Without pretending to span within such limits the essential Thomist
idea, I may be allowed to throw out a sort of rough version of the
fundamental question, which I think I have known myself, consciously or
unconsciously since my childhood. When a child looks out of the nursery
window and sees anything, say the green lawn of the garden, what does he
actually know; or does he know anything? There are all sorts of nursery
games of negative philosophy played round this question. A brilliant
Victorian scientist delighted in declaring that the child does not see
any grass at all; but only a sort of green mist reflected in a tiny
mirror of the human eye. This piece of rationalism has always struck me
as almost insanely irrational. If he is not sure of the existence of the
grass, which he sees through the glass of a window, how on earth can he
be sure of the existence of the retina, which he sees through the glass
of a microscope? If sight deceives, why can it not go on deceiving? Men
of another school answer that grass is a mere green impression on the
mind; and that he can be sure of nothing except the mind. They declare
that he can only be conscious of his own consciousness; which happens to
be the one thing that we know the child is not conscious of at all. In
that sense, it would be far truer to say that there is grass and no
child, than to say that there is a conscious child but no
grass. St. Thomas Aquinas, suddenly intervening in this nursery quarrel,
says emphatically that the child is aware of Ens. Long before he
knows that grass is grass, or self is self, he knows that something is
something. Perhaps it would be best to say very emphatically (with a
blow on the table), "There is an Is." That is as much monkish
credulity as St. Thomas asks of us at the start. Very few unbelievers
start by asking us to believe so little. And yet, upon this sharp
pin-point of reality, he rears by long logical processes that have never
really been successfully overthrown, the whole cosmic system of
Christendom.
-St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox (1933)
Quotes by and posts relating to one of the most influential authors of the 20th century, G.K. Chesterton
A blog dedicated to providing quotes by and posts relating to one of the most influential (and quotable!) authors of the twentieth century, G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936). If you do not know much about GKC, I suggest visiting the webpage of the American Chesterton Society as well as this wonderful Chesterton Facebook Page by a fellow Chestertonian
I also have created a list detailing examples of the influence of Chesterton if you are interested, that I work on from time to time.
(Moreover, for a list of short GKC quotes, I have created one here, citing the sources)
"...Stevenson had found that the secret of life lies in laughter and humility."
-Heretics (1905)
_____________________
I also have created a list detailing examples of the influence of Chesterton if you are interested, that I work on from time to time.
(Moreover, for a list of short GKC quotes, I have created one here, citing the sources)
"...Stevenson had found that the secret of life lies in laughter and humility."
-Heretics (1905)
_____________________
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