Reading Time: 6 minutes I am, brought on by a section on phenomenology in a forthcoming book, looking back into the school of philosophy known as idealism. It’s been a long time since I have written and researched on this particular subject and I am enjoying it immensely. What are phenomenology and idealism? Well, Phenomenology is the study of structures of […]
realism
Posted inGeneral
Other Minds and Problems with Idealism
Reading Time: 11 minutes Time to get back to some philosophy. Today we will be briefly looking at the position of idealism as developed by many German philosophers, but including the famous Bishop Berkeley and then taken on by Moravian philosopher Edmund Husserl and other Continental philosophers. Defining our terms Here are some pretty basic definitions of some useful […]
Posted inPhilosophy
Criticising the Idea of Potential and Actuality in Natural Law Philosophy
Reading Time: 6 minutes As some of you may know, I am presently editing a book by Gunther Laird calls The Unnecessary Science. Natural Law philosophy, about which I have talked a great deal recently, owes an awful lot to Aristotle, Aquinas and other thinkers from a bygone era. One of the cornerstones of this essentialist worldview is the pair […]
Posted inEthics and Morality, Philosophy
Knowing Your Rights, Locke and Other Rights Problems – Take 2!
Reading Time: 9 minutes The rights debates raging on a number of recent comment threads have been pretty embarrassing for many of the people (gun advocates) taking part because they have simply not engaged with the conversation at the level it should have been. In fact, these haven’t been “rights debates”, they have been long lists of assertions followed […]
Posted inPhilosophy, Politics
KNOWING Your Rights, Locke and Other Rights Problems
Reading Time: 8 minutes The rights debates raging on a number of recent comment threads have been pretty embarrassing for many of the people (gun advocates) taking part because they have simply not engaged with the conversation at the level it should have been. This is a philosophical blog, at heart, and the articles are mainly written to stimulate […]
Posted inGeneral
The Second Amendment and Rights
Reading Time: 12 minutes A thread has recently exploded when I posted about the Second Amendment and drawing the line between acceptable and unacceptable weaponry. On the thread, one particularly obvious common denominator sprung up with all of the gun advocates, the idea of “rights”: A right is no less a right just because time goes by and technology […]
Posted inReligion
Aquinas’ Essence and Existence Argument: A Critique
Reading Time: 6 minutes Aquinas is famous for a number of arguments for God’s existence, one such one being the argument from essence and existence from De Ente et Essentia [On Being and Essence]. I will briefly summarise it here. Everything supposedly has both essence and existence and they are two separate properties; only God has them together. The essence of […]
Posted inEthics and Morality, Philosophy
My Atheistic Moral Philosophy; Objective, Subjective and Theistic Morality
Reading Time: 22 minutes As promised, here, finally, is a hopefully succinct synopsis (ha, er, impossible) of my moral philosophy. In setting it out, I will also counter positions adopted and claimed by theistic thinkers and apologists (am I implying apologists aren’t thinkers?). Let’s set out the basics. What is morality? Generally, the study of morality is split into three […]
Posted inGeneral
More on “Objective” Morality
Reading Time: 7 minutes I recently posted a piece on objective morality in response to Jeremiah Traegar’s article here at ATP. In discussing my response elsewhere, there were the following points that I would like to deal with here in order to kill two birds with one philosopher’s stone. My original quotes are in italic, with the commenter’s comments in […]
Posted inReligion
Aquinas, Distinction, Composition and Divine Simplicity
Reading Time: 13 minutes In continuing to comment on the idea of divine simplicity, as it pertains to the Trinitarian God of Christianity, I am going to move on to speak about Aquinas. Setting the Scene Commenter (and contributor) here at ATP Ficino asked: Jonathan, I would very much appreciate it if you can comment on the thesis that there […]