A rubber duck sitting in a cup of hot chocolate, surrounded by a sketch of Aristotle's four causes. Because if an acorn can become an oak, surely it can become a duck. Apparently not. "But what's the point of a final cause?" Again? Not that the question is stupid (it isn't), but…
Read more →A praying chimp in a Gothic cathedral. Monod would call it absurd. Thomas would say the chimp is right. Darwin would note the chimp was selected for it. I recently listened to a debate featuring Kenneth Raymond Miller AGAINST creationism. For those who don't know him, Miller is …
Read more →Attempt #247 at empirical observation of the Ipsum Esse Subsistens. Result: still nothing. The peer reviewer suggests trying a different instrument. Thomas Aquinas suggests trying a different plane of reality. "Come on, the Big Bang obviously proves Creation, doesn't it?" I get …
Read more →Take that, divertissement! "Oh yeah, Pascal, he's the guy who says you should believe in God just in case? Like some kind of metaphysical life insurance?" If I had a euro for every time someone trotted out this grotesque oversimplification, I could fund a critical edition of the…
Read more →I promise, this isn't at all how I picture the serpent. He's even less impressive in my head. "Buy now, pay later! Satisfaction guaranteed! Immediate results!" If you've ever seen an advertisement in your life (and if you haven't, where do you live, I'm moving there), you'll rec…
Read more →or why the left and the right are two symmetrical lies I will put things simply, even if it is unpleasant: the modern world believes itself stuck between two political, moral, and economic options, and it has not seen that both options are false. Not imperfect, not insufficient, …
Read more →There is something obscene about our modern relationship with holiness. Not obscene in the vulgar sense, but obscene in the sense of indecent, out of place, out of frame. We look at it the way we watch a wildlife documentary—with curiosity, sometimes admiration, but always from a…
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Someone recently threw this at me... I got tired. No need to do anything more.
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Hello, reader. Yes, I'm addressing you. I'm posting this here so I no longer have to keep this dialogue in my head. It's often said that one's greatest enemy is oneself. That's why I started writing on this blog. Writing isn't just about writing for others. In my quest for philo…
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Aikido consists of techniques with weapons and bare hands using the opponent's force, or rather their aggressiveness and will to harm. These techniques aim not to defeat the opponent, but to reduce their attempt at aggression to nothing. I've spoken of my sad tendency to follo…
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