Philosophy: An Introduction
Józef Maria Bocheński

A good handbook for beginners and the more advanced.

Bocheński (1902-1995) was a Polish Dominican and highly regarded logician and philosopher.
*?about the author*#philosophy

Faith ?3.1 Erroneous concepts of faith Traditionalism is a heresy condemned by the Church In Catholic dogmatics, traditionalism does not mean views defending traditional liturgy, the traditional way of practicing theology or Tradition as a source of God's…

*Reciprocal loveKarol Wojtyła

...This requires us to consider the love of man and woman not so much as the love of each other for the other but rather as something which exists between them. It is worth calling attention to the preposition. It suggests that love is not just something in the man and something in the woman – for in that case there would be properly speaking two loves – but is something common to them and unique.

Numerically and psychologically, there are two loves, but these two separate psychological facts combine to create a single objective whole – we might also say a single entity in which two persons are joined.

This brings us to the problem of the “I – we” relationship. Every person is an ‘I’ of some sort, unique and unreproducible. This ‘I’ possesses its own inner self, by virtue of which it is as it were a little world, which owes its existence to God, but is at the same time autonomous within its own proper limits.
The route from one ‘I’ to another leads through the free will, through a commitment of the will. This route may however be a one-way street, and the love of one person for the other will then be onesided.

True, it has its distinctive and authentic psychological profile but not the objective fullness which reciprocity would give it. This is what is called unrequited love, which as everyone knows is fraught with pain and suffering. If a love of this kind persists, as it sometimes does, for a very long time, this is because of some inner obstinacy, which however tends to distort love and rob it of its proper character. Unrequited love is condemned first to stagnation in the person who feels it, then to gradual extinction. Sometimes, indeed, as it dies it causes the very capacity for love to die together with it. But the results are not always so drastic.

In any case, it is clear to see that love is by its very nature not unilateral but bilateral, something ‘between’ two persons, something shared. Fully realized, it is essentially an interpersonal, not an individual matter. It is a force which joints and unites, of its very nature inimical to division and isolation.

For love to be complete the route from ‘x to y’ and the route from ‘y’ to ‘x’ must converge. Bilateral love creates the immediate basis on which a single ‘we’ can arise from two ‘I’s’. Such is the natural dynamic. For a ‘we’ to come into existence, bilateral love is not itself enough, since it still in spite of everything involves two ‘I’s’, though they may be fully predisposed to become a single ‘we’.
It is reciprocity that determines whether that ‘we’ comes into existence in love. Reciprocity is the proof that love has matured, that it has become something between persons, has created a community of feeling and that its full nature has thereby been realized. Reciprocity is an essential part of this.*

**?source: Love and Responsibility (Ignatius Press: 1981), pp. 84-85.**

#love#marriage

*Retrying Galileo, 1633–1992
Maurice A. Finocchiaro

In 1633, at the end of one of the most famous trials in history, the Inquisition condemned Galileo for contending that the Earth moves and that the Bible is not a scientific authority. Galileo's condemnation set off a controversy that has acquired a fascinating life of its own and that continues to this day. This absorbing book is the first to examine the entire span of the Galileo affair from his condemnation to his alleged rehabilitation by the Pope in 1992. Filled with primary sources, many translated into English for the first time, Retrying Galileo will acquaint readers with the historical facts of the trial, its aftermath and repercussions, the rich variety of reflections on it throughout history, and the main issues it raises.*

The author is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas

#history

Love in marriage as communion and complementarity “The words of the Book of Genesis contain that truth about man which is confirmed by the very experience of humanity. Man is created ‘from the very beginning’ as male and female: the life of all humanity…

Why should we call Mary the “mother of God” instead of just the “mother of Jesus”? Dr. Timothy Pawl In the history of the church, there have been some claims that have been theological lightning rods. They took on great importance as tools for demarcating…

Putting charity into practice ? By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another.” (John 13:35) “He who saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, he is in darkness even until now.” (1 John 2:9) “Our divine Lord…