Just Thomism - On Teaching Philosophy

It would be terribly easy for The Supplement to transform into nothing more than a series of posts on this theme: "Go read what A Thomist just wrote." Just Thomism is a great blog, and worth considering as a regular read.

Here's a post from several days ago that I've been meaning to mention. It concludes:

The study of a multitude of schools can only be philosophical if it is done in light of the principles known to a wise man. Absent this, it destroys the clarity of the mind and leads to intellectual vice.

Yes indeed.

Philosophy is not a cafeteria because truth is not a matter of taste. It doesn't matter whether I like how it tastes or smells; the question must be: is it true? But when we study something apart from a commitment to an analysis along these lines, it becomes more difficult to think clearly ourselves, and it can lead to the false conclusion that one's philosophy is just a matter of preference: "if all these smart guys disagree, then truth so-called is really subjective."

Maybe that's more simplistic (it probably is) than what A Thomist intends. But we lesser lights must make what small advances we can :-)