My discussion of Hegel focuses direcrly upon the process of interiority at the centre of his thought. This process captures certain fundamental classical philosophical and religious themes in its gamut: knowledge, love, the Incarnation, and the Trinity. The central anti-reductionistic principle around which my examination of interioriry is developed is Hegel’s contention that the low or imperfect must be seen in the light of the high or perfect. I discriminate between the different ontological forms of this principle in the philosophies (...) of Aristotle, Aquinas, and Hegel. (shrink)

My discussion of Hegel focuses direcrly upon the process of interiority at the centre of his thought. This process captures certain fundamental classical philosophical and religious themes in its gamut: knowledge, love, the Incarnation, and the Trinity. The central anti-reductionistic principle around which my examination of interioriry is developed is Hegel’s contention that the low or imperfect must be seen in the light of the high or perfect. I discriminate between the different ontological forms of this principle in the philosophies (...) of Aristotle, Aquinas, and Hegel. (shrink)

To be intelligible, the finite order of human experience, for Hegel, requires infinite absolute spirit. Flay and Kolb overlook this infinite in Hegel's thought. Notwithstanding their contextualist hints in interpreting Hegel they regard Hegel as even more of a foundationalist than the epistemological foundationalists. But the notion of ground in Hegel's Logic refutes this. Hegel's systemic holism is grounded in the prospective completed infinity of spirit beyond either Foundationalism or Anti-Foundationalism. In the absence of infinite spirit we are consigned to (...) an unnecessarily attenuated human finitude. The mutual career of the Hegelian finite and infinite however frees us from this prospect. (shrink)

The Eucharist poses a challenge for philosophical discourse. Nevertheless, I suggest that we can speak intelligibly about this deepest of mysteries, without detracting from its mysterious evidence. Instead of resorting to the traditional approaches in discussions of the Eucharist, which attempt to explain it in terms of substance metaphysics, I will deploy a speech act theory, not in order to comprehend, but rather to hold open a space for this mystery to become present in our natural and philosophical lives. I (...) will focus on the speech act of giving thanks or showing gratitude—eucharistein—that is just as much ontological as the ontology of things that accounts for most of the intellectual discourse about the Eucharist. My thesis is that the Eucharist essentially and spiritually concerns persons and a Person more than it concerns things. (shrink)

The Eucharist poses a challenge for philosophical discourse. Nevertheless, I suggest that we can speak intelligibly about this deepest of mysteries, without detracting from its mysterious evidence. Instead of resorting to the traditional approaches in discussions of the Eucharist, which attempt to explain it in terms of substance metaphysics, I will deploy a speech act theory, not in order to comprehend, but rather to hold open a space for this mystery to become present in our natural and philosophical lives. I (...) will focus on the speech act of giving thanks or showing gratitude—eucharistein—that is just as much ontological as the ontology of things that accounts for most of the intellectual discourse about the Eucharist. My thesis is that the Eucharist essentially and spiritually concerns persons and a Person more than it concerns things. (shrink)