Notre Dame Des Victoires

Premier Christian Radio in the UK just sponsored a survey that investigated how the COVID crisis has affected religious beliefs and attitudes. There were three major findings—namely, that 67% of those who characterize themselves as “religious” found their belief in God challenged, that almost a quarter of all those questioned said that the pandemic made them more fearful of death, and that around a third of those surveyed said that their prayer life had been affected by the crisis. Justin Brierley, who hosts the popular program Unbelievable?, commented that he was especially impressed by the substantial number of those who, due to COVID, have experienced difficulty believing in a loving God. I should like to focus on this finding as well. Of course, in one sense, I understand the problem. An altogether standard objection to belief in God is human suffering, especially when it is visited upon the innocent. The…

One of the most fundamental divides in the history of philosophy is that between a more Platonic approach and a more Aristotelian approach. Plato, of course, saw the universal or formal level of being as more real, more noble, whereas Aristotle, while acknowledging the existence and importance of the abstract, favored the concrete and particular. This differentiation was famously illustrated by Raphael in his masterpiece The School of Athens, the central figures of which are Plato, his finger pointing upward to the realm of the forms, and Aristotle, stretching his palm downward to the particular things of the earth. This archetypal demarcation had (and has) implications for how we think about religion, science, society, ethics, and politics. Just as most Beatles fans separate themselves rather naturally into Lennon or McCartney camps, so most philosophers can be, at least broadly speaking, characterized as either more Platonic or more Aristotelian in orientation.

Una de las divisiones más fundamentales en la historia de la filosofía es la que existe entre un enfoque más platónico y un enfoque más aristotélico. Platón, por supuesto, veía el nivel universal o formal del ser como algo más real, más noble, mientras que Aristóteles, aunque reconocía la existencia e importancia de lo abstracto, favorecía lo concreto y particular. Esta diferenciación fue famosamente ilustrada por Rafael en su obra maestra La Escuela de Atenas, cuyas figuras centrales son Platón, su dedo apuntando hacia arriba al reino de las formas, y Aristóteles, estirando su palma hacia abajo a las cosas particulares de la tierra. Esta demarcación arquetípica tuvo (y tiene) implicaciones sobre cómo pensamos acerca de la religión, la ciencia, la sociedad, la ética y la política. Al igual que la mayoría de los fans de los Beatles se separan de forma bastante natural en los campos de Lennon o…