-
This will be a sidebar to the series I am writing about the history of Western thinking. I came across an excellent lecture that could benefit many people, and I wanted to share it. An estimated 46% of people who leave their childhood Christian faith say that Christianity appearing irrational is the cause of that…
-
I am determined to finish this series, come hell or high water. It is very important, and I think at least some of my 600 readers per week (small for a blog, I know) are interested. But I’m facing a dilemma. I am in the busiest time of my life. I have five adult children…
-
I am going to take a break from my series on the philosophical history of Western Civilization, with the point of how we got here. I know that some are not interested in history. While my readership is not slipping, I do notice that many are reading what I’ve written about my battle with cancer.…
-
If the movements of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment were Acts I and II of a play, the cast would number in the thousands. Yet to keep this simple, I will focus on one: Francis Bacon (1561–1626). Review I’ve established that the dualistic viewpoint had possessed the culture of Western Civilization for a thousand…
-
Review Our culture is in crisis. No, this is not the first time nor will it be the last… I hope. If it is the last, it will mean that this particular crisis is terminal. The current problems are at least as bad as those that caused the failure of other empires, such as the…
-
In the twelfth century, an Aristotelian scholar and philosopher, Ibn Rushd (AKA Averroes), rose to prominence in Moorish Spain. His writings were translated into Latin and widely disseminated in Christian Europe over the next two centuries. The basis for European thinking had been Platonic Dualism, remanufactured as Neoplatonism. Then Aristotelian ideas, a unified reality, and…
-
In this writing, I am standing on the cusp of the Renaissance. For the first Christian Millennium in Europe—to oversimplify it—it chose a foundation of a dualistic Neoplatonic philosophy. Despite Paul warning the early church not to be taken by cultural philosophies, it always has. Even now as I write, besides adopting once again a…
-
I know I’m a little paranoid, but I am always cognizant that most people aren’t interested in history or philosophy. I keep wanting to make this relevant. Here I will introduce you to a conversation about how the world is breaking out in forest fires, killing people, making life miserable for a million or more,…
-
In my last article, where I wrote that Thomas Aquinas inspired the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, I skipped over the Renaissance. I think it was a subliminal error because I love Renaissance history so much; it is very hard for me to summarize. It is like visiting a mysterious old mansion, teaming with stories,…
-
I briefly mentioned the Catholic Scholastic movement in the last post, but this new way of thinking is rooted more in Aristotle’s logic than in Plato’s dualistic model. Aristotle studied with Plato in Athens, but he rejected the dualistic model, focusing on reason’s logic as the way we find truth. The Scholastic movement began early…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
J. Michael Jones 