This begins the notebook that was started in August 2021.
being insofar as intellect conforms: truth
being insofar as will tends: good
good insofar as intellect conforms: beauty
truth insofar as intellect tends: intelligibility
manifestative vs assimilative facets of truth (verum in se vs verum qua objectum)
Every argument for God's existence is a kind of compendium picture of human intellectual life.
Holiness has weight; it presses down like a burden.
conformity of being to being
(1) natural resemblance
(2) adequation of mind and thing
(3) sacramental character
Trusting your intuition is an excellent first step; relying on your intuition makes you an idiot.
(1) We can only apply probabilities to chance events in light of the causes they presuppose.
(2) Probabilities are relative to the causes assumed.
(3) Frequentist inferences assume like causes.
Recognizing the phenomenal as phenomenal requires recognizing the noumenal.
Some people talk about 'faith' when they just mean making a decision.
Faith, hope, and love are all things meant to be shared. Faith is shared in possession, hope in convergence, and love in gift.
Reading books is dangerous if you are not also trying to be virtuous.
A wave of irreligion inevitably destroys more pieties than merely religious ones.
"The first necessity of a State is that it should be durable." Henry Maine
"Democracy is Monarchy inverted, and the modes of addressing the multitude are the same as the modes of addressing kings."
The Church is a sacrament of intimate union with God by being a true and complete society that is bound together by the Holy Spirit, sufficient in itself for its end.
To be apostolic is to be in some measure Petrine.
Church as instrument of salvation & justification -> societas perfecta = people of God
Church as instrument of sanctification -> general or universal sacrament
Church as water : perfecta societas :: Church as blood : Mystical Body :: Church as spirit : general sacrament
the formal means-viability of each thing
dependent origination -> final causes
Action, as such, involves at least a relative restriction to a region of possibilities.
(1) Action is actuality in, to, or with something.
(2) This something must be selected.
(3) The source of the selection may be the actuality itself, which requires that the actuality have cognitive ability to assess possible somethings.
(4) Or it may be a nonunified cause (chance), which requires that the action not be regular.
(5) Or it must be selected for that actuality by another actuality, which ultimately must be cognitive.
-- (5a) This could be because it is a matter of natural necessity, in which case the source of the selection is the source of the actuality, and there cannot be an infinite regress.
-- (5b) Or it could be a free use of it.
That to which any change tends is that to which it tends because it is at least part of that to which some prior thing tends.
We usually explain tendencies by recognizing that they are part of other tendencies.
Every society needs some source of stability.
Institutions are structured by information problems and motivation problems.
Proper use of negation requires direct or indirect regard for truth.
Institutions are not built entirely out of expectations.
the hierarchical acts as acts of tradition
"How vast is the Highest Deity, ruler of men below." Classic of Poetry
jurisdiction as legally delineated scope of assistance, for the use of legal and political resources
Sooner or later, in one form or another, all philosophy comes to the Catholic Church.
Infused virtues are given by grace but must be exercised to be maintained and retained.
radication of acquired virtue: facility
radication of infused virtue : ardor or fervor
medium of exchange : market :: legal tender : state
our own ineffability to ourselves
copying as a more fundamental kind of relation than constant conjunction
Kant's postulates as principles of civil theology
-- absurdum practicum is certainly relevant in this context
All human being are oriented by practical reason itself toward the common good of humanity, and therefore human beings have a duty to act in accordance with this human good, both individually and collectively as a whole. The regulation relevant to such a common good, however, cannot be that of a political community, whose legislation is extrinsic. Thus there must be a law, intrinsic to reason, appropriate for human common good, guiding the individual and the whole of humanity. But no individual can on their own act appropriately to human common good with respect to obligations of the whole of humanity. Therefore we are rationally required to act on the assumption of a governing power for the whole of humanity that can coordinate, and, under this governor, a cooperative means of coordination. This means must be a united society, freely and firmly concerned with moral integrity.
Bin Song on views of Taiji
-- Ricci argues, on the basis of Zhu Xi's account, that the Supreme Ultimate must be dependent on others, not self-sustaining, because it is just the general name for all kinds of principles.
-- Yang Tingyun (d. 1627) gives a similar argument: Supreme Ultimate resides in things, therefore cannot give rise to things; thus there must be a Lord of Heaven.
-- Huang Zhen counters to this by identifying Taiji with Tao, so that all human and cosmic things depend on it, 'the Way cannot be left for even a moment' (Zhong Yong). Thus Taiji is self-sustaining, not dependent.
-- Likewise, Chen Houhuang, who argues that Taiji is the origin of principle, so it cannot be a principle among others. "Pulling back, it has no beginning, so it can begin things. Pushing forward, it has no end, so it can complete things."
Mou Zongsan: "The Way of Heaven is high above, and thus is transcendent. When the Way of Heaven runs through humans it exists inside humans and becomes human nature. Then the Way of Heaven is immanent."
Tu Wei-ming, Centrality and Commonality: "It is true that human nature is imparted from heaven, but human beings are not merely creatures and heaven alone does not exhaust the process of creativity. In an ultimate sense, human beings, in order to manifest their humanity, must themselves fully participate in the creative process of the cosmos."
tianren heyi: continuity of Heaven and humanity
Zhuan Zi takes Dao to be beyond/before Taiji.
Wang Bi (vs. Laozi): Nonbeing cannot be explained saved with sayings about being.
Han Kangbo: Supreme Ultimate is term for that to which no term can be applied; as we cannot name it, we conceive of it in terms of the ultimate point to which being extends.
The intelligibility of anything presupposes that it not be contradictory and that it have being through something actual, either itself or some other thing. Were nothing to exist, nothing would be intelligible; the latter is not possible, so necessarily something actually is. The whole of what is intelligible requires an actuality through which it is given, which is necessary.
intellect
-- direct: being
-- reflective: true
will
-- itself : good
-- as known by intellect: beautiful
Fall of Judah : Passion :: Babylonian Exile : Tomb :: Return from Exile : Resurrection
-- NB that this fits very well with Lamentations and Ezekiel
Ezra : sacramentality of Church :: Nehemiah : sociality of Church
"Genuine and positive equality, like true liberty, is manifested and realized in that solidarity or fraternity which makes many to be as one." Soloviev
Prudence is necessary because we need to adjust our virtues as our circumstances change.
research as artificially structured learning
Everybody has heaps of superficial knowledge even about things about which they specialize; all deep knowledge and understanding occurs for us in a sea of superficial knowledge.
