Thomas Says: Why You Can (And Should) Kill in Self-Defense, Part 1
Fewer topics in Thomas’s moral philosophy have received more attention than his treatment of what has come to be known as double-effect. What is particularly interesting is that Thomas manages to...
View ArticleThomas Says: Why You Can (And Should) Kill in Self-Defense, Part 2
In this post, I want to conclude my summary and discussion of Thomas’s reasoning about killing in self-defense by examining the objections to his position that he considers and his replies to those...
View ArticleOld and Relevant: Augustine's City of God
No doubt many of our readers are very familiar with all the quotable (and some unquotable) C. S. Lewis, so they should not be surprised to be reminded that the eminently understandable academician...
View ArticleOld and Relevant: Plato's Anthropological Principle
Perhaps the most famous dialogue penned by Plato is his far-reaching Republic. In this work he addresses the popular philosophy of his day—a philosophy that was promulgated by a group of teachers...
View ArticleThomas Says: What Happens if, Whoops, I Killed You?
This is the second-to-last post summarizing the position on killing laid out by Thomas Aquinas in the Summa. In the concluding post I will pull together a number of points about his position on...
View ArticleThomas Says: A Recap on Killing
This is the last post in the Thomas Says series on killing. I want to summarize some points Thomas makes in this question of the Summa. First, let’s note the obvious, which hasn’t been noted yet in...
View ArticleOld and Relevant: Leviathan
When Thomas Hobbes wrote his Leviathan, the English were in the midst of a series of civil wars, battling their brothers over religious and political issues. Charles I struggled with a Puritan...
View ArticleFear and Greatness: Why American Citizens Should Worry That the Terror of...
Every generation struggles towards a certain self-understanding as its members move from immaturity to adulthood and walk through the trials of growing, thinking, discovering, and confronting...
View ArticleA Letter to a Former Student, on the Occasion of a Difficult Day
Newer readers to Mere-O may not know that for two years I worked as an educator, and was blessed to have an incredible set of students. This is a letter I wrote tonight to one of them. I post it here...
View ArticleThe (Economic?) Case for Babies
I’m in the market for babies and, based on the research, it’s prime time to be having them. Happily married, financially stable, and with a happiness quotient that should make the rich and famous...
View ArticleDeconstruction and a Theology of the Cross
Over the past few years a large number of American Christians have shared that they have “deconstructed,” or are in the process of “deconstructing” their faith. The term is an interesting one. I’ve...
View ArticleReverence
Though lesser known than some of the luminaries of 20th century Catholic thought, like Balthasar, de Lubac, and Ratzinger, Dietrich von Hildebrand’s life and work are no less worthy of our attention....
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