I mean this in absolutely the nicest way possible, but I think Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas might be better at critical thinking than you. Otherwise you would not be on CAF debating with us, for you would be busy promoting your 15th book. You are still working on your first.
A minor correction. My first book has been published long ago, and set a few odd but interesting publishing records. It is out of print but remains healthy on a lively internet used-book market. It has been translated into five languages and became a best seller in two foreign countries. Excerpts have been used in philosophy courses about the nature of consciousness, one as distant as Singapore. Pristine signed hardcover copies are priced around $60.
My current (second) book is finished and awaiting printing. The only hold up is that I cannot figure out how to re-size PDF files down to a 6x9 format.
In terms of comparative critical thinking, Aquinas could be as good, but he missed a few things which seemed obvious to me. I’m less impressed with Augustine.
However, I have two advantages over them.
- Superior sources of information, access to physics knowledge, astronomy, and microbiology, which neither of those thinkers had. In order to derive an alternative theory of the beginnings, it was necessary to integrate all of this information.
- More importantly, I seem to be what is called a “divergent thinker,” in that I am good at devising solutions to problems which others overlooked, and solving technical problems which were regarded as intractable. I’ve based an effective professional career on this ability alone.
My experience with other divergent thinkers suggests that they are less likely to hang onto opinions developed by others (beliefs) and less likely to regard outside agreement as important to their ideas. I.e: they are not influenced by consensus, and do not thrive in either church or academia, which are dominated by agreement.
Frankly, it is impossible to become completely detached from ideas one personally invents, and critical thinking in such areas is especially difficult. One must rely upon other such thinkers for analysis, and if they cannot be found, ideas must be subjected to ordinary non-critical thinkers anxious to criticize anything which does not fit their belief system.
There are many, many, many critical thinkers who accept Catholicism. To make such as statement is absurd.
Not as absurd as you might think. A person who is normally a critical thinker typically isolates those skills to areas in which he does not hold beliefs. I read something by a well regarded physicist, a devout Catholic, who declared that he had (metaphorically, of course) a little “switch” in his brain which he turned to one side when thinking about religion, and to another side when dealing with science.
Although quite young when I read this, it struck me as absurd even then. I entered college with the anticipation of doing better, or at least differently, and succeeded in applying the same thought processes to all subjects.
I have encountered many excellent scientists who believe in absurd notions like Darwinism and Big Bang theory, because these ideas represent beliefs in their minds, exactly as the Trinity, for example, is a belief in the minds of Catholics. There can be no critical thinking on beliefs. The human mind simply does not allow it.
Thus a true critical thinker cannot have beliefs.
You seem to belittle my presence on CAF. I find this forum essential to my work. I have been fortunate enough to find a few helpful critics here who have corrected parts of my book, Catholics who are genuinely open to alternative theistic ideas. Replying to a post or two is a fine cure for writer’s block. Even better, I get to experiment with different ways of explaining difficult (new) ideas, which is wonderful practice.
Moreover, writing is a solitary kind of confinement. Neither minds nor plants thrive well in a vacuum. A writer is unlikely to think of all possible objections to his ideas, but by presenting some of them here, I receive objections I’d not have thought of otherwise, and can address them in the book. The CAF’s resources, its format and its members, are a wonderful resource for anyone choosing to explore theological and philosophical ideas.
