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Heavy Meta
My new book Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction will be out this May. I’ve expounded and defended various aspects of Scholastic metaphysics at some length in other places -- for...
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2014 Thomistic Seminar
The 9thAnnual Thomistic Seminar for graduate students in philosophy and related disciplines, sponsored by The Witherspoon Institute, will be held from August 3 - 9, 2014 in Princeton, NJ. The theme is...
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Studia Neoaristotelica
Readers not already familiar with it should be aware of Studia Neoaristotelica: A Journal of Analytical Scholasticism. Recent issues include articles by Nicholas Rescher, Richard Swinburne, Theodore...
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A world of pure imagination
Let us fix our attention out of ourselves as much as possible; let us chase our imagination to the heavens, or to the utmost limits of the universe; we never really advance a step beyond ourselves, nor...
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The metaphysics and aesthetics of plastic
There’s a passage at the beginning of Isaac Asimov’s science fiction novel Foundation’s Edge which I’ve always found delightfully preposterous. Referring to Seldon Hall on the planet Terminus, Golan...
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Lowder then bombs
Atheist blogger and Internet Infidels co-founder Jeffery Jay Lowder seems like a reasonable enough fellow. But then, I admit it’s hard not to like a guy who writes:I’ve just about finished reading...
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Four questions for Keith Parsons
Keith Parsons’ feelings are, it seems, still hurt over some frank things I said about him a few years ago (hereand here). It seems to me that when a guy dismisses as a “fraud” an entire academic field...
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Descartes’ “preservation” argument
In previous posts I’ve critically examined, from a Scholastic point of view, some of Descartes’ best-known arguments. Specifically, I’ve commented on Descartes’ “clear and distinct perception”...
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An exchange with Keith Parsons, Part I
Prof. Keith Parsons and I will be having an exchange to be moderated by Jeffery Jay Lowder of The Secular Outpost. Prof. Parsons has initiated the exchange with a response to the first of four...
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An exchange with Keith Parsons, Part II
Here I respond to Keith Parsons’ second post. Jeff Lowder is keeping track of the existing and forthcoming installments in my exchange with Prof. Parsons here.Keith, thanks for these remarks. The...
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An exchange with Keith Parsons, Part III
Here I respond to Keith Parsons’ third post. Jeff Lowder’s index of existing and forthcoming installments in my exchange with Prof. Parsons can be found here.I’d like to respond now, Keith, to your...
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An exchange with Keith Parsons, Part IV
Here I respond to Keith Parsons’ fourth post. Jeff Lowder’s index of existing and forthcoming installments in my exchange with Prof. Parsons can be found here.Keith, as we near the end of our first...
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Can you explain something by appealing to a “brute fact”?
Prof. Keith Parsons and I have been having a very cordial and fruitful exchange. He has now posted a response to my most recent post, on the topic of “brute facts” and explanation. You can read his...
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Gelernter on computationalism
People have asked me to comment on David Gelernter’s essay on minds and computers in the January issue of Commentary. It’s written with Gelernter’s characteristic brio and clarity, and naturally I...
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L.A. area speaking engagements
On Saturday, March 29, I’ll be the keynote speaker at the Talbot Philosophical SocietySpring Conference at Biola University in La Mirada, CA. The theme of the talk will be “The Scholastic Principle of...
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Stop it, you’re killing me!
In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Ferris Jabr of Scientific American kindly informs us that nothing is really alive, not even Jabr himself or his readers. Fairly verbose for a dead guy, he...
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I was wrong about Keith Parsons
Longtime readers know that Prof. Keith Parsons and I have not always gotten along. Some years ago he famously expressed the view that the arguments of natural theology are a “fraud” that do not rise...
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Dharmakīrti and Maimonides on divine action
Here’s a juxtaposition for you: the Buddhist philosopher Dharmakīrti (c. 600 - 660) and the medieval Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides (1138 - 1204). Both had interesting things to say about divine...
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What’s around the web?
John Searle is interviewed at New Philosopher. He’s in fine Searle form (and well-armed, as you can see from the photo accompanying the interview): “It upsets me when I read the nonsense written by...
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Welcome to the machine
Not too long ago I attended a conference on theology and technology sponsored by First Things. Unsurprisingly, the question arose whether modern technology is on balance a good or bad thing, and the...
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