@AleMartnezR1 I did some videos on his proof for God near the very beginning of my channel. I ramble a lot in them (it was my first time making youtube videos) but hopefully I explain things well. Jeremy Daggett also has a very helpful paper in the festschrift for Peter Damian Fehlner. @AleMartnezR1 The argument essentially turns on the S5 modal axiom that whatever is possible is necessarily possible. Scotus is concerned that traditional arguments from contingency move from a contingent premise to a necessary conclusion (which he thinks is impossible), so he argues...

Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner on true, false, and incomplete forms of Christian spirituality

A thread 🧵 Fr. Peter lists four types of Christian spiritualities. He uses the square of opposition from classical logic as an analogy for the relation of these types. Ultimately, A, the Marian mode, is the most perfect form of spirituality, with others more or less compatible.

How comparing Augustine, Newton, and Einstein on gravity can teach us about natural desire for God

A thread 🧵



Let’s start with Newton’s account of gravity. Newton thinks that efficient causes are the only real kinds of causes in nature. Gravity works by an efficient cause. So the Earth literally pulls the apple down. The planets move because the sun pulls them.

An argument for why the American government must recognize Catholicism as the true religion

A thread 1) The greater a thing is, the more it ought to be honored
2) God is the greatest thing possible
3) Therefore, God ought to be honored above all else (and this we call religion)
4) Honor is a matter of justice
5) Therefore, religion is a matter of justice

Whether oatmeal raisin cookies are better than chocolate chip?

Obj 1. When the mind conceived of a cookie, it conceives of a chocolate chip cookie. Therefore, oatmeal raisin cookies are only cookies analogously.

https://twitter.com/militantthomist/status/1721517330348335133

Obj 2. It is of the nature of a cookie to taste sweet. But chocolate chip cookies are sweeter. Therefore etc.

Obj 3. The majority of people prefer chocolate chip cookies. Therefore, the natural law prefers them.

Pop theology: "No one took Genesis as discussing science until Protestant fundamentalism"

Actual medieval theologians debating the composition of the waters above the firmament: For those interested, Scotus here rejects the position that the waters above the firmament are vapor, and he instead holds that it is the crystalline sphere which surrounds the universe. He says that it is called water because it has certain properties of water.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading in the philosophy of science recently, so I want to do a thread on some of the books that I have found most helpful. Kuhn provides a radical challenge to the scientism you grew up with. He points out that science has not developed by slow progress, but by radical paradigm shifts. Ultimately, Kuhn fails to build a positive vision of what science should be, but it’s an important starting point.

Critics of postliberalism (and unfortunately some postliberals themselves) assert that rights are the invention of liberalism. Is that true?

Let’s compare the rights theories of St. Thomas Aquinas and Thomas Hobbes.

🧵

St. Thomas discusses right as the opening question to the treatise on justice. According to him, right (ius) is the object of justice (iustitia). That is, justice is to fulfill the right of another.

A very beautiful image of the immaculate conception is contained in Zechariah 3.

🧵

When it comes to the immaculate conception, there seems to be a significant problem: one cannot be born without original sin without the grace of the incarnation. But the in order for the incarnation to happen, there has to be a sinless woman to bear God. How does we solve this?

Is the Catholic faith the true faith?

part 4 (see my pinned thread for parts 1-3) In the first three parts we established

1) God exists
2) God became man to save us from sin
3) The Catholic Church is the true Church

Now that we have established the truth of the Catholic faith, what should you do?

Is the Catholic faith the true faith?

part 3 (see my pinned thread for parts 1 and 2) We established in the last 2 parts that:

1) God exists
2) God became man to save us from our sins
3) It would be most fitting if he established a Church

In this thread we will establish that this is the Catholic Church

Is the Catholic faith the true faith?

part 2 (see my pinned post for part 1) In part 1 we established

1) God exists
2) It would seem fitting if he became man to save us, and Christianity claims it is true

In this thread we still need to establish that God did indeed become man, and that he established the Catholic Church.

Is the Catholic faith the true faith?

This thread will only take a minute to read, but given that this might have to do with your eternal destiny, isn’t it worth spending a minute to look at it? In order to for the Catholic faith to be the true faith, only 3 things must be true:

1) God exists
2) That God became incarnate as Jesus Christ
3) Jesus Christ established the Catholic Church

St. Therese of Lisieux on predestination:

They threw a clear light upon the mystery of my vocation and of my entire life, and above all upon the favours which Our Lord has granted to my soul. He does not call those who are worthy, but those whom He will. As St. Paul says: "God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."

I often asked myself why God had preferences, why all souls did not receive an equal measure of grace.