Ciceronianus

Ah. So Christianity didn't become a religion until it was looked upon favorably and sanctioned by the Imperial government. It's certainly an interesti...

You astonish me! It's very odd, then, that centuries before Constantine, Pliny the Younger referred to "Christianis" and "Christiani" and "Christo" in...

In the way Cicero did. Cicero criticized Cato in his letters for being on occasion harmful to the Roman Republic because of his insistence on acting a...

Really? Jesus supposedly lived in the early first century C.E. (A.D. if your prefer). Paul was born around 5 C.E. and lived until around 65 C.E. Paul,...

Cicero knew quite well the difference between politics and philosophy. We see this in his criticism of Cato the Younger (though he admired Cato in som...

Can't let it go, eh? Basta. As @Vera Mont would say, what we understand to be the case depends on meaning, context and significance. So yes, you're ri...

It all depends, doesn't it? No use debating about it.

There's a difference between saying certain religious beliefs are less preposterous than others and saying all religious beliefs are preposterous or s...

Such a touchy fellow. Your self-righteousness compels me to review what seems hardly worth reviewing but is apparently (and sadly, I think) of great c...

Yes, yes. Giant muddy sea turtle, big bang...it all depends.

Ok. I would think it might depend on the myth, though. But for all I know the world may have come about from the piling of mud on the back of a large ...

In fact, I said nothing at all about QM being preposterous. I said it "certainly seems strange." You said QM is preposterous, and apparently feel it's...

Well, Christianity through the years has borrowed heavily from neoplatonism. It's one of the ingredients in the vast hodgepodge, or stew, that is Chri...

Quantum mechanics certainly seems strange, but I think the analogy with religion doesn't work. I suspect that those studying QM approach things a bit ...

I think that certain religious beliefs are less preposterous than others. But I doubt believers care whether they're more or less preposterous to othe...

Only if you're inclined to disturb yourself with what's entirely beyond your control. I'm too much of a Stoic to do that. What could be more pointless...

I'd prefer that there will come a day when there will be no further reference to an "external world" anywhere, anytime, if what is meant is some place...

There's something comical about presuming to give lessons of this kind on YouTube. I wonder what people really are seeing when they watch this video. ...

What, then, is the point of asking "What's the point?"?

Yes, but I wonder if they feel they must demonstrate, somehow, that conversion to Catholicism has made them better advocates (or apologists) for God t...

These Brits who decide to join the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church just can't stop talking/writing, about God (and themselves) it seems. Newman...

Yes. I like Hadot. He wrote an interesting book on Marcus Aurelius' Meditations arguing they were a kind of Stoic practice.

The unexamined life, yes. Not the unexamined "me." Our lives are lived in an environment, and include much more than us; we don't live, really, when w...

I had in mind the fellow who wrote light-hearted, jaunty things like this: Listen to the cry of a woman in labor at the hour of giving birth - look at...

But to what extent is philosophy useful to this self-examination as you call it? What can such necessarily subjective reflection by philosophers achie...

I stand corrected. Stoicism for me, but like Seneca, I have great regard for Epicurus

Name one cheerful philosopher. But I've suffered the tortures of the damned, sir.

Well, as portrayed by Aristophanes.

If you won't, I will. Who am I to do so? A lawyer, who can't stop being, or playing, an advocate. Wait. I'm a tortured lawyer. Some day I'll reveal th...

I think so. It seems I'm a legal positivist. I think the use of the words "law" and "rights" result in confusion, and the law is distinct from moralit...

Are you asking me? The law in effect wasn't violated, clearly. But no non-legal right must be violated in order for an act to be immoral. The rape was...

Legal rights already exist. Why or when they came into existence is another matter. The law is the law, regardless of its merits, regardless of why it...

I know that's the claim made about them. But a "right" that isn't a legal right is merely what someone believes should be the case. Someone who believ...

"Natural rights", to the extent they're not legal rights, are what people wish were legal rights. In other words, they wish they were recognized and e...

If that's true, Augustine was no philosopher, as he thought he--more than anyone--had found him.

Si ENIM comprehendis, non est deus. Roughly, "if you can comprehend it, it isn't God." That was Augustine, of course. Never let comprehension get in h...

If god is immanent in the universe, we talk about god all the time. Even physicists.

Need would be a factor, I would think. In other words, the extent to which the money is needed And need would have to be taken into account in determi...

Aha! So you think there's a difference between those issues? Perhaps that's because one is an ethical issue and the other is not. I win!

Don't know much about Cardinal Pell. Apparently, he wanted the priest to perform mass while facing away from the congregation rather than facing it, a...

Jesus Christ! Oh. Sorry. I'm not sure what would be moral about...well, I don't know what all those commandments are, so you have me at a disadvantage...

Well, OHCAC says I should "drink the wine and chew the wafer" (as Tom Lehrer sang in his magnificent song The Vatican Rag, which you should listen to ...

Ah, good. As delightful as it is to compare China and Iran, I'd prefer to explore the motivations of theists (or other believers, to the extent they'r...

I dunno. That would seem to make ritual tantamount to ethics. According to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church (OHCAC), for example, we ought t...

That's what I mean, yes. So, can we say then that the debate is driven by the belief in a God influenced by human conduct?

I think so.

Certainly not. Clearly, it's being abused because of neoliberalism.

Let's try this (I'm genuinely curious). Would this debate be taking place, or be significantly different, if the God at issue is: "Merely" the Creator...

True. Very relevant, here.

Or maybe more to the point, Deus Vult!