In the previous post I offered the outline for a possible argument for a causal proposition. Here is the basic, five-premise outline: Everything real is either subsistent or dependent on another The existence of finite things is not subsistent Therefore … Continue reading An Argument for a Causal Proposition (Part 2)
Much of the research and thinking I’ve been doing recently has concerned causality and the principle of sufficient reason. The following is a tentative attempt at a demonstration of a causal proposition, inspired by the work of Joseph Owens. This … Continue reading An Argument for a Causal Proposition
“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.” – St. Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio Today, there are two common errors concerning the relationship between faith and reason. On … Continue reading On Faith and Reason: A Thomistic Account, Part II
“Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence” [1]. This definition of faith, from the popular “new … Continue reading On Faith and Reason: A Thomistic Account, Part I
Descartes was a monumental turning point in the history of Western philosophical and scientific thought. But the revolution did not stop with him. The project he began, and the questions he asked, were taken up after him by various thinkers … Continue reading How Do We Know: Sense Perception (Part II: Locke On Innate Knowledge)
The majority of all our thoughts, actions, and beliefs are concerned with sensible information: what we see, hear, touch, etc. Our senses provide us, as it were, a kind of portal or window through which to access the “real” or external … Continue reading How Do We Know: Sense Perception (Part I: Descartes)
“All men by nature desire to know.” Thus Aristotle began The Metaphysics. Our desire to know drives all our inquiry, all our scientific endeavors, our existential rumination and philosophical pondering. It is, indeed, our distinctive human feature, that which makes us … Continue reading How Do We Know? An Introduction
