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HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY. PART – II : MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY. First Semester June – October 2012. 2. Medieval Philosophy. 2.0.1. INTRODUCTION 2.0.1.1. “Medieval”
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HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY PART – II : MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY First Semester June – October 2012
2. Medieval Philosophy • 2.0.1. INTRODUCTION • 2.0.1.1. “Medieval” • The word “medieval” or “Middle Period” indicates that the time in question has traditionally been viewed in a prejudiced, disparaging light. • It was viewed as mere period of transition, coming in between two great flowerings of Western Culture. • Nothing really “happened” in Europe, humanly speaking, between Plotinus and Renaissance (Modern Period). • Thus many manuals of Philosophy would do a neat jump from Neo-Platonism to Descartes.
Medieval Philosophy • INTRODUCTION • “Medieval” • “The human kind intellectual slavery of the Domination of the Church and repeat whatever the Roman Curia was dictating” - Men like Francis Beacon and Rene Descartes have done a lot to propagate such a view. • It is in recent years the Philosophy of the Middle ages viewed with a new respect. • Indeed, Bacon, Descartes are far more dependent on medieval thinkers and medieval thought than they have cared to admit.
Medieval Philosophy • INTRODUCTION • 2.0.1.2. Philosophy • Though granted medieval philosophy is richer, it still remains true that the vast majority of medieval philosophers were priests and theologians (and many are canonised saints!), pursuing philosophic studies in the spirit of a theologian or even an apologist. • Wouldn’t “theology”, then, be a better name for what they wrote? • This question can be put in another way: can one legitimately speak of a “Christian Philosophy”?
Medieval Philosophy • INTRODUCTION • Philosophy • If one’s faith were to enter into the working out of one’s thought, then we should cease to speak of philosophy. • For philosophy should go by reason and not revelation- the latter is the prerogative of theology. • And, if Christian philosophy is nothing more than philosophy made by Christians, then we should speak of a Christian Mathematics and Christian Chemistry…
Medieval Philosophy • INTRODUCTION • Philosophy • It was in this sense that Jacques Maritain would defend the right of Christian Philosophy to be called a true philosophy. • As he said, faith is only an extrinsic criterion for the Christian philosopher. • He does not positively (intrinsically) use it to work out his system. • But he must check his conclusions each time, to see if they happen to contradict any teaching of the Church. • Should they do, he must consider himself mistaken and go back over his arguments. • It is not the case in Maths or Chemistry…
Medieval Philosophy • INTRODUCTION • Philosophy • Therefore, acc to Maurice Blondel, an authentic Christian philosophy is only one: • which recognised the limits of human reason, • was aware of its own insufficiency in facing the mysteries of life and was therefore in some way open to revelation • and even, in a vague way, appealed to it or, at least, expressed a need for it. • The sense of mysteryacc to Gabriel Marcel is a necessary condition for any system of thought to be qualified as Christian.
Medieval Philosophy • INTRODUCTION • 2.0.1.3. The Merit of Medieval Philosophy • Apart from its own intrinsic richness and variety, the thought of Augustine and Thomas, Scotus and Occam and many others has a special lesson for us future priests of India in this latter part of the 20th century. • They achieved a wonderful “inculturation”. • They found a pastoral and meaningful (for their times) way of expressing the Christian message in the culture and the philosophy of their times.
Medieval Philosophy • INTRODUCTION • The Merit of Medieval Philosophy • They made use of • neo-Platonism or Aristotaleanism or Stoicism • taking care to correct, purify and modify concepts borrowed from these systems whenever they felt it necessary • and worked out an expression of the Good News in terminology and thought-patterns familiar to their contemporaries. • This is what we are aiming at in today’s India. • And it would be useful to see how these men achieved this aim.
Medieval Philosophy • INTRODUCTION • The Merit of Medieval Philosophy • Unfortunately, due to historical circumstances, their strength has been responsible for so many problems which are still ours today. • Actually the fault was not theirs but that of their successors. • The shock of the Reformation gave to the Church that “siege mentality” of hanging on to and defending (literally to the last comma!) certain formulations of dogmas and the philosophical presuppositions that went along with it.
Medieval Philosophy • INTRODUCTION • The Merit of Medieval Philosophy • Even when society changed the Church still insisted that the “truths of faith” be taught according to old concepts and thought-patterns, even if no one quite understood them (since written in Latin!) and even if other, new disciplines and philosophies had grown and developed that might have expressed equally well (and sometimes even better!) the experience of faith.
Medieval Philosophy • INTRODUCTION • The Merit of Medieval Philosophy • Worse still, there were whole nations and cultures that did not partake of the Western heritage of thought and who had their own rich philosophy & culture (India, Africa... ) who were forced to teach and celebrate Gospel in a language and style of thought that had nothing at all to do with the people.
Medieval Philosophy • INTRODUCTION • The Merit of Medieval Philosophy • Christian Revelation is expressed in the language and culture of the Jews, an Oriental people whose mind is close to Indian thought and philosophy, than with the Greek model. • Had Indian Christians been allowed the same liberty as their Western brethren of the Middle Ages, the former would have found - in Śankara and Ramanuja and others - perhaps a far better medium to express the message of Revelation! • And, if we had our own Liturgy we would not have remained such a “little flock” even though Christianity came to our land long before it came to much of Europe.
Medieval Philosophy • INTRODUCTION • The Merit of Medieval Philosophy • Whatever be the case, the challenge that once an Augustine and a Thomas Aquinas had to face centuries back is now ours. • Would that the Lord raise up among us men of similar stature who will persevere that measure of indigenisation or inculturation that they achieved for theirs. • And let us hope that, when that day comes, no one makes the same mistake of taking it as “once-and-for-all” normative for all future generations of Indians!
2.1. St. Augustine (354 – 430) • 2.1.1. His Life • St. Augustine greatest of the Latin Fathers, both from a literary-and a theological standpoint, dominated Western thought until the thirteen century. • Born in Tagaste in the African Province of Numidia on 13 November 354, of a pagan father, Patricius and a Christian mother, St. Monica. • He was brought up a Christian by his devout mother but his baptism was deferred, according to common custom at the time. • When he was only 11, he was sent to school, where he laid the foundations of his knowledge in Latin literature and rhetoric.
St. Augustine (354 – 430) • His Life • His easy-going father kept him well supplied with money ... • At the age of 16, Augustine arrived at Carthage and began higher studies in Rhetoric. • His father died that same year, after having embraced the faith of his wife. • Augustine Life of dissipation in the city. • took a mistress with whom he lived faithfully for over ten years and who bore him a son Adeodatus.
St. Augustine (354 – 430) • His Life • In all fairness, we must point out that Augustine, for all his waywardness, never once neglected his studies and obtained excellent results as a scholar. • Whatever his private life he was very serious whenever it was a question of knowledge and the pursuit of truth.
St. Augustine (354 – 430) • His Life • Augustine’s first halt in this pilgrimage was Manichaeism. • Manichaeism third century Christian heresy (an amalgamation of Christian and Persian elements) • Manichaeism provided a simplistic solution to the problem of evil in postulating (as do the Parsees today,) two ultimate principles - that of light, Ormuzd, and that of darkness, Ahriman. • The evil in the world is the work of Ahriman, who is ever in conflict with Ormuzd. • In man, the soul is the work of Ormuzd the body, the corrupting, dissolute influence, that of Ahriman. (Augustine’s Life!)
St. Augustine (354 – 430) • His Life • In 383, before leaving Carthage - he broke with Manichaeism. • Manichaeism solved some of the doubts (i.e. evil) but not all. • New job as professor of rhetoric in Milan. • Slowly, Augustine began to consider Christianity more favourably - due mainly to his having attended the sermons of St. Ambrose in the Cathedral of Milan. • He wanted to become a catechumen but call of the flesh! • His mother persuaded him to consider marriage to a local ‘good girl’ – hoping the girl would put some sense in his life!!!
St. Augustine (354 – 430) • His Life • Separation from Adeodatus’ mother – tearful moment! • But, the girl to be married too young & tired of waiting, Augustine soon found another mistress to keep him company. • By now, he had begun to read the neo-Platonists, especially Plotinus. • Moral and intellectual conversion in 386.
St. Augustine (354 – 430) • His Life • From then on, he would begin to write his famous apologetic and theological treaties. • On Holy Saturday 387, Augustine was finally baptised by St. Ambrose. • Monica who had come down specially for the ocassion, died while waiting for the boat for the return trip. • Augustine then returned to Tagaste, where he founded a small monastic community and plunged himself into his studies and writings.
2.1.2. His Doctrine • 2.1.2.1. Philosophy of KNOWLEDGE • 2.1.2.1.1. The Quest for Truth • Augustine taught that knowledge or truth is to be relentlessly sought after, with courage, sincerity and honesty. • Truth gives us happiness, beatitude. • Later, he would see his quest for truth as basically a search for Christ, the Truth. • The famous phrase from the Confessions should be read in this context: “Our hearts were made for you, O Lord, and oh, how weary they are, till they rest in you!” [Fecisti nos ad te et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te]
His Doctrine • Philosophy of KNOWLEDGE • 2.1.2.1.2. Truth is attainable • He provided the classic refutation of Scepticism in his Against the Academicians with his famous “si fallor sum” argument. • Even a sceptic is bound to admit that he is certain of some truths - his own existence being one of these. • After all, “even if I am in error, I exist”. • If you did not exist, you could not be deceived! • Apart from this, there are also mathematical truths of which we are certain.
His Doctrine • Philosophy of KNOWLEDGE • 2.1.2.1.3. Theory of Illuminations • That we can attain certainty no problem for St. Augustine… • The problem that bothered him was more precisely the following: • how does it come about that our minds finite, changing and fallible are able to attain necessary and eternal truths, truths which rule and govern the mind and transcend it?
His Doctrine • Philosophy of KNOWLEDGE • Theory of Illuminations • The answer to this question is to be found in his theory of divine illuminationism. • We could not perceive and apprehend these immutable truths • unless our minds were illuminated by God… • just as we require “corporeal light” to see corporal things - without in the process actually seeing this light – • so too our intellect, the “spiritual eye” needs this “spiritual light” to see those spiritual and immutable truths, but does not see this light, in effect. • The origins of this theory are, of course, Platonic.
2.1.2.2. Philosophy of GOD • 2.1.2.2.1. Proof of God from Eternal Truths • The fact of the existence of these eternal truths provides St Augustine with his famous proof for God’s existence from thought, that is from within. • The starting point of the proof, : necessary and eternal truths. • Such truths are superior to the mind, inasmuch as the mind finds itself constrained to accept them. • It can neither modify nor reject them. • Indeed, it finds that they existed before they were discovered by it. • The mind varies in its understanding and apprehension of truth, grasping it now more clearly, now less so. Whereas these truths come from a Truth that ever remains the same.
Philosophy of GOD • 2.1.2.2.2. Exemplarism • Plato Ideas or Perfect Forms existing in some place “shinning with light” and which were the archetypes or models or exemplars from which individual existents were made. • Augustine would put the eternal ideas rationes(reasons) in God’s mind. • He knew them before creation as they are in Him, as Exemplar, but He made them as they exist, i.e. as external and finite reflections of His divine essence.
2.1.2.3. Philosophy of the WORLD • 2.1.2.3.1. Free Creation out of Nothing • The Greek thinkers were not able to conceive of free creation in the full sense of the word. (God as only an artisan, efficient cause, not creator) • Plotinus tried with the theory of emanation - but at what expense! • First, the world came to be, somehow or the other identified with God and secondly, the production of the world was not a free act but a necessity.
2.1.2.3. Philosophy of the WORLD • Free Creation out of Nothing • Augustine, inspired by his Christian faith, taught that • God created the world out of nothing – • neither out of some pre-existing primitive stuff, • nor as an overflow of his own nature – • and did so in complete freedom, • being necessitated • neither by an external force • nor some inner psychological or moral compulsion. • All things owed - and still owe - their being to Him. • Thus Augustine showed the utter supremacy of God and the total dependence of the World on him.
2.1.2.3. Philosophy of the WORLD • 2.1.2.3.2. A Theory of Evolution? • Augustine proposed an original and interesting understanding of creation which was rejected straight away by St. Thomas. • When God created things, he didn’t create them as finished products. • Instead he created rational seminales (literally, seed-reasons), the germs of the things which were to develop in the course of time. • Thus the rationes seminales or germinal potentialities are the germs of things; they are invisible powers, created by God in the beginning and left to slowly develop into the objects of various species.
2.1.2.4. Philosophy of MAN • 2.1.2.4.1. Body and Soul • Man is seen by Augustine, after the biblical view, as the peak of material creation. • The Platonic view of man still has its repercussions in him for, if he does not quite see the body as the immortal soul’s prison, he will call it the soul’s “instrument”. • He defines man as “a rational soul using a mortal and earthly body.” • As a spiritual entity, the soul is superior to the body, and so it must rule the body.
Philosophy of MAN • 2.1.2.4.2. Traducianism • Augustine soul is absolutely supra-material, so, in every way, superior to the body. • Hence, it could not develop out of the unfolding rationes seminales (so, the soul is not evolved!). • But he was not quite sure when exactly it came into existence… but surely though a special act of God. • Initially accepted the Platonic theory of pre-existing souls, but refused to go along with the view that it was locked up in the body-prison as the result of some fault committed in its pre-earthly condition.
Philosophy of MAN • Traducianism • Such a view against Genesis Fall of our first parents!. • This story seemed to imply, for Augustine, that children, in some way, receive from their parents, not only their bodies but also their souls – for how else to explain the transmission of original sin, except through some genetic process? • So, the soul of a child is somehow “handed on” (traducianism) by the parents, God having created all souls in Adam. • This theory materialistic view of the soul, - and it implies that the soul is divisible; and having parts is the characteristic of matter! (so, later Traducianism condemned!)
Philosophy of MAN • 2.1.2.4.3. The Final Goal of Man • Augustine’s ethics, in common with the typical Greek view, is eudaimonistic in character, i.e., it proposes as ultimate goal for human activity, happiness. • However, for Augustine, this happiness is to be found • only in God. • Neither the Epicurean ideal – (supreme good of man in fulfilment of his body) • nor the Stoic ideal – (peace and calm in virtuous resignation and “universal sympathy”) • - can bring man the happiness he seeks. But only God!
Philosophy of MAN • 2.1.2.4.4. Freedom and Grace • Augustinian ethics is, then, an ethics of love: it is by his will that man reaches out towards God. • Indeed, all man’s striving was nothing but an unconscious seeking for Him who alone can put our restless hearts at peace. • This love is a dynamic love for it gives force and direction to our actions: pondus meum, amor meus:illo feror, quocumque feror.” (My love is my weight; where it goes I go.) Love is a gravitation toward that which is loved.
Philosophy of MAN • Freedom and Grace • However, man’s will is free and thus, able to turn his will away from the immutable good and attach himself to mutable goods. • All men are guilty when they turn away from God and His law to seek after perishable goods for they know the “rules of justice”. • there is also an illumination (as we have seen) which helps him to perceive eternal moral or practical truths. • God’s help, grace, is required for man to be able to attain God by reaching out to Him by fulfilling His Law. (not by self strength!)
Philosophy of MAN • 2.1.2.4.5. Evil • A reflection on Plotinus helped Augustine refute Manichaeism and a kind of definition of evil which would be picked up and developed by the Scholastics. • Evil is not, in itself, a being: it is a privation, an absence of a due perfection, a kind of non-being. • As such, it needs no creator, for a creator makes being and so evil does not require somebody to create it! • So the good principle, the Creator - God, did not create evil. • Evil is nothing positive in itself and so is not created, as such.
Philosophy of MAN • 2.1.2.4.6. The Two Cities • There struggle between good and evil within the heart of man, due to his free-will, so also in the society at large. • There are those who love God more than themselves and there are those who love themselves more than God. • And the history of man comes about-by the reaction and struggle that goes on between these two camps. • Augustine prefers to call them two cities, respectively, the City of Jerusalem, and the City of Babylon.
Philosophy of MAN • 2.1.2.4.7. The Church-State Relationship • Did Augustine indicate Catholic Church with the City of Jerusalem and the State - pagan State - with the City of Babylon? • The Pagan State in the eyes of Augustine, is not founded on justice, but on force. As such, it cannot make of men good citizens. • So, it is the role of the Church, then, to inform the State its mission as leaven of the earth. • The Church, as the only perfect society on earth, is superior to the State.
2.1.3. Critical Remarks [Self Study] • 2.1.3.1. Augustine’s Philosophy of KNOWLEDGE • 2.1.3.1.1. The Quest for Truth • Augustine’s language of seeking and striving after the Truth, the description of the anguish and risk that characterise this pilgrimage, have won him a wide popularity among many an existentialist writer. • There are even some who would call him the first of their school. • Yet, one cannot overlook a certain fanaticism in his views when he so identifies Wisdom with Christianity and all too easily seems to consign everyone who knows it not to the exterior darkness.
Critical Remarks [Self Study] • Augustine’s Philosophy of KNOWLEDGE • 2.1.3.1.2. An Answer to the Sceptics • Augustine’s sifallor, sum, have provided the basis for all future responses to Sceptics’ objection and, at the same time, presented the starting-point for a positive epistemology. • 2.1.3.1.3. Illuminationism • Illuminationism is a plausible theory. • Still, Augustine, with a convert’s excessive zeal, has sought once again to bring in God to explain something which could equally well have been accounted for without having to postulate a special divine intervention.
Critical Remarks [Self Study] • 2.1.3.2. AUGUSTINE’S PHILOSOPHY OF GOD • 2.1.3.2.1. Proof of God from Eternal Truths • Our response to this clever and original “proof” would be along the same lines as our reaction to Augustine’s theory of illuminationism… • Marechal would later, starting from Kant’s initial insights, develop a more detailed and carefully worked out analysis of the act of direct judgement and discover not so much the Ground of all Truth, as the Ground of all Being.
Critical Remarks [Self Study] • AUGUSTINE’S PHILOSOPHY OF GOD • 2.1.3.2.2. Exemplarism • Augustine was the first of a long line of Christian thinkers who would put Plato’s Ideal Forms into God’s mind, where they would serve as the Exemplars of creation. • Augustine, however, never felt obliged to assume from this that God created things as finished products, direct copies of these Ideas. • He was able to think out a much more dynamic understanding of creation (cf. the rationesseminales).
Critical Remarks [Self Study] • AUGUSTINE’S PHILOSOPHY OF GOD • 2.1.3.2.3. Free Creation • Augustine was the first to see how to explain the divine origin of the world in a way that would impair neither the transcendence of God nor the vital dependence of the world on him. • Previous Thinkers:transcendence thru demiurge creationDependence of the world emanation! • Augustine, with his characteristic sharpness of vision and creative insight, saw a way out of the problem.
Critical Remarks [Self Study] • AUGUSTINE’S PHILOSOPHY OF GOD • 2.1.3.2.4. Evolutionism • His dynamic theory of the rationesseminales, though it owed a lot to Stoic thought, is once again eloquent testimony to his rich and creative approach to intellectual challenges. • Although a passing by comment, he did not integrate this into his vision, it was ignored; • but it did anticipate Darwin by almost 1500 years! • And it is a far cry from Teilhard’s all-inclusive vision.
Critical Remarks [#] • 2.1.3.3. AUGUSTINE’S PHILOSOPHY OF MAN • 2.1.3.3.1. Body and Soul • Augustine’s conception of man is, advanced than Plato’s;yet, Man remains essentially a soul. • Several texts that make it obvious that he too was, like Plotinus, very much ashamed of having a body. • he considers that married couples sin venially when they perform the conjugal act shows a very narrow understanding of the role of the body in personal growth. • Protestant spirituality with regard to the body influenced by Augustine (effects are not far away from Catholic Spirituality too).
Critical Remarks [#] • AUGUSTINE’S PHILOSOPHY OF MAN • 2.1.3.3.2. Traducianism • Augustine’s thinking lead to the formulation of the dogma of original sin. • The “stain” of original sin was something passed on mechanically from parent to child along with various other genes. • Unbaptised babies can’t go to heaven for a fault that is not theirs he held that tiny little babies (even before birth!) could commit sin. Theory of Limbo for babies! • Is not Original Sin a structural sin rather than an ancestral sin?
Critical Remarks [#] • AUGUSTINE’S PHILOSOPHY OF MAN • 2.1.3.3.3. Man’s End • Augustine wanted to strike a decisive blow at the hedonism and materialism of his times. • Except Plato (Aristotle inferior to him) all other thinkers are materialists! • Any view that does not fit into your system brand it evil???
Some Critical Remarks • AUGUSTINE’S PHILOSOPHY OF MAN • 2.1.3.3.4. Freedom and Grace • Is Augustine a philosopher of ‘freedom’ or ‘grace’? • Against Pelegianism (deny original sin, so no grace!) so much that Augustine goes to the extent of stressing too much grace! • Lutherans take cues from Augustine. • Jansenism (only few will be saved!) – find source in Augustine!
