Slackin' off

Well, to all of my readers I apologize for my lax behavior with my blog. For now I have a couple of thoughts.

Jonathan Edwards life - wow, I am inspired. If I ever have a job at a seminary or a Christian evangelical college I will definitely teach a class on the philosophical/theology of Jonathan Edwards. He is definitely pietistic and revivalistic, yet he tempers both of these emotional aspects of his theology with a serious rationalism. George Marsden, the writer of Edwards biography, claims that Edwards was both a medieval and a modern, almost standing in the gap between the two. I have definitely learned a lot about how I would like to do things if I were a pastor.

I'm writing a paper on Aristotle and propositional attitudes. Here's an example of propositional attitudes

Lois Lane loves Superman
Superman = Clark Kent ('=' means identical)
Lois Lane doesn't know that Superman = Clark Kent
Therefore, Lois Lane Doesn't love Clark Kent

What Aristotle claims is that if Lois Lane loves Superman, then logically she loves Clark Kent. Aristotle makes a claim like this:

S knows that Fa
a is the same in essence as b
________________________
S knows that Fb

Aristotle's view is similar to that of John Stuart Mill, or should I say John Mill's view is similar to that of Aristotle's? Anyway, Aristotle's view seems somewhat counterintuitive. If S doesn't know that Fa = Fb then how can S know Fb? This is what confuses me, it seems to make sense, but there is something that seems wrong. If we allow this substitution in the belief of S from Fa to Fb then we can allow this. Let me give a story to explain why I don't think that Aristotle or Mill's view of names works.

Let's say that Commissioner Gordan needs to inform Batman that the Joker has kidnapped Barbara Gordan. So while Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordan are having dinner, Commissioner Gordan excuses himself from dinner so he can turn. on the Bat Signal to inform Batman about the kidnapping. Yet, what Commissioner Gordan doesn't know is that Bruce Wayne is identical to Batman. So, unbeknownst to Bruce Wayne the Joker has kidnapped Barbara Gordan, because he is having dinner with Commissioner Gordan and not aware that Commissioner Gordan has turned on the Bat Signal. So, even though Commissioner Gordan wants to inform Batman about the kidnapping, he doesn't inform Bruce Wayne about this while they are having dinner, because Commissioner Gordan doesn't know that Bruce Wayne is identical with Batman.