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In What Sense Are Human Beings Angelic?
Collection StructureFiring Line broadcast records > Episode guide > In What Sense Are Human Beings Angelic?
Item Title In What Sense Are Human Beings Angelic?
Guest Adler, Mortimer Jerome (1902-2001)
Host Buckley, William F., Jr. (1925-2008)
Date CreatedMarch 01, 1982
Description

With a favorite Firing Line guest, a serious discussion of the nature of angels and what Mr. Adler calls "angelistic fallacies." An angel, he points out, is "a purely spiritual being, a mind without a body"; he quotes Thomas Aquinas's explanation that angels must assume a body to appear on earth--"as you would assume a coat or a mask when you go to a masquerade ball"--"because they must make a sensible appearance to the human beings that they are carrying God's messages to." Angelistic fallacies involve assuming that men are like angels: "Socrates keeps saying that knowledge is virtue. If a man knows what is right he will do what is right. Well, an angel, if he knows what is right, will do what is right, but a man won't."

Language(s)
Country of Origin
Place RecordedNew York City, New York, United States
DimensionsDuration: 60 minutes
FormatText
Medium television programs
Aspect Ratio
4:3
Color
color
Soundtrack
sound
Hoover IDProgram S0501
Record Number80040.741
NotesVideo available through special order.
RightsCopyright held by Stanford University. This copy is provided for educational and research purposes only. No publication, further reproduction, or reuse of copies, beyond fair use, may be made without the express written permission of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives on behalf of Stanford University.

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