•  17
    Arguing in support of Aristotle, Aquinas conceptualised the cognitive functioning of the human as exceeding that of other animals. In its base form, the Thomistic position asserts that the intellective functioning of the human animal is superior to the instinctual operation of the non-human animal. For Aquinas, it is the intellect that determines the enactment of the human will. Thus, if a non-human animal is devoid of intellect, no willing of any action is possible. Consequently, an action of a…Read more
  •  98
    The death of Philosophy: A response to Stephen Hawking
    South African Journal of Philosophy 31 (2): 385-404. 2012.
    In his 2010 work, The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking, argues that ‘… philosophy is dead’. While not a Philosopher, Hawking provides strong argument for his thesis, principally that philosophers have not taken science sufficiently seriously and so Philosophy is no longer relevant to knowledge claims. In this paper, Hawking’s claim is appraised and critiqued, becoming a meta-philosophical discussion. It is argued that Philosophy is dead, in some sense, due to particular philosophers having embarked…Read more
  •  4
    Faith and reason are two epistemological routes leading us to obtain knowledge: people receive knowledge through theology as well as from scientific inquiry. However, these routes differ in the methodologies they employ, as well as in the type of questions that they ask. The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate that both faith and reason are epistemological routes, and that the relationship between faith and reason is particularly illustrated in reasons selftranscendence. Indeed, the s…Read more