Reciprocating Bill
Posts: 4265
Joined: Oct. 2006
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| Quote (CeilingCat @ Oct. 18 2010,03:46) | vjtorley shows us why it's impossible to be a good Catholic and also a good philosopher: | Quote | | Aquinas’ reference to “those conditions which accompany the entire species” underlines the pivotal importance of essentialism to his ethical thinking. For if there are no such things as fixed natural kinds (which Aquinas calls “species”), then neither can there be any fixed, universal moral norms. |
Species transmute = impossible to know right from wrong. |
But something must have predisposed him to be an excellent contortionist:
Vjtorley:
| Quote | | Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Vincent Torley...For the record, I accept that the universe is approximately 14 billion years old, and that all living things spring from a common ancestor that lived approximately 4 billion years ago. [RB's emphasis] |
And Vjtorley:
| Quote | | Living things do indeed belong to clearly distinct kinds, that there are built-in natural limits to evolutionary change, and that these limits roughly coincide with the scientific taxon we now call “family,” rather than the taxon we call “species.” Essentialism is not dead; it’s just moved up two taxonomic levels, that’s all. (I also argue that human beings belong to a different natural kind from chimps.) [VJ's emphasis] |
However he makes that work, it must be painful.
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Myth: Something that never was true, and always will be.
"The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you."
- David Foster Wallace
"Here’s a clue. Snarky banalities are not a substitute for saying something intelligent. Write that down."
- Barry Arrington
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