“There are four possible ways of preventing a man from working his argument [161a1] to a conclusion. It can be done either by demolishing the point on which the falsity that comes about depends, or by stating an objection directed against the questioner—for often when a solution has not as a matter of fact been brought, yet the questioner is rendered thereby unable to pursue the argument any farther. Thirdly, one may object to the questions asked; for it may happen that what the questioner [5] wants does not follow from the questions he has asked because he has asked them badly, whereas if something additional is granted the conclusion comes about. If, then, the questioner is unable to pursue his argument farther, the objection will be directed against the questioner; if he can do so, then it will be against his questions. The fourth and worst kind of objection is that which is directed to the time allowed for discussion; for some people bring objections of a kind which would take longer to [10] answer than the length of the discussion in hand.”
― The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation, One-Volume Digital Edition
― The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation, One-Volume Digital Edition
“In his very first encyclical Pius X had uttered a warning: ...We shall take the greatest care to see that the members of the clergy do not allow themselves to be taken in by the insidious maneuvers of a certain new science which dons the mask of truth and from which one does not discern the fragrance of Jesus Christ; it is a mendacious science which, using fallacious and perfidious arguments, tries to beat a path to the errors of rationalism and semi-rationalism, and against which the Apostle was already warning his beloved Timothy when he wrote: “Guard the deposit, avoiding profane novelties in language as well as in the arguments of a knowledge falsely so-called, whose enthusiasts, with all their promises, have failed in the faith.19”
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“Some are so carried away that they contentiously assert that the flock of errors arising from them is sufficiently compensated by the publication of some book which defends religion and truth. Every law condemns deliberately doing evil simply because there is some hope that good may result. Is there any sane man who would say poison ought to be distributed, sold publicly, stored, and even drunk because some antidote is available and those who use it may be snatched from death again and again?”
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“Pius X was well aware that his rejection of the “cult associations” would result in expulsions, confiscations and a more precarious existence for the Church. He did not look forward to it, but we can imagine that he saw it as a salutary trial for the Church, an opportunity for her to detach herself further from material goods. To someone who asked him how the Archbishop of Paris could exercise his office without a church, a house and an income, the Pope replied: —“In that case I could give the office to a Franciscan who is bound by his Rule to live on alms and to exercise absolute poverty.”
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