St. Augustine of Hippo One of the fundamentally differing premises between Catholicism and Protestantism, was the doctrine of the human will. Where Catholics argued that the will was weakened by original sin, but free to do good or evil, Protestants argued that the will was free only to choose between sins; free only to do evil. Here's a quotation from John Calvin's "The … [Read more...]
The Invisible, Uncreated world of Being, Makes More Sense than the Material World of Becoming
Plato, Kant, Thomas, Augustine, and Jesus all posited a (post) hellenic worldview whereby behind everything in the physical world, there existed ideas, the non-material, the noumenal, God. Something Other, something not like what we see. From our life experience and our own human being/existence, we know that Being must exist. Plato posited that there was a realm of the … [Read more...]
What Exists? The Senses and Reason? Thomas, Berkeley, Kant
I'm trying to figure out whether I believe the world actually exists because I see it and experience it with my senses (Thomas Aquinas/Aristotle/Realism), or whether I think it exists and so it exists, and that the only real thing I can be sure of is that I think, and so existence can only really be linked to thinking. Thus for universal existence, there must be a mind … [Read more...]