tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post3935203568965364492..comments2024-03-29T05:55:32.588-07:00Comments on Edward Feser: Neo-Scholastic EssaysEdward Feserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13643921537838616224noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-4020041298329759122015-07-28T11:56:58.577-07:002015-07-28T11:56:58.577-07:00Hi, first time poster-I've learned a lot from ...Hi, first time poster-I've learned a lot from this blog - including the comments section.ive enjoyed Ed's previous books and was interested in his latest two books - especially this one. I don't have a background in philosophy and to be frank the fact that this book contains 'academic' essays scares me a bit! There's no 'look inside' option on Amazon and I was wondering if this book is as accessible to someone without any academic background in philosophy as Dr.Feser's other books?( exc. Scholastic Metaphysics')Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-24283707717541437442015-06-21T09:45:38.077-07:002015-06-21T09:45:38.077-07:00Daniel,
What notion of possibility do you have in...Daniel,<br /><br /><i>What notion of possibility do you have in mind? Trying to remember whether this was the discussion on the Irish Thomists blog or the more recent one with Greg.</i><br /><br />Well, my complaint was that anyone grounding possibility, possible worlds, or what-is-possible in God implicitly begs the question when trying to prove God exists based purely on notions of possibility. We say, “Well, what's possible?” and they say, “Anything within God's power to actualize.” The OA then asks, “Is God possible?”<br /><br />But it seems perfectly fine to declare that possibility is a self-evident feature of reality, like change. If that's so, then we don't need to assume God exists to argue from that feature of reality to God's existence anymore than we need to assume God exists to argue from the reality of change (or contingency) to God's existence. We do need to figure out the details of that feature of reality and if necessary argue for them, but that need not translate to assuming God exists. At least, so long as we're talking about logical or metaphysical possibility.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04470664030455998305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-85443065395113266022015-06-19T13:59:06.697-07:002015-06-19T13:59:06.697-07:00@John,
What notion of possibility do you have in ...@John,<br /><br />What notion of possibility do you have in mind? Trying to remember whether this was the discussion on the Irish Thomists blog or the more recent one with Greg. <br /><br />(Btw apropos that last discussion I was thinking of your remark about OAs being less informative than Five Ways type arguments - I think this is probably a feature of A Priori type arguments generally, if successful either way they map out a limited portion of the modal landscape and not much more than that).<br /><br />Sorry for the brief postDanielnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-75594294572393609562015-06-18T09:24:05.753-07:002015-06-18T09:24:05.753-07:00By the way, Daniel, I've decided that if you a...By the way, Daniel, I've decided that if you argue for a certain notion of possibility (or everyone accepts it but disagrees on the ontological details), you can get around the criticism of Scotus's modal argument I raised back there and a while ago here (I think you said something along these lines when you brought it up here). Whether or not we ought to, abductively, ground that possibility in God can be left as a subject for other arguments. <br /><br />If this isn't possible, no one can even implicitly refer to notions of possibility without implicitly begging a bunch of questions in a lot more than Scotus's OA. And that doesn't seem reasonable.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04470664030455998305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-32531422692995619662015-06-18T09:11:47.206-07:002015-06-18T09:11:47.206-07:00I don't know the exact reasons behind it- I ho...<i>I don't know the exact reasons behind it- I hope it wasn't due to any kind of online hostility.</i><br /><br />I don't know anymore than you do. Sorry.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04470664030455998305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-8963738773331403242015-06-18T06:39:20.285-07:002015-06-18T06:39:20.285-07:00@John and Scott,
Yes, I knew about him taking his...@John and Scott,<br /><br />Yes, I knew about him taking his blog down (I wanted him to send me something from the the achieves). I don't know the exact reasons behind it- I hope it wasn't due to any kind of online hostility. I assumed he was still posting here regularly though.Danielnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-41299403477220327562015-06-17T13:43:22.353-07:002015-06-17T13:43:22.353-07:00[he] just didn't^[he] just didn't^Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04470664030455998305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-89789709536171720282015-06-17T13:42:05.501-07:002015-06-17T13:42:05.501-07:00Scott,
Yeah, he seemed alright -- just didn't...Scott,<br /><br />Yeah, he seemed alright -- just didn't think the internet was the right medium for him for writing at that length in that format.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04470664030455998305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-87845890917847702922015-06-17T13:28:09.431-07:002015-06-17T13:28:09.431-07:00@John West:
Ah, good, I missed that; thanks. No r...@John West:<br /><br />Ah, good, I missed that; thanks. No reason to think anything has happened to him, then. I was just surprised to see that a week or so after Daniel's question, he still hadn't responded.Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11979532520761760862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-35781929837653810602015-06-17T09:06:44.529-07:002015-06-17T09:06:44.529-07:00He put up a notice he would take down his blog in ...He put up a notice he would take down his blog in a month, and then did so. His most recent post here as Irish Thomist was on May 15, at the bottom of the <i>Animal Souls, Part II</i> thread (it was, as I recall, around the same time he took his blog down).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04470664030455998305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-44217498769670096742015-06-17T09:00:32.096-07:002015-06-17T09:00:32.096-07:00@Daniel:
P.S. Off topic but is The Irish Thomist ...@Daniel:<br /><br /><i>P.S. Off topic but is The Irish Thomist still around here?</i><br /><br />Hmm, I just tried to check his blog and it appears to have been removed.Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11979532520761760862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-2445540206074889772015-06-16T15:11:01.802-07:002015-06-16T15:11:01.802-07:00My copy's here too—arrived bright and early be...My copy's here too—arrived bright and early because I'd preordered it. I haven't had a chance to read much of it yet, but I've had a look at the essays that used to be available only behind paywalls and they are of course excellent. Much of the other content I'm already familiar with (from this blog and links therefrom), but it's great to have it assembled into one handy volume of well-chosen topical pieces.<br /><br />But yeah, the lack of Photoshopped comics is a minor drawback.<br /><br />Seriously, though, congratulations to Ed. Nicely done.Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11979532520761760862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-90512838366747025112015-06-10T22:01:36.223-07:002015-06-10T22:01:36.223-07:00Got my copy today. Big book! Look forward to readi...Got my copy today. Big book! Look forward to reading it.<br /><br />Warning - no photoshopped comics are included.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-78971329667979174182015-06-10T06:40:43.993-07:002015-06-10T06:40:43.993-07:00P.S. Off topic but is The Irish Thomist still arou...P.S. Off topic but is The Irish Thomist still around here? Danielnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-78785206453301832922015-06-09T23:42:56.783-07:002015-06-09T23:42:56.783-07:00Tom: The Marie George article that Feser responds ...Tom: The Marie George article that Feser responds to is here: http://www.epsociety.org/library/articles.asp?pid=82&mode=detailAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-33150759582983061622015-06-09T23:37:50.942-07:002015-06-09T23:37:50.942-07:00@Isaac Smith,
What about a lengthy essay on the F...@Isaac Smith,<br /><br />What about a lengthy essay on the Fourth Way to go with it? (The one no-one remembers) <br /><br />Still roll on <i>Five Proofs</i> I say!Danielnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-42434053712298947212015-06-09T20:28:45.941-07:002015-06-09T20:28:45.941-07:00Where did the original article by Marie George to ...Where did the original article by Marie George to which you're responding appear? I ask because she's a professor at my school (St. John's).Tomnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-57463191477930629022015-06-09T16:25:18.336-07:002015-06-09T16:25:18.336-07:00Looks good. An excellent complement to your earlie...Looks good. An excellent complement to your earlier works. Includes stuff on all the aspects of your work that I find most interesting: critiques of physicalism and the New atheism, a defense of Aquinas' Fifth Way, and some articles on Scholastic metaphysics to complement your earlier work on the subject. Only thing its lacking is a more detailed essay on the Aristotelian-Thomistic cosmological argument to complement your lengthy essay on the Fifth way and your overview of the cosmological argument. That would make the book complete, in my view.Isaac Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16937401369944406640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-48045116362219369252015-06-09T10:35:06.695-07:002015-06-09T10:35:06.695-07:00Dr. Feser,
Thank you for your continued work whi...Dr. Feser, <br /><br />Thank you for your continued work which has greatly influenced my own academic career. <br /><br />-ChrisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-12131423540502885592015-06-09T06:40:18.043-07:002015-06-09T06:40:18.043-07:00Great cover Ed!Great cover Ed!Michele Arpaiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661675460259077845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-42552960294604941472015-06-09T06:10:46.095-07:002015-06-09T06:10:46.095-07:00Looks good. I appreciate that you so far always pu...Looks good. I appreciate that you so far always publish in paperback, affordably. Thanks for that.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04470664030455998305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-49527012881255387582015-06-09T02:33:12.371-07:002015-06-09T02:33:12.371-07:00Great! No sooner do I take delivery of my copy of ...Great! No sooner do I take delivery of my copy of Scholastic Metaphysics than there is another Feser book to buy. Ed stop writing so fast!, well at least faster than I can read. <br />Oh well good problem to have I guess :)John Quinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16742829755614315871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-91016578851357319612015-06-09T01:04:29.812-07:002015-06-09T01:04:29.812-07:00Professor Feser:
I attended the MSMC workshop. W...Professor Feser:<br /><br />I attended the MSMC workshop. What a wonderful experience. Thank you for the thought-provoking presentation, and insightful contribution that you made throughout the workshop--both "in class" and during the after hours banjo and whiskey sessions. Although I did not approach you (though we bumped into one another in the coffee line a couple of times), I just wanted to drop a line to say "thank you" for all that you do. You have been a great influence on my (late-blooming--i.e., second-career) scholarly ambitions and direction. I look forward to reading "Neo-Scholastic Essays." I wish you the best.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-75514179578066825252015-06-08T14:36:16.859-07:002015-06-08T14:36:16.859-07:00Great news, Dr. Feser. Vive le baroque!
Now, this...Great news, Dr. Feser. Vive le baroque!<br /><br />Now, this faithful reader of yours will be very disappointed if he's fated to discover in the book the deplorable lack (unfortunately common nowadays) of illustrations featuring dozens of fat putti (ah, just try to imagine the Apotheosis of Teleology!.. the Triumph of the Rational Faculty over the Perverted!..), and the failure of the book to broadcast oboe concertos into the mind of the reader...G. Mancz 滿償喬治https://www.blogger.com/profile/15753680642571164788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-43739430973593323472015-06-08T12:24:13.156-07:002015-06-08T12:24:13.156-07:00I think this is a thinly disguised manual.I think this is a thinly disguised manual.Craig Paynenoreply@blogger.com