The philosophical definition of truth is “the conformity of the mind to reality.”1 Truth is, therefore, a conformity. And as the etymology of that word suggests, it is the mind being “shaped,” — or bent into the shape of — … Continue reading
Category: Philosophy
Attitude is Everything
(Warning to the reader: This article may be boring. It is a consideration of ideas, the process of getting them and how they are used to interact with the world. It is decidedly uncreative and entirely self-indulgent, written for my … Continue reading
Dr. Edward Feser on the Proofs of God’s Existence
Dr. Edward Feser is an accomplished Catholic philosopher whose work is worthy of attention. While preparing a class on the proofs of God’s existence, I happened upon a great piece he wrote for his blog, as well as this interview … Continue reading
A Brief Primer on the Virtue of Justice
Justice, in its most foundational meaning, is “rendering to the other what is his due.” When the “other” is a fellow man or the State, there are three specific parts of justice that pertain: commutative justice, distributive justice, and legal … Continue reading
Lessons to Learn from Clerical Scandals
It is not my custom to write about the latest scandal. There are good reasons for this. The world is fallen and scandals abound, even in the best of times. To dwell on them risks losing sight of the good … Continue reading
Science, Technology, and God
One of the two major reasons that people become atheists is that secondary causality is, so they think, sufficient to explain all that exists without any reference to God. This and the existence of evil are the two objections to … Continue reading
A Christian Soldier Under Caesar? Was it Licit?
And the soldiers also asked him, saying: And what shall we do? And he said to them: Do violence to no man; neither calumniate any man; and be content with your pay (Matthew 3:14). Then Jesus saith to him: Put … Continue reading
Joseph Ratzinger on the Priesthood and on the Resurrection
In the latter part of 2006, after the April 2005 installation of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, I had occasion to tell a professor friend of mine confidentially that I have always had difficulties reading with understanding the varied … Continue reading
A Remedy for Young Turks and Old Fools
There is an excellent fourteen-minute sermon called “The Error of Juvenilism” available online for the hearing. It is much worth a careful listen. The observations of the preacher, and the questions that arise in his wake, provide us with a … Continue reading
Enough With the Monkey Business
Concerning human evolution, the Church has a more definite teaching. It allows for the possibility that man’s body developed from previous biological forms, under God’s guidance, but it insists on the special creation of his soul. Pope Pius XII declared … Continue reading
Thomas Jefferson, a Devotee of Epicurianism
The Witherspoon Institute, Public Discourse, Aaron Alexander Zubia: In the interpretation of at least one of the Founders, Thomas Jefferson, American political institutions are not constructed to direct citizens toward virtue, but simply to direct them toward ease, convenience, and … Continue reading
From the Mail: Your ‘Truth’ and Mine: Philosophy or Delusion?
A reader of this site and listener to Reconquest named Erik sent me an email question, the answer to which I think may be of general interest, so I post the correspondence here: Dear Brother Andre Marie, I recently encountered … Continue reading
A Professor Who Demands That His Students Use Reason
Healthy Republic, Katie Petrick: If you talk about your “feelings” in one introductory law class at Faulkner University, you must cluck like a chicken. After seeing a regression of intelligent responses for the past seven years, Adam J. MacLeod, associate professor … Continue reading
The Inanity of Scientism
Catholic Stand, Bob Drury: Moses set before the people Life and Death; from another aspect, Intelligibility and Inanity. He urged them to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19). The Transcendentals Life and Intelligibility in this context refer to a single identity. They differ … Continue reading
A Plan to Rebuild Christendom in Our Own Time
A Review of As It Is in Heaven: Christian Living and Social Order by Gary Potter, Loreto Publications, 2017 How, you may ask, would so monumental a task be possible in these disordered times when Christian morality is scoffed at … Continue reading
