Dmitry Chernikov’s Blog

I have written that the essence of a thing is constituted by its powers. Suppose that A subsists in itself, and B, in A. Then B is an accident of A. Thus, my skin has the power to appear white to observers. But this property, having white skin, is not essential to me. Does this [...]

It is a well-known psychological fact of utmost practical importance that (1) Artisans / Guardians and (2) Rationals / Idealists are natural complements in marriage. If you intend to marry, then you’ll be well-advised to find out your own temperament and limit your search to your precise match. I’m not kidding: if you value your [...]

I don’t bestow the title “work of art” lightly. But here are some of the titles which I found beautiful: Computer Games: Grim Fandango Star Control II Warcraft II Fiction: James Clavell’s Shogun Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment Edmond Hamilton’s Star Kings TV: The X-Files Seinfeld Aeon Flux Avatar: [...]

According to Time, “You have millions of Americans who are yearning to be more involved in the world and in their communities.” No, no, no. They must mean, “You have millions of Americans who are yearning to be forced to be more involved in the world and in their communities.” This could never get off [...]

A “material” conditional is so called, because it abstracts from the “form” of the propositions, that is, their meaning and reference and considers only their matter, that is, their truth values. Thus, (1) “There are witches on Mars” ↔ “2 + 2 = 5″ is true, since False is equivalent to False. The two propositions [...]

With respect to material objects, a thing remains the same if and only if its four causes remain the same. But given even the slightest change even in one of the causes, the old thing corrupts and a new thing is generated. Thus, you can’t bathe in the same river twice, because, though the river’s [...]

All of the following is his email reply: “My only comment on your new work is the same as my fundamental comment on all of your work: it is completely prejudicial in favor of the religion that you have decided in advance to defend. As a crucial example, your definition of religion, explicitly and intentionally, [...]

1. Kenosis allows God to voluntarily lose some of His attributes, such as omniscience. But when that happens God no longer knows Himself! What He does not know He cannot love, so the Holy Spirit is hampered, too. In particular, kenosis may require that God does not realize that He is omnipotent. Far from being [...]

Thomas Morris says He did. His main shtick consists in distinguishing between being fully X and being merely X; for example: Consider a diamond. It has all the properties essential to being a physical object (mass, spatiotemporal location, etc.). So it is fully physical. Consider now an alligator. It has all the properties essential to [...]

On the Mises blog Nicholas Sorrells has written: “Evidently power is only to be feared if it comes from government (i.e. power accountable to the people), not if it comes from big business (completely unaccountable to the people).” This seems like a common misconception. Of course, business, whether big or small, is fully accountable to [...]

Here is my understanding of it: Level Content Quality Perfection 1: what God is not simple freedom 2: what God is Trinity happiness 3: goodness infinite self-diffusion

This is the one. Let’s sing something in celebration: I promised her rings for her fingers, Sparkling flowers for her flaxen hair; I swore that I’d never set sail in foul weather, But stay by her side at the shore. Fare thee well, oh ye Barbary merchants, Fare thee well to the Spanish blockade, Fare [...]

On a separate page.

That’s exactly what that blog is. It’s not scholarship, it’s not apologetics, it’s not even debate; it consists of outrageous rants, often in response to other rants no less outrageous.

Allan Gibbard claims that while same-world identity need not be relative to a sortal, trans-world identities do need to be like that, that is, two things in different worlds cannot be the same simply but only the same “F.” “We speak and think of ‘the same person’ but not of ‘the same entity’.” (Metaphysics: An [...]

Kripke surely said something important in arguing that we don’t “discover” possible worlds as if examining through a telescope various actors on a distant planet. (Metaphysics: An Anthology, 78) Instead, possible worlds are posited, stipulated, conceived, and ultimately created in one’s imagination. Our dealings with possible worlds are games. Consider reading fiction or playing a [...]

And what a good libertarian ideology must prevent him from having: capitalist profits and socialized losses.

He writes: Perhaps I can evoke the appropriate sense of bewilderment as follows. Mathematicians may conceivably be said to be necessarily rational and not necessarily two-legged; and cyclists necessarily two-legged and not necessarily rational. But what of an individual who counts amond his eccentricities both mathematics and cycling? Is this concrete individual necessarily rational and [...]

1. Timothy thinks there is no evidence that Jefferson thought that the Congress could demand that a state comply with its laws or secede or leave the Union. Well, it is a very reasonable interpretation. My point is that secession is a double-edged sword. A state can threaten to secede, but the other states can, [...]

Our author tries to understand when a lump of clay and a statue made from this lump are identical. There are situations in which they are not, if the clay and the statue are generated or corrupt at different times. But: “I make a clay statue of the infant Goliath in two pieces, one part [...]