In Knowledge Worthily Received, we considered the paradox that Socrates considered himself “barren of wisdom”—yet was able to help bring forth knowledge in his students. We considered the temptation of “easy knowledge,” of the illusion of learning without struggle. We recalled St. Thomas’ claim that truth, properly speaking, is in the mind—with the peculiar result […]
Category Archives: Thomas Aquinas
01
May
May
In the Theaetetus, Socrates describes himself as a midwife of the mind: The difference is that I attend men and not women, and that I watch over the labor of their souls, not of their bodies. Theaetetus 150b. Socrates, however, declared himself “barren of wisdom” (150c). Yet he is one of the greatest teachers in […]
In “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?”, Thomas Nagel argues that consciousness cannot be explained by contemporary physical science. The inner lives of bats must be so different from our own, not least in their reliance on echolocation over sight. Although scientific methods tell us a great deal about bats, the subjective, inner […]
08
Feb
Feb
Memoria College tutor Thomas Cothran, writing at Eclectic Orthodoxy, about St. Thomas Aquinas’ position on the problem of predestination: God causes all of our actions, including our acts of choosing. He does not merely give mankind the power of choice, he causes the act of choosing itself. We are mere instruments of God’s will. […]