thomas aquinas
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Science and Philosophy: In Dialogue?
Positivism and Science A difficult and complex question in philosophy today concerns the discussion regarding the intersection and “boundaries” of the harder empirical sciences and the distinct activity of philosophical enquiry. Given the success of scientific discovery, one temptation in the early 20th century was to claim that disciplines such as biology, chemistry, physics, and…
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Obeying Unjust Laws
St. Thomas defines law in Summa Theologiae I-II q. 90 aa. 1-4. It is an ordinance of reason for the sake of the common good made by someone bestowed with the care of the common good and promulgated. Hence, human law, which St. Thomas treats in I-II q. 95, must share the above definition in…
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On Natural Law and Justice
In his work Introduction to Moral Theology, Fr. Romanus Cessario O.P. remarked on certain misconceptions with respect to how the natural had grown in application and importance over time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: arguing that the presentation of the natural law given in teaching manuals was anachronistic and unhelpful, and in…
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On the Meanings of “Object”, “Objective”, and “Objectivity”
The word “language” often suffers a confusion in use because of a partial equivocation in signification. Sometimes, we use it to signify the species-specifically human capacity to express semantic depth pertaining to a being known as independent of our cognitive activity; in other words, we use the word “language” to indicate our ability for signifying…