"Man is obviously made for thinking. Therein lies all his dignity and his merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought. Now the order of thought is to begin with ourselves, and with our author and our end.”
-- Blaise Pascal, Pensées
Political theory is a branch of the theory of how to live. If God is our greatest good, then of course the truth about Him will make a difference to how to live.
The expression “self-deception” is not to be taken literally; what happens is that I try not to think about certain things, and I try not to think about the fact that I am trying not to think about them.
Every honest college teacher – at least every one who has been around long enough to judge -- knows that teaching, really teaching, is getting more and more difficult. One reason is the prolongation of adolescence, which I discussed yesterday. But there are others.
Mondays are for letters from students. This one is a doctoral candidate in Dallas.
Question
You may have noticed that animals have a sense of fun, but not a sense of humor. James V. Schall, S.J., explains why:
Interviewer: “Universally and necessarily we cannot affirm and deny the same thing at the same time and in the same way. What is wrong with that?”
Cornelius Van Til: “My concern is that the demand for non-contradiction when carried to its logical conclusion reduces God's truth to man's truth.”
