Homework Check:

Explain the difference between essence and existence using “What is a unicorn” as an example.

What was the major argument presented by William Ockham, known as Ockham’s Razor?

Thomas Aquinas believed a child is born tabula rasa. Explain the meaning of this.

Scholasticism

The philosophers who attempted to reconcile the beliefs of the Christian church and the ideas which had come down to them from the Greeks were known as “Schoolmen,” and the philosophies which they developed were in general called “Scholasticism.”

*Loyal members of Christian church

*Believed the doctrine without serious question

*Wanted to show that doctrines were reasonable and justifiable by the mind of man

Medieval Philosophy

John the Scot-aka John Scotus Erigena Correct reasoning cannot lead to false

conclusion. There can be no conflict between reason and divine revelation. They are both ways at arriving at truth.

Set out to rationally demonstrate truths of the Christian faith

Danger: his work could render both faith and revelation unnecessary

Erigena God is unknowable, in the sense of not being the

sort of entity that constitutes a possible object of knowledge. It is impossible for God to know himself, to understand his own nature.

Correct reasoning cannot lead to false conclusions

Conclusions, therefore cannot be no conflict between reason and divine knowledge

Creation is a kind of self manifestation wherein the hidden transcendent God creates himself by manifesting himself into a visible (but not material) human

Erigena

Divisions:

1. That which creates and is not created

2. That which creates and is created (ideas)

3. That which is created and does not create

4. That which is neither created nor creates

1st and 4th refer to God as beginning and end of all things

Teleological Argument (design) The natural world around us contains many apparently

complex and seemingly well-designed working structures that appear to serve well various purposes.

It is improbable for these natural processes and structures to have just been around forever, or else to have been produced by blind chance

There is a divine designer behind the mechanisms of nature and responsible for the designs we see there

As a house implies a builder, and a garment a weaver, and a door a carpenter, so does the existence of the Universe imply a Creator.

--Akiba in Midrash

1. So far as we are able to determine, every highly complex object with intricate moving parts is a product of intelligent design. (the only such objects whose ultimate origin we are sure about are artifacts designed by people)

2. The universe is a highly complex object with intricate moving parts. (from observation) Therefore,

3. Probably, the universe is a product of intelligent design.

4. No one could design a universe but God. (It's a big job) Therefore,

5. Probably, there is a God

Ontological Argument Human reason alone can draw at least one important

conclusion about what exists in reality.

We have many ideas of things that don't exist, like unicorns and fairies. Typically when we have an idea of something that might exist, we have to somehow go look to see whether the ultimate inventory of reality includes any such thing or not.

God -”That than which no greater can be conceived” or “the

greatest possible being”

Ontological Argument 1. God is the one and only greatest possible being.

2. A greatest possible being has the greatest form of existence possible, which is necessary existence, or existence in all possible circumstances.

3. It is at least possible that there is a God. (There is a God in some possible set of circumstances, whether they are actual circumstances, or fictional, yet possible, ones)

4. A God who exists in any possible circumstances exists in all.

5. God exists in the actual world.

Cosmological Argument

Why is there something rather than nothing? How could all this profusion of being come to exist at all? Why is there light, and matter?

A cosmos or orderly universe of being exists.

The only adequate explanation for that fact would be the existence of a being very different from anything in that universe.

Cosmological Argument 1. The existence of something is intelligible only if it has an

explanation.

2. The existence of the universe thus either a) is unintelligible, or b) has an explanation.

3. no rational person should accept 2-a.

4. A rational person should accept 2-b: the universe has an explanation.

Cosmological Argument 5. There are only three kinds of explanation:

Scientific: independent initial physical Conditions + relevant Laws= Event

Personal: explanations that cite the desires, beliefs, powers, and intentions of some personal agent.

Essential: the essence of the thing to be explained necessitates its existence or qualities

6. The explanation for the existence of the whole universe can't be scientific. (There can't be initial physical conditions and laws independent of what is to be explained.)

7. The explanation for the existence of the whole universe can't be essential. (The universe is not the sort of thing that exists necessarily.) Therefore (hold onto your desk),

8. A rational person should believe that the universe has a personal explanation

9. no personal agent but God could create an entire universe. Therefore,

10. a rational person should believe that there is a God

It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe without the agency of a Supreme Being. --George Washington

Medieval Renaissance 13th century

Interchanges between Christian and Islamic cultures

Aristotle’s works return from Arab world to Europe

Time of Arthurian Legends

French gothic cathedrals

Oxford and Cambridge University

Magna Carta/ House of Commons

Thomas Aquinas

Greatest philosopher since Augustine Put together all the best stuff argued so far

in Dark Ages and showed its compatibility to Christian belief

Incorporated Jewish, Islamic, Aristotle Distinction between Philosophy and

Religion/ reason and faith

Thomas Aquinas

Our knowledge is acquired through sensory experience- on which our minds then reflect

Tabula Rasa “The soul is known by its acts” Knowledge we gain is through God's

creations- justification

Existence and Essence

Essence- what the thing is His problem with ontological argument-

provides the essence, not the existence. Page 60, right column, middle paragraph--

Chicken or egg argument.... --God must be pure existence

Duns Scotus

Criticized Aquinas's positions Proofs of immortality of the soul aren't

proofs at all Distinction between reason and faith

KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID William of Ockham furthered his work: necessity

in logic but not in the natural order of things; can't reach any knowledge of world through purely logical argument—observation and experience provides us with reliable basis for knowledge.

Ockham's razor: 2 alternative explanations for the same phenomena the more complicated is more likely to have something wrong with it-- the more simple is the more likely to be correct.

Whatever God does is by definition good, regardless of what it is. There are no objective values apart from God's commands. “If God had commanded his creatures to hate himself, hatred of God would have been praiseworthy.”

Disapproved of Church's use of tons of money to construct buildings in honor of people.

Pope got mad—jailed, broke out, excommunicated-- but not executed. Spiritually inked out, not physically cut off.

Place of burial is marked by a plaque in a parking garage in Germany.

Roger Bacon (1214-1294)

4 Causes of Ignorance (criticisms of the church)

He openly attacked clerical ignorance Unsuited Authority Custom Unlearned crowd Wisdom that covered up ignorance

John Wycliffe (1324-1484)

Righteousness alone gave people the right to property and power-- corruption

Wycliffe pointed out-- Christ and early apostles had no property and the clergy shouldn’t either

King was God's vicar and the church was subject to him

Translates the vulgate into English—gave access to people besides the clergy

Scholasticism

Initially shook up Catholicism, but Strengthened it in the long run

Accepted Aristotle as a greater thinker than Plato

Developed as a reaction to corruption in the church

Thomas More (1478-1535)

Beheaded for refusing to agree to Henry 8th Wrote Utopia- sets out how a perfect

society should be run Equality of sexes, freedom of religion, a

representative democracy and no private property

Laying the foundations of secular politics and a scientific way of thinking

Martin Luther (1482-1546)

Authority of the bible supreme over church tradition

Said that men must obey their rulers at all times.

John Calvin (1509-1564)

His ideas about a civil life organized in an egalitarian way influenced the Pilgrim Fathers of America

Egalitarian- one who believes in the equality of all people

His radicalism gave rise to Presbyterianism and Congregationalism

Zwingli (1484-1531)

Attacked the clergy for their corrupted image of living celibate, “poor,” unworldly lives

Denied transubstantiation- bread and wine becoming Christ's flesh and blood in eucharist

CATHOLIC RESPONSE: counter-reformation Council of Trent: doctrine was reformed and discipline restored

CHURCH ESTABLISHES NEW ORDERS –

ESP. JESUITS

*ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA (1491-1556) –

EX-SOLDIER, SPANIARD, FORMS HIS SOCIETY OF JESUS ALONG MILITARY LINES.

*STRENUOUS FIGHTERS OF HERESY, VIGOROUS MISSIONARIES, AND CREATED THE BEST SCHOOLS IN CHRISTENDOM.

**COUNTER-REFORMATION SLOWS THE SPREAD OF PROTESTANTISM BUT DID LITTLE FOR

PHILOSOPHY….

SO—WHAT HAS ALL THIS GOT TO DO WITH PHILOSOPHY?

SCIENCE HAS ALWAYS BEEN CONNECTED WITH

PHILOSOPHY, AND IN THE 17TH CENTURY ADVANCES IN

SCIENTIFIC THINKING STARTED OFF WHAT WE CALL

“THE MODERN WORLD” AND “MODERN PHILOSOPHY”