Philosophy Before Quiz 3 PDF

Philosophy as a way of life Chapter 11 - People who want to be wise dont spend time with busybodies - “They are accustomed no longer to take account of physical discomforts or exterior evils - If everyone was like the people who are wise and find joy in virtue, then our cities would...

Philosophy as a way of life Chapter 11 - People who want to be wise dont spend time with busybodies - “They are accustomed no longer to take account of physical discomforts or exterior evils - If everyone was like the people who are wise and find joy in virtue, then our cities would be filled with happiness - For people in the hellenistic and roman eras, philosophy was a way of life, had to be practiced at each instant - “The ancients knew that they would never be able to realize wisdom within themselves as a stable, definitive state, but they at least hoped to accede to it in certain privileged moments, and wisdom was the transcendent norm which guided their action - Brought peace of mind (ataraxia), inner freedom (autarkeia), and a cosmic conciousnes (although you are mortal and have a limited lifespan, you have seen the past present and future - Philosophy meant to cure societies anguish - Philosophy presented itself as a method for acheiving independence and inner freedom(autakeria), that state in which th ego depends only upon itself - Christianity as a philosophy and way of life - Philosophy in the middle ages had become a purely theoretical and abstract activity, no longer a way of life - Ancient philosophers never gave up on having an effect on their cities, transforming society, and serving their citizens, who frequently accorded thm praise 10/18/24 - Chapter 11 helps to introduce augustine and aquinas - paradox : wisdom is inaccessible, but we need to pursue it nevertheless - Philosophy is not theoretical knowledge, but a way to look at the world (socrates, plato and aristotle). Belief that looking at philosophy from a business perspective is wrong, but philosophy should be used to look at the world in a different way - What hellenistic philosophy pursues: peace of mind, inner freedom, cosmic conciousness - You need to reach a certian distance formthe world in order to find a point to look at the world from a different perspective, first need to find peace of mind. You need to be focused (pezce of mind)to find a different kind of philosophy - Inner freedom: after peace of mind, need to practice freedom. Allows them to look at the world differently and act freely - Cosmic consciousness: to arrive to a point where you become nothing, you reach cosmic consciousness, realize you are not the center of the universe, perceive how small you are in the scale of things - Doing these three things - Christianity: - After jesus is crucified, group of people started following him, similar to socrates. - St paul: start thinking of the jewish movement being brought to greek culture. Queston: do you stay jeiwsh or christian - John’s community (greek speakers) write a gospel (philosphobical  - Gospel posted n canvas - The word became flesh (logos is God). - Allows people ot talk about god as logos (middle ages and modern day). - Christians presented christianity as a philosopy not a religion - wan t to make christianity like the grreek world - Practical knowledhe - Christianity becomes the fficial religion of the grecks (put away pagists, ect. Augustine beginning of middle ages - Born in 354 - Roman empire is falling apart, questionin wo is goin to assume all the power, auhgustine says the pope - Augustine at the end of the roman period and the beginning of the medieval ages - The city of god, ninmodern political hteroy: no seperyion of church and state/opposity of modern day.) to keep union you need one religion Augustine is a follower of neoplatonism - a platonis with socratic influences - Church grows with power and money 12 century the first universities - Worst invention for philosophy - Degrees prove you have kneoledhe - University is a business - Causes philosophy to become something people study as a science, it becomes theoretical knowledge Aquinus - professor and specialist, top of middle ages (beginning of the end of the ancient world) - Born at the time aristotle is rediscovered (muslims translated aristotle into latin, revival of aristotle) The city of god book xix chapters 1-11 - Provides context for the confessions - Inbetween earthly city and city of god is - Goal on earth is to reach the city o god, start from an early city (structures of the roman empire) - Empires offer peace (roman empire) you need peace - Roman empire: if you give taxes, ill give you peace - Augustine s looking for something to replace the falling roman empire, needs to provide peace just like the empire. People want a soution when the empire is falling - Christians become the official religion of roman - How is it possible for a human being to transition from the earthly to the city of god (pagan to christian) - “They think that the supreme good and evil are to be found in this life” - Augustine a philosopher and grammar teacher. Most popular author at the time Marcus Varro. Book on philosophy: writes 288 possible ‘ultimate goods’ on earth - Augustine: Thinks there is no ultimate good in this life  - Things like temperapnc, prudence, justice, ect, can disappear - Suicide shows - Each chapter shows that the 288 ultimate goods on earth are false - Augustine says it is impossible to find the ultimate goods in real life (disagrrees with Marcus Varro” - The city og good’s ultimate end is the supreme food. If you can’t find it in the earthly realm, you need to escapen and find it - Ultimate good: peace in eternal life - The supreme ened, which is sought for its own sake and on account of which all other goods are siguht) - All the goods fit inside the supreme god - Supreme good: one by which goodness reaches its fullest consummation - eternal life in peace - Augustine says you should llook for something beyojdn the cty to have - Order is important for supre - Augustine looks for a proper way of doiing things City of god book XIX chapter 12-22 10/23/24 Peace: the calm that comes with order Order: arrangement of like and unlike things whereby each of them is disposed in the proper way 5 kinds of peace - Rational soul - Peace between body and soul - God ad man - Man and man - Home Human nature craves joy and peace, even in the worst circumstances Augustine: even in the case of worse circumstances, men in war, they want peace. Men at war think conqueing other places will create a new order and provide peace Men whogo inot the woods are looking for joy and peace. Not only humans, but animals and beasts want peace and joy..That peace and joy can be disrupted Augustine theory: everything that is alive craves joy and peace, but something disrupts that. Augustine believes there is 2 principles, good and evil. He invented the concept of original sin (something we have in ourselves, an unconscious inclination to do evil. This destroys order. Augustine wants to know Chapter 13: efining peace. Peace is when you find your - In its final sense peace is the calm that comes with order. Moment of serenity that comes from doing what you are supposed to. - The body: the peace for the body lies in the ordered equilibrium of all its parts  - irrational part of soul: peace lies in the balanced adjustment of its appetite - Rational soul: lies in the harmonium correspondence of conduct and conviction (what you think and what you do, you have peace when you obey) - Between body and soul:lies in the well ordered life and health of the living whole - Between mortal man and his maker:consists in ordered obedience guided by fait under god’s etrnal law - Man and man: lies in a regulated fellowship, follow rules between 2 people - Home: lies in the ordered harmoney of authority and obedience between the members of the family - Political community: is an ordered harmony of authority and obedience between citizens - The heavenly city: lies in a perfectly ordered and harmonious communion of those who find their joy in god and in one another in god - Go is the ultimate element that can provide peace to a human being in an organized community Mideivil society based on hierarchy and order Wants to find a new sicily wih=thout god that can be organized and find peace, one that replaces rome Chapter 14: a person finds peace through obedience to god. Chapyer 17; there i only one god who muct be worshipped Chapter 18: the city of godis based on faith Chapter 19:the city of god accepts different cultures Chapter 20: the man who pursues eternal life is happy. Happiness can only be found with good, not in this life, after you die amd face god Peace in eternal life (after death). Forget about finding happiness in this world, but instead pursue peace and order Chapter 22: god is the god of the old and new testament You can’t build an ordered society with more than one god. If u want a strong society that provides peace, buid it upon the idea of order and you will find peace. Confessions: the story of a pagan who becomes christian, disorder to order. Journey from earthly to city of god Confessions book I II III 10/25/24 - Book I the infant has infantile desire which shows original sin - Questions how one can see god without knowing who he is or what to lok for, says god will show himself. God is in everything - BookII adolescence: lustful actions, the action is a sin while the desire is a gft from god. Pear theft, stole them for no reason because of original sin - Cook III: hangs with devil like people. Cicero’s hortensius showed him philosophy and religion  - Manicheans religious group: followed them. Has critisisms of them. - What Motivations for sin do people have In class - Born in north africa which was part of roman empire - Father is pagan and mother is christian, but augustine was raised pagan (believed in the gods of rome - Earthly city is being pagan, augustine converts to city of god and is christian - Heresy: - Donatism - obsession with purity, are we pure enough - Arianism - belief that christ is notgod, - Carthage city, important city in roman empire. Augustine goes there Book I: birth to 5 years ol - Realism as augustine talks about his life is important. He reveals everything about himself, not afraid to talk bout it. - Faith: - How can you seek god without yet knowing what he is? Asking this question as a pagan Incarnation and desire: God seems to be immenents and transcendent at the same time. He is in me in the form of desire. This is because you want something without knowing what it is. - Questions what is before birth - Expresses disappointment with teachers - Focus on form more than content. - Teacher did not teach interesting things, only about how to do certain things - Focus on fiction over virtue. Nothing to relate to emotionally, that he could use to change his life Book II age 15-16 - Lust - “I ran wild in the jungle of erotic adventures and became putrid in god’s sight” he has sex with everybody - Generates a constant sense of disorder in his life. His desire and sexual desires are so powerful that they elmiinate any possibility of order. Disorder and lust and bad teachers are in the earthly city - Stealing pears incident - Desire to do something bad is original sin, form the earthly city. He doesn’t steal them because he is hungry, but only for the joy and thrill of stealing. Desire to doevil - If one of the big mysteries is looking for god even tho you don’t know he exists, the second mystery is original sin Book III age 16-20 moves t carthage - Even more sinfl because a big city has access to everything - Turned entirely towards transient diversions - Attends public spectacles - Read tragedies just to feel sad  - All these diversions move your focus and orientation away from what you are supposed to do, causes disorder - Baby is born - Disorder behavior motivated by pure desire - Ciceros “on philosophy” makes him think that there is something else in life esides the diversions and disorder. Book is a wake up call to show and teach hi about virtue - Becomes a manchee. Manicheism from iran. A religion as important as christianity during that time, as many manchees as christians in rome. Difference is that the empire took christians as the official religion. Manicheism is a philosophical religion. - Tenets of manicheism: - Dualistic cosmology. good/bad, light/dark - God is not unlimited, god is being and therefore limited. The limits of god are the limis of evil. If god is good he cannot be evil - God is not all-powerful, god is in a constant fight against evil - Rejection of genesis and much of the old testament Confessions IV V VI 10/28/2024 Book 4 - age 20-27 - Augustine is teaching rhetoric - First bomb: friend Nebidius dies - Augustine thinks about the transcendence of life - Thinks about the emptiness of the earthly city - Misery: “in this things there is no rest” (no rest means there is no peace when someone dies) - Only god is permenant. Earthly city is in turmoil, but god is permenantly peaceful - God is a place of undisturbed quietness” - God is the ground og esistence - He wrote a book “the beautiful and the fitting” - Thesis 1: there is an evil substance - Thesis 2: the good is pure mind - Good principle is the mind, - Agustine reads Aristotle’s ‘categories’ - He discovers that god has no categories. Aristotle’s system is only applicable to this world. Book 5 - age 27-30 carthage, rome and milan - Meeting with faustus, manichean bishop (highest echelon of society - Is disappointed with conversation, was expecting more. Faustus is saying a whole lot of nothing - Augustine goes to rome, - Becomes attracted to neo-platonism. - Keeps teaching rhetoric  - Augustine has a faith crisis: philosophy is challenging him making him wonder if manicheism is enough - Augustine goes to milan and meets the top bishop of christianity ambrose - He discovers that ambrose interpreted the old tstiment figuratively (not literally). This is new for augustine, it is liberating for him because you can read it and interpret it without worrying about literal interpretation. It makes more sense to approach the bible allegorically and not literally - Augustine converts to a catacumen (someone in the process of getting baptised) Book 6 age 30-32 in milan - Mom arrives to milan and she is also christian and pushing him to be good - Auguatine makes another baby - He wonders why he can’t be happy and content with lifelike the beggar - Concludes that he seems happier because he is empty - He is still teaching rhetoric but he doesn’t like it because of the students - Abstinence: - Augustine’s friend alypius is abstinent How do you live in a world that is fast, a culture where everything is fast Book VII age 31 Milan Converts from pagan to manichaeism, converts to neoplatonism - Trouble with platonism: - God is a spiritual substance, something that is not material and does notexist in space - He is more affected by christianity and belieevs in the reincarnation of principle, that it makes more sense than platonism which is antireincarnism - Platonism does not praise god - Thinks platonism is tainted by polytheistic tendencies - Vision of god anf light - Light is the supreme being, as mind, is at the top of the tower, god is the light tat enlightens everything else. God gives purpose to everything that is created - “God is at the pinnacle of the scale of beings” - Everything is interconnected because it hs being and matter, god is the ultimate source of being. God has incarnated in all beings, humans are connected with god. Platonism says god and people are separate (transcendent world vs copy) - Representation of the scale of being is a tower - Evil: the absence of good, not a thing - “For god evil does not exist at all - Everything is connevted to god therefore nothing is evil. All of nature therefore is good since the creater of nature is good. The good in created tings can be diminished. For good to be diminished is evil. The good of something cannot be completely destroyed as long as it xists. This is why everyone can be redeemed, you are not bad when you kill someone, you are just not good. You can change  - Evil is unsubstantial and a privation or corruption of goodness: enchiridion Book VIII milan age 31 - “My desire was not to be more certain of you but to be more stable in you” - Struggling with his two wills - Old will-carnal - New will - spiritual - Wills are fighting each other - Conversion of his friend victorinus to christianity (spudious) - Serves as a wake up call for augustine, maybe augustine should imitate him - The garden - Should i convert, should i get baptised - Says when he was fighting his two wills to convert or not two, he say two kids singing a song saying “pick up and read” - Augustine starts reading the bible, begins his conversion - Converts: embraces not having sex anymore Book IX age 31, milan rome africa - Confessions meant to show the struggle, showing that it is possible to move from one city to the other - Baptism by ambrose - Has a vision in ostia with his mom: “if the soul were utterly quiescent and unmoving god would speak through himself rather than through any mediation” god would talk to me - If my soul stopped and was not moving from one place to another - Can’t embrace and enjoy time cause it goes by so fast Aquinus was a teacher Aquinas life: adult life always connects with theuniversity He writes with he purpose of teaching a class Aquinus died in 1224, and in 1223 he stopped writing. He says all that i have written feels like straw to him. He realizs that the middle ages has reached its peak. He is the last mideivel philosopher. Write the summa theology Structure of summa theologia - Goal of readings is for a debate to happen in class - Parts 1 two and 3. God goes out (1) and comes back (2,3) - Part 1 divided in 2 - Human acts in general, human acts in particular - Each article is divided into question. Each question divided into articles, usually 8, first 3. All articles start with a yes or no question. The goal is to answer the question with a yes or no. in each article aquinas creates a debate. He starts with an objection (“it seems that”) lists people with authority who seem to object the question. Then he provides his own thesis (“on the contrary”). Based on his thesis he will respond to all the objections. - Be careful not to mix up the others objections with aquinas’ actual views. The great chain of being and the labyrinth connects to the movie greatly.