Elizabeth Anscombe is well-known for her insistence that there are absolutely prohibited actions, though she is somewhat obscure about why this is so. Nonetheless, I contend in this paper that Anscombe is more concerned with the epistemology of absolute prohibitions, and that her thought on connatural moral knowledge – which resembles moral intuition – is key to understanding her thought on moral prohibitions. I shall identify key features of Anscombe’s moral epistemology before turning to investigate its sources, examining the (...) roots of connaturality in Aquinas and comparing it with rationalist ethical intuitionism, which Anscombe differs from in rejecting “good” as a simple, non-natural property. I then develop a two-stage argument about absolute prohibition: The first will be loosely Thomistic, while the second will suggest how Anscombe’s absolute prohibitions can be seen as a continuation of Wittgenstein’s anti-scepticism in On Certainty. I develop an account of absolute prohibitions as a form of Wittgensteinian hinge proposition – they are not the conclusions of deductive arguments, but the foundations for intelligibility in action. (shrink)

Elizabeth Anscombe is well-known for her insistence that there are absolutely prohibited actions, though she is somewhat obscure about why this is so. Nonetheless, I contend in this paper that Anscombe is more concerned with the epistemology of absolute prohibitions, and that her thought on connatural moral knowledge - which resembles moral intuition - is key to understanding her thought on moral prohibitions. I shall identify key features of Anscombe's moral epistemology before turning to investigate its sources, examining the (...) roots of connaturality in Aquinas and comparing it with rationalist ethical intuitionism, which Anscombe differs from in rejecting "good" as a simple, non-natural property. I then develop a two-stage argument about absolute prohibition: The first will be loosely Thomistic, while the second will suggest how Anscombe's absolute prohibitions can be seen as a continuation of Wittgenstein's anti-scepticism in On Certainty. I develop an account of absolute prohibitions as a form of Wittgensteinian hinge proposition - they are not the conclusions of deductive arguments, but the foundations for intelligibility in action. (shrink)

Virtue epistemology is new in one sense but old in another. The new tradition starts with figures such as Code, Greco, Montmarquet, and Zagzebski. The old tradition has its pedigree in Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, and their modern interpreters such as Anscombe and MacIntyre. Virtue epistemology recognizes that knowledge is something we value and that propositional knowledge requires intellectual virtues, that is to say, virtues as applied to the intellect. Although much pioneering work in the new tradition has been done on (...) propositional knowledge, comparatively little in it has been done on know-how. This is surprising, because one might naturally think of know-how as something to be refined into a skill, and virtues may be thought of as skills. In the modern epistemological tradition that does not take its direction from virtue ethics, propositional knowledge, as opposed to know-how, has received by far the bulk of the discussion, although since Ryle first argued that knowhow is not always propositional knowledge, there has been a fairly recent resurgence of interest in know-how.We value intellectual virtues because they are skills that promote our flourishing, both as individuals and as members of a community. The intellectual virtues are truth- seeking virtues and stem from a love of the truth. Since love is itself a virtue - indeed it was what Tyndale called the greatest Christian virtue before the King James translation renamed it as charity—it may be seen as the virtue that motivates all other intellectual virtues. A commitment to the truth is presupposed by any intellectual virtue. For example, logic is important to a community, and in particular to the intellectual community, not only because there are rules governing the activity of logic but also because there are those within the community who are trustworthy in following the activity and because there are publically accepted standards of accountability in the way the activity of logic is practiced. Here is how we will proceed. In section 2 we sketch a metaphysics of natural purposes that supports the claim that there are objective goods that beings need qua the kinds of being they are in order to flourish. In section 3 we argue that flourishing includes the acquisition of virtues. We give a general account of virtue, roughly as a stable disposition to act upon a habit elevated to a skill of putting one’s know-how into practice that springs from one’s motivation to pursue what one perceives as good. In section 4 we give a general sketch of intellectual virtues as truth-seeking virtues that stem from a love of the truth that are the skills to flourish intellectually. In section 5 we discuss connaturality, namely those specific metaphysical accidents readily acquired by beings due to their first nature. We make an original distinction between ontological connaturality, namely the connaturality that belongs to animals qua beings of a certain kind, and habitual connaturality, namely our first natures suffused with virtues—or vices, although we will concentrate only on virtues. Habitual connaturality is acquired through the practice of virtue and involves perceptiveness awakened by the possession of the virtue in question. The knowledge arising from this form of connaturality may be a form of know-how. In section 6 we give an account of connatural apprehension and connatural propositional knowledge. In section 7 we discuss connatural know-how and argue that it makes certain virtues possible. At this point we will have shown that intellectual and moral virtues are informed by know-how. In sections 8 and 9 we give analyses of know-how and skill in terms of counterfactual success. We show how skill is a refined form of know-how and how both know-how and skill are informed by moral and intellectual virtues. We conclude in section 10 that know-how informs intellectual and moral virtues in the sense that virtue is to be elucidated in terms of skill, which is in turn to be elucidated in terms of know-how. Moreover, virtues inform know-how in the sense that know-how is to be elucidated in terms of intellectual and moral virtues. No circularity arises because different virtues and different forms of know-how are involved. (shrink)

Como he señalado en otras oportunidades, la obra de Santo Tomás de Aquino, aunque extensa y omniabarcante, se estructura a partir de algunos conceptos claves que sirven de fundamentos a la totalidad del ordenamiento de su pensamiento, lo que no lo simplifica, sino lo funda, haciendo de él un paradigma de reflexión también para nuestro tiempo, si sabemos comprenderlo desde la íntima profundidad de su sentido. La filosofía tomista es una filosofía esencialmente inclusiva que, a través de esas mismas ideas (...) matrices, presenta una cosmovisión filosófica y teológica, al mismo tiempo que refleja en ella una experiencia de vida. Así logra una síntesis que estructura una arquitectura reflexiva. Ello se puede ver en ideas como sabiduría, hábito y virtud, participación, analogía y otras. La connaturalidad como forma de conocimiento es una de esas ideas que estructuran su síntesis, siendo expresión de la congénita simpatía con el bien y de su concepción sobre la participación, mirada desde la realización cognoscitiva y afectiva de lo humano. El conocimiento por connaturalidad se muestra como simpatía que acerca afectivamente a un bien. Es así como, a través de él, presenta una visión casi sinóptica al abrirse a una amplia región de la doctrina tomista sobre Dios, el hombre, las cosas, desde un contexto que, aunque se puede analizar filosóficamente, es fundamentalmente teológico. En Santo Tomás la naturaleza se encuentra compenetrada por la gracia; su inteligencia no es sólo la del cultivar el don recibido, sino una inteligencia iluminada por la fe y purificada por la caridad. Por eso, la nobleza intelectual que transparece en sus escritos es, ante todo, el fruto de la santidad, de una santidad que no podía menos de expresarse en el orden del pensamiento. (shrink)

The idea of ‘connatural knowledge’ is attributed to Aquinas on the basis of passages in which he distinguishes between scientific and affective experiential knowledge of religious and moral truths. In a series of encyclicals beginning with Leo XIII's Aeterni Patris, popes have celebrated and commended Aquinas as the supreme guide in philosophy and theology and in some of these cited his discovery of connatural knowledge. The course and context of his ‘elevation’ are explored before proceeding to a discussion (...) of moral knowledge in which different forms of non-theoretical cognition are identified. This leads to an examination of work by Elizabeth Anscombe on the factuality of ethical judgement and connaturality. Aquinas and Anscombe offer important insights but more work remains to be done. Moral knowledge is a many-faceted thing. More accurately, it is not one thing but many things analogously related both by their modes and by their objects. (shrink)

This notion of knowledge through connaturality is classical in the Thomist school. Thomas Aquinas refers in this connection to the Pseudo--Dionysius, and to the Nicomachean Ethics, Book 10, chapter V, where Aristotle states that the virtuous man is the rule and measure of human actions. I have no doubt that this notion, or equivalent notions, had, before Thomas Aquinas, a long history in human thought; an inquiry into this particular chapter in the history of ideas,--which would perhaps have to take (...) into account such philosophers as Ramanuja, and the Indian school of bhakti,--would be of considerable interest. I did not embark on such historical research; the question for me was rather to test the validity of the notion of knowledge through connaturality, as elaborated in the Thomist school, and more systematically to recognize the various domains to which it must be extended. (shrink)

La meva intenció en les pàgines següents és analitzar la teoria del llenguatge que es troba en el Cràtil de Plató. D'una banda, s'analitza la concepció del significat de les paraules quePlató sembla defensar en aquest diàleg; de l'altra, s'ocupa del problema dels orígens delllenguatge. Aquestes qüestions s'estudien en relació amb la perspectiva ontològica i epistemològicade Plató: essencialisme, teoria de la reminiscència i les tesis dels sofistes sobre laimpossibilitat de parlar amb falsedat. La conclusió és que en el Cràtil podem (...) trobar ja la preparació de la teoria del llenguatge que Plató necessitarà per a la seva ulterior teoria de les idees. (shrink)

La meva intenció en les pàgines següents és analitzar la teoria del llenguatge que es troba en el Cràtil de Plató. D'una banda, s'analitza la concepció del significat de les paraules quePlató sembla defensar en aquest diàleg; de l'altra, s'ocupa del problema dels orígens delllenguatge. Aquestes qüestions s'estudien en relació amb la perspectiva ontològica i epistemològicade Plató: essencialisme, teoria de la reminiscència i les tesis dels sofistes sobre laimpossibilitat de parlar amb falsedat. La conclusió és que en el Cràtil podem (...) trobar ja la preparació de la teoria del llenguatge que Plató necessitarà per a la seva ulterior teoria de les idees. (shrink)

Connatural knowledge is knowledge readily acquired by beings possessing a certain nature. For instance, dogs have knowledge of a scent-world exceeding that of human beings, not because humans lack noses, but because dogs are by nature better suited to process olfaction. As various ethicists have argued, possession of the virtues involves a sort of connatural knowing. Here, connatural knowledge emerges as a knowledge by inclination which systematically tracks the specific moral interests we humans possess precisely because we (...) are human. In this essay we explore the importance of connaturality for moral education. (shrink)

Connatural knowledge is knowledge readily acquired by beings possessing a certain nature. For instance, dogs have knowledge of a scent-world exceeding that of human beings, not because humans lack noses, but because dogs are by nature better suited to process olfaction. As various ethicists have argued, possession of the virtues involves a sort of connatural knowing. Here, connatural knowledge emerges as a knowledge by inclination which systematically tracks the specific moral interests we humans possess precisely because we (...) are human. In this essay we explore the importance of connaturality for moral education. (shrink)

. Moral innatism, connatural ideas, and impuissance in daily affairs: James Q. Wilson's acrobatic dive into an empty pool. Criminal Justice Ethics: Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 77-82.

Tras su prematura muerte, se ha escrito mucho sobre la personalidad filosófica y política de Josep Lluís Blasco. Siendo sin duda importantes y admirables estos aspectos, para mí fue sobre todo una persona amiga, buena y amable, en el sentido literal de este término, y cuya pérdida me ha producido un desconsuelo irreparable. Así, la redacción de estas líneas no es para mí un mero ejercicio profesional, sino un deber de gratitud y afecto.

Human existence entails that our encounter with the world is mediated by the context, historicity, and concrete particularities of that existence. Consequently, this situatedness, which contributes to our pre-understanding, makes us more or less capable of “seeing” the truth of the world we encounter. The hermeneutical principle of pre-understanding is sometimes presupposed to be ambivalent toward, if not in opposition to, traditional metaphysics. The present essay shows how traditional metaphysics, specifically of a Thomistic sort, need not be pitted against hermeneutics, (...) but rather, offers the ground for understanding the way in which pre-understanding, as our habituation into and connaturality with truth, and ultimately, God, is that means by which right interpretation is made possible. (shrink)

Rémi Brague in On the God of the Christians gives a defence of the validity of faith against modern presumption that science supplies the model for all knowledge. Brague argues that since God is superpersonal, faith must know God in the way we know persons. Personal knowledge requires the connaturality of a loving will: hence faith in God requires love, utterly unlike any scientific knowledge. In criticism, it is suggested that love is essentially motivated by its object's value, and so (...) presupposes knowledge of the object. What is crucial in faith is not the love the subject brings but the demands of a supremely valuable reality. Since faith is, in the broadest sense, experiential, it has points of contact with scientific rationality. (shrink)

Human existence entails that our encounter with the world is mediated by the context, historicity, and concrete particularities of that existence. Consequently, this situatedness, which contributes to our pre-understanding, makes us more or less capable of “seeing” the truth of the world we encounter. The hermeneutical principle of pre-understanding is sometimes presupposed to be ambivalent toward, if not in opposition to, traditional metaphysics. The present essay shows how traditional metaphysics, specifically of a Thomistic sort, need not be pitted against hermeneutics, (...) but rather, offers the ground for understanding the way in which pre-understanding, as our habituation into and connaturality with truth, and ultimately, God, is that means by which right interpretation is made possible. (shrink)

우리가 아리스토텔레스의 도덕철학 안에 있는 교설들을 토마스 아퀴나스가 어떻게 해석하고 변형시켰는지를 논의해보는 것은 매우 의미 있는 일이다. 그런 의미에서 아리스토텔레스의 윤리학 안에 있는 ‘목적 구절’의 중요성을 충분히 잘 이해하기 위하여, 연구자는 올바른 실천적 지식을 획득하고 보존하는 것 안에서의 도덕적 탁월성과 실천적 지혜의 역할에 관한 『니코마코스 윤리학』안에서의 아리스토텔레스의 설명을 검토한다. 그런데 이러한 간략한 논의는 두 가지의 주된 문제점들을 제기한다. 첫째, 도덕적인 삶의 목적은 어떻게 알려지는가? 둘째, 도덕적 탁월성은 올바른 목적에 관한 우리의 지식에 어떻게 공헌하는가? 연구자는 이러한 질문들에 관한 토마스 아퀴나스의 답변은 (...) 무엇인지를 좀 더 세밀하게 검토한다.BR 첫 번째 질문에 관한 토마스 아퀴나스의 해결책은 도덕적인 삶의 일반적이고 특수한 목적들이 ‘우리가 어떻게 행위 해야 하는가?’에 관한 일반적인 표준이 되는 ‘보편적인 실천적 원리들’에 의해서 알려진다는 것이다. 그런데 보편적인 실천적 원리들은 좀 더 특수한 도덕학의 결론뿐만 아니라 자명한 실천적 전제들을 포함하고 있다. 두 번째 문제에 대한 토마스 아퀴나스의 대답은 도덕적 탁월성은 탁월성이 있는 개인이 진정으로 행위 하는 목적들이라 할 수 있는 ‘특수한 실천적 원리들’을 보증함으로써 올바른 목적에 대한 지식에다가 정서적 지지를 제공한다는 것이다.BR 토마스 아퀴나스는 이러한 맥락 안에서 ‘자기에게 고유하게 되는 것에 의한 판단’이라는 그의 교설에 의해서 또는 논증적이지 않은 실천적 지혜의 판단이라고 할 수 있는 ‘경향성에 의해서’ 아리스토텔레스의 ‘직관’을 한층 더 발전시킨다. 그러므로 보편적인 그리고 특수한 실천적 원리들이라는 토마스 아퀴나스의 교설은 그의 윤리학 안에 있는 ‘목적 구절’의 자리를 이해하는 데에 적절한 체계를 제공해준다. 토마스 아퀴나스는 아리스토텔레스 안에 함축되어있는 것을 단지 좀 더 명확하게 드러내고 있다. 그는 실천적 지혜에 관한 아리스토텔레스의 설명을 개선한다. 그는 근본적으로 실천적 지혜의 의미와 범위를 변경한다.BR 결론적으로, 연구자는 토마스 아퀴나스가 아리스토텔레스의 목적 구절을 기본적으로는 충실한 철학적 주해를 했다는 것, 그리고 언뜻 보아서는 잘 알 수 없는 아리스토텔레스의 목적 구절을 명료화했을 뿐만 아니라 더 체계적이고 일관성 있는 설명을 제시했다는 것을 주장한다. 그리하여 연구자는 그로 인하여 토마스 아퀴나스가 아리스토텔레스의 목적 구절을 그 자신의 주해 안에서 아리스토텔레스 자신의 사고의 원리들과 범주들의 도움으로 한층 더 발전적으로 확장했다고 결론을 내린다. (shrink)

Resumen: Este artículo expone un caso de estudio ilustrativo del papel de las mujeres en la prensa escrita de principios del siglo pasado que sirve para examinar críticamente los reportajes que firmara la estadounidense Emma Sarepta Yule (1863-1939) sobre las mujeres en Asia Oriental, publicados en la revista ilustrada Scribner’s Magazine y en Current History. La pretensión es poner de manifiesto los elementos ideológicos, culturales y de género patentes en las crónicas de Yule dedicados a la «nueva mujer» asiática, y (...) cómo los escritos reflejan el contexto geopolítico de la época. Se busca con ello destacar el rol de estas «corresponsales de género» para discutir la representación de la «nueva mujer» en Japón, China y Corea que difundieron en las revistas. Asimismo, se reseñan los factores «geosexuales» y «geoideológicos» de sus textos, y las contradicciones entre la realidad de aquellas mujeres y el intento de la periodista por superponer, manejando la categoría «nueva mujer», principios y valores propios de la «modernidad protestante» movilizados con la ayuda de a implantación en Asia de organizaciones lideradas por mujeres como la Young Women’s Christian Association (ywca). Se destaca la naturaleza disputada de la modernidad y del feminismo en Asia Oriental durante ese período, estudiando cómo las periodistas extranjeras jugaron un rol sustancial en la construcción de la imagen de la «nueva mujer» en la región, para concluir subrayando la relevancia que esta producción periodística tuvo transmitiendo el ideario liberal-idealista connatural a la sociedad internacional de entreguerras y los problemas epistémicos que presenta. Palabras clave: Emma Sarepta Yule (1863-1939); crónica periodística; nueva mujer; geosexualidad; geoideología. Abstract: This article presents an illustrative case study of the role of women in the print media at the beginning of the last century that serves to critically examine the chronicles signed by Emma Sarepta Yule (1863-1939) on women in East Asia, published in the journals Scribner’s Magazine and Current History. The aim is to highlight the ideological, cultural, and gender elements evident in Yule’s reports dedicated to the Asian «new woman», and how the writings reflect the geopolitical context of the time. This seeks to highlight the role of these «gender correspondents» to discuss the representation of the «new woman» in Japan, China, and Korea that they disseminated in magazines. Likewise, the «geosexual» and «geoideological» factors of their texts are reviewed, as well as the contradictions between the reality of those women and the journalist’s attempt to superimpose, handling the category “new woman”, principles and values of the «Protestant modernity» mobilized with the help of the establishment in Asia of women-led organizations such as the Young Women’s Christian Association (ywca). The disputed nature of modernity and feminism in East Asia during this period is underlined by studying how foreign journalists played a substantial role in the construction of the image of the «new woman» in the region, to conclude by showing the relevance that this journalistic production had in transmitting the liberal-idealist ideology inherent to the interwar international society and the epistemic problems that it presents. Keywords: Emma Sarepta Yule (1863-1939); journalistic chronicle; new woman; geosexuality; geoideology. Sumario: 1. Introducción; 2. La «nueva mujer» del «nuevo Japón»; 3. Las sin nombre: la «Señorita China» entre murallas; 4. Las «nuevas» y «jóvenes» rebeldes coreanas en un país «soñoliento»; 5. Nota final: El «género» de la «crónica»; 6. Referencias bibliográficas. (shrink)

Aquest llibre reuneix dos temes d'especial interès: el pensament de Thomas Hobbes i el problema de l'objectivitat. Aquest es troba a la rel de la nostra civilització dominada per una ciència que només admet al seu domini els coneixements objectius segons els entenen el positivisme i en cientisme.

Quin tipus de teixit configura un diàleg de Plató? Què mostren els seus brodats? Què representa? Quina relació manté amb el coneixement i amb la seva transmissió? Aquest text respon en part a algunes d’aquestes qüestions a partir de dos passatges del diàleg anomenat Fedre en els quals Sòcrates utilitza el recurs del vel per construir els seus dos discursos. Es defensarà que comprendre què posa en joc el vel resulta fonamental per a entendre correctament la manera en què (...) Sòcrates parla amb el seu interlocutor i en la qual Plató confecciona el diàleg per als potencials lectors. L’objectiu principal d’aquest text és mostrar alguns dels trets essencials del dir platònic. (shrink)

The author investigates whether the model prevalent today of an “humble reason” - based on fallibilism and epistemic humility - is the most appropriate to express the theological truth, even in the light of the debate within the contemporary theism (rational theology). To answer this question it is necessary to examine the epistemological status of “human truth” and the “truth of faith”, in order to develop a common approach to sciences, philosophy and theology. Finally, the author shows how the communitarian (...) dimension and the “choice” (a call for freedom) are inherent to theology understood as “critical faith”, whose peculiarity is to posit itself without nostalgia in the middle between fideism, rationalism and a certain relativism. From the path, finally, it emerges the proposal of a new “cristeologia”. Il rapporto tra fede e ragione è la questione meta-teologica per eccellenza. L’autore si propone dunque d’indagare se il modello oggi prevalente di “ragione umile” – basato su fallibilismo e umiltà epistemica – sia il più adeguato per esprimere le verità teologiche, anche alla luce del dibattito interno al teismo contemporaneo (teologia razionale). Per rispondere a questa domanda è necessario esaminare lo statuto epistemologico della verità umana e della verità di fede, per poter elaborare un metodo comune alle discipline scientifiche, filosofiche e teologiche, capace di trovare un equilibrio tra fideismo e positivismo teologico. Dopo una breve panoramica storica dei rapporti tra fede e ragione nel pensiero occidentale (con particolare attenzione alla dottrina dei praeambula fidei), l’articolo cercherà di mostrare come, nel paradigma della verità relazionale e del fallibilismo sia necessario integrare il problema delle fonti, dell’autorità, del concetto di ispirazione e della nozione di “rivelazione”, giacché contraddistinguono la teologia rispetto alla filosofia. Si mostrerà infine come la dimensione comunitaria e della scelta (appello alla libertà) siano connaturate alla teologia intesa come fede critica, la cui peculiarità è di collocarsi senza nostalgie nel mezzo tra fideismo, razionalismo e un certo relativismo. Dal percorso emergerà infine la proposta di una nuova "cristeologia". (shrink)

En ocasió del sisè centenari del naixement del Cusà, aquesta primera versió al català d'algunes obres seves vol fer conèixer la vigoria del seu pensament i de la seva aposta pacifista i ecumènica.

This article discusses the development of John Scottus Eriugena’s teaching on the spiritual body. In his early treatise De praedestinatione, as well as in the Periphyseon, John Scottus understands the spiritual body as ethereal or aerial. This conception tacitly assumes that men and angels are connatural. Moreover, Eriugena’s angelology and demonology compel him to localize Hades in the air—a teaching in which he follows a well-established ancient and Christian tradition. John Scottus is influenced by ideas of Origen and Gregory (...) of Nyssa in maintaining that there are two different kinds of human bodies; the interpretation of the biblical “coatsof skin” as the earthly human body plays an important part in this. According to Eriugena, the soul in a sense creates an earthly body for itself. In later passages from the Periphyseon, he abandons the idea of individual subtle bodies, accepting a complete transformation of body into spirit at the resurrection. However, he remains ambiguous on this point as his position would contradict Christian doctrine. The Periphyseon culminates in a paraphrase of a section from Ambigua ad Iohannem XXXVII. In the light of the latter text, the nature of the eight gradual unifications from the epilogue of the Periphyseon becomes clear. (shrink)

En aquesta arrencada del segle XXI, en què la tecnologia ens afalaga i alhora ens domina, ens calen humanistes que ens ajudin a interpretar la realitat i a tenir criteris per a abordar-la. Josep Maria Puigjaner, l'autor d'aquest llibre, s'ha proposat apropar al lector, a través de la narració d'alguns retalls -reals o imaginaris- de les seves vides, la personalitat de vuit humanistes que ens transmeteren, durant el segle XX, la seva manera d'entendre la vida i l'home. Són escriptors que (...) mereixen el qualificatiu de clàssics, és a dir que parlen des d'una perspectiva interior, profunda i arrelada en el coneixement i en l'experiència del significat de la naturalesa humana i els seus ideals de futur. (shrink)

Col·lecció que aplega les actes dels cursos d'estiu del comtat d'Urgell que se celebra cada juliol a Balaguer des de l'any 1996. Aquests llibres contribueixen a renovar el coneixement de les arrels medievals de la mà dels millors especialistes d'Europa i Amèrica. Directors: Flocel Sabaté i Joan Farré.

Mathematics and music in practice and performance, and in learning and teaching, share many characteristics, such as beauty and harmony, memory and intuition and mind or intellect. These raise the principles of processing information in mathematics and music and, by implication, the role of an acquaintance with the essentials of perception, abstraction and affective connaturality in teacher education. This paper compares mathematics and music and considers the acquisition of knowledge and skills through the external and internal senses and emotions, utilizing (...) the role of knowledge through multiple intelligences. In doing so it does not canvas the utilities of mathematics and music as fields of human endeavour so much as their role in the cultivation of serenity and knowledge in the cultured mind. This is a theoretical paper but it is based on nearly a century of teaching from the combined work of the two authors in the teaching of music and mathematics. The paper highlights the importance of inspiration in teaching, inspiration built on a thorough basis of the foundations of anthropology to include the emotions as well as the intellect. While teacher education programs rightly concern themselves with knowledge of the field of study, knowledge of pedagogy, they do not always consider the ability to inspire which is at the heart of managing and mentoring people. (shrink)

En la gran producció filosòfica d’Eusebi Colomer, s’hi poden distingir tres grans centres d’interès particularment destacats. En primer lloc, la seva dedicació a l’estudi del pensament de Ramon Llull i de Nicolau de Cusa. La seva tesi doctoral va mostrar les influències lul·lianes en l’obra de Nicolau de Cusa a partir de les anotacions autògrafes en què el jove Nicolau es feia ressò de les coses que més li interessaven de Llull. El segon gran centre d’interès el van constituir, naturalment, (...) els grans corrents de la filosofia alemanya moderna i contemporània. Des dels anys d’estudiant s’havia familiaritzat particularment amb l’idealisme, la fenomenologia i la filosofia de l’existència. Finalment, el seu tercer centre d’interès va ser el diàleg filosòfico-teològic. Colomer lamentava profundament el divorci produït entre la filosofia i la teologia. Adaptant una coneguda formulació de Kant, pensava que la teologia sense filosofia és cega, però que la filosofia sense teologia és buida. Format en la tradició metafísica espiritualista i defensor de l’humanisme cristià, Colomer es trobava, però, a les antípodes de qualsevol sectarisme o dogmatisme. La seva formació, el seu tarannà i, segurament, els seus enormes coneixements de la història de la filosofia, li havien conferit una gran capacitat per al diàleg. Ell no veia el diàleg com un recurs o com una tàctica, sinó com un element constitutiu de l’ésser humà. \n. (shrink)

Natural law as fact, theory, and sign of contradiction -- The second tablet project -- The mystery of what? -- The natural, the connatural, and the unnatural -- Accept no imitations: natural law vs. naturalism -- Thou shalt not kill . . . whom? the meaning of the person -- Capital punishment: the case for justice -- Constitution vs. constitutionalism -- Constitutional metaphysics -- The liberal, illiberal religion.

L'objectiu d'aquest article és oferir un anàlisi dels arguments principals del Tractat sobre els Principis del Coneixement Humà, de G. Berkeley. Aquests arguments -que es troben a I, §4, I, §5-7 i I, §23 de l'obra de Berkeley- tenen como a objectiu demostrar la inconcebibilitat d'un món extern de caràcter físic. Argumentaré que la validesa d'aquests tres arguments depèn del anomenat «principi de semblança». La conclusió a la que arribaré és que l'acceptació del principi de semblança -i, en conseqüència, (...) dels arguments que d'ell en depenen- es problemàtica, però que, en qualsevol cas, el principi es manté com a una bona crítica reductiva al materialisme representacionalista de John Locke, en tant que aquest no pot negar les premisses que duen a la seva justificació i que la seva defensa contra dit principi presenta un seguit de problemes als quals sembla no haver-hi resposta. (shrink)

Henri de Lubac's treatment of the relationship between nature and grace helped the Catholic Church to move beyond the antagonisms that had defined its relationship with the modern nation-state. In critiquing de Lubac, some recent scholarship has presented an interpretation of Aquinas that is remarkably similar to the problems associated with the neo-Scholastic method. These approaches indicate that in order for late modern democratic states to achieve their connatural ends of justice and the common good, they must directly advert (...) to revealed knowledge and Church teaching. This essay proposes an alternative correction to de Lubac that both maintains a distinction between nature and grace and facilitates a capacity for Christians to engage in a nuanced dialogue of affirmation and critique of the human goods sought by late modern political and legal institutions. In the conclusion, this nature-grace distinction is used to analyze the way the US Catholic Bishops have engaged in moral, political, and legal debates over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (shrink)