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The links you’ve been longing for
At Medium, David Oderberg on the prophets Orwell, Huxley, and Bradbury.3:16 interviews Thomist philosopher Gaven Kerr.At Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, Kerr reviews Timothy Pawl’s book In Defense of...
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Russell’s No Man’s Land
In his History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell famously characterized philosophy as follows:Philosophy, as I shall understand the word, is something intermediate between theology and science....
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Let’s play Jeopardy
ANSWER:They all claim that 2 and 2 can sometimes equal 5.QUESTION: Who are Fr. Antonio Spadaro, Critical Social Justice ideologues, and the Party (Ingsoc) in George Orwell’s 1984?
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The particle collection that fancied itself a physicist
I haven’t done a “Physicists say the darndest things” post in a while. People usually ask me to write one up every time a Lawrence Krauss, Sean Carroll, or Stephen Hawking (well, lately not Hawking)...
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Separating scientism and state
Scientism transforms science into an intolerant and all-encompassing ideology. Bad as it is when it issues in crackpot philosophy, it can be even worse when used to rationalize destructive public...
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Open thread (and a comment on trolling)
We’re long overdue for another open thread. Now is the time for you to post that otherwise off-topic comment I’ve had to delete. From Being Itself to mental health, from Mickey Spillane to John...
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Scholastics contra racism
Condemning racism (or “racialist prejudice,” as he referred to it), Pope St. Paul VI affirmed that:The members of mankind share the same basic rights and duties, as well as the same supernatural...
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The rule of lawlessness
As Aristotle and Aquinas teach us, human beings are by nature rational social animals. Because we are a kind of animal, we need to be safe from violent attack and we need the freedom to acquire food,...
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Aquinas contra globalism
In Book Two, Chapter 3 of his little work De Regno (or On Kingship), Thomas Aquinas addresses matters of trade and its effect on the material and spiritual well-being of a nation. On the one hand, and...
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Aquinas contra sedition and factional tyranny
As Aquinas teaches, “the chief concern of the ruler of a multitude… is to procure the unity of peace” (De Regno, Book I, Chapter 3). All other social goods are subordinate to that, because they all...
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Weigel’s terrible arguments
In his article “Truman’s Terrible Choice” at First Things, George Weigel defends the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I respond at Catholic Herald.
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Joe Biden versus “democratic norms”
No one who claims to favor Biden over Trump on the grounds of protecting “democratic norms” can, at this point, be speaking in good faith. They are either culpably deceiving themselves or cynically...
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The Church embraces Columbus
We saw in a recent post how the Scholastic theologian Bartolomé de Las Casas vigorously defended the rights and dignity of the American Indians against the cruelty of Spanish conquistadors. Las Casas...
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Lockdowns versus social justice
The phrase “social justice” has a long and honorable history in Catholic social thought going back to the nineteenth century, but is now typically deployed in defense of policies that are diametrically...
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Dupré on the ideologizing of science
Philosopher of science John Dupré, like Nancy Cartwright, Paul Feyerabend, and others, has developed powerful and influential criticisms of reductionism. Whereas Cartwright is best known for her...
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“Pastoral” and other weasel words
If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.Analects of...
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Perfect love casts out fear
Months of lawlessness have left people on edge and anxious, and their anxiety is unlikely to be much abated by the outcome of the election. For either the party of lawlessness will win, or it will...
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Pink on Aristotle’s Revenge
In this week’s issue of the Times Literary Supplement, philosopher Thomas Pink kindly reviews my book Aristotle’s Revenge. From the review:Edward Feser’s Aristotle’s Revenge is presented as a...
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Means, motive, and opportunity
Did Joe Biden win the election fair and square? Or was there voter fraud sufficient to tip it in his direction? I won’t be addressing those questions here. I want to consider the more basic...
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Tyranny of the sovereign individual
The individual, when isolated, is not self-sufficing; and therefore he is like a part in relation to the whole. But he who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for...
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