Dmitry Chernikov’s Blog

The word “to comprehend” means to grasp fully, to contain something in the mind in its entirety. God is comprehensible to Himself only but not any finite being such as man. So, saints see God in His entirety, because He is simple, but more or less clearly depending on their charity and merit. Yet they [...]

Jacques Derrida says that quite despite his atheism he prays all the time. He states (1) that he does not know to whom, if anyone, his prayers are addressed, and (2) that he does not expect them to be fulfilled; his praying is deliberately “hopeless.” I have three things to say in response. Praying without [...]

Here is a list of human emotions. Of these God feels only love, and its fruits, which are peace and joy. Yes, God is also patient, kind, good, generous; one may even call Him modest, so cleverly He is hidden; but these are not feelings. Hence God’s only emotion, I believe, is the joy of [...]

when I can have a lot more fun enjoying all the things you call sins and then go to heaven?,” one poster has asked, replying to my entertaining the possibility of universal salvation. My answer was: Because you will be more or less happy in heaven depending on how well you lived your life. And [...]

are yours, now and forever.” But in different ways. The kingdom, as created private property. The power, as essence. The glory, as an accident due to God’s freely chosen actions in creation, redemption, and sanctification of the sinners. (It is true, of course, that there are no accidents in God, but glory is like reputation: [...]

Berkeley bets much of his argument on the answer to following question: Can a sensible object or any combination of qualities (which he takes to be equivalent) exist without a mind? To the reply that it can, based on the idea that one can conceive of a tree or house existing unperceived by anybody, our [...]

Is there an accepted solution to the barber paradox, i.e., in a certain town there exists a male barber who shaves all and only those men who do not shave themselves; does the barber shave himself? It seems to me that the paradox, at least in this particular form, rests on an equivocation. We should [...]

Is there disutility of labor for animals? Do cats “enjoy the hunt” or do they wake up each morning (yes, I’m aware that cats are crepuscular; cut me some slack, why don’t you) thinking, “Oh man! I gotta start catching those mice again. Every day I have to hunt those damn mice! Every day it’s [...]

Several times in the Summa Aquinas likens glory that the saints receive in heaven to clarity. What does it mean? I believe that clarity refers to perfect identity, a perfectly formed or beautifully “sculpted” soul, such that its every detail, no matter how tiny, fits and is precisely shaped. Near-death experiencers often tell of having [...]

Corruption is defined as government officials’ breaking their own rules. But if the rules are bad, can corruption not be a positive thing? Of course it can, and under oppressive regimes it often is. Bribing bureaucrats and tax policemen may be the only way to stay in business. Companies must pay off congressmen or be [...]

Let us elaborate on the late Jude Wanniski’s “Mommy party” (the Democrats) and “Daddy party” (the Republicans). Now, it seems, Mom has become a shrill, sadistic bitch who beats her children if they stay up one hour late. Dad is an alcoholic bum safely under Mom’s heel, whose docile and obedient behavior is interrupted only [...]

The fact that God is the first being (first efficient cause) only shows that he must have some actuality. Why cannot God be partly in actuality and partly in potentiality? For example, God’s inner life may consist not in the contemplation of His infinitude but in exploration of himself. Or perhaps he does not know [...]

Simple enough, right? Well, maybe. Every change in this world is only a transformation of one thing into another, that is, a change in the “form” of existing matter. When we say that something came into being, are we using this phrase in the ordinary sense as in, “a child is born,” “a book has [...]

Has it occurred to anyone to ask why the DNA is a double helix? If G always pairs with C, and A with T, why do we need two strands? Isn’t the second strand fully specified by the first? From an engineering perspective it seems to follow that one would need a double helix only [...]

Is it a mere coincidence that there are four temperaments and four of Aristotle’s causes? Thus, we have: Rationals Efficient Idealists Final Artisans Formal Guardians Material Why are these pairings not arbitrary? Just think of each temperament’s preoccupations. For Rs and Is the matching is fairly obvious (means/ends); for As the “form” or “what a [...]

“God is not part of the universe; in science we can only refer to parts of the universe; therefore…” God is indeed not part of the universe, but He interacts with the universe, and the consequences of His actions vis-à-vis the universe can be discerned by us. We can apprehend the effects of the First [...]

On the one hand, the answer to that is obviously no. If I drop a heavy object on my foot, the pain that I feel is quite real. Nor is it an illusion because it is caused by desire (as if desire were something bad and not a proper act of the will; indeed, desires [...]

Once upon a time, when I lived in Manhattan, NY, I was having lunch at the Spring Sushi restaurant on 25th and 3rd and leafing through Ludwig von Mises’s Human Action thoughtfully, when I came across the following passage on page 13: We call contentment or satisfaction that state of a human being which does [...]

How do capitalists, e.g. financial institutions or individuals who invest in the stock market, decide in which projects of which entrepreneurs to invest their money? Some economists theorize that, like lemmings, people follow each other’s lead. Others charge that in the presence of a promising new technology we become like maniacal wildmen in throes of [...]

The article is here. The idea of an auction is to maximize producer surplus by minimizing consumer surplus. In the normal circumstances, a person selling a unique item is faced with a dilemma: Should he sell it to the first interested party or should he hold out and wait for a more pliable buyer to [...]