John Haldane

The general expectation when the cardinals filed into the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday afternoon was that it was likely to be a long conclave. The assumption was that it would take some time for the various groupings”Italian/non-Italian; European/non-European; Northern/Southern, Western/Eastern hemispheres”to assess the relative scale of support for each, and to order and re-order their priorities. … Continue Reading »

It is hard to know when a new pope will be elected. Prior to entering into the formal conclave this afternoon the cardinals have already had several days of collective discussion, before which they had plenty of opportunity, since the announcement of Pope Benedict’s abdication, for informal . . . . Continue Reading »

“If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well, it were done quickly.” So speaks Macbeth of the murder of the king, but the words might well be self-applied by someone who finds themselves in the situation faced by Cardinal O’Brien, when he learned of the news stories reporting accusations against him of inappropriate behavior… . Continue Reading »

The resignation of Cardinal O’Brien as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, within a month of the date on which his formal resignation would normally have taken effect, is both shocking and sad, for he was a well-known and well-liked figure within the Catholic Church in Scotland, in . . . . Continue Reading »

Consider this description of one of “America’s Byways”: “Traversing the lush hills and farmlands of southern Indiana, and paralleling the mighty Ohio River, this route marks a timeworn and history-rich corridor linking historic villages and farms through a picturesque landscape. Rock . . . . Continue Reading »

There is a general form of reasoning to which I shall give the name argumentum ad consummationem, which runs as follows. Major premise: Sexual attraction and love are determinants of human happiness and should be consummated where sincerely felt. Minor premise: You cannot choose to whom you are . . . . Continue Reading »

Recently recognized was the three-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Scottish philosopher David Hume. Celebrations were international but focused especially on his native Edinburgh, where the university has been keen both to honor his presence as a student there, and to make recompense for . . . . Continue Reading »

Philosophy, Étienne Gilson observed, “always buries its undertakers.” “Philosophy,” according to Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, in their new book The Grand Design, “is dead.” It has “not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics, [and] scientists have . . . . Continue Reading »

I am not sure what my own first vision of Mary was, but from an early age I was aware of two images: one a literal picture, the other an imagined scene; and both remain with me half a century later. The picture was a gilded reproduction of an icon, the original of which is displayed in Rome in the Church of Saint Alfonsus Liguiri … Continue Reading »

Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics by Patrick Lee and Robert P. George Cambridge University Press, 222 pages, $80 Like it or not, the dominant mode of philosophical reflection in the English-speaking world is Anglo-American analytical philosophy. Although this is sometimes . . . . Continue Reading »