I might discern and distinguish what a difference there is between presumption and confession,— between those who saw whither they were to go, yet saw not the way, and the way which leads not only to behold but to inhabit the blessed country. (Confessions VII) In his Confessions, Augustine writes that it was God’s pleasure that he studied Platonism before being touched by Him though the Scriptures. Of all philosophies, […]
Read moreCategory: Conversation and Reflection
Plato’s Conception of God
Recently, I’ve had some interesting discussions with a couple of Straussians who argued that Plato didn’t really believe the Theory of Forms or the existence of gods, and that those metaphysical and theological notions are only means to an end, which is to teach people to lead a virtuous life, in other words, they serve as instructional tools for ethics. I asked them if Strauss provided any concrete evidence from […]
Read moreSocratic Dialectical Method
Why is Socratic Method so Effective? Most dabblers in philosophy, myself included, are the contentious sort. We assert our opinion and reject others’ offhand, without giving any reason as to why our opinion is better. Consequently, discussions tend to end in futility, with both sides going away unaffected and unimpressed. By contrast, the Socratic Method often ends in unanimous consensus among the interlocutors, with others agreeing with Socrates and seemingly unable […]
Read moreThe Pursuit of Certainty: From Descartes to Kierkegaard
Kierkegaard evidently read Descartes, because he objected to the latter’s famous argument, “I think, therefore I am”, and the notion that doubt is derived from knowledge. It might appear that the two of them belong to different camps, but I have reason to believe that Descartes influenced/inspired Kierkegaard in his conception of “subjective certainty”. Descartes’ Certainty It was Descartes who first brought “subjective certainty” to the forefront of philosophical thought, […]
Read moreOn the World as a Stage: III. Participating in Justice
Plato writes that the beautiful things in this world are images of the absolute and everlasting Beauty that can be seen only with the eye of the mind. Things in this world change constantly and have no substance, but they are beautiful because they participate in Beauty. In the same vein, justice is made manifest in this world by people participating in or enacting Justice. Sometimes it’s almost as if a […]
Read moreBoundaries and Divine Law
A Baseball Metaphor For those who don’t know much about baseball, here are three things that might help you understand the metaphor I’m about to relate. First, it’s “a game of inches”, because the difference between success and failure, safe and out, home-run and foul ball is literally inches apart. Second, there is no time constraint in baseball, unlike some other major team sports. In theory, a baseball game could […]
Read moreTolstoy on Shakespeare
[Posted to commemorate the 185th anniversary of Leo Tolstoy’s birthday] Tolstoy was a bona fide iconoclast, who was not afraid to think and speak for himself, and did so with the force of reason and conviction, as is evident in his critical essay on Shakespeare. Comparing Shakespeare with Homer However distant Homer is from us, we can, without the slightest effort, transport ourselves into the life he describes,…because he believes […]
Read more