Monthly Archive: August 2012

A Theology of Big Government?

A Theology of Big Government?

Introducing Cardinal Timothy Dolan at the GOP convention yesterday, Speaker John Boehner said, “He’s a man who knows that the preferential option for the poor doesn’t translate into a preferential option for big government.” ...

My Postmodern Catholicism

My Postmodern Catholicism

I’ve begun a series at Vox Nova about the postmodern quality of my religious faith.  If you scratch your head at my attempt to embrace both postmodern philosophy and orthodox Roman Catholicism, this series...

Transformers and the Absence of Peril

Transformers and the Absence of Peril

I’m so glad that our local public library now carries DVDs of the old 80s Transformers cartoon; the newer versions feature the nauseating combination of whiny robots and even whinier humans.  And I just...

Wednesday Philosophical Query #2

Wednesday Philosophical Query #2

Questions: Are there objective criteria for determining if and when nascent life becomes a person whose life is worthy of respect? If so or if not, how do we know this? Please discuss. With...

All Thought Begins with Faith

All Thought Begins with Faith

Tom Van Dyke, concerned that the road I’m traveling leads to skepticism and nihilism, asked me to state for the record whether anything is self-evident.  I stand by my answer–I’m not sure–but I’d like...

Wednesday Philosophical Query

Wednesday Philosophical Query

Proposition: One must make an act of faith to think about anything at all.  In other words, one must believe in order to understand because all understanding is based on unprovable axioms (e.g., the...

Human Rights Don’t Exist

Human Rights Don’t Exist

Listening to Michael Brendan Dougherty explain to Zack Beauchamp why he doesn’t believe in human rights put me in mind of Alasdair MacIntyre’s argument in After Virtue that “there are no such rights, and...

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