Wise Words from the Maverick Philosopher

It's been a while since the last post but I wanted to capture this gem from the Maverick Philosopher. It is a popular meme among the ungodly that the expression of doubts near to the time of one's death somehow negates a lifetime of faithful service. It may, of course, in some circumstances but it seems to me that the Adversary is fairly consistent at choosing this time. One of Bill Vallicella's readers recounts an incident where his grandmother was on her deathbed.

"My grandmother’s reply [to the question of why she was fighting so hard to stay alive], “I fear that there is nothing on the other side.”  Here is a woman who has spent eighty nine years of her life devoting herself to the [Catholic] church and her family.  Now, when it comes down to death she is clinging on because her entire life is behind her and the only thing that she faces in front of her is the uncertainty of whether there is a heaven awaiting her in the coming days."

to which Vallicella replies:

"You have lived your long life faithfully and devotedly in the embrace of Holy Mother the Church.  She has presided over central events in your life, your baptism, first communion, confirmation, and your marriage.  She has provided guidance, moral instruction, comfort, and community as you have navigated life's difficulties and disappointments.  She provided meaning and solace when your parents died, and your husband, and your many friends and relatives.  If your faith was a living faith and not a convenience or a matter of social conformity, then from time to time you had your doubts.  But through prayer and reflection you have repeatedly reaffirmed your faith.  You faith was made deeper and truer by those doubts and their overcoming." 

"I ask you now to recall those moments of calm reflection and existential lucidity, those moments when you were at your best physically, mentally, and spiritually.  I ask you to recall them, and above all I ask you not to betray them now when you are weak. Do not allow the decisions and resolutions of your finest and and clearest hours to be taken hostage by doubts and fears born of weakness.  Your weakness has called forth the most vicious attacks of the Adversary and his agents.  You have lived in the faith and now you must remain true to a course of life judged right at the height of your powers.  Your doubts are of the devil and they must be put aside.  Pray, and remain true to a course judged right."  

Amen.

Busy Month

Well, it's been a busy month but it has seen some interesting stuff out there within my blogosphere light-cone.

The Maverick Philosopher has had an entertaining series of posts on the difference between fictional and impossible entities. Much of the technical discussion eluded me but I did like the characterisation of fictional as incomplete although I am not completely convinced by his critique of the "story operator".

Mike Flynn has also had a lot of fun in a series of posts on the Christian origins of the Scientific Revolution. He also brought to wider attention the fact that much of the US think that zombies would run their country better than the current Federal Government.

Over at Ed Feser's blog, there was a very interesting discussion about the AT conception of the soul and how it purports to avoid the interaction problem. This was particularly useful because it quoted Bill Vallicella articulating what I think is the most difficult thing to understand about the Thomistic line of reasoning, namely how it is that a form can interact with matter, and by interact he means as an efficient cause rather than a formal or final cause. I'm still not sure I understand the reply but I suspect that that is due to my poor understanding of the Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics.

Brandon Watson at Siris echoes what I'm sure a lot of us are feeling when he takes Disney to task for its crass revisionism in the case of "Maleficent". Aside from the lamentably bad premise on which the new film appears to be based, the witlessness of this situation reminds me of the recent TV advert in which a CGI Audrey Hepburn, dazzling in her youth and vitality, rises from a scene in the film "Roman Holiday"... to appear in a chocolate commercial. I seem to recall something similar happened in the last episode of Bablyon 5, and that didn't turn out well either. The members of the Hepburn estate, moneygrabbing philistines that they are, apparently see nothing wrong with it but to me the commercial is a shibboleth which divides those who have an aesthetic sense from those who don't.

Crude, over at Crude Ideas, continues to fight the good fight against the Cult of Gnu. One of the best thing for those of limited intelligence like me is the sight of clever people discussing substantive issues on Faith, Science and Philosophy, e.g. on Feser's blog, but I must also confess to enjoying seeing fish shot in a barrel, and no-one does this better than Crude. I look forward to his new website.

Heuristics from the Citadel Library continues to provide more "beam me up, Scotty" moments and documents that there is nothing new under the sun.

And finally, a hilarious story about Richard Dawkins from Shadow to Light.

Eliminating Eliminativism

The Maverick Philosopher down among the eliminativists.

I have to confess that, as someone who was never formally trained in philosophy, I can't even begin to see how eliminativism can address the points that Bill Vallicella raises here, along with the ones Feser investigates in his series of posts on Rosenberg's book.