Philosophy Exam 2

Practical consequences Manichaeism

- Study of medicine is misguided - The worst thing you can do is Procreate! (Trapping more of the divine in evil body) - Death is neat (The good spirit is released from the evil prison of the body. (Sounds a bit like Plato here.))

Aquinas likes secondary causation and will say the whole system is governed by God bc..

In the implication of evolution separate from God he would disagree with the claim that there are separate, with evolution relying on science rather than God's plan

The Best State?

In theory, a monarchy, since decisions can be made more effectively by one person However, problems with monarchy: it's hard to get even one really good ruler, and he's not going to last forever In practice, a mixed constitution with some elements of monarchy, aristocracy, democracy

Can you learn the meaning of words from other words?

Infinite regress. Learn the meaning from having the thing pointed out. Have to have direct access to the thing known.

Thomas Aquinas quick facts

Influence... The Man for the Catholic Church. Recently a resurge of general interest... Philosophy of religion Aristotelian ethics and politics "Virtue" Epistemology

Grace

Introduces one of the great controversies of Augustines later life, his disagreement with the Pelagians Extra help from God in the form of the gift of faith in Christ.

How closely do we want to stick to what Aristotle has to say?

The problem is that Aristotle's god, the Unmoved mover just can't be squared with the God of Islam, Judaism, or Christianity.

According to Augustine the state is NOT ...

a "natural institution" (unlike society and family). Hes thinking of the state as the guys with the swords/guns who are authorized to use force against the rest of us to make us do what the government says we ought to do

Why does God create? How does God create? When does God create?

why? - out of love how? - by thinking (ex. nihilo out of nothing) when? - right now! (God is sustaining everything in being from moment to moment.)

Augustine's Anti-pelagianism

{same two arguments apply to both Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism) - Makes the Christian story nonsense. - Means that the creature can "force God's hand." (infringes on divine sovereignty.) Sovereignty: god having plan for what happens

Directly vs Indirectly

"Directly" means its caused by wicked choices "Indirectly" means it could have been prevented if people had not made wicked choices. (if you have done something you could have prevented)

What is Augustines interpretation on day?

"Seminal Seasons" = that God makes everything all at once in "seedlike" potentialities "in the beginning", and then things unfold slowly over time. (Fits neatly with evolution)

What does the revelation side argue?

"What does athens have to do with jerusalem?" Better to just have faith and not philosophize about it

It's basically the same issue we had with plato. And Augustine agrees that somehow you need to be in contact with the....

"World of the Forms" but it's not Plato's World of the Forms. *Plato's World of the Forms has become ideas in the mind of God.

The First Way

#1: Unmoved mover (It's just the same as Aristotle's proof, so we don't need to go through it.) Are we really proving god? Well, put them all together.

The Second Way

#2: A first cause for the being of things, starting from the premise that "contingent" things exist.

Aristotle's View on Infinite Past

(Aquinas was influenced by Aristotle) Aristotle says...yes, the world is eternal And it has always been going on pretty much the way it's going on now.

Why is there so much moral evil?

(Moving into Christian territory) Original Sin!

Talking about God... Analogically

(This is what Aquinas says) Words don't have the exact same meaning, but meaning is related The horse is healthy (example) - Medicine is healthy - Urine is healthy E- xercise is healthy

Why does Augustine eventually reject Manichaeism?

- It's contradictory. There cannot be two "gods" worthy of the name! - If there are two "gods" neither of them can really be "God." - Each would radically limit the other. Neither could be an appropriate object of worship.

Relationship between God and the Laws of Logic

- Logic is the rules for how to think properly about how reality is - Reality is made by God and is a reflection of the nature of God - So the laws of logic are grounded in the nature of God God is the source of ALL, Nature is source of Law of Logic, God --> Nature --> Logic

Modern Manicheans

- Versions of Manichaeism or similar views seem to have a perennial appeal. - George Lucas (Star Wars) - Cosmic dualism, good and bad, matter bad - Heaven's Gate: strange cult, 90s, - Cult too good for this mundane, physical world, so they released their spirits, so they thought they would hang with aliens who were associated with Hale-Bopp

Why is Aquinas' 5th way is not susceptible to the same criticisms as Intelligent Design?

1. God of the gaps? No, b/c Aquinas is not focusing on some specific phenomenon that science can't explain. He's asking what causes any repetitive behavior (laws) at all 2. Maybe the designer is an alien or a game player? No. Unless the designer is a NB, we have to ask what caused it. So we must posit a NB who is the designer.

Manichaeism: Good vs Evil

1. Good = light and spirit 2. Evil = darkness and matter (including and especially the human body). - Physical world made by the bad god Eternal struggle between the good and bad gods.. These 2 equal powers fight it out for all eternity We people on earth, are the battleground for these farces because were made up of everything

Thomas Aquinas's version says...

1. Gradation in value is an objective fact about the world a. Ex: Mother Teresa is better than Hitler b. Ex: Helping the poor is better than cold blooded murder 2. We could not recognize gradation in value if we were not aware of a standard. a. Surprisingly Platonic here 3. This standard must be the source of value. a. Goodness is an objective quality that things have, some more some less, insofar as they "share in' the nature of the ultimate good 4. Therefore, an absolute standard and cause for value exists - and this all men call God. a. Cause, necessary, ultimate standard and source for goodness sounding more like God

What Thomas Aquinas wouldn't like about ID

1. He really likes secondary causation. He would be put out with the thought that God couldn't make the system to produce what He wants, and so He has to step in and 'tinker" 2. He REALLY likes science. He would not approve of invoking God as an explanation for a natural phenomenon. Not to deny miracles, but they are far and few in between.

The Problem of Evil:

1. If God is the source of all, and He's perfectly good, where does evil come from? Maybe there is no all-good source of all. 2. If God is perfectly good, He'd want to prevent evil. If He is all-powerful, He'd be able to prevent evil. But there is evil. Maybe there is no all-good, all-powerful God.

When Aristotle gets to Europe... what is the mixed reception

1. Latin Averroists - Aristotle is right and Averroes is his commentator 2. Aristotle is bad and shouldn't be taught. End up being minority position. 3. Aquinas adopts a middle ground. He is in many ways an Aristotelian, but he isn't going to just swallow whatever Aristotle says.

Aristotle holds that it is philosophically (scientifically) demonstrable:

1. The nature of the Unmoved Mover: An immutable cause, the Unmoved Mover, must produce an immutable effect. 2. How things come to be: We have cats, and you only get a cat from a previous cat, so there had to be an infinite series of past cats - since nothing comes from nothing. Shows change always involved same elements and processes

Two standard problems on ID

1. The proposed cause need not be God 2. ID (intelligent design) is arguing to a "God of the gaps" but history shows that gaps in our present scientific explanations can be filled by more science

(The Second Way) Proof

1. There is a contingent thing. "C" 2. C cannot cause itself. 3. C must be caused by something already exist. 4. There cannot be an infinite series of contingent causes (infinite mirrors) 5. There must be a first, non-contingent cause.

Fifth Way continued

1. There is universal order (that is, there are ubiquitous laws of nature, repetitious behavior) a. Note that Aquinas is not pointing to some limited phenomenon, so he will not be appealing to any "gaps" in our scientific explanations for things. 2. Objects can't exist without order a. So the repetitious behavior is aimed at some good. Hence we have a Teleological Argument. 3. The order is a contingent phenomenon. (There could have been a different order or no order at all) 4. There must be a cause of the order. (Contingent things require a cause, and the cause must be adequate to produce the effect) 5. Only a rational designer could produce the order. (only mind can connect the repetition with the goal of producing the object) 6. The designer must be a necessary being. (If it wasn't a NB, we would have to ask what brought the designer into being) 7. Therefore there is a transcendent designing, Necessary Being producing all the order. And this all men call God.

First way ((Aristotle's) Proof for the Unmoved Mover

1. Things are in motion (potential to actual) 2. Nothing can cause its own motion 3. Motion must be caused by something already actual (In all cases but one, that will be something already actually in motion, besides unmoved mover) 4. There cannot be an infinite series of moved movers

If Tyranny only if...

1. Things are really so bad as to be worth risking the consequences of instability and possibly war. This includes the thought that there isn't a less risky means of solving the problem 2. You're reasonably sure you can win 3. You're reasonably sure you can replace the tyrant with something better

Three philosophical reasons about God

1. This is what (some of) the proofs prove (Religious Adequacy) 2. If God is the source of all, then he must transcend the limitations of what he had made 3. One God - if there were 2, theyd limit each other, if they have power over each other they are limited, if they dont have power over each other they are limited, therefore only one

What about knowledge we can't point to? What about laws of logic and justice?

2+2=4, laws of logic, justice? Are these necessary truths somehow facts about the physical world available through sense observation? No - they're eternal and immutable.

The Fifth Way

= Argument from Design "Telelogical argument" - design argument Sometimes, you will hear people say that the theory of evolution undermines the argument from design → But that depends on how you're running the argument.

Can we square the necessity of grace with the thought that human free will has some role to play?

A big issue during the Protestant Reformation, and one which is still debated today.

What do you need in order to interpret the bible?

In order to interpret the Bible? You need education & must be working in the Church tradition and the community of the Church

(The Second Way) Contingent things

A contingent thing is sort of thing that might or may not exist and so, if it exists, its existence must be caused. To cause something to exist is different than what a creator may do. (I.e. conception versus creating the materials to make human reproduction itself) (Note that causing the existence ex nihilo of something is very different from just rearranging what's already given in the universe.)

The Third Way

A different way of showing that there is a necessary being. too complicated, so we're skipping it. Just know what it's trying to prove in a different way; the existence of a necessary being.

When we apply modus tollens to fourth way, we get...

A little Logic Modus tollens: a implies b, not b implies not a. (a → b) → (-b → -a)

Natural "Evil"

A lot of what might prima facie (first impression) look to be natural evil is actually moral evil, either directly or indirectly.

Augustine will insist that Grace is..

Absolutely necessary Completely unmerited (Pretty much all educated and traditional Christians, Catholic and Protestant, will say this.) And (Augustine will add) irresistible.

Q: Aquinas holds that our language applies to God...

Analogically

"There's a bunch of anaticulae outside" ducklings..

Anaticulae = ducklings (Latin for duckling and term of endearment apparently) T or F? You can say you see something, but the real knowledge is by understanding what the word means. So if you didn't know what anaticulae was, you wouldn't know that it meant ducklings

Q: Disagreeing with Augustine's theory of evil, Aquinas says that evil in itself...

Aquinas agrees with Augustine that evil in itself is a lack or privation of some good

Epistemology - Aquinas

Aquinas is an Empiricist (like Aristotle) → All natural knowledge starts with the senses.

Original Sin

At the dawn of human history people made the choice to turn away from God. The result is a terrible order, man against God, man against man... Soul loses control over body. It's not that the body is intrinsically bad, the problem lies in the soul.

Q: Aquinas often quotes or refers to...

Augustine

Is Augustine more Platonist or Aristotelian?

Augustine more Platonist and Aquinas more Aristotelian

Happiness to Aquinas

Based on human nature as we observe it in the world, hence natural law. Ethics = guide for flourishing as the kind of thing we are, like Aristotle said.

Mohammed

Biography is debated but apparently he said that God told him to put the world under the dominion of Islam If people convert peacefully, well and good. If they don't want to, then he attacks and conquers them. Within 3 centuries Islamic armies conquered a lot of the Meditteranean, and then discover the works of Aristotle. They then translate and discuss it

What is it to choose evil?

Can you choose evil per se (in itself)? - No. Evil per se is just nothing. But you can choose the lesser and lower, the corrupt or perverse or destructive.

Having abandoned Manichaeism, after a short stint as a skeptic, Augustine returns to the religion of his youth....

Christianity The Christian take is that God is the creator of ALL, and he made all things very Good Nothing intrinsically bad about matter. Matter and the body are made by God and are good.

Human Law

Comes from Natural law Human Law is how the basic principles of Natural Law get applied in a particular society. This is a job that human beings do. It's the laws actually promulgated - on the books - in a given society.

Can natural law be changed even by God?

Could God just decide to reverse the ten commandments? No...and yes. → depending on what you mean by "changed"

Talking about God... Relatedness

Creature to Creator Finite to infinite Effect to cause Possessing property to being property - (E.g. having goodness as opposed to being Goodness Itself.)

(First way) Why no infinite series?

Didn't we say you have an infinite number of ancestors? But we're not talking about a temporal causal chain. (Your parents are not the cause of you moving to actualize your potential.) We're talking about a "chain" of a certain kind of causal dependence. So consider the "mirror analogy"

Q: Augustine holds that we can know for certain that 2+2=4 through

Divine illumination

Talking about God... Univocally?

Do our words have the same meaning when they apply to God as they do when they apply to creatures? Ex: God is good, Indi is Good → means the same thing NO: too limiting to God. Implies that He is just like us.

If god is the source of all, and hes omnipotent and perfectly good and hes paying attention... isnt there a big problem squaring these claims with the universe as we find it?

EVIL

"Social disease" passed down the generations

Empirically provable? (everyone has done wrong) A pessimistic view? (Not pessimistic about human nature, just thinks current state has room for improvement)

Proving God: The Five Ways

Empiricism at work: every proof starts with a claim which Thomas gives by observation NONE of the proofs begins with OR CONCLUDES TO the claim that there must have been a first day

Talking about God and the problem

Empiricist epistemology entails that we get our concepts from creatures in the world God transcends this world. Ex: he is infinite while creatures are finite. How do our terms apply to God?

Ethics: Eternal vs Natural Law

Eternal Law: God governs everything Natural Law: Subset of eternal law. Rules and principles which guide human behavior towards its proper earthly goal, which is happiness

Example on Unnatural Law

Ex: Passionate gardner, someday thought dirt looks good and starts Eating dirt, and Aquinas says Rogers dont eat dirt, but Thomas I think it will be good/make me happy. The worm eats it so it might be okay for me.. Just good ole dirt Aquinas says you're wrong. Its not. It's unnatural.

Example of Intelligent design

Ex: irreducibly complex systems. Complex means they are all composed of a number of parts all working together so that the whole functions as a survival mechanism "Irreducibly" means that all the parts have to be there in order for the system to work Example: the ear → helps you to survive, in order for you to hear, all the different parts need to work together

Natural Institution

Follows Aristotle We're naturally social and need a group within the society whose job is to see that things work harmoniously. We'd live within a state even had there been no original fall Justification for authority of the state is that it helps us flourish.

All kinds of important consequences for moral teaching.

For example: Sexual morality - What someone does to your body is done to YOU. Abortion - YOU come into being when your living body comes into being which modern biology teaches is at conception.

Human Law Ex

For example; speed limit laws. How do speed limit laws come from the Natural Law? Do laws in every society have to be the same? Human laws can differ from society to society based on objective differences in situation, or arbitrary choice when some order is needed

Key difference between Augustine and Aquinas

For the former you can't get the answers to any of the big questions right without bringing in God Aquinas is committed to the idea that God is behind it, but for the latter you can't get a complete answer but you can get it right as far as it goes. So with Aquinas you can find a sort of "humanism" and naturalism you don't have with Augustine

Where does MORAL evil come from?

Free Will

Divine Illumination

God "shines" these truths into our minds when we're ready. (We don't have to do the pre-existing thing in the World of the Forms like we did for Plato) We need the cognitive framework of necessary truths to make sense of anything. If it's a tree it's not a cow. If it's one tree, it's not 18 trees. He has a claim that our ability to access necessary proves an existence of God

Laws of Logic

God is not bound by the laws of logic.. Law of non-contradiction - Cannot say anything meaningful about God (you cant have A and not -A in the same way at the same time) - God cant conform to laws of logic because he would be limited to them - God cant invent invent laws of logic bc if he invented them, logic would be arbitrary which is unthinkable.

God and the laws of morality (The Euthyphro dilemma)

God is perfect Goodness, and all value is a reflection of his nature

What does it mean when God is omniscient?

God knows past present and future which makes him Eternal! Everlasting - God has always existed and will always exist. Atemporal (really eternal!) God is "outside" of time. All times, what we call past, present, and future, are just "there" for God.

The "free will defense" How can we reconcile the existence of a good, omnipotent God with the existence of moral evil?

God must permit the possibility of moral evil if He is to allow us to be the metaphysically splendid things we are - free creatures. God must permit moral evil in order for people to be able to choose between good or evil 1. We are a better kind of creature if we can do this 2. We cant be happy without being good and we cant be good without FREELY choosing to be good

How is God personal?

God's a person, I.e. a thinking mind, and an agent who chooses. He is providential. He takes an interest in and has a plan for each of us.

Cure to Original Sin

Grace

Semi-Pelagianism

Grace is necessary, but you can be good enough on your own to deserve it.

Pelagians

Grace is not necessary for salvation. If you try really hard you can be good enough on your own to merit heaven.

God is NOT a contingent being, what is a contingent being?

Happen to exist Might fail to exist Can be convinced of as not existing Need a Cause

Skeptisicm

He asks "Can I doubt everything? That is, is it possible that I am mistaken in everything I believe?" You cant doubt that you know something Anti-skeptical argument, Si fallor, sum: I just can't doubt everything. "Even if I am mistaken, I exist". Hard to be a practicing skeptic

A NB is being for whom...

His essence is His existence (He is simply a pure act of being) IF WHICH IS IMPOSSIBLE, there was two, they would be exactly the same in all aspects. But then they would be the same thing - so there can only be one

Augustine's views on grace seem to undermine the importance of:

Human Freedom Freedom: Debate between Augustine and the Pelagians introduce a problem to western thought.

Why is God necessary?

IT is Gods very nature to exist. His existence is His essence

Tyranny

If government is ruling for its own benefit and not the good of the people, it's a tyranny and not a legitimate government at all. Citizens have a right to throw or escort the bastards out, assuming three criteria can be met

Modern version says...

If there is no God, then there are no objective moral values. Or, to put it another way, no law giver > no law

What does the modern verion say about no god?

If there is no God, there are no objective moral values. If there ARE objective moral values, then there is a God. Law → law giver (Which is a subset of what Aquinas said.)

What does only one god mean?

Immutable (unchaning) - cant get better or worse - no lateral; change, since all the properties God has are "great-making" properties to the nth degree so any "change" would be for the worse Omnipotent - ability to do anything logically possible for a perfect and unlimited being to do

Talking about God... Equivocally?

Is the meaning entirely different when it applies to God than when applied to a creature? Ex: Indi is Good and the term Good is looking at creatures in the world and applying that to God but meaning has nothing to do with creatures in the world NO: then we couldn't say anything meaningful about God at all. So this won't work for Jews/Christians/Muslims

Proving God: Background

Is the world eternal/everlasting? Aquinas- If the world had a beginning, then obviously there is a God, nothing comes from nothing Need to appreciate Aquinas' answer in order to understand the five ways Good example of how Aquinas approaches apparent conflicts of faith and reason (revelation and science)

why can a moved mover can be thought of as a "motion mirror"?

It can pass the motion (change) along, once it's got it. But a series of moved movers, even an infinite series, cannot explain where the motion comes from. You need a source of motion.

Q: On the question of the infinity of the past, Aquinas holds that:

It can't be proven either way

Augustine's view on death after Manichaeism?

It's a bad thing. It rips apart what ought to be joined together.

"Unnatural"

It's not... - Nobody wants to do it - Lower animals don't do it - It's artificial or man made But rather it's the sort of thing that will interfere with you becoming a healthy, happy human being

According to Augustine... System of government is not important, just so long as the government... (according to Augustine)....

Keeps order so you can meet your material needs Doesn't force you to deny your religion. He is thinking of the persecutions within living memory.

Most important Jewish philosopher

Maimonides

For years, Augustine subscribed to a religious (and philosophical) system called...

Manichaeism which claimed to answer the problem of evil but.. Manichaeism.. - Is not a good answer philosophically - Would have had desire consequences for western civilization if it had been widely accepted - Keeps cropping up in intellectual history - And Manichaeism runs moral and natural evil together

Q: The Manicheans associated evil with

Matter

St. Augustine on Moral Evil

Moral = Wicked choices and the harm resulting from wicked choices Ex of not moral: doctor doing painful surgery to you is not moral evil (he made you suffer and you chose it but nothing evil is here) Ex of moral: you viciously decide to shoot your friend for no good reason but you get hit by a truck for no good reason

What does St. Augustine address and who is he?

Most important Christian Philosopher Addresses all sorts of crucial questions including and especially the problem of EVIL

What about purely natural evil?

Mr bunny being killed and eaten by Mr Fox? (or pick any example from the rich pageant of killing and eating which constitutes the evolutionary history of the planet?) → A "good god" wouldn't allow suffering of poor Mr. bunny

Did middle age folks interpret the Bible the way modern fundamentalists do?

NO In the Middle ages they rejected fundamentalism, following Augustine's lead...and he was working within an established tradition.

Wouldn't it have been better if God has made us so we'd just always do the right thing and couldn't do evil?

NO! Then we would be automata...little robots. Instead we are these incredibly cool things that can be good voluntarily

St. Augustine on Natural Evil

Natural = Harm (pain and suffering) which is not moral evil, results from natural phenomena Ex: Hurricane

Is it a scientific claim? (the suppose)

No Questions about what needs explaining and what sort of explanations are adequate are philosophical, not scientific, questions Aquinas would reject the suggestion that science and religion conflict somehow. Atheism and theism are competing world views, and it's up to philosophy to deal with them.

Can natural law be changed even by God? No reasons

No because even God cannot "subtract from" the natural law. Subtract from meaning to undo it somehow. Even God cannot make what's wrong right, and what's right wrong. Because that follows from human nature. So no reversing the ten commandments In terms of earthly happiness, reason alone, observing human nature, can recognize the correct principles. We can answer the question, "what ought I to do?" without bringing God into the picture or appealing to specifically theological points.

Can we achieve Utopia?

No because everyone is infected with original sin. Can't be trusted

Would Aquinas insist that there is a contradiction between belief in evolution of species and belief in God?

No → Aquinas really likes secondary causation. He'd just say the whole system is governed by God. We can explain everything that needs explaining without God. Certainly Aquinas would disagree with that claim

Does God conform to an external order of morality or value? Does God invent morality or value? (Divine Command Theory)

No! If He conformed to them, then He'd be limited by them. If He invented them, morality would be arbitrary, which is almost unthinkable. He would transcend them and "good" would mean only "what God says", I.e. it would be an empty term.

Can God sin?

No! God is perfectly, necessarily, GOOD! God. cant do anything for which being limited is essential

If everything is immediately caused by God, does this mean that the kinds of causes that science talks about are really just an illusion?

No! Science works. Causations: Primary Causation: God's keeping everything in being. Secondary Causation: Created objects exercising their casual powers. God really likes secondary causation because things are cooler if they can exercise casual powers → wants to create a good world

Sometimes people get confused and think that it's okay to say (A → B) → (~A → ~B). Is that okay?

No, no, no! That's a logical fallacy. So it's quite correct to say that IF no God entails no objective value, then objective value entails God.

Would it be better if there just weren't any predators? (including better for mr bunny?)

No, there is a balance in nature in such that if you take out a piece of the system it won't work. It's better for the bunny to exist in fear of prey by the fox, rather than not at all.

What is, is Good?!

Not necessarily morally good, but "metaphysically" or "ontologically" good. I.e. good just in virtue of its being

Q: Augustine's "privative" theory of evil says that evil in itself is...

Nothing -- a lack or absence or perversion of the good

Why does God really like secondary causation?

Objects are just better sorts of things if they have causal powers. So we need a system of cause and effect.

Can you overthrow tyranny?

Only in limited circumstances would it be legitimate to overthrow the tyrant. He allows the possibility is an interesting point.

What justifies the authority of the state?

Original Sin! The state is necessary to keep order . If there hadn't been sin, we wouldn't need a state.

Divine Law

Our eternal destiny transcends happiness here and now - Need principles to guide us beyond our natural life here and now - These principles are not discernible through natural reason alone. They come from God through revelation. For example: faith, hope, and charity

Ex of Natural Evil

Pain and suffering caused by tornado

What is God?

Perfect and unlimited

What if instead of being vile from the dawn of human history, people had been nice?

Perhaps technology and science would be advanced, and we can suppose there would be far less pain and suffering in the world. So perhaps there is not as much natural evil as one might have thought originally.

If Manichaeism not from a bad "god", where does evil come from?

Private Theory of Evil: Evil is not a "thing" at all. It has no ontological status. It is just the lack or corruption or perversion of some good that ought to be there. Evil is not a thing, its a corruption

What does rational mind do in Aquinas thinking?

Rational mind abstracts the universal from the sense data it gets from the individual. Abstraction: picking out the essential from the inessential. Even truths of math and logic can be abstracted. God designed the cognitive system, but unlike w/ Augustne's illumination theory, you can discuss human knowledge successfully without bringing god into the picture.

Natural law: what are we?

Rational, social animals. So we have innate desires for - Self preservation - Procreation - Society (it's not selfish) - Knowledge Universal in the general principles since we're all human

St Augustine's on Medieval Phil --> Ex: How do you know that your parents are your parents?

Realizes what you believe, you believe based on testimony of others Accepting things on "faith" does mean that you run an epistemic risk of being mistaken

Aquinas Faith and Reason

Reason (philosophy, science) alone can get you really far, but we need revelation (bible, teaching of the church) from God because: - Not everybody has the time or the talent to do philosophy - There are important truths, necessary for salvation, which you can't get from reason alone. (trinity, incarnation) - But note that reason and revelation will never genuinely conflict. Truth is truth.

Aquinas' Ethics

Rooted in Aristotle Enormous influence on Catholic church Influence on ethics and politics in general

A separation of Church and state because (according to Augustine)...

Separate because each has their own legitimate job to do. Church is more important, but each should largely stay out of the other's business. Not to say that christians shouldnt be in gov!

Thomas Aquinas says... (on bad laws)

Sometimes you must disobey the bad law, as when it commands you to do something you believe to be directly against God However...most of the time even a bad law should be obeyed in the interests of social order

Augustine's Soul/Body Dualism

Soul is the more important part of you and is what does the thinking and guiding.. however, You are a UNITY of soul and body together (Augustine is NOT a platonic dualist)

Mirror Analogy

Suppose you wonder where a light in the sky comes from, and I tell you that is has been reflected off a mirror. Do you know where the light came from? Suppose that mirror is reflecting another mirror? Now do you know where the light came from? Suppose there's an infinite series of mirrors...will that give you light? An infinite series doesn't provide an explanation You need a source You need something that can generate light without having first received it.

Medieval Philosophy

Synthesis of greek Philosophy and Revelation Attempt to synthesize ancient philosophy Believing thing on faith is irrational

Would it be better if foxes were vegetarians?

That is just incoherent. Foxes have a certain nature. Something that's vegetarian isn't a fox.

Is suffering necessary?

The actual universe - with its causal system and the creatures which depend upon the causal system - is a very good thing, and the suffering is an intrinsic and necessary part. Pain has a role to play. (helps protect you for example)

The Fourth Way

The argument from gradation Two Versions: 1. Thomas Aquinas's 2. Modern version:

A word on ethics (according to Augustine)

The goal is happiness Big happiness! The key is order. The most important thing is God

Q: Augustine and Aquinas hold that the relationship between God and the laws of logic is...

The laws reflect Gods nature

What do Augustine and Aquinas both hold?

The tenets of the Christian faith and what reason can prove must be in harmony... If they seem to conflict youve misunderstood the teaching of Christian doctrine or youve made a mistake about what reason proves

Augustine's view on the after life after Manichaeism?

The traditional Christian doctrine is that your body is resurrected. It might be more different from your present body than your present body is from when you were a zygote, but it is your body.

Politics (Aquinas)

Theocracy? Divine right of kings? NO Augustine had taken a very dim view on the state. Its job is to use force against people to keep them in line, and it's necessary because of original sin. If there had been no original fall, there would be no need for government, so the state is NOT a natural institution.

Augustine's Political Views

Theocracy? The Churchmen should govern the state? (Divine Right of Kings? The king is God's spokesman and whatever he says is just right?) NO!

Note underlying assumptions (foundational for U.S. society)...

There is a moral order above the rule of the state. It is NOT the state that gives you your moral status. Moral status, inherent value, in virtue of being human, is not given by artificial things

Non-contingent = necessary

There's a first necessary being. NOT first in time, first in order for dependence. You can have an infinite temporal series of contingent things but you need a first, a source There can only be one necessary being

Bible and Christian Church say NO (to infinite past)! since...

Theres a first day! Genesis: there's a first day. More importantly, the God of Jews, Christians, and Muslims has to ACT in the world! There are major historical events which change things forever. So it can't be the case that things have always been going on as they go on now. So problematic for Jew/Christian/Muslim to believe infinite past exists as Aristotle says it does

All sorts of good things, but...

They can all be lost against your will Not the sort of things that give meaning to the whole of life Again, the key is order → Keep God at the top. (Doesn't mean we all have to be theologians.)

Moral evil and natural evil belong to the same species. Why do things suffer and fall apart and die?

They're made of nasty matter

Thomas Aquinas background

Thomas is influenced by Augustine, but also by Aristotle.

Intelligent Design (contemporary)

Thomas's Fifth Way is NOT a version of today's Intelligent Design arguments Given the entities and principles proposed by the science of our day, there is some specific phenomenon, X, that cannot be explained by science. X is better explained by positing a divine designer. Therefore there is a God.

Revelation

Through the Bible and the teachings of the Church God tells us things that we might not -- or in some cases absolutely could not -- be able to learn on our own just by looking at and thinking about the world.

Q: According to Augustine, human happiness is...

To be found only in God

There is something deeply disordered about the institution of the state...

We are all basically equal. So why should some get to use deadly force against others?

Human Dignity

We are all immensely valuable just in virtue of being human, And we are all EQUALLY valuable just in virtue of being human. Even women and children! idea EVERYONE is equal... This is a thought popularized on the planet by Christianity, and defended against the opponents by St. Augustine.

Augustine's Epistemology

We don't learn from words. (Gorgias - said we couldn't communicate) → Words are symbols and so they do not contain meaning that is intended to be conveyed

Why do people do evil?

We're dragged down by the evil body

Bad Laws

When a law on the books does not derive from the Natural Law then it is not 'binding in conscience.' Not intrinsically to be obeyed.

Augustine's thoughts on the book of Genisis

When we say day, we usually mean time from sunrise to sunrise (24 hr), or sunrise to sunset.... He says we know that cant be what Genesis means by day because... the sun comes into existence on the 4th day so days cant mean those periods marked off by the sun So "day" must mean something else

Can natural law be changed even by God? Yes reasons

Yes because the Natural Law must be "added to" in two ways, through Divine Law and Human Law

Are there differences in regarding ethics, politics, and epistemology from Aquinas view?

Yes, Some of the difference is due to the fact that Aquinas is an Aristoelian (why is he so much more influenced than Augustine?) Latin speaking Christians, including western Europe Christians, in the earlier part of the Middle Ages did not have access to any but a few of Aristotle's works.

What does the Medieval guy say about God?

You are commanded to love God and you cannot love what you do not know &Faith without philosophy can be weakened in the face of intellectual challenge E.g. conflict between what science teaches and what faith teached

Aquinas says...(to infinite past)

You can't prove it [past] either way [finite or infinite] through reason. In terms of personal belief, [again following Maimonides] it is reasonable to accept revelation But when doing philosophy we have to leave it an open question.

Why is it logically impossible for God to make us good?

You cant be good unless you choose to be good and you cant choose to be good unless there is a choice

The Great Chain of Being:

a system in which species were positioned in a system of hierarchy of complexity or "perfection" what our universe is, the plant is better although grain of sand is good, the plant exists and has life, and the animal is better bc exists lives and can feel pleasure and pain, human being even better, and angel even better than that.. Not everything is the same order of goodness, but everything is good

Evolution as we can understand it can't explain the irreducibly complex system, since, ...

according to its theory, changes occur incrementally, but the first incremens of the complex system would have no survival rate and hence wouldn't be passed on. Better to posit an intelligent designer

God is a creator who...

actually brings things into being... unlike human "creators" who just rearrange whats already there in the universe Brings things into being, not like the Unmoved Mover, which is just the explanation for the motion of the universe

When doing philosophy, Aquinas says we must leave infinite past...

an open question None of the Five Ways depends on, or concludes to, there being a temporal beginning to the world. None of the five ways proves everything we might want to say about God, each proves some aspect of God. Put them all together to get a God-like being Put them all together and you get a very god-like being.

In order for us to be really good we need to..

choose to be good, it would not have been better if we just choose the good automatically it would be god choosing and we would just be like puppets

Aquinas holds that Ultimate happiness means...

everlasting happiness in the presence of God, and that requires more than the principles of Natural Law.

Free Will

evil is nothing but people make bad choices

If you doubt that church and state are separate in medieval Europe...

have a look at medieval history. Many of the more exciting events are driven by the struggle between Church and State.

The good of our being free creatures is worth the price....

in moral evil

Q: According to Aquinas a behavior is "unnatural" if it

is not conducive to human flourishing.

Averroes (Ibn Rushd)

islamic philospher Aristotle got it all right But what if Aristotle and the more apparent meaning of the Koran seem to conflict? You reinterpret the Koran so it fits with Aristotle Puts philosophy in a bad odor among the muslims. There are a lot of reasons for the collapse of Islamic philosophy but Averroes didn't help!

The bible is all true, however, ...

it does not mean that we can take it in its prima facie ("at first glance") sense Ex: 7 year old, reading a physics text book, might think there must be worms in space (cosmetologist's fault, not the 7 year old's)

Ex of direct moral evil

lung cancer caused by smoking (Augustine will hold that deliberately doing something that you know is bad for your health is wrong.) or binge drinking

Augustines political view on theocracy and divine right of kings

neither in theory or in practice.. In Middle Ages, In europe (with the possible exception of the Papal States) no theocracy in theory or in practice! A surprising number of democratic institutions

One consequence of this view of Bad Laws is ...

our tradition of civil disobedience. You peacefully refuse to go along with a bad law and take the punishment. You respect the law per se, but you believe this particular law is bad.

Medieval thought the claims on religion can be....

philosophically and rationally proven

In Medieval Philosophy.. Many truths "of faith" can be...

proved by reason for those who have the time and the talent. E.g. There is a God - Many of the most important and practical beliefs are held in faith. (Testimony of others - didn't witness it yourself). It would be irrational to abandon them

Q: Thomas Aquinas holds our natural knowledge begins with:

sense observations

A guiding principle of our medieval guys

teachings of science and philosophy can deliver truth - important to interpret the Bible

Did the good or the bad god make the physical world?

the BAD god The Good spirit trapped in evil body

Q: When faith and reason apparently conflict, Augustine and Aquinas say

the conlfict is only apparent

Augustine and Aquinas are working within...

the framework of biblical teaching - Fundamentalism is a child of the Protestant Reformation

What does Aquinas agree with?

the portrait of God that we painted, and he agrees with the critique of Manichaeism, and Augustine's privative theory of evil.

Definition of Manichaeism

there's the Good Christian God, but also an equal and opposite evil god "Cosmic dualism" the good god versus Manichaeism

When the muslins attack and occupy the Christian territories of the Middle East they discover ..

these works of Aristotle.... When Aristotle's work gets to Western Europe he's accompanied by numerous commentaries, and his work is heavily debated as it has been for centuries by Islamic philosophers

What is Knowledge as opposed to mere belief?

true belief gained through direct access to the object of knowledge. Augustine gives more credit to the senses than Plato did. Natural kinds, like "catness" can be gotten from observation of the individuals, like the cats.

To be good voluntarily means...

we have to be able to choose between good and evil. And sometimes we choose evil.

In order to be truly happy....

we have to choose good, but choosing means options - good or bad

What does St. Augustine argue?

while its bad to hold a belief thats false, its also bad to fail to hold a belief thats true its rational to accept some things on faith (principles to help sort out what to accept and reject)