Mondays are for student letters.  This student writes from the University of Chicago.

Question:

“It is idle to talk always of the alternative of reason and faith.  Reason is itself a matter of faith.  It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all.”

-- G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Tomorrow:  Mortification of the Flesh

Why do we assume that business firms are engaged in the “pursuit of self-interest,” but that government bureaucracies are engaged in “public service”?

Far be it from me to suggest that businessmen don’t pursue their interests.  Of course they do.  They want greater profits, a larger market share, and higher stature.

Adapted from this book

Adapted from this book

This isn’t a current politics blog, and it’s not going to become one.  Every now and then, though, I can’t resist.

This letter comes from a doctoral student and professor in a seminary in Spain.

Question:

All other things being equal, we ought to accept the hypothesis which best explains what we observe.

A social scientist writes, “I just read an article in Public Interest in which the philosopher Edward Feser says Thomists ‘deny there will be non-human animals in heaven.’  Now, I understand the argument that animals on earth won't be resurrected in heaven.  But he seems to be saying more.”