Classical realist metaphysics for a disordered world. Mostly notes to self. Founder of the @realistguild - if we follow each other, I've likely DM'd you.
Earth
Joined May 2023
- Tweets10.8K
- Following223
- Followers1.2K
- Likes39.4K
Only Form Holds retweeted
That's what Plato warned democracy tends to collapse into, except it won't be never-ending but rather climaxes in tyranny when a sufficiently ruthless demagogue and his following take advantage of the chaos.
Could be that American politics for the rest of our lives will be parties switching power, engaging in ever more flagrant corruption and grifting, then prosecuting the other side for crimes and non-crimes, in just a never ending cycle - all while the intelligent people we want to steer politics are so bored with the Jerry Springer quality of things that they just check out.
Only Form Holds retweeted
Socrates explained long ago that the punishment for refusing the service-task of ruling on the part of the intelligent people who would rather avoid that task completely, is to be ruled by people worse than themselves. It is in book 2 of the Republic.
Only Form Holds retweeted
The logic that applies to physics, mathematics, and language is the same logic that applies to metaphysics. Many metaphysicists* recognize and appreciate this reality whether they practice it or not. All physicists practice this logic whether or not they acknowledge its reach.
*Referring to those who investigate metaphysical principles with an emphasis on their relationship to physical reality — as opposed to a metaphysician.
Only Form Holds retweeted
The path ran under a close cover of leaves, with the light coming through in scattered patches. Ferns grew thickly on either side, still green against the brown litter of fallen leaves. A heavy, moss-dark trunk leaned in from the right, its branch arching over the track.
Nothing moved. The place was quiet, with only the sense that other people had walked there before. The path continued between the ferns into the trees, ordinary enough, and yet it seemed to hold its own silence.
The soul is the substantial form of the living human being. If we start from the metaphysical assumption that the soul exists (which Sabine, as a materialist, doesn't), then thinking & choosing are activities of the human person, not simply isolated events occurring in the brain.
I didn't know Nietzsche said that about grammar, but it makes a lot of sense. The attack on pronouns, grammar not being taught in many schools, people insisting on using lower case to start sentences to show how genuine they are, etc. His observation became an instruction manual.
Britain's political establishment has put its power & institutional self-preservation above justice, family & the common good.
This has disordered the hierarchy of goods. Now it wonders why young people are unwilling to sacrifice their lives defending the disorder it has created
‘I am utterly DISGUSTED by your rampant, pathetic cowardice.’
Former Metropolitan Police detective Peter Bleksley BLASTS @alexarmstrong after he suggested he wouldn’t fight for his country.
Only Form Holds retweeted
I took an "Intro to AI" class in grad school, and we had a whole lecture devoted to this. Oddly, no talk of metaphysics though. Just a talk about the hypothetical ethics of hypothetically sentient machines. Gotta love it when we have engineers speculating about ethics.
Only Form Holds retweeted
After experimenting with one 3-hour call meeting on Discord's "Stages" last week, it's clear:
1. It's too long
2. The timing's not great
3. Let's use the Lounge
So we revert to 2 x 45-min calls (Wed 12 noon & 22 hrs UTC) w/hangouts after both.
Meeting requests coming today.
Only Form Holds retweeted
The blurring of the distinctions between male and female and man and machine are both simply the latest consequences of an anti-teleological philosophy of nature that has deceptively cloaked itself in the mantle of science since early modernity. More here: claremontreviewofbooks.com/g…
Only Form Holds retweeted
Remember when they disordered our loves (see Augustine, Aquinas), by weaponising compassion—the short-circuiting of the care instinct—to implement a dystopian Soviet-style regime?
Everyone feels off. Few are those who understand why.
See @RealistGuild
Only Form Holds retweeted
Aristotle calls metaphysics the "supremely free and sovereign philosophy" because all other sciences are coordinated by it insofar as they presuppose its principles, while metaphysics itself neither presupposes the principles of other sciences nor is coordinated by them. Even theology, which is the queen of the sciences on account of the pre-eminence of its object, and, therefore, above metaphysics, presupposes metaphysical concepts about substance, hypostasis, relation, etc., without which revealed truth remains inexplicable.
This graph roughly illustrates where ideologies overlap with classical realism & where they depart from it. They may recognise genuine goods but misorder them, or reject their objective foundations. The areas outside the central circle represent the parts where people argue on X.
It's a fascinating idea. It could very well further our understanding of what is real & I don't see how it contradicts classical realism. So it is potentially life changing for the better. Now I want to see it tested & learn what can be done with it. If it's true, it's true.
Bear with me here. These questions are crucial and regard the fundamental distinction between infinite and finite substance. The "infinite" must not be confused with the "finite". But these terms have been misunderstood for centuries. This misunderstanding has led to debates that waste time, deepen confusion, and prevent advances in philosophical, theological, scientific, even mathematical understanding.
In the present day, words are losing their meaning. For millennia, nonexistence has been confused with nothingness to the point that creatio ex nihilo (creation from nothing) has been continually disregarded by many as a logical contradiction. Yet, more than two milennia ago Parmenides warned that one cannot even speak of nonexistence. He was correct.
Aquinas did not distinguish “actuality” from “reality” as two separate domains—one infinite and the other finite. His principal distinction was between actuality and potentiality, together with the distinction between essence and existence. The Infinite Reservoir (TIR) sorts terminology according to the taxonomy St. Thomas provided.
In TIR, perfect actuality (Actuality) is infinite; has no potentiality, only power; existence is its essence; its structure is necessarily triune; it is absolutely simple and unchanging; it is Truth per se.
Reality, on the other hand, is finite; has potentiality, including finite potential energy; essence and existence are distinct; structure is triadic; knowledge of truth proceeds through sequential reasoning (logic); acts are temporally sequenced; it is always in motion, changing.
Truth per se is inseparable from infinite perfect actuality. Finite reality is intelligible because it originates from and participates in that Actuality. Finite knowledge is true insofar as the intellect conforms to what is, whether its object is infinite Actuality or finite reality.
This distinction seems to me quite crucial. Infinite Actuality is not simply another being within reality, nor is finite reality a portion of God. Created reality originates from and remains continuously dependent upon uncreated Being without diminishing or changing its infinite source.
Aquinas already recognized this ontological relationship through his distinction between subsistent Being and participated existence. TIR honors that Thomistic logic while advancing its philosophical language, making the infinite–finite distinction explicit rather than relying upon readers to recover it through analogy or context.
This explicit language is intended as more than a semantic improvement. Using terms such as being, existence, actuality, and reality interchangeably can obscure fundamental ontological distinctions, confusing philosophers, scientists, and laypeople alike.
TIR also seeks to extend Thomistic realism by demonstrating the determinate causal structure through which infinite actuality gives rise to finite reality, including its motion, temporality, and physical laws.
Thus, TIR does not replace Thomistic realism. It seeks to clarify its language, preserve its logic, and extend its explanatory reach from infinite actuality into the structure of finite creation.
The governing principle remains unchanged: What is determines the truth of our judgments; our judgments do not determine what is. And infinite Actuality is the necessary source upon which finite reality depends.
Once robots become indistinguishable from humans in appearance & behaviour (something I believe we will see in our lifetimes), the fundamental distinction governing how we ought to interact with them will be metaphysical.