Sunday, July 29, 2018

Gilson has spoken, the matter is settled



"The Unity of Philosophical Experience" is an incredibly boring book by leading "Neo"-Thomist expositor Etienne Gilson. But then, have you ever read a *fun* book by a Thomist? I didn't think so either.

Like an ersatz pope, Gilson speaks ex cathedra, knows all the philosophical answers (imagine that!) and attacks everyone else, including fellow Catholics such as St. Bonaventure, Thomas à Kempis or Meister Eckhart. Brother Etienne hath spoken, the matter is settled?

When finished, our knight-errant have valiantly defeated the Platonists, Nominalists, Cartesians, Kantians, Hegelians, Marxists and one Giovanni Gentile. Despite this, we are not any wiser than when we started the journey.

Besides, what on earth is the *point* of philosophy, if all important issues are known only through revelation, anyway?

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