theistic argument from evil -- SCG 3.71.10
"Ecclesia militans a triumphanti Ecclesia per similitudem derivatur." SCG 4.76.5
All philosophy in its perfection becomes something shared.
"Conflicts that do not arise organically will never be resolved fruitfully." MacIntyre
nonexistence proofs
(1) intrinsic impossibility
(2) extrinsic impossibility
(3) universal lack of indication
human nature -> civil society -> principles of civil theology
human rights as elements in civil theology
The survival of the Jews must be either (a) luck or chance, (b) by product of some durable feature plus luck, or (c) providential (which may include subordinate chance or byproduct elements).
The general thrust of society seems to be toward more restricted access, as the free gains a price, as the unregulated becomes the regulated, as the new becomes structured by custom, as the low bar becomes through competition a high bar. It takes a great deal to overcome this, and attempts often backfire (as when making public pay toilets free led to fewer public toilets).
virtue as a voluntary nature completing our natural volition
the combinatorial variation approach to experiment vs. the hypothetical prediction approach to experiment
the notion of 'a study' in scientific investigation -- not synonymous with experiment or observation (can include both and multiple forms of both)
Educational institutions come in ecosystems.
the curious phenomenon of condemnation by counterfactual (they would have done bad thing if something different had happened)
hard fact / soft fact distinction for modalities other than time
Most of what we call belief is a sort of quasi-ritual of affirmation.
The drive to religious unification is almost universal, but there are widespread differences in views of appropriate means, with the three most common being:
(1) conversion
(2) abstraction
(3) supersession
To which we can add the view that no human means will suffice but that the unity is eschatological in some way:
(4) consummation
All interpretation of Scripture depends on either precedent, allegory, or hypothesis.
Most monotheisms are insightful, and often show the marks of religious genius. Christianity is unusual in that its monotheism is not what one would expect from genius. The two possibilities are that it is less than genius (e.g., a byzarre hybrid of monotheism and polytheisms sprung up by happenstance and freak accident) or more than genius.
Publication is fancy dress; it is study that matters.
All political movements have their rodeo clowns.
Either (1) scientific progress has a terminal point; or (2) it has no end, not converging on anything; or (3) there is an intelligible to which it converges but which it never attains.
the scientific adventure story (Verne)
the scientific romance (Wells)
the scientific horror story (Shelley)
the story of science intersecting magic (Stoker)
unintended consequences as the paradigmatic SF plot turn
The past is the symbol of the future.
It's difficult for us to admit it, but in practical matters some problems are better endured than solved, given the solutions.
The power of a military or a police force to wield weaponry is merely the power of the people to do so, with special authorization for purposes relevant to the public good.
1880-1910 the golden age of utopian literature (the bulk of which was touched off by Bellamy's Looking Backward in 1888, and the ensuing 'battle of books' over competing social visions)
That a moral prohibition is accepted by a variety of widespread religions or philosophical views is reasonable evidence that something like it, at least in its vicinity, is part of natural law.
the problem of evading obligations by hypotheses
more generally, the problem of evading Box by constructing suppositions to evade it
usury as a perversion of reason qua negotiating and exchanging
usury of labor
-- Many Marxist criticisms of 'capitalism' are really criticisms of labor-usury.
All love has a religious tinge.
Vitruvian virtues: utilitas, firmitas, venustas
abstract paintings as paintings of painting
image of God -> intrinsic human dignity
role with respect to common good -> extrinsic human dignity
The action of meaning something is just the mind at work.
Given any common ground, there is a limited number of stable kinds of position reachable from that common ground.
forge/fabricate
employ/implicate
treason/tradition
blame/blaspheme
loyal/legal
royal/regal
pensare -> peser (to weigh) & penser (to think)
causam -> chose (thing) & cause
directum -> droit (right) & direct
integrum -> entier & intègre
"They [i.e., the saints] learn by lovign what they utter by teaching." Gregory the Great (Ez 1.5.16)
"The descent of Truth is the ascension of our humility."
The love that matters most is the love as vast as eternal life.
the Critique of Judgment as an exploration of good taste in scientific inquiry
Animals, including those with mutations harmful in their original situation, will tend to gravitate to those accessible situations that make their lives easiest.
cantharophily: pollination by beetles -- beetle-pollinated flowers tend to be white or cream-colored (beetles have poor vision, so flower needs clear contrast) and scentful (beetles usually have good sense of smell)
melitophily: pollination by bees -- bee-pollinated flowers tend to have strong UV profile, tend to be colorful, not heavily scented
myophily: pollination by flies -- fly-pollinated flowers tend to flower early or late, tend to be small (flies don't store nectar for young) and white/cream
psychophily: pollination by butterflies -- butterfly-pollinated flowers tend to be brightly colored and without much scent
phalaenophily/sphingophily: pollination by small moths (phal.) or large moths (sphin.) -- moth-pollinated flowers tend to be white/cream (moths are nocturnal), very scentful (moths have better sense of smell than butterflies), & heavy nectar producers (moths are less energy-efficient than butterflies, and often hover)
ornithophily: pollination by birds -- bird-pollinated flowers tend to be colorful, large, and very nectarful
chiropterophily: pollination by bats -- bat-pollinated flowers tends to be noctural and very scentful
*: pollination by non-flying animals -- such flower tend to be low and sturdy
The ecclesial generation will not pass away until all these things occur (cf. Mt 24:34).
potential dignity : actual dignity :: potential being : actual being
sacred sign
I. act of religio
II. divine gift
-- -- A. of covenant
-- -- -- -- 1. commemoration
-- -- -- -- 2. sacrifice
-- -- B. giving grace
-- -- -- -- 1. sealing
-- -- -- -- -- -- a. washing
-- -- -- -- -- -- b. anointing
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1.by laying on of hands with sign of oil
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2. by laying on of hands in itself (abstract anointing)
-- -- -- -- 2. adorning
-- -- -- -- -- -- a. repairing
-- -- -- -- -- -- b. enriching
matrimony as sign of character of Church itself?
that which is most sign
----------------------------
matrimony
unction
penance
baptism
confirmation
ordination
eucharist
----------------------------
that which is most presence
Virtue works on society as a river affects the land.
king-subject: penance
father-son: baptism
elder-younger: unction
husband-wife: matrimony
friend-friend: confirmation, ordination
An effective course of study has a pacing and a rhythm.
Every ethical approach implies a symbolic universe.
person as subsistent dignity
hesperidium: fruit with leathery rather than fleshy rind (citrus)
pepo: berry-like fruit with hard outer wall (melons)
drupe: one or many carpels but only one seed (peaches, avocadoes)
aggregate drupe: (raspberries)
"Chemistry is math where the objects have strong personalities." John Carlos Baez
the front edge of science fiction: speculative use of current scientific ideas
the trailing edge of science fiction: prior science fiction tropes and ideas continued forward semi-independently of actual state of science
science exaggeration as a source of science fiction tropes
Trolley problems are episodes, not lives.
Prometheus, Matanshvan, Rabbit, Azazel: the worldwide trope of fire as stolen
addressing objections vs addressing alternative positions
res as presence
Some of Euclid's definitions are more necessary for interpretation than for proof.
things that are conceived not wholly through themselves nor wholly through another but with another
"Since a natural desire is not in vain, we can correctly judge that perfect beatitude is reserved for man after this life." Aquinas
Deliberate intentions or concrete mechanisms can be fought or influenced, or can be problems able to be solved; pervasive abstractions cannot be.
artifacts as points of interaction between intelligences
Sing, O Music Spirit, of the men who tread the Moon
Leonardo and the analogy between the mirror and the painted surface (the picture plane)
No literary source indicates all twelve labors, but we do have monumental evidence for all the Heraclean labors in the metopes of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia (about 450 BC).
life as the active conditions of the possibility of intelligibility
Consequentialism in general tends to encourage people to act on such imaginary consequences as they can convince themselves to believe, based on counterfactuals whose evidential basis is what is convenient for them to believe.
Everything 'is a religion' somehow, because religions are complex and meet up with every feature of life.
plausibility as an analogical inference concept
"the Son of Heaven, facing the four directions, communes with all without limit." Gongyang Commentary, 31st Year of Duke Xi
the Spring and Autumn Annals as "for bringing order to chaotic times, for making things right again" (Gonghyang Comm., 14th of Duke Ai)
"To begin well is common; to end well is rare indeed." Ode 255
The Romans seem to have inherited their sense of ceremony and enthusiasm for building from the Etruscans.
Science fiction grows out of the melding of the traditions of other world romance and utopian tale, combined with the use of tropes in Frankenstein. Note that Voyage to Arcturus and The Worm Ouroboros fit a little oddly into SF because they are throwbacks to older forms of other world romance.
The Etruscan gods seem generally to be shapeshifters; their names are usually gender neutral, early on they are not depicted at all, later they often depicted in both male and female forms, and some (like Vertumnus) are explicitly said to be protean.
Livy 42:20 on portents
The Argonauts succeed in their endeavors, but always at a lasting cost.
Fortune is room for irony.
The thing we quickly discover about mathematical intuition is that while it can go wrong, for many domains it or something to which it approximates is provably right much of the time.
point approximation vs processive approximation vs region approximation
Every truth has a sufficient reason for being true.
definition by approximation
All artifacts presuppose normativity.
necessity as flawless normativity
