Today is the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas in the Catholic liturgy. But don't look to your Catholic calendar for any indication of this fact. In his honor, I present one of my favorite quotations, one that could serve as the motto of everyone who believes, as I do, that metaphysics is at the heart of philosophy:
. . . minimum quod potest haberi de cognitione rerum altissimarum, desiderabilius est quam certissima cognitio quae habetur de minimis rebus . . . . (Summa Theologica I, q. 1, art. 5)
. . . the least knowledge that may be obtained of the highest things is more desirable than the most certain knowledge obtained of the lowest things . . . .
Whatever one says for or against Roman Catholicism, it has great philosophers like Augustine and Aquinas on its side. I deploy this fact to the consternation of the occasional proselyte who shows up at my door to convert me to Mormonism. With the Bishop of Hippo on my right, and the doctor angelicus on my left, my mental loins are well-girded for battle.
See here for a list of Thomas Aquinas links.
Related Posts (on one page):
- The Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas
- From the Mail: The Feast of St. Thomas
- Another Indication that the Catholic Church is on the Skids
"The slightest knowledge of the greatest things is greater than the greatest knowledge of the slightest things."
Yes, mystical experience by definition is non-discursive. After the mystical experience, he wrote no more, judging what he had written to be 'straw.' When the meal is served, the menu is set aside.
2. Disallowing comments from a particular person, or deleting an offensive, off-topic, or otherwise substandard comment, has nothing to do with censorship. People who think otherwise confuse censorship with lack of sponsorship. I am under an obligation not to interfere with anyone's exercise of legitimate free speech rights. But I am not under any obligation to aid and abet anyone's exercise of free speech rights, legitimate or illegitimate.
3. The Comments area is not an open forum for anyone to say anything about any topic. As the name implies, it is primarily for commenting on the author(s)' posts. But to comment on them, one must have read them. And if I have spent three hours on a post, a reader will not understand it in thirty seconds. Secondarily, the Comments area is to facilitate civil discussion between and among commenters as long as the discussion remains on-topic.
4. Some undesirables: The skimmers, those who cannot read but only read-in. The sophists who, abusing argument, argue for the sake of argument. The ideologues, those who are out for power, not truth. The uncivil. The illogical. The politically correct. Worst of all, perhaps, are those who exemplify the anti-Socratic property: those who think they know what they don't know. If Socrates was famous for his learned ignorance, these types are marked by their ignorant unlearnededness.