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Honour and Certainty?
Hint: consider the focus questions for this course. 30-1 “Rightly to be great Is not to stir without great argument, But greatly to find quarrel in a straw When honour’s at the stake.” (Act 4 Scene 4, from Hamlet’s “How all occasions do inform against me” soliloquy) Discuss the ideas developed by William Shakespeare in…
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Younger Students and the Existence of God
The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. We see that things which lack knowledge, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that they achieve…
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Do We Really Know What We Think We Know?
Socrates: Consider, do you not think it a sound statement that one must not value all the opinions of people but some and not others, nor the opinions of all people but those of some and not others? What do you say? Is this not well said? Crito: It is. Socrates: One should value the…
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Where Has the Time Gone?
What, then, is time? There can be no quick and easy answer, for it is no simple matter even to understand what it is, let alone find words to explain it. I know well enough what it is, provided that nobody asks me; but if I am asked what it is and try to explain,…
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Who Are My Friends?
No one would choose to live without friends if he had all other goods. When people are friends, they have no need of justice, but when they are just, they need friendship in addition. We conclude, therefore, that to be friends, men must have good will for one another, must each wish for the good…