cause
-- (2) in that the effect is like the cause
-- -- -- (a) according to natural being and in some specific nature: univocal
-- -- -- (b) according to natural being but not the same specific nature: equivocal
-- -- -- (c) according to spiritual or intentional being as in rest: idea
-- -- -- (d) according to spiritual or intentional being as in motion or deflux: instrument
"All Vedantic texts proclaim with one voice the majesty of the Supreme as a storehouse of numberless auspicious attributes and free from all imperfections. Of these, (1) some represent it as endowed with attributes as omniscience, lordship of creatures, control of beings from within, and other excellences; (2) others describe it negatively as free from such blemishes as sin and suffering and liability to material embodiment; (3) yet others speak of it as being beyond the reach of mind and words, in order to bring home to us its comparative inaccessibility; (4) many others depict it as the only one that exists so as to make it clear that man must seek it to exclusion of all else; and (5) a few more proclaim it as the Self of all, so that it may be realized as conferring on all else their existence, knowability, activity, etc." Jayatirtha (Nyaya Sudha)
Sacrifice cries out to be interpreted allegorically.
Communities cannot be constituted solely by consent.
God as the always-already-there
"I do really assert that thought is made for being as the eye is made for light." Marcel
In every part of Christ's life there is an aspect of deep mystery, and you err if you think you wholly understand it.
practice-work vs. evaluation-work in pedagogy
-- practice-work requires feedback; evaluation-work requires explanation
-- practice-work needs to be multistage; this is not true for evaluation
-- these are not exhaustive-- e.g., reflection-work (but reflection-work could more easily be integrated with practice-work and evaluation-work than they can with each other)
-- practice-work often tends toward, is instrumental for, evaluation-work
shoddy brilliance
Critical thinking is something more earned than taught.
Liberalism as a political philosophy works well for persons qua citizens, but it often errs by ignoring other aspects of persons, and the relationship of citizenship to them.
the nostalgia for paradise and the drive for symbolization (cf. Barfield)
the wish for paradisial reason
We are capable of mixing and remixing mathematical properties at will, but any given mix commits us to the consequences.
"Amongst the many benefits to be expected from it will be the great benefit of drawing the minds of men to liberty, fraternity, and equality of right; not such as the Freemasons absurdly imagine, but such as Jesus Christ obtained for the human race and St. Francis aspired to.' Leo XIII (Humanum genus 34)
universal destination : private property :: global scope of episcopal authority : diocesan jurisdiction
By reading and hearing Scripture, we take part imaginatively and figuratively with the salvific work of Christ; by the sacraments we take part in it really and symbolically.
Christ as the Torii, the Sandoo, and the Musubi
sacraments as media for exemplar causes; in being the exemplar for the sacraments, Christ is exemplar for us through the sacraments
Love purifies, illuminates, and perfects.
cooperation -> compromise -> persuasion -> manipulation -> coercion
'freedom and friendship applied with good judgment'
Christ's entrusting His mother to John as a symbol of the Church being entrusted to the priests
Liberty is, or should be, an accumulating inheritance, with each generation building new frameworks to make possible new, stable, fulfilling liberties.
A market only exists within a system of mutual communication.
good and bad approaches to tradition & the parable of talents
The Church is not a capitalistic institution; it does not exist to get its membership numbers up but to provide the grace that flows not from itself but Christ, by means it did not invent but received and maintains.
As Christ's physical body ascends in miracle and glory, so His mystical body ascends in sacrament and hope.
faith's commemoration, hope's anticipation, love's union
The sacraments must be in the form of signs because we are sensitive beings, and they must be rites because we are rational and therefore social beings.
propaganda-laundering through the press
"The family is natural preparation for communion with God; this is why the devil attacks it." Robert Cardinal Sarah
(1) If there are actual things, there is something actual that explains those actual things.
(2) Take the totality of actual things. Then, by (1), one of these actual things must explain the totality of actual things.
Claims that the PSR entails necessitarianism seem to confuse different kinds of Boxes. Think about this more.
sufficient reason for x requires Box-for-x, not necessarily a general Box
It is impossible to have a proposition that states the whole contingent truth about the actual world.
groups that are explained by one of their members
necessary randomizations
diffusion of ideas as like diffusion through a mass of cells or compartments
pursuits that are part of common good: art, science, religion, politics, education, medicine, law
out of divine silence / angel-song is born
Scripture as an instrument the Spirit uses to give us a usefulness to divine providence vs. Scripture as an instrument we use to progress toward God
There is no genuine progress except progress toward God.
Hierarchy is the infrastructure for progress; it allows you both to scaffold and to filter rather than just to wander. Human beings, however, can only implement and exemplify it in a limited way.
'Deplatforming' is just the modern version of running people out of town.
(thing -> object) -> value
mycelial networks as economies of survival resources
Scripture comes forth from God through the prophets and apostles, but it returns to God through us.
property rights as ritual connection rights
natural, stipulated, and customary rites
Means of production are always by their nature received.
vis cogitativa as sense of classification
Mutual interaction presupposes the agent/patient distinction; otherwise there is no way to identify mutuality.
causal powers partnering with causal powers in mutual/cooperative effect
The tendency to deny causal asymmetry is usually due to confusing causation and its measurement.
the dignity of the social medium
metaphysics as ancillary to sacred doctrine: (1) propaedeutic (2) supplementary (3) instrumental
strophe : dialectic :: antistrophe : rhetoric
A lottery is still designed. All attempts to understand chance through probability theory start from highly structured, rule-following closed systems, like urns with colored balls.
the church edifice as itself an icon
three conditions for an apta
(1) direct cognitive connection
(2) integrity
(3) adequate communication
"He who knows Brahman becomes Brahman." Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.9
Shankara recognizes two kinds of change with respect to the 'material cause': parinama (change of substance), like milk into cheese; vivarta, like silver into the shape of a ring. The world is said to be related to Brahman like the latter.
Vasubandhu's argument against the world having a single cause:
If things were produced by a single cause, they would arise all at once; but they arise successively.
-- If you appeal to distinct desires, these are not one cause.
-- If you appeal to cooperation with other causes, these are not one cause, and the other causes have infinite regress.
-- If you appeal to divine desire being all at once but its effect successive, there is no reason why a desire not efficacious now should be efficacious later.
Families are both civil and religious entities.
cause ( hierarchical act ( rite ( sign
The poet sometimes gets closer to philosophizing with the many than the philosopher does.
logos-, ethos-, and pathos-grounds for trust
Rhetoric is essential to the rational life because there are cooperative matters on which we must deliberate for which we have no technique or method for determining the choices we must make.
What analytic philosophers usually call induction is what Aristotle called argument from example.
justice/injustice, honor/shame, benefit/harm
-- because all of these are considered in rhetoric and persuasive speeches concerning behavior, they are liable to be confused
-- politicians often take advantage of this confusion by shifting from one to another as convenient
"Wealth as a whole consists in using things rather than owning them; it is really the activity -- that is, the use -- of property that constitutes wealth." Aristotle (Rhetoric 1361a)
gifts as tokens of honor
