iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Apples, Columbia County NY: Red Astrachan (Russia, pre-1816); Duchess of Oldenburg (Russia, pre-1817); Beacon (Ribston Pippin x Unknown, Buckinghamshire 1825).

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Alessandro Achillini died this date in 1512. Philosopher and physician. Aristotelian-Averroist Humanist, noted for his anatomical studies and his interest in the occult. Key figure in the Ockhamist revival. Physiognomist and chiromant. Early critic of Galen.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Milton apple (McIntosh X Yellow Transparent). Cornell 1909. Picking in another week or two.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Francesco Filelfo died this date in 1481. Opinionated and argumentative Renaissance humanist and philosopher. Key figure in the introduction of the Greek legacy to the West. Unwisely quarreled with Cosimo de' Medici and argued for his execution in the brief period of Cosimo's exile. Moved to Milan.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

On this date, July 27, in 1797 - 9 Thermidor II - Jean-Lambert Tallien, until then an outspoken ally of Robbespierre, arose in the National Convention and denounced Robbespierre. Other deputies rallied around Tallien, and Robbespierre was arrested the next day.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

Francis of Meyronnes died this date in 1328. Scholastic philosopher, pupil of Duns Scotus who defended the formal distinction, the univocity of being and the concept of haecceity. Dedicated to finding rational defenses of Catholic doctrine.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white, Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night; And make us happy in the happy bees, The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Peter Abelard died this date in 1142. The most controversial philospher of the 12th century. Theologian, composer, logician, poet. Sic et Non. Lover of Héloïse du Paraclet. The tomb of Héloïse and Abelard in Père-Lachaise

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Anselm of Canterbury died this date in 1109. Early Scholastic philosopher. Faith precedes reason. Ontological proof of the living God. His satisfaction theory of atonement bridges theology from Augustine to Calvin. His tomb in Canterbury Cathedral.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Proclus died this date in 485. Master exigete of Plato. Profoundly influential Neoplatonist philosopher who shaped the thoughts of centuries of Byzantine, Islamic, Scholastic and even German Idealist philosophers, notably Kant and Hegel.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

William of Ockham died this date in 1347. Last great Scholastic philosopher. Logician, Nominalist, empiricist. Ockham’s Razor-reductive metaphysics. A fideist like Augustine: only with faith can we access truth. His monument in the Franciscan convent of St. Anna in Munich.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Joachim of Fiore died this date in 1202. Theologian. Mystic. Chiliast. Profoundly influential apocalyptic thinker and commentator on the Book of Revelation. His ideas 0n the Trinity were disputed by Aquinas and considered heretical. Mentioned by Joyce and Yeats.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

William of Auvergne died this date in 1249. Liminal philosopher. First thinker in the Latin West to develop a systematic metaphysics based on the concepts of being and essence. Early commentator on Aristotelian and Islamic metaphysics and natural philosophy. Wrote against the poor Cathars.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Ramon Llull died this date in 1315. Philosopher, theologian, poet. Alchemist. Catalan. His "art" - universal logic sought to prove the truth of Christian doctrine. Precursor of social choice theory and computation theory. His tomb in the Franciscan Church in Palma.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Jonathan Edwards died this date in 1758. Singularly important American philosopher/theologian. Merged Enlightenment with Puritanism. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". Key mover in the First Great Awakening. Supported smallpox inoculations; died of smallpox. Eponym of a Yale residential college

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Benedict of Nursia died this date in 547. The Patron Protector of Europe. Founder of Western Christian monasticism. His Rule of St Benedict, the most influential rule in Western Europe, moderates asceticism with reasonableness. His tomb in Monte Casino, buried with his sister.

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Reposted by Steve Finley

Whit Stillman @whitstillman.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Recently arrived: Anne Margaret Daniel's brilliant edition of unpublished F. Scott Fitzgerald stories, some beautiful.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Peter Olivi died this date in 1298. Bursting with ideas. Voluntarist. Cognition does not require divine illumination. Critic of contemporary Averroist interpretations of Aristotle. Two forms of matter: corporeal and spiritual. Proposed an extreme view of ecclesiastical poverty. Accused of heresy

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Saint Symeon the New Theologian died this date in 1022. Monk, poet, mystic. Devout Hesychast whose attempts to reform the Byzantine monasteries met with fierce resistance. Charismatic exiled for his views on actual experience of the Holy Spirit. Vegetarian who died of dysentery.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Denis the Carthusian died this date in 1471. Theologian. Philosopher. Mystic. Christian Platonist who followed Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. The Ecstatic Doctor, whose spirit of contemplation led to hours of ecstatic union with God and visions of the souls in Purgatory.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Sophronius the Sophist died this date in 638. Philosopher. Theologian. Christology warrior: foe of monoenergism (Christ had two natures but only one divine capacity for choice), monothelitism (two natures but only one divine will in Christ) and monophysitism (only one divine nature in Christ).

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Thomas Aquinas died this date in 1274. Theologian. Philosopher. The bridge from Aristotle to Locke. Reconciled Aristotle with Christian theology. Five proofs of the living God. Contra Duns Scotus, analogous not univocal predication of God. His tomb in the Couvent des Jacobins

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Rupert of Deutz died this date in 1129. Theologian, exegete. Congenital disputant with Anselm of Laon and William of Champeaux on investiture, liturgy and transubstantiation. Contra Augustine, he maintained that the Incarnation was planned from eternity, independently of human sin.

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Reposted by Steve Finley

Linda Stillman @lindastillman.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

I am pleased to have a selection of my leaf collages in: "The Body Politic: Women, Earth, and the Environment" through May 6, 2025 Reception, Wednesday, March 5, 6:00 - 8:00 PM Curated by Hallie Cohen and Kallie Cassidy Hewitt Gallery of Art Marymount Manhattan College 221 East 71st Street, NYC

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Reposted by Steve Finley

Linda Stillman @lindastillman.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Thank you Karlyn Benson and "Two Coats of Paint" for including news about the exhibition at Geary Contemporary.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Robert of Melun died this date in 1167. Scholastic theologian/philosopher. Sided with Henry II against Thomas Becket. Student of Abelard. teacher of John of Salisbury. Active in the Council of Reims condemning the Christology of Gilbert of Poitiers. Buried in Hereford Cathedral.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Mani died this date in 277. Jewish Christian Gnostic prophet. THE Mani of Manichaeism, the persistently influential syncretism postulating a rigid dualism of good and evil, spirit and matter. Powerful influence on the poor Cathar victims of the Albigensian Crusade. His sealstone.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

1772: Austria, Poland and Russia seized a third of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. 20 years later they took the rest. 1939: Germany and the Soviet Union (Russia) divided reconstituted Poland. Two notes: one, a proud people ultimately will endure. Two, Russia, always Russia.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Andrea Cesalpino died this date in 1603. Philosopher. Physician. Pantheist. Demonologist. The first modern botanist. Innovative taxonomer whose Averroistic Aristotelian methodology inspired Galileo, Harvey, Spinoza and Linnaeus. His statue in the Uffizi. pic.x.com/sk003bw5dd

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Peter Damian died this date in 1072. Monastic leader, church reformer and self-flagellating ascetic. Philosophy should serve theology. God can do even impossible things-can change the past and restore virginity. He is buried in Faenza cathedral

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

On 9 Thermidor II, Jean-Lambert Tallien, until then an outspoken ally of Robbespierre, arose in the National Convention and denounced Robbespierre. Other deputies rallied around Tallien, and Robbespierre was arrested the next day. Where is our Republican Jean-Lambert Tallien? Image

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Baruch Spinoza died this date in 1677. Philosopher and optician. Rationalist. Naturalistic concept of God. Combined Cartesian metaphysical and epistemological principles with elements of Stoicism and medieval Jewish rationalism. He is buried in the Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Martin Luther died this date in 1546. Philosopher and theologian. Followed Paul and Augustine on the nature and importance of grace. Consequential Church reformer, whose reforms led to the terminal split of the Western Church and a century of religious wars. His Wittenberg tomb.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Giordano Bruno died this date in 1600. Philosopher, Hermeticist and esotericist. Postulated multiple solar systems. Denied the divinity of Christ, the Trinity and transubstantiation. Burnt at the stake for heresy in the Campo de' Fiori by the Roman Inquisition.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Early to mid-February. Changing of the seasons. Candlemas, February 2, a pagan festival reimagined by the Church, marks the half-way point between the solstices. Pitchers and catchers report February 12. Soon March. And on the horizon, the loveliest month of the year, May.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Immanuel Kant died this date in 1894. Ethicist, epistemologist. Challenged by Hume. Attempted to join rationalism and empiricism by separating the subjective human experience from the objective world. Most important Western philosopher since Aquinas. Buried at Kaliningrad Cathedral

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Benedict of Aniane died this date in 821. Benedictine monk and zealous monastic reformer whose efforts to impose extreme asceticism met with resistance in multiple monasteries. Denounced the Adoptionist heresy. Buried at Kornelimunster Abbey.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Hugh of Saint Victor died this date in 1141. Prominent mystical theologian/philosopher; wrote the first theological summa. Influenced by Augustine and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. He was buried in the Abbey of St. Victor, which was destroyed in the French Revolution.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

René Descartes died this date in 1650. Rationalist. Cartesian coordinates married maths and geometry. Cogito ergo sum replicated Augustine's Quia ergo sum si fallor and Avicenna's flying man. Buried in the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

John de la Rochelle died this date in 1245. Scholastic philosopher and theologian. Student of and collaborator with Alesander of Hales. His Summa de anima examines the substance of the soul and its powers and shows the influence of Augustine and Avicenna and in turn influenced Aquinas

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

John of Tella died this date in 538. Major proponent of Monophysitism; protagonist in the dispute with Miaphysitism. Condemned as heretic by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and most Protestant religions. Slain in Antioch on Justinian's orders.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Photius of Constantinople died this date in 891. The leading light of the ninth century renaissance. Key figure in the Filioque controversy. Anathamatized by the Roman Catholic Church; sanctified by the Eastern Orthodox. He is buried in the Monastery of Eremia

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

William of Champeaux died this date in 1121. Philosopher, logician and theologian. The mysteries of faith are beyond the scope of human reason. Tutor of and disputant with Peter Abelard. Mentor to Bernard of Clairvaux. Influential thinker on Universals. Buried at Clairvaux. #OTD

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

George Berkeley died this date in 1753. Philosopher, bishop and Cal Berkeley eponym. Proponent of idealism: reality consists only of minds and their ideas. Matter is not a metaphysical substance. Material objects are ideas that cannot exist unless perceived. His memorial in Oxford.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Galileo Galilei died this date in 1642. Astronomer, physicist and polymath. The central figure of the Scientific Revolution - a "hero" of modern science. The doctrine of the two truths and their seeming incompatibility. Heretic. Eppur si muove. His tomb in Santa Croce

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

John Wycliffe died this date in 1384. Scholastic philosopher, dissident Catholic priest. Early Christian reformer. His theories on predestinarianism and grace link Augustine to Luther and Calvin. His remains were exhumed and burned in 1428 by order of the Council of Constance.

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

Alain de Lille died this date in 1202 (or maybe 1203). Doctor Universalis. Eclectic Neo-Platonic philosopher and mystic. Studied with Abelard and Thierry of Chartres. Opposed scholasticism. Image of his [destroyed] tomb in l'Abbé de Citeaux

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Philip the Chancellor died this date in 1236. Philosopher, theologian, lyric poet. Most influential medieval thinker on transcendentals. His Summa de ono was the earliest summa organized around a central principle. He is buried in Notre-Dame de Paris

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

Empire apples. Parentage: McIntosh open pollinated. Pick end-October. Store at 32 degrees. Perfect for Christmas

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Steve Finley @fionnlaidh.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

Giles of Rome died this date in 1316. Scholastic theologian, philosopher and logician. Student of Thomas Aquinas; commentator on Aristotle. Existence is something added to essence. Argued for direct papal authority over all mankind. His tomb was destroyed in the French Revolution

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