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A little logic is a dangerous thing
Some famous and lovely lines from Alexander Pope’s “An Essay on Criticism” observe:A little learning is a dangerous thing;Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.There shallow draughts intoxicate...
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Thomism and the Nouvelle Théologie
My review of Jon Kirwan and Matthew Minerd’s important new anthology The Thomistic Response to the Nouvelle Théologie appears in the November 2023 issue of First Things.
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Cartwright on reductionism in science
In her superb recent book A Philosopher Looks at Science, Nancy Cartwright revisits some of the longstanding themes of her work in the philosophy of science. In an earlier post, I discussed what she...
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The Thomist's middle ground in natural theology
The Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition holds that knowledge must begin with sensory experience but that it can nevertheless go well beyond anything that experience could directly reveal. Its empiricism...
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All One in Christ at Public Discourse
At Public Discourse, John F. Doherty kindly reviews my book All One in Christ: A Catholic Critique of Racism and Critical Race Theory. From the review:In Feser’s book, Catholics, other Christians, and...
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What is free speech for?
In a new article at Postliberal Order, I discuss the teleological foundations of, and limitations on, the right to free speech, as these are understood from the perspective of traditional natural law...
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Ryle on microphysics and the everyday world
Science, we’re often told, gives us a description of the world radically at odds with common sense. Physicist Arthur Eddington’s famous “two tables” example illustrates the theme. There is, on the...
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Contra Vallier on integralism
Over at The Josias, I critique Kevin Vallier’s new book All the Kingdoms of the World: On Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism.
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On Vallier, Vermeule, and straw men
Over at his Substack, Kevin Vallier responds to my recent review at The Josias of his book All the Kingdoms of the World. Vallier claims that I “mislead the reader” vis-à-vis his characterization of...
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The Aristotelian proof on Within Reason
Some time back, Alex O’Connor and I recorded a discussion of the Aristotelian argument from motion for the existence of God, for his Within Reason podcast. The episode is now available on YouTube.
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The scandal of Fiducia Supplicans
By now many readers of this blog will likely have heard about Fiducia Supplicans and the worldwide controversy it has generated, which may end up being even more bitter and momentous than the many...
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What is a “couple”?
In my recent article on the controversy over Fiducia Supplicans, I noted three problems with the document’s qualified permission of blessings for “couples” of a same-sex or other “irregular” kind....
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New Year’s open thread
Let’s open the New Year with an open thread. Now’s the time at last to bring up that otherwise off-topic comment that keeps getting deleted, or anything else you like. From Art Nouveau to Art Blakey,...
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Jesuit Britain?
My review of the anthology Projections of Spanish Jesuit Scholasticism on British Thought: New Horizons in Politics, Law, and Rights, edited by Leopoldo Prieto López and José Luis Cendejas Bueno,...
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Avicenna’s flying man
Peter Adamson’s new book Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna): A Very Short Introduction is an excellent primer on the great medieval Islamic philosopher. After a biographical chapter, it treats Avicenna’s views on...
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Voluntarism in The Vanishing
The reputation of 1993’s The Vanishing has suffered because critics judge it inferior to the 1988 Dutch movie of which it was a remake. But considered on its own terms, it is a solid enough little...
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Immortal souls at West Point
Had a great time visiting the United States Military Academy at West Point this week for a Thomistic Institute talk on the theme “Do You Have an Immortal Soul?” Thank you TI and cadets!
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The heresy with a thousand faces
In a new article at Postliberal Order, I discuss the disturbing parallels between the woke phenomenon and the medieval Catharist or Albigensian heresy, a movement so fanatical and virulent that the...
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Avicenna, Aquinas, and Leibniz on the argument from contingency
Avicenna, Aquinas, and Leibniz all present versions of what would today be called the argument from contingency for the existence of a divine necessary being. Their versions are interestingly...
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