Tag Archives: aquinas

Aquinas and Superstition: Thomist Philosopher Edward Feser Is An Aquinastitionist. What Is That?

Posted on June 14, 2015 by

Aquinastition. When you mix Aquinas with superstition you get Aquinastition. So an Aquinastitionist is an intellectual Thomist who makes apologies for religious superstition. Thomist philosopher Edward Feser is an example, as displayed in his recent essay, “Religion and Superstition,” in The Routledge … Continue reading →

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Epidurals and Pains in Childbirth: Why Do Arguments Start and Stop Where They Do?

Posted on June 11, 2015 by

People often claim that they’re appealing to reason in argumentation, but the way they reason frequently reveals more about them than the truth. Put another way, an argument often says more about your inward passions, sensibilities, and imaginative world than … Continue reading →

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Is Atheist Sam Harris Sexy? Nagarjuna’s Opinion–And Thomas Aquinas’

Posted on May 19, 2015 by

Sam Harris is sexy, right? Perhaps you agree. But think again. How you answer this question says a lot about your orientation. Not your sexual orientation. Or at least not just your sexual orientation. It reveals something about how you … Continue reading →

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God Shadowed By Emptiness: Thomas Aquinas vs. The Buddhist Nagarjuna

Posted on May 14, 2015 by

Emptiness shadows theism. With regard to Thomas Aquinas’ method for grounding existence in being as opposed to change or emptiness (as the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna did), what I find interesting is how, despite himself, emptiness nevertheless shadows Aquinas’ theism. What … Continue reading →

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Who Shapes and Defines the Clay, and Who Cuts the Deck of Definition? Hylomorphism, Aquinas, Sartre, and Evolution

Posted on December 19, 2014 by

What is hylomorphism? Hylomorphism is a term out of classical philosophy (first used by Aristotle, later picked up by Aquinas) where a designer takes raw material and uses her mind and hands to impose purpose and form on it, as … Continue reading →

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Thomas Aquinas on Exterminating Heretics

Posted on November 16, 2014 by

In the Summa, Thomas Aquinas says that you can reason with someone who holds a different doctrine from yours so long as that person is open and searching. On the other hand, if the person persists in his view, and does … Continue reading →

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Is God a Person or The Ground of Being?

Posted on April 20, 2014 by

As an agnostic, I find the argument between intellectual Christians over whether God is a person or the Ground of Being interesting. On one side are Protestants like Alvin Plantinga and Richard Swinburne (God is a person, not merely some … Continue reading →

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Aquinas and Dante On Homosexuality

Posted on March 14, 2014 by

Louis Crompton. Homosexuality and History (Harvard 2003), by Louis Crompton, is by far the best general history of homosexuality yet written, and in his chapter on the medieval world, he has a fascinating discussion of Thomas Aquinas’s and Dante’s treatment of … Continue reading →

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The God of the Philosophers vs. The God of Revelation

Posted on August 22, 2011 by

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  . This past week, I read Peter Vardy and Julie Arliss’s The Thinker’s Guide to God (O Books 2003). The authors are Catholics, and it’s a really great read. Here, for example, is a wonderful distinction that they make with regard … Continue reading →

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