Well, I am on the verge of completing another semester here in Boston. It has certainly been a wild ride, and it's not over yet! I still have Modern Philosophy to study for, which is going to be a difficult exam because the subject matter consists of philosophical errors. It is more like literature than philosophy, remembering what each thinker said (though it was wrong) and how they influenced each other.
For those of you who are curious to read some of what I wrote this semester, I've posted my major coursework on Scribd in this collection. Check it out and let me know what you think!
I'll write my end-of-semester wrap-up reflection when I get home... until then, there's plenty of studying, packing, and cleaning to do!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
2 comments:
I had such an important reflection today on the intro to the Critique of Pure Reason (Prolegomena to any future Metaphysics) that I almost called you to tell you what it is; but I added aol instead so I could follow/comment on your blog lol. So...I found this thin book (mentioned above) next to the thicker book (Critique of Pure Reason) by Kant on the big bookshelves in our house; someone has read it thoroughly and taken notes/underlined etc. all over the paragraphs. I found a thought which (according to our faith, and I think even to my "pure reason"!) is very unreasonable: "...the cosmological Ideas of the beginning of the world or of its eternity (a parte ante) cannot be of any service to us for the explanation of any event in the world itself. And finally we must, according to a right maxim of the philosophy of nature, refrain from explaining the design of nature as drawn from the will of a Supreme Being, because this would not be natural philosophy but a confession that we have come to the end of it." (from a few pages into the "THIRD PART OF THE MAIN TRANSCENDENTAL PROBLEM: HOW IS METAPHYSICS IN GENERAL POSSIBLE.) Therefore I confess that I have come to the end of natural philosophy! I cannot refrain from praising our beautiful Creator for the Beauty of Creation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (big green 2nd ed. one) has a whole Catechesis on Creation section [CCC 279-324] that covers everything in a pure, reasonable, and faith-filled way - these truths are the true "right maxims" :) Ok Paul you studied Kant...is he a reason-alone guy without faith, or is his Critique of Pure Reason trying to prove that we must have faith (thus calling it a "critique"?) explain, wise seminarian dude! :)
Kant, though his moral/ethical thought is interesting, finding, without faith, a reason to "do good" (though not avoiding sin per se in every case) through acting according to what is desirable in our inmost being (the innate categories of the mind), has a catastrophic metaphysics, as you have noticed. I do not recall learning much about Kant's faith life or lack thereof, but he strikes me as one who did not find his way, or did not live to write about his conversion... Rather than conclude, as you have suggested, that faith is required beyond pure reason, he seems to only tear down pure reason as reaching any liveable conclusion, but nothing further.
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