Rome, Philosophy and St. Cyril
Posted on | September 26, 2008 |
I spent a week in Rome at The Grandeur of Reason - Philosophy and Theology Conference. I was there as a spectator and as partner of Cyril - who gave a paper on a very grand and reasonable topic at this conference. It was really nice that partners could be included and encouraged to attend. There was lots to do - Rome is just amazing. The eternal city as Paschal told us. You can see the historical layers of the city intertwined beneath your feet (and in front of your eyes) all round you.
It was a really great week. I met loads of really interesting people - Shelly from San Francisco, in particular. The organisers were amazing, so inclusive of all the people who were there and so committed to their area and to networking. Myself and Cyril were very happy to sit at one of the dinners with the incredibly respectful and esteemed philosopher - François Laruelle (I didn’t know this at the time) but I was very taken with his patience as the three of us tried to chat, we had a little french and he had a little english. Overall, it was really great to be in the company of such committed and talented scholars, who were also fun.
On one of our afternoons in Rome, we checked out the Sistine Chapel and found Cyril’s patron saint - St. Cyril of course.
Cyril and Saint Cyril
Cyril and the Ancient Philosophers
We also came across Raffaello “Scuola di Atene (Raphael, The School of Athens) painting “depicting Plato pointing upwards (the idealist) and Aristotle pointing downwards (the realist) talking together symbolising St. Thomas Aquinas taking the best of Aristotle and the best of Plato together with his belief in creation out of nothing to produce one of the most remarkable world picture characteristic of medieval times” Cyril’s words ….and so another photo opportunity to show the philosphical nature of this existing Cyril was taken.
2 Comments to “Rome, Philosophy and St. Cyril”
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November 8th, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
Sounds fantastic - though i hadn’t realised that saints were canonised in their own lifetime - even someone as eminent as St.C! Anyway, Kerry for Sam next year!! Great to see you both in Limerick,
Paddy and marion
November 8th, 2008 @ 6:48 pm
Yip, Paddy, more than likely I will be de-moted and de-canonized after my death! So much for inverting the [logical, temporal, ontological, nevermind 'hier'archical] order of sainthood!!!
But, then, maybe stranger things can happen, such as Kerry beating Tyrone next year! But we will just have to wait and be ‘empirical’ about that one!
Good to see yourself and Marion too — it certainly was several years since I was talking to both of yourselves…. I do remember meeting you and Marion then but it is many years ago now, and I cannot for the life of me remember where it was that I met both of you… Ah well, my memory is fallible too!
All best,
Cyril.