Clarifying Catholicism

"Simply put, according to Zubiri, a thing’s being is basically is how it relates to other things that are in the network of reality. And a thing’s being is defined by the sense of towards that reality impresses upon the intellect via the thing’s interaction with other things. I know this cup’s being because I’ve apprehended the cup interacting with other things, which situates the cup in the network of reality. The cup’s place in reality, its relation to other things, like liquid and tables, in turn, tell me what it is. Basically, we define things based on how they interact with other things. Being is relational and depends on things like utility and culture. Thus, according to Zubiri, being, like truth and reality, is dynamic, whereas for classical philosophy, being is static, fixed, rigid, and universal, and for modern philosophy being is in our mind alone and it shapes reality over time. Specifically, for Freidrich Hegel, being determines reality, whereas for Zubiri, reality determines being."

"Truth is intellective actualization, just as sweat is epidermal actualization or sight is the actualization of your eye. It is, indeed, a physical moment. It means when the intellect is at work, it produces truth, just as when your eyes are at work, they produce sight. The production of truth can vary between people. I can have my truth and you can have yours, just as you see and smell certain things and I see and smell other things. If I grow up in the Saharan desert and you grow up in the Arctic tundra, the way our bodies respond to temperature will be a bit different. Likewise, if I grow up in a heliocentric society and you grow up in a geocentric one, we will likely intelligize or truthify differently. However, just as a five hundred degree flame will burn any human’s skin, regardless of their background, an excellent argument will singe itself into our intellects, thus producing alignment of truths between people. And this alignment of truths is NOT dependent on whoever more powerfully wills truth. Truth cannot be willed. Truth is our intellective participation in the process of forming reality, which is totally reliant on the content we are provided with. Hit any person with a brick in the face, and that real apprehension will undoubtedly arouse the same intellective response, the same truth, of “ouch! That hurts!” Thus, truth, like reality, is dynamic but at the mercy of the real."

"Truth is the moment that reality is brought to our intellect’s presence. Basically, while reality is constantly forming around me, regardless of my intellect’s participation, truth strictly concerns my intellect’s participation in the formation of reality. Essentially, in that moment reality and intellection coincide, truth is produced."

"At this moment I’d like to reinforce a key theme in Zubiri’s philosophy that this series has led up to. Reality, intellection, and logos are dynamic. They are dynamic because their operations are shaped by other things over time. If a species, over millions of years, loses its ability to see the color blue, then the color blue will cease to exist, since reality depends on how we formalize content. But this does not mean that reality, intellection, and logos are subjective. I can’t just decide that chopping off my arm with a machete isn’t gonna hurt. Our senses, and therefore the way we formalize content, are at the mercy of real content. Thus, and this is a key thing, reality is dynamic but not subjective."

"At this moment I’d like to reinforce a key theme in Zubiri’s philosophy that this series has led up to. Reality, intellection, and logos are dynamic. They are dynamic because their operations are shaped by other things over time. If a species, over millions of years, loses its ability to see the color blue, then the color blue will cease to exist, since reality depends on how we formalize content. But this does not mean that reality, intellection, and logos are subjective. I can’t just decide that chopping off my arm with a machete isn’t gonna hurt. Our senses, and therefore the way we formalize content, are at the mercy of real content. Thus, and this is a key thing, reality is dynamic but not subjective."

"Again, primordial apprehension is the most basic apprehension humans experience. It is just raw stimulation. We experience this as babies before we can even form concepts about the world. And this is what makes Zubiri’s philosophy radically realist, for before we even attempt to rationalize the world by forming concepts about it, the way our minds are shaped are totally dependent upon things like the diets of our pregnant mothers, the environments we are born into, and how our parents/teachers educate us in our earliest days. Of course, all species participate in primordial apprehension. What makes humans unique, though, is our ability to connect these raw stimulations into a network of interrelated stimuli, which we will talk about next episode."

"For the Ancients and Scholastics, the senses are inferior to the intellect, which is located in the soul. For the Rationalists, the senses are also inferior to the intellect, which is, this time, located in the mind. For Kant, the Senses are organized by the intellect, but the intellect never reaches reality. For Hegel, the intellect, and by extension reality itself, fluidly shapes itself over time via dialectic. Notice how in each of these systems, there is a rather rigid distinction between the functions of the senses and intelligence. The strict division between mind and matter, especially the pervasive notion of the mind’s dominance over the body, makes all of Western philosophy, according to Zubiri, aim at a sensible intelligence, in which the body just delivers confused content to the almighty intellect, rather than a sentient intelligence, in which mind and body shape each other."

"Why should being belong to things themselves, rather than the process of knowing things? Why should we equate being, truth, and reality? How can we assume that knowledge belongs to the soul rather than the body? Why does the spiritual, assuming it exists, have so much power over the physical when it comes to knowledge? Doesn’t the physical world have just as much to do with forming a person’s intellect as a supposed spiritual one does? Why should we assume that the universe is eternal and its laws unchanging?"

"The Second Vatican Council’s integrity relies on its continuity, but so long as there is skepticism of the council’s continuity, whether that comes from progressives or traditionalists, its realization will be greatly hindered. Thus, an attack on Lumen Gentium’s interpretation of NSOC should be considered an attack on the council’s legacy, which is why it is crucial to protect the council’s continuity with a robust method, such as the one proposed by this thesis. Given the post-conciliar popes’ defenses of the council, a failure to adhere to the hermeneutic of reform is a failure to preserve the Gospel, and as John Paul II observes, “It is the Spirit who impels us to proclaim the great works of God: […] ‘Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!’"