Recently published at Thomistica.net is an essay of mine, “Some Mistakes Due to What Is Per Accidens.” The essay discusses four philosophical mistakes when what is per accidens is taken to be what is actually per se to something. This logical error was discussed with lucidity by Dr. Duane Berquist in his lectures on logic, and hence I … Continue reading Essay at Thomistica.net
In your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of Dr. Duane H. Berquist. Dr. Berquist was the best teacher I never met, having only listened to many of his recorded lectures and never attended any of his classes in person. His many unpublished written works were also very formative (his published articles … Continue reading Dr. Duane Berquist, rest in peace
Recently published at Crisis Magazine is a philosophical reflection of mine on arguments for and against abortion in our culture. An excerpt: As the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre argued nearly forty years ago, our public debates about abortion rest upon conceptually incommensurable premises. That is, we accept no common ground by which to measure or compare the truth … Continue reading Seeing, Choosing, and Pro-Life Arguments
Recently, I heard of a young Catholic’s crisis of faith. He attributed it to his collegiate studies and a disconnect in its instruction of philosophy and the sciences. Philosophy seemed positively closed off from communication with the natural sciences. It had no healthy skepticism and was rather dogmatic. Further, given the close connection between philosophical … Continue reading A Faith Fearless in the Face of Truth
Read my recent contribution to Arc’s Philosophy section here, in which I bring Socrates’s observations in the Phaedo together with a recently proven paradoxical theorem in quantum physics and a result in the mathematics of emergent properties. There is surely a strange confusion of causes and conditions in all this. It may be said, indeed, that without … Continue reading Thinking Things Together in Science and Philosophy
Recently, I came across this gem, written by Petrus Hoenen in his Cosmologia (5th ed., 1956, p. 305). Hoenen, who obtained a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Leiden in 1912 (writing a dissertation on thermodynamics and studying under, among others, H. A. Lorentz), writes in this context against making form out to be a being, … Continue reading Sine Thoma, Aristoteles mutus esset
While looking for a book recently in the library stacks, I happened upon this Spanish tome (The Essence of Thomistic Philosophy), which bears the following inscription, yesteryear’s equivalent of today’s Amazon customer reviews: A translation of the concerned reviewer’s self-appointed epigraph: Warning: A very ‘light’ book. It tries to be very clear, but in the attempt … Continue reading Disgruntled scholastic readers
Tradition, as Josef Pieper describes it, is something handed down from an original divine encounter. This is tradition in the primary sense—all other uses of the word are analogical. The sense of tradition that is first to us includes human traditions, and most of all traditions that pass on knowledge. These senses are all to … Continue reading Sacra Doctrina Project
Educators in the traditional liberal arts are rethinking how modern mathematics and sciences can be freeing to the mind. To restore perennial philosophy at a cultural level, initiatives such as these are much-needed.
…If I had to design a mechanism for the express purpose of destroying a child’s natural curiosity and love of pattern-making, I couldn’t possibly do as good a job as is currently being done— I simply wouldn’t have the imagination to come up with the kind of senseless, soul-crushing ideas that constitute contemporary mathematics education. Paul Lockhart, “A Mathematician’s Lament”
This weekend, I was privileged to gather at the Catholic University of America with fellow educators who feel the force of Lockhart’s now-famous Lament and who have taken steps over the years to do something about it. They are part of the classical liberal arts revival that is gaining momentum among Catholic schools, and recognize that many of these schools have found it difficult to integrate mathematics and the sciences into the liberal arts curriculum. These branches of knowledge, whose hold on the privileged place in education…
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The following is the abstract from an essay of mine recently submitted for review. If you would like a personal copy of the final draft, please contact me. I’d love to hear your thoughts. This essay proposes a comprehensive blueprint for the hylomorphic foundations of cosmology. The key philosophical explananda in cosmology are those dealing … Continue reading World enough and form
John G. Brungardt 