by Revista Espíritu | 140-2010
Ancient Greek biographers worked within a mental framework, close to myth, with a tendency to typify every single character in order to make sense universally for their communities. We can also discover this main feature of the ancient biographers in ancient biographies of Greek philosophers, especially in the Lives and tenets of the most illustrious philosophers by Diogenes Laertius. In this paper, I want to expose the theoretical assumptions of some mechanisms in the generation and the recurrence of these typified narrations that I have called biographemes. For biographeme I mean the real typified form that enables the past to become stereotype, to set and organize the past into memorable narrative patterns, in order to confer universal, collective sense to an individual life. Every biographeme is then a little independent cell with recursive anecdotal material, within which set patterns of historical reality is essentially adapted.
by Revista Espíritu | 140-2010
Among those who completely separate thinking and being ( for example, nominalism) and those who identify them (immanentisms), metaphysical realism proposes to separate and unite both as it recognizes that there are several relationships between them. This paper explores these relationships, describing them in accordance to four determinations: thinking requires subjectively and objectively being; being requires qualitatively and quantitatively thinking. First of all, thinking requires being in the sense that it is a being. Further more, in the objective sense, thinking requires being because it is essentially thinking of the being. In the third place, being requires “qualitatively” thinking since the being is inherently intelligible (veritas transcendentalis). Ultimately being requires “quantitatively” thinking meaning that where there is greater perfection, there is more intellection; that perfect being is subsistent thinking; and that the finite being needs to be thought by God.
by Revista Espíritu | 140-2010
The present paper re-examines the traditional concepts of existence and essence which have been reflected also by modern philosophers, but only as problematic or even opposite terms. From Descartes until Kant, Hegel, Gilson and Heidegger, they are involved in the opposition of concrete reality and ideal abstract thinking, together with the connected problems, as the first part of my article shows. The second part of my re-examination explains that the two concepts, in their original meaning from Plato and Aristotle until Thomas Aquinas, are not opposed but coordinated, even complementary, thanks to the underlying meta phy sics which avoids the opposition between the concrete individuals and abstract universal thinking, referring properly to the essence in the individuals.
by Revista Espíritu | 141-2011
The purpose of this contribution is to determine the essential features and main properties of the notion of political power according to the philosophical political tradition of classical Aristotelianism, represented here by some of its most eminent medieval, modern and contemporary exponents. Through a dialectical procedure (i.e., the dialogue with other positions) this paper aims at explaining the presence of seven key notes in the notion of political power as has been understood so far by the political philosophy of classical Aristotelianism, and at, indirectly, trying to suggest how, from the viewpoint of that tradition, it is possible to formulate a suitable answer to the objective problem of the reality of power as expressed by “the things themselves”, in Husserl’s terms.
by Revista Espíritu | 141-2011
Both the oblivion and scorn of human sociability, or its reduction to mere gregarious condition, have dissolved one of the classic conceptual borders between the man and the animal. The rehabilitation of the distinction between gregarious and social supposes the recognition that the natural sociability is founded on the rational condition of man and his communicative capacity. In this way, Aristotle’s theory stands out in the history of Philosophy. This theory considers friendship as the relation that founds any community, and leads to a legal and political perfectionism. This one is, undoubtedly, a doctrine that considers human perfection and happiness depending also on the social and political condition. In this paper, I will analyze the Aristotle’s philosophy, but also to the central tradition of western political thought
by Revista Espíritu | 141-2011
The man, who posses a rational nature, is inclined by his nature to the knowledge of the truth about God. At the same time God, in His infinite mercy, reveals the truth necessary for eternal salvation to man. This supernatural truth not only is not opposed to the natural truth, acquired by human effort, but perfects it, leading to the theological question about the relationship between reason and faith.This issue, discussed and reflected since the very origins of the Church, finds its definitive answer in Saint Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy, which has been adopted as magisterial teaching until today. The doctrine about “praeambula fidei” is an evidence that man is not required to renounce to rationality which is a characteristic of his nature, but on the contrary, thanks to the seeking of the truth he can come to believe in the su-pernatural truth, as it is rational.This pa-per aims to show how the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas’s has the necessary and sufficient theological reasons for exclusion, so as to exclude from Catholic orthodoxy not only fideism and rationalism, but also current postmetaphysical doctrines, such as the “postmetaphysical thinking” of Haber-mas’s, or weak thinking ” of Vattimo’s, or doctrines that oppose the thinking to belie-ving, or skeptical doctrines that advocate a total abandon of philosophy.
by Revista Espíritu | 141-2011
First, Aristotle’s general concept of nature is explained, on the basis of its definition in the Physics as an intrinsic principle of change, and also it is shown that this concept represents the essential link that exists between being and change in things. On this basis, Aristotle’s view of human nature is presented, ascending from corporeal to psychic characteristics, and finally to the intellect, which is immaterial and independent from the body, in order to see that this view is the ground on which Aristotle’s ethical and political theses are founded.
by Revista Espíritu | 141-2011
First, Aristotle’s general concept of nature is explained, on the basis of its definition in the Physics as an intrinsic principle of change, and also it is shown that this concept represents the essential link that exists between being and change in things. On this basis, Aristotle’s view of human nature is presented, ascending from corporeal to psychic characteristics, and finally to the intellect, which is immaterial and independent from the body, in order to see that this view is the ground on which Aristotle’s ethical and political theses are founded.
by Revista Espíritu | 141-2011
The question about humanism remains immensely necessary because it belongs to the human being and to the very antihumanism which accompanies it like a disturbing shadow. The crisis of the subject bears witness to the -most likely irreversible- fall of the modern line of subjectivism; nevertheless it leaves the category of person intact and that is what acts as a fundamental means of resistance against the dissolution of all things humanistic. The dehumanization of humanism must be diagnosed, and a way out, found. In this paper we try to answer cer-tain questions: What is modern huma-nism and which are the stages that hu-manism and antihumanism have under-gone? Which are the sources of antihu-manism? Which are its con-sequences? We will remain close to the present mo-ment and to the scientificist shapes of contemporary antihumanism. We will end with some considerations on the posthuman and transhuman
by Revista Espíritu | 142-2011
The course 2010-2011 was the seventy-second in the history of Fundación Balmesiana, and its journey will be for the memory very significant events that should be remembered.
by Revista Espíritu | 142-2011
“Far from us, the dreadful habit of thinking.” It is well known this protest of orthodoxy attributed to the University of Cervera to reassure Fernando VII, concerned about the infiltration of modernizing ideas. The phrase reads today with hilarity. Perhaps too much, because lucid intelligences aware of the current situation of the university in many countries raise their voices to alert us to the tendency to transform university institutions into professional schools, where practical skills are acquired, avoiding the “mania to think”.
by Revista Espíritu | 142-2011
With the symbolic and eloquent date of January 28, 2011, liturgical memory of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and at the request of the Congregation of Catholic Education, the Holy Father Benedict XVI approved the reform of the ecclesiastical studies of philosophy, which until now came to be governed by the Apostolic Constitution Sapientia christiana and the corresponding Ordinationes (1979). The Decree embodying this reform, signed by the Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, and its Secretary, Archbishop Jean-Louis Luis Brugès, OP, is composed of a dense and argued preamble, a second part of the rules of the Sapientia christiana affected by the reform, the derived norms applicable (Ordinationes) and, finally, some brief transitory norms.
by Revista Espíritu | 142-2011
On August 9, Fr. Roberto Busa SJ died. Characteristically, he would say that at 99, he liked to count them as they started. Father Roberto always looked forward: he was a pioneer, also in recent years, and his originality was that of the wise explorer, scholar, who glimpses the future on the summit of the past. Now, this good and faithful servant contemplates, beyond time, the eternal novelty of God, “my boss, and next to St. Thomas,” as he said in his last hours, serenely and with his usual good humor.
by Revista Espíritu | 142-2011
In view of his: Protestantism compared to Catholicism, Balmes cannot be deemed as an historian, but as an apologist. This work stems from the discussion with Guizot about the motor of progress and Civilization, and apparently brings the two authors closer. Nevertheless, their approach is totally different since Guizot, under the appearance of moderantism and Calvinist religiosity, truly defends liberal theses, to the extent that his thoughts were one of the sources of Marx’s theory on the class struggle as a motor of history. On the other hand Balmes provides us with a work of Catholic apologetics capable of creating an architectural interpretation of the Church’s role in the development of civilization, which would never divert to romanticism nor to historicism.
by Revista Espíritu | 142-2011
This article analyzes how Modernity and Protestantism relate to each other in Balmes, de Maistre and Taparelli’s work. According to Balmes, the negation of truth that Protestantism’s religious subjectivity implies is the basis of modern atheism and liberalism. To de Maistre, modern individualism cannot be understood without the negation of the authority made by Protestantism and, according to Taparelli, Protestantism’s subjectivity allowed the liberalization of the juridical and political order. All this has led to the sovereignty of the individual, which reduces man to his own power possibilities and dehumanize him.
by Revista Espíritu | 142-2011
This paper offers an overview of the educational thinking of Jaime Balmes (1810-1848), who, in the opinion of P. Casanovas —one of his most eminent biographers— was an educator of the highest calibre. Leaving aside the fact that Jaime Balmes devised his a method of his own for instruction, the paper analyses different aspects of Balmes’ teaching philosophy: right thought, his reflections on talent and genius, the realistic dimension of his teaching methodology, the role of European civilisation, the criticism of liberal education policy, the intellectual development of the religious community, the role of the clergy in scientific progress, and his innovations in the field of social education and catechesis. It also defines the different spheres of Balmes’ teaching —individual, family, civic-social— whose echoes, through figures such as Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo and Ángel Herrera Oria, are still heard today.
by Revista Espíritu | 142-2011
Balmes’ moral-philosophical exposition is marked by three characteristic features: first, the apologetic moe of its discourse, which turns its attention more on the error that threatens the Catholic truth than on the development and explanation of philosophic truth; second, some connaturality with the truths that constitute the ultimate foundation of moral order, and, third, the deficiency in the metaphysical foundation of those truths. Considering these three features allows you to read his moral philosophy without falling into the extremes of judging him either as an immaculate Thomist or as a modern eclectic
by Revista Espíritu | 142-2011
Jaime Balmes (1810-1848) was a person who knew how to joint practical action with an intellectual life. In a very short life he achieved a deep understanding of main theoretical and practical philosophical problems and how to present them clear to the public in general. Moreover, he saw the necessity of a political intervention in an era of Spanish institutional instability. His proposals were known through a newspaper directed by himself while some politicians like Marqués de Viluma defended them at Parliament. Finally, political evolution of Spain was too far and different from Balmes political thought and he gave up. Balmes’ view of politics included indeed not only a deep understanding of man and society but also a personal knowledge of virtues and vices of real political life
by Revista Espíritu | 142-2011
The logic of Balmes is The Criterion. Is not the mathematical logic and is not a formal logic, is a way to the truth, the reality, the man, Got. The logic of Balmes is a way to the Truth. Is a house for the Truth
by Revista Espíritu | 142-2011
This article comes from my exhibition “Currency of Jaume Balmes” Philosopher’s Tribute to Vic held at the Foundation Balmesiana February 2011. Not intended to be a scientific investigation. He just wants to contribute something to the knowledge of the personality and thought of Jaume Balmes. He also wants to show, through his own words or those thinkers who know him well and know the current term of your way to address some philosophical issues. Of particular interest is the vision of Joan Maragall on Balmes, a true “master of thinking”.
