Jaime Balmes

Father Jaime Luciano Balmes y Urpiá (Catalan: Jaume Llucià Antoni Balmes i Urpià) (August 28, 1810 – July 9, 1848), Catalan Spanish Catholic priest, eminent as a political writer and a philosopher.

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Biography

Balmes was born and died at Vic in Catalonia, Spain.

Having attacked the regent Espartero, he was exiled. On his return, he founded and edited El Pensamiento de la Nación, a Catholic and conservative weekly; however, his fame rests principally on El Protestantismo comparado con el Catolicismo en sus relaciones con la Civilización Europea (Protestantism and Catholicity compared in their Effects on the Civilization of Europe),[1] an able defence of Catholicism on the ground that it represents the spirit of obedience or order, as opposed to Protestantism, the spirit of revolt or anarchy. The book is often cited as a counter argument to historical accounts that focus on the reputed central role of the Protestant thought to the development of modern society.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition:

The best of his philosophical works, which are clear expositions of the scholastic system of thought, are the Filosofia Fundamental (Basic Philosophy),[2] and the Curso de Filosofia Elemental (A Course of Elementary Philosophy),[3] which he translated into Latin for use in seminaries.

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La lectura es como el alimento; el provecho no está en proporción de lo que se come, sino de lo que se digiere.
"Reading is like eating; the benefits are not in proportion to what is consumed, but to what is digested."

See also

Notes

  1. ^ 3 vols., 1842–1844, 6th edition, 1879; English translation in 1849 and also in 1856 by Charles Ignatius White.
  2. ^ 4 vols., 1846, Eng. trans. by H. F. Brownson, 2 vols. New York, 1856.
  3. ^ 4 vols., 1847

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