classics digests, reflections and reviews
Philosophical Foundation of Science When quantum theory and the theory of general relativity shook the foundation of physics at the dawn of the 20th century, many physicists, such as Erwin Schrödinger and Werner Heisenberg, explored and revisited ancient Greek philosophy. For they suspected there might be something wrong with the philosophical foundation of classical physics. They attempted to retrace the steps in the labyrinth and find out where the wrong […]
Read moreDivine Justice Transcends Time and Space The notion of justice presupposes the persistence of identity, not only of individual, but also of family, race and nation. An individual goes through many changes, from a newborn baby, to a child, an adult and an old man. How can one be responsible for his past action if he is not the same person who committed it? Although a family, race or nation […]
Read morePlato wrote a book on the One Ideal Constitution, but because of its forbidding character he could not persuade anyone to adopt it; but Alexander established more than seventy cities among savage tribes, and sowed all Asia with Grecian magistracies, and thus overcame its uncivilized and brutish manner of living. Although few of us read Plato’s Laws, yet hundreds of thousands have made use of Alexander’s laws, and continue to […]
Read morePotentiality and Contraries There is difficulty in the question how the matter of each thing is related to its contrary states. It is the matter of one in virtue of its positive state and its form, and of the other in virtue of the privation of its positive state and the corruption of it contrary to its nature. The corpse comes from the animal, and vinegar from wine, as night […]
Read moreForm, not Genus, is Principle If the universals are always more of the nature of principles, evidently the uppermost of the genera are the principles; for these are predicated of all things. Both being and unity will be principles and substances. But it is not possible that either unity or being should be a single genus of things; for the differentiae of any genus must each of them both have […]
Read moreArtists can Teach We view them as being wiser not in virtue of being able to act, but of having the theory for themselves and knowing the causes. And in general it is a sign of the man who knows and of the man who does not know, that the former can teach, and therefore we think art more truly knowledge than experience is. Having abstract knowledge of the cause […]
Read moreClarity of Definition First of all see whether he has used any attribute that belongs universally. For the genus ought to divide the object from things in general, and the differentia from any of the things contained in the same genus. Now any term that belongs to everything separates off the given object from absolutely nothing, while any that belongs to all the things that fall under the same genus […]
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