Category Archives: Philosophy

Must-read on Feser by Aquinas

I’ve spent a number of posts digging around various bits of Aristotelian-Thomist metaphysics, especially with regard to causation. Notable examples here and the most recent, commenting on a piece by Ed Feser, here. Why does it matter?

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Building bridges from Aquinas to ID

I mentioned in my recent post, linking to Ed Feser’s piece on “finality”, that he “only makes” one brief attack on ID, linking it to William Paley’s natural theology. Given the nature of the essay as an overview, it seems a good source from which to examine how fundamental the differences between A-T thinking and modern Intelligent Design theory really are, and whether an accommodation could be possible or helpful. I’ve attempted this in a small way before but I’ll try to develop it a bit, and repetition isn’t necessarily harmful anyway.

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Must-read on teleology by Feser

Since Aquinas has been around in a couple of recent posts, may I draw your intention to an Idiot’s Guide to teleology that Ed Feser has written for Jerry Coyne (!) He makes many points well that I’ve often tried to make badly. And he only takes one side-swipe at Intelligent Design – but the recent discussion will maybe help you understand why he does so, even if you think he’s being unfair.

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On the integrity of forms

I don’t suppose any of my American brethren will be posting on Thanksgiving Day, so have a good one! Here’s a conversation that Werner Heisenberg said changed his life: Heisenberg: “We cannot observe electron orbits inside the atom…Now, since a good theory must be based on directly observable magnitudes, I thought it more fitting to restrict myself to these, treating them, as it were, as representatives of the electron orbits.” “But you don’t seriously believe,” Einstein protested, “that none but observable magnitudes must go into a physical theory?” “Isn’t that precisely what you have done with relativity?” I asked in some surprise… “Possibly I did use this kind of reasoning,” … Continue reading

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Jimi Hendrix on Aristotelian causation

August 1970 – It was the end of my gap year, men had walked on the moon twice and I saw Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight Festival just a couple of weeks before he died.

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