Lonergan and Aquinas and Questions about Using a Faculty Psychology
by Dunstan Robidoux, OSB In the works of Aquinas and, sometimes, even in some of Lonergan’s writings, one finds references to human conscious life in words which traditionally belong to a psychological language which today is not viewed with much favor. In the bulk of his work, in the...
Love of the gods, of God, and the Capacity for self-transcendence.
St. Thomas Aquinas argues that sanctifying grace transforms the very essence of the human soul (Summa Theologica, I-II, Q 110, a. 4). This essence is at the basis of the powers and operations of the human soul. And with grace, those powers are elevated to a supernaturally capacity. Lonergan...
40 Years After Humanae Vitae: Male Procreative Schemes
by Dr. David Fleischacker Some say men all start with a female body, however this is only partially true as far as I can tell. This view is based primarily on morphology and how the presence of testosterone results in male morphology, and its absence results in female morphology....
Lonergan and Aquinas: Isomorphism and Proportionality
by Br. Dunstan Robidoux OSB The Thomism of Lonergan’s philosophy and theology is accepted by some and rejected by others. On the one hand, Lonergan says about himself that he spent eleven years “reaching up to the mind of Aquinas.” Some of his writings are replete with references to...
40 Years after Humanae Vitae: Part 4, The Oocyte
by Dr. David Fleischacker The oocyte (the unfertilized egg) has an interesting formation. Before a little girl is born, all of the oocytes that she will ever possess have already been formed in her body, already preparing for the potential creation of her own child. These oocytes are formed...
St. Thomas on why there are only three Persons when there are four mutually opposed relations in the Holy Trinity
by Dr. David Fleischacker In the first part of the Summa Theologicae, question 30, article 2, St. Thomas is presenting the intelligible grounds for the existence of three and only three Persons of the Holy Trinity. It is a rather fruitful passage to come to understand, and it reveals...
40 years after Humanae Vitae: Part 3, a note on counterpositions
by David Fleischacker This last week, I gave a little talk on the role of the Church in the conversion of St. Augustine, and in preparation for this, I read through the first number of books of his Confessions. It reminded me of an important point that Lonergan makes...
40 Years since Humanae Vitae, Part 2: Finality and Spermatozoan
By Dr. David Fleischacker Sometimes, when one begins a journey, one never knows how it will entirely end. In part, this is true for what will be following in the subsequent blogs on Humanae Vitae. However, I have also been thinking about this for many, many years, and so...
40 Years since Humanae Vitae: Lonergan, conception, and contraception. Part 1.
by Dr. David Fleischacker Since it is the 40th anniversary of the publication of Humanae Vitae this year, I thought it might be worthwhile to explore one of the key issues linked to this encyclical, that of contraception. However, before such an issue is addressed, I thought it might...
Mediated and Immediate Sublations
The following thought falls under metaphysical musings. About 14 years ago, I had written a paper for the late Fr. Stephen Happell dealing with the landscape of consciousness and the different regions and mountains where insights, judgments, and decisions take place within science and the imagination. At least that...