Medieval Philosophy PDF

Handouts for Introduction to Philosophy Midterm Period Lesson 3: History of Philosophy – Medieval Philosophy MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY Medieval philosophy deals with the problem of man and with God as the Eternal Being...

Handouts for Introduction to Philosophy Midterm Period Lesson 3: History of Philosophy – Medieval Philosophy MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY Medieval philosophy deals with the problem of man and with God as the Eternal Being as the higher Being than man. Hence, three matters are dealt in this era: Deus (God) Mundus (world) homo (man) DEUS MUNDUS HOMO Several scholastics, beginning with monks who had access to proper education, especially in religious beliefs, became prominent religious thinkers in addressing the problem of man, where God is considered the source and end of all things and potentialities. God is viewed as the purus actus, or 'Pure Act,' from whom everything emanates—the Eternal Thou. This era covers from Augustine, who bridged the ancient period to the medieval period, to the particular thinkers under the medieval times where religion and God is the center of thinking. I. Scholasticism  Scholasticism was a philosophical system used in the Middle Ages to explain and defend Christian doctrines. It was based on Aristotelian logic and sought to use reason as well as faith to understand God's will. Scholasticism relied heavily on logical arguments and rigorous proofs, aiming for the truth through careful analysis and debate.  The natural aim of all philosophical endeavor to achieve the “whole of attainable truth” was clearly meant to include also the teachings of Christian faith. This inclusion was perhaps the most characteristic and distinguishing element of the concept of Scholasticism. This was a medieval school of thought towards philosophy. It was also an attempt to include God, making Him the center of all thoughts and ideas related to the knowledge and wonderings of man.   It also aimed to reconcile faith and reason, considering both as “two wings” to achieve the Truth or veritas, which is God in this matter. Thus, man is believed to be always and must be directed towards the summum bonum or the highest good, who is God. This school of thought is grounded in the Aristotelian philosophies, making Aristotle an indirect inspiration and guide in crafting the philosophies directed to God.  Furthermore, Scholasticism was a method of philosophical inquiry using logical reasoning to explain and analyze Christian doctrines and their implications. It began in the 11th century, when Christian theologians began to use the works of ancient Greek philosophers, such as Aristotle and Plato, as well as Islamic thinkers, such as Avicenna and Averroes, to better understand and explain their faith. Scholasticism was largely a reaction against the skepticism that had been adopted by some of the Church Fathers in the 4th and 5th centuries. Instead of relying solely on faith, Scholastics sought to use reason as well.  This approach was advocated by St. Anselm of Canterbury, who argued that faith and reason could be used together to better understand God's will. The Scholastics focused on questions such as the nature of God, the nature of man, the relationship between the two, and the purpose of life. They used Aristotelian logic to analyze these questions and create arguments in support of their positions. II. St. Augustine of Hippo & St. Thomas Aquinas on Man St. Augustine  Aurelius Augustinus) lived from 13 November 354 to 28 August 430.  He was born in Thagaste in Roman Africa (modern Souk Ahras in Algeria).  His mother Monnica (d. 388), a devout Christian, seems to have exerted a deep but not wholly unambiguous influence on his religious development.   His father Patricius (d. 372) was A catechumen is a person who is receiving baptized on his deathbed. Augustine instruction and preparation to be baptized himself was made a catechumen early and admitted into the Christian faith. in his life.  His studies of grammar and rhetoric in the provincial centers of Madauros and Carthage, which strained the financial resources of his middle-class parents, were hoped to pave his way for a future career in the higher imperial administration.  In Carthage at the age of 18, he found a mistress with whom he lived in a monogamous union for ca. 14 years. She bore him a son, Adeodatus, who was baptized together with his father in Milan and died a little later (circa 390) aged 18.  Augustine thinks that the human being is a compound of body and soul. Within this compound, the soul—conceived as both the life-giving element and the center of consciousness, perception and thought—is, or ought to be, the ruling part. The rational soul should control the sensual desires and passions. It can become wise if it turns to God, who is at the same time the Supreme Being and the Supreme Good.  Augustine therefore modifies the proof and argues that soul is immortal because of the inalienable causal presence of God (= Truth) in it. However, it turns out that even if this version of the proof is successful, it only demonstrates the soul’s eternal existence as a (rational) soul but not its eternal wisdom. St. Thomas Aquinas  Between antiquity and modernity stands Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1225–1274).  The greatest figure of thirteenth-century Europe in the two preeminent sciences of the era, philosophy and theology, he epitomizes the scholastic method of the newly founded universities.  Like Dante or Michelangelo, Aquinas takes inspiration from antiquity, especially Aristotle, and builds something entirely new.  Through a theological lens, Aquinas has often been seen as the summit of the Christian tradition that runs back to Augustine and the early Church.   As a philosopher, he is a foundational figure of modern thought. His efforts at a systematic reworking of Aristotelianism reshaped Western philosophy and provoked countless elaborations and disputations among later medieval and modern philosophers.  Matter and Form: “One should know that some things can be, although they are not, and An accidental aggregation refers to a some things are. That which can be is combination of a substance with its said to be in potentiality; that which is accidents. In philosophical terms: now is said to be in actuality.” Substance is something that exists in itself, like a person.  It means that the existence of a substance is Accidents are qualities or properties that different from the existence of an accidental a substance can have but that do not aggregation of a substance with its accidents exist independently; they are "non- (such as a pale man) to exist. In general, what essential" characteristics such as color, properly exists is substances, whereas “forms, size, or shape. For example, when we describe "a pale accidents, and other things of this sort are called man," the paleness is an accident of the beings not because they themselves exist, but man, the substance. The combination of the because it is by them that something exists” (ST man (substance) and his paleness (accident) 1a 45.4c). is an accidental aggregation.  For living things, their substantial form is their soul (anima). In saying this, Aquinas should not be understood to be ascribing some special sort of spirituality to plants and animals: he thinks they are material objects just as much as rocks and streams are. He is rather following the lead of Aristotle’s De anima in treating the soul as the first principle of life, whatever that may be.  Given that the human body is corrupted at death, the soul’s incorruptibility entails that, after death, it will continue to exist without the body. Aquinas devotes considerable attention to the question of how it will function in that separated state (ST 1a 89; Quest. on the Soul 15–20).  Prior to the delicate but all-important question of what such lives will be like (a paradise or a hell), there is a still more basic question of whether a human person’s separated soul continues to be that same person. Recent commentators have been divided. Aquinas is very clear that, in this life, a human being is the whole composite substance, form and matter (ST 1a 75.4). Moreover, Aquinas thinks our souls will not be separated from their bodies forever; in the fullness of time, on the Day of Judgment, they will be reunited with their resurrected bodies (SCG IV.79–97). SUMMARY Ancient Philosophy Medieval Philosophy Plato – World of Forms which is perfect Augustine of Hippo – persevere in virtuous life in order to take care of the soul Aristotle – Matter and Form Thomas Aquinas – Body and Soul directed towards God IMPORTANT NOTE  St. Augustine took his thoughts from the ideas of Plato, “Christianizing” those thoughts and directing man towards a parcel of God’s creation and an eikon or an imago Dei through his mind and soul.  Moreover, St. Thomas Aquinas took his thoughts through his inspiration and translation of some works of Aristotle. Hence, his philosophical endeavors were directed in the Aristotelian way in a Catholic means. He saw that man is both body and soul and is directed towards the Eternal Being who is God.