The Human Question

Both of them are basically equally well-versed in science, although they may disagree about the sort of controversies that competent scientists may disagree over. One of them is firmly convinced that all humans are equal in the sense in which a modern member of a democratic society understands "equal." The other denies this claim and affirms instead a kind of Nietzschean view of human nature. What is the basis for the difference in their convictions about human nature? Whatever it is, it is not a scientific basis.

Only humans desire luxury, relish, i.e., the sensory good as good.

The above description by Aquinas of the object of the highest perceptive power offers plenty of possible comparisons with Alva Noe's theory of perception as being inherently actional. Also, the action/passion talk can be understood in the following way. When I perceive a menacing dog and feel fear, I don't piece together the behavior/feelings of the dog on one hand and of myself on the other. Rather I perceive the threateningme/mybeingthreatened in one act, an act that at the same time relates to appetite in a similar manner. More later.

In his CUA lecture in honor of Fr. Sokolowski, Richard Cobb-Stevens notes how Soko completes Husserl's account of idealization in geometry by pointing out how in geometry, we measure the sides of a figure against itself. That is, instead of taking a ruler as a unit of measure, we measure the different sides of the figure against each other, using one as a unit of measure. This sort of bending of a whole upon itself can be done in geometry but not with real figures. This kinda reminds me of how, when we think of our own happiness or fulfillment, we think about ourselves in a manner (only very loosely) analogous to the above example of geometry. There is a kind of bending of a whole upon itself. Ditto with our awareness of ourselves as bearers and conveyers of truth. It occurs to me, furthermore, that Aquinas's talk of a reflexio involved in judgment is not of some purely spiritual part of us that, because of its angel-like simplicity, its lack of parts, is able to reflect up...

Our bodily movement is expressive because it is not tied concerned only about the here and now.