"[B]elief in the necessity of an open mind which would enable us to discuss our problems with people of divergent opinions" is what distinguishes the intellectual from the pompous know-it-all wanker.
--- On Wed, 4/22/09, Jim Farmelant <farmelantj at juno.com> wrote:
>
> "This apparent internal discrepancy provided us, however,
> with a certain breadth of approach by which we were able to
>
> have helpful discussions with followers of various
> philosophical
> opinions.
> Among the participants in our discussions were, for
> instance,
> several advocates of Catholic philosophy. Some of them were
> Thomists,
> some were rather adherents of a romantic mysticism.
> Discussions about
> the Old and New Testaments, the Jewish Talmud, St.
> Augustine, and the
> medieval schoolmen were frequent in our group. Otto Neurath
> even enrolled
>
> for one year in the Divinity School of the University in
> order to get an
> adequate
> picture of Catholic philosophy, and won an award for the
> best paper on
> moral
> theology. This shows the high degree of our interest in the
> cultural
> background
> of philosophic theories and our belief in the necessity of
> an open mind
> which
> would enable us to discuss our problems with people of
> divergent
> opinions."
>
> When Frank emigrated to the United States, he was on rather
> friendly
> terms with the neo-Thomist philosopher Jacques Maritain.
>
> Jim Farmelant
>