Logic, Science, and St. Thomas Aquinas by Donald G. Boland

Logic, Science, and St. Thomas Aquinas by Donald G. Boland

Logic, Science, and St. Thomas Aquinas

by Dr. Donald G. Boland

The primary aim in this book is to contrast the notions of logic in Aristotelian terms, including its use in Metaphysics, with the peculiar sense which it has taken in modern times, tied to a materialist and anti-metaphysical notion of science, not extending beyond the mathematico-empirical consideration of things. In pursuing this aim, Dr. Boland divides this book into two parts, outlining first Aristotle’s treatment and then the modern, with which we can associate what is called the “New Logic” and “New Mathematics”, coming into the forefront of modern thinking in the late nineteenth century.

Paperback: $24.95 | Kindle: $9.99

TESTIMONIALS

 

“The first part of this book is an excellent exposition and explanation of the foundations of the metaphysical logic of Aristotle by way of the Commentaries of St Thomas Aquinas on Aristotle’s books devoted to Logic and on the De Trinitate of Boethius. This exposition and analysis, long over-due in modern day academia (including Catholic academia) is a most necessary foundation for the right study of Philosophy and for one’s personal growth in the science and art of right reasoning. The right foundation, having been solidly established, leads naturally into the topic of modern logics which occupies the second part of the book. The errors and pitfalls of modern logics (especially the mathematical logic of modern science), and their strictly limited sphere of rightful application, are exposed and discussed with great wisdom. The ethical nightmares and great evils that flow from the modern over-reach of this naturally truncated logic are made obvious for all to see. Dr Boland has taught Logic at university level for the better part of fifty years. This book might be called a condensation of his vast knowledge of the topic he deals with so clearly and astutely. He removes much of the difficulty of this subject by his frequent use of easy-to-understand practical examples. I would go so far as to say that it is the best book on logic that I have read. I wholeheartedly recommend it to teachers and students of philosophy, ethics, theology, science, and politics alike.”   – Frank Calneggia, author of Assertions and Refutations: An Assessment of Dr. Tracey Rowland’s Natural Law: From Neo Thomism to Nuptial Mysticism

​ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Donald G Boland Ll. B. Ph. D. is a founding member of the Centre for Catholic Studies Inc. in Sydney Australia and is one of its former Presidents. He practiced for a number of years as a lawyer having a degree in law from the University of Sydney. Over much the same time, having obtained a doctorate in philosophy from the University of St. Thomas in Rome, he has taught philosophy and law in both Catholic and secular educational institutions, such as the University of Technology, Sydney, the University of Newcastle, the Aquinas Academy, the Centre for Thomistic Studies Inc., now operating under the name of the Centre for Catholic Studies Inc., and various Catholic seminaries, such as those of the Marists and the Vincentians. His doctoral thesis was on the concepts of utility and value in economics as found in the works of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas.

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Brain, Soul, Artificial Intelligence, and Quantum Mystery: The Neurophysics of Consciousness, Free Will, Reasoning, and Synergistic Brain-Soul Interaction

Brain, Soul, Artificial Intelligence, and Quantum Mystery: The Neurophysics of Consciousness, Free Will, Reasoning, and Synergistic Brain-Soul Interaction

Brain, Soul, Artificial Intelligence, and Quantum Mystery: The Neurophysics of Consciousness, Free Will, Reasoning, and Synergistic Brain-Soul Interaction

by Terrence D. Lagerlund, MD, PhD

This book presents a discussion of the many facets of human consciousness and cognitive abilities from the standpoint of physics, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, computer science (including artificial intelligence), and theology. In particular, we argue that the human mind (unlike animal consciousness) cannot be fully explained only by physical phenomena and cannot be understood as arising merely from algorithmic processing carried out by the neural networks of the brain but requires a spiritual soul.

To solve the dilemma of dualism (that is, how can the spiritual soul influence the physical brain?), we provide a theory based on quantum mechanics of how the spiritual world can influence the physical world. This theory can explain how God can influence the physical world in order to accomplish his will (that is, Divine providence) without violating the laws of nature.  The theory can also explain how, through God’s mediation, the human soul can influence the physical systems of the brain without violating the laws of nature. The theory thus bridges the apparent chasm between the spiritual world and the physical world (the so-called “causal closure” of the physical world) and postulates that the soul and the brain are tightly integrated in their function, in keeping with the Judeo-Christian belief that “spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature” (Catechism of the Catholic Church).

The book concludes with a discussion of the purpose and meaning of human existence and how quantum mechanics is relevant to the theological doctrine of grace by showing how God can influence the moral decision-making that takes place in the frontal lobe of the brain without violating the laws of nature. This also helps to explain how Thomas Aquinas’ “intrinsically efficacious” grace, by which he explains the biblical doctrine of predestination, does not conflict with the doctrine of human free will.

Paperback: $34.95 | Hardback in Full Color: $54.95 | Kindle: $9.99

TESTIMONIALS

TBA

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Terrence Lagerlund has been a neurologist in the Division of Epilepsy at Mayo Clinic for 35 years, treating patients with epilepsy and interpreting their electroencephalograms. He also lectures to residents and fellows on electroencephalography including basic principles of electricity and neurophysiology. He has published papers and authored book chapters on electroencephalography and epilepsy, particularly regarding quantitative analysis of electroencephalograms. Prior to becoming a neurologist, he obtained a Ph.D. in physics and worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Science (doing research at Brookhaven National Laboratory and CERN) and as a term physicist at Fermilab.

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Follow the Science: A Catholic Physician’s Contemplations on Faith, Medicine, and the Catholic Church

Follow the Science: A Catholic Physician’s Contemplations on Faith, Medicine, and the Catholic Church

Bishop James D. Conley, Diocese of Lincoln, and Dr. Jere Palazzolo, President, Catholic Healthcare International

Follow the Science: A Catholic Physician’s Contemplations on Faith, Medicine, and the Catholic Church

by Dr. George Mychaskiw II

with forewords by Bishop Joseph E. Strickland and Charles C. Camosy, PhD


Do you ever wonder if the scientific world has lost its compass?

Does it seem like the Catholic Church is increasingly irrelevant in a culture of death and secular self-interest?

Is there no behavior too outrageous, offensive or preposterous enough for a civilized society to protest?

In this book, Dr. George Mychaskiw, a faithful Catholic, pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist takes an unvarnished, direct and unapologetically Catholic look at some of today’s most important bioethical and episcopal issues, including:

  • The common arguments supporting abortion on demand and why they are simply invalid.
  • The irrational and non-scientific basis for gender ideology.
  • The modern slavery of in vitro fertilization and surrogacy.
  • The contemporary genocide against the disabled, elderly and other “inconvenient” people.
  • Perversion of politics and the criminal justice system.
  • The silent and cowardly Catholic Church.

And many more.  This is a call to arms.  A plea and guidebook for taking back the culture of death, restoring respect for life and motherhood, and setting the Church in its place as the standard-bearer for ethical behavior.  Society is in decline and, unless prompt action is taken, it will collapse to a Hobbesian dystopia that is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.

Paperback: $24.95 | Kindle: $9.99

TESTIMONIALS

 

“The forces of Satan are very clear in their priorities. Yearly, Planned Parenthood receives hundreds of millions of dollars in donations. As ‘sons of light’ (Lk 16,8), we must be ready to make the sacrifices necessary to safeguard and promote human life and the family formed by the union of man and woman in marriage. Is there anything more important than life and the dignity of God’s creation of man, male and female? (Gn 1,27) For us Catholics, the answer is clear.” – Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke

“I believe this book will prove to be useful in a world where medicine, science and the Church are all battered by confusion and compromise that too often wants to deny the truth. The call for people of faith is not to deny the truth but instead to embrace the joys and the challenges it brings to our human journey.” – Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, from the foreword

“When you read this book, you will open yourself to the engaging vision of a thinker and practitioner who, unwilling to settle for the already challenging life of a first-rate and very busy clinician, decided to lead the charge in creating—from nothing—a brand new medical school on the border in New Mexico to serve populations who bear the face of Christ in a special way as strangers in our midst. When you read this book, you will open yourself to the engaging vision of a thinker and practitioner who understands the crusade for prenatal justice as the great fight for human and civil rights of our era. When you read this book, you will open yourself to the engaging vision of a thinker and practitioner who understands that a Catholic vision of the good, a Catholic vision of human dignity, and a Catholic vision of what health care is are at the heart of responding to the culture wars of our current moment.” – Charles C. Camosy, PhD, Professor of Medical Humanities at the Creighton University School of Medicine, from the foreword

​ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. George Mychaskiw, is a board-certified, practicing pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist with over 30 years of experience, having completed medical school at the Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine and anesthesiology residency and fellowships at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Mychaskiw has an extensive background in health policy and medical education and is a graduate of the AOA’s Health Policy Fellowship. 

As the visionary behind an osteopathic medical school being established in southern New Mexico to address the shortage of physicians in the Southwestern U.S. and Northern Mexico and diversify the physician workforce, Dr. Mychaskiw initiated a compilation of influential leaders to make this vision a reality. In 2013, the Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine (BCOM) was established with Founding Dean & Chief Academic Office Mychaskiw at the helm of the academic arm of the medical school.  In 2016, BCOM’s inaugural class of 162 arrived in Las Cruces, New Mexico to begin their dream of attending medical school.  Today, the Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine is one of the largest producers of Hispanic physicians in the US and one of the most diverse osteopathic medical colleges.

Dr. Mychaskiw and his consulting group have developed 9 other medical schools in the US and he is the Founding President of the proposed Saint Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Suffering School of Osteopathic Medicine, which will be co-located on the campus of Benedictine College, Atchison, Kansas.  The Saint Pio School will be the first and only medical school in the world adherent to Ex Corde Ecclesiae, traditionally Catholic, and will proudly stand for the life and dignity of every human life, from conception to natural death, as created in the image and likeness of God.

Dr. Mychaskiw remains in active clinical practice and has developed and led major university anesthesiology departments in the United States.  An authority in osteopathic medical education, Dr. Mychaskiw has authored over 100 articles and book chapters, including works on hospital, medical school and operating room management. He has given hundreds of lectures around the world and is an expert on medical and educational administration in the U.S. and developing world.

 

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Science, Psychology and Saint Thomas Aquinas by Donald G. Boland

Science, Psychology and Saint Thomas Aquinas by Donald G. Boland

Science, Psychology and St. Thomas Aquinas

by Dr. Donald G. Boland

An opposition does exist between Aristotle’s psychology and today’s modern psychology, but it is not as clear-cut as most think. This book, grounded in the wisdom of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, seeks to resolve what tension there is between the two in regard to understanding the human soul. While modern science retains a place in the study of human psychology, as a partially natural science, or as an empirically and mathematically based science, it does not result in a full or adequate understanding of the psyche of the human being. Donald G. Boland lays out in the chapters of this book how an Aristotelian explanation of psychology provides a holistic approach to a field of study that is in essence spiritual, namely, the human soul.

Paperback: $29.95 | Kindle: $9.99

TESTIMONIALS

 

“As a necessary preparation to the principal work of his book, Dr Boland discusses with clarity and in totality Aristotle’s long neglected and poorly understood causal lines of explanation of reality and the particular natural sciences ordered according to the degrees of formal abstraction from matter. Thereafter he gives a most thorough and hierarchically ordered exposition and discussion of the true philosophical science of human psychology, that is to say, as found in the works of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. This is the principal and most important part of his book. It fittingly culminates with a study of the human person and serves as a necessary foundation to the second part of Dr Boland’s book – the development of a truly Thomistic synthesis: incorporating the good to be found in modern psychology and rejecting what is nonsense and even dangerous and harmful. I cannot speak highly enough of this book – it is a privilege to endorse it. I believe it is destined to a have a most beneficial influence: not only in Catholic education; but in any institution of learning where truth is sought for its own sake, and for the sake of the intellectual and moral health of its students.” – Frank Calneggia, author of Assertions and Refutations: An Assessment of Dr Tracey Rowland’s Natural Law: From Neo Thomism to Nuptial Mysticism

​ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Donald G Boland Ll. B. Ph. D. is a founding member of the Centre for Catholic Studies Inc. in Sydney Australia and is one of its former Presidents. He practiced for a number of years as a lawyer having a degree in law from the University of Sydney. Over much the same time, having obtained a doctorate in philosophy from the University of St. Thomas in Rome, he has taught philosophy and law in both Catholic and secular educational institutions, such as the University of Technology, Sydney, the University of Newcastle, the Aquinas Academy, the Centre for Thomistic Studies Inc., now operating under the name of the Centre for Catholic Studies Inc., and various Catholic seminaries, such as those of the Marists and the Vincentians. His doctoral thesis was on the concepts of utility and value in economics as found in the works of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas.

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Science Under the Microscope: A Philosophical Investigation

Science Under the Microscope: A Philosophical Investigation

Science Under the Microscope: A Philosophical Investigation

by Gerard Verschuuren

Every culture has its own sacred cows. In our culture, that sacred cow is science. What scientists claim—in the name of science and with the authority of science—is oracular. This book looks beyond the scientific nose through the lens of a philosophical analysis, which amounts to putting science under “the microscope of philosophy.”

Paperback: $18.99 | Kindle: $9.99

CH. 1 THE SECRETS OF MATTER
CH. 2 THE WORLD AS CLOCKWORK
CH. 3 DOES MOTHER EARTH HAVE A HEARTBEAT?
CH. 4 THE SECRET OF LIFE
CH. 5 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE
CH. 6 THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE
CH. 7 IS MAN STRIPPED OF HIS CLOTHES?
CH. 8 APE OR ADAM?
CH. 9 IS EVERYTHING IN THE GENES?
CH. 10 FROM SEX TO GENDER
CH. 11 CAN ANIMALS TALK?
CH. 12 CAN MACHINES THINK?
CH. 13 A MATTER OF FACT
CH. 14 THE GOD OF FACTS AND VALUES

TESTIMONIALS

“Dr. Verschuuren offers a powerful contribution to the scientific world, which is concerned with the first order of abstraction – physical being – by evaluating it through the third order of abstraction – metaphysical being. Any scientist engaged in the study of material causes will be edified by this philosophical examination, the only lens that can properly focus into every science.” – Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, Director of the Institute for Theological Encounter with Faith and Science

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gerard M. Verschuuren is a human geneticist who also earned a doctorate in the philosophy of science. He studied and worked at universities in Europe and the United States. Currently semi-retired, he spends most of his time as a writer, speaker, and consultant on the interface of science and religion, faith and reason.

Currently, while semi-retired, he writes about issues at the interface of

  • science and religion,
  • science and creation,
  • faith and reason.

All his books can be found at: www.where-do-we-come-from.com

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Mysteries: Quantum and Theological by Robert Kurland

Mysteries: Quantum and Theological by Robert Kurland

Mysteries: Quantum and Theological

by Robert J. Kurland

This book endeavors to engage the reader in a qualitative understanding of physics basic to quantum mechanics (QM — wave motion, momentum, work, and energy) by walking the reader through how the field developed historically by scientists Planck, Einstein, DeBroglie, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Schwinger, Feynman, and Bell. The reader will come to appreciate the strangeness of basic QM concepts (superposition, the EPR paradox, entanglement, and measurement selection) and be able to view intersections of QM with theology (superposition and the Trinity, entanglement and Divine Action, many worlds/minds and Free Will, quantum logic and Resurrection).

Nook: $9.99

TESTIMONIALS

TBA

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bob Kurland is a retired, cranky, old physicist who converted to Catholicism in 1995. He is a Graduate of Caltech (BS, with honor, 1951), Harvard (M.S. 1953, Physics; Ph.D. 1956, Chemical Physics), academic career, Carnegie-Mellon, SUNY/AB, MRI (Geisinger), best scientific work: search Kurland-McGarvey equation. He also served as a volunteer to federal prison and hospital; lector, EOMHC, and is a sometime player of bass clarinet, alto clarinet, clarinet, bass, tenor bowed psaltery for parish instrumental group and local folk group. He has been married 54 years and has 5 children, 11 grandchildren (eldest to graduate from Penn State Schreyer’s Honor College (grandfathers are allowed to brag!). For the story of his conversion, click here. For other blog posts about his faith as a convert from Judaism and a scientist, see here, here and here. His current effort is to show that there is no contradiction between what science tells us about the world and our Catholic faith. Intermittent blogs and adult education classes to achieve this end are available at http://rationalcatholic.blogspot.com/ and http://home.ptd.net/~rkurland)

Bob’s motivation comes from St. Augustine of Hippo, who wrote in The Trinity, 1.8:

It is also necessary may God grant it that in providing others with books to read I myself should make progress, and that in trying to answer their questions I myself should find what I am seeking. Therefore at the command of God our Lord and with his help, I have undertaken not so much to discourse with authority on matters known to me as to know them better by discoursing devoutly of them.

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