Chapter 3: Rome and the Middle Ages

Question 1

Pyrrho of Elis (360-270 BC)

Answer 1

usually considered the founder of the school of skepticism

Question 2

skepticism

Answer 2

their main target was the attack of dogmatism - they saw dogmatism as a form of disease that needed to be cured

for skeptics, dogmatists were anyone claiming to have arrived at an indisputable truth. they believed that the arguments for and against many philosophical positions were equally compelling

because all claims of truth appeared equivocal, the skeptics advocated for a suspension of judgement

Question 3

were skeptics dogmatic in their belief on suspension of judgement?

Answer 3

No

Question 4

Antishtenes (445-365 BC)

Answer 4

founder of cynicism. studied with the sophist Gorgias and later become a companion of Socrates. He was present at Socrates’ death. He completely lost faith in philosophy and renounced his comfortable upper-class life

he pushed a back-to-nature philosophy that involved a life free from wants, passions, and the many conventions of society

he thought true happiness depended on self-sufficiency

Question 5

cynicism

Answer 5

the belief that the best life is one lived close to nature and away from the rules and regulations of society

Question 6

Diogenes (412-323 BC)

Answer 6

the son of a disreputable moneychanger who had been sent to prison for defacing money

in his personal life, Diogenes rejected conventional religion, manners, housing, food, and fashion. he lived by begging and proclaimed his brother hood with not only all humans but also animals

he lived an extremely primitive life. he engaged in outrageous behavior like farting loudly in public places, urinating, masturbating, or defacating insight of all

Question 7

Epicurus of Samos (341-270 BC)

Answer 7

founder of epicureanism - according to Epicurus, the atoms making up humans never lose their ability to move free; hence, he postulated free will

epicureans were materialists, believing that “the universe is eminently physical, and that includes the soul of man”

didn’t believe in an afterlife, but did believe in the Olympian gods. he preferred naturalistic explanations supernatural ones, and they strongly protested against magic, astrology, and divination

Question 8

how did epicureans live?

Answer 8

simple lives drinking water and eating bread. they avoided extremes because venturing to either side was usually accompanied by pain - they also didn’t believe in intercourse sexually because it “almost always caused bad and rarely caused pure good”

Question 9

hedonism

Answer 9

the belief that the good life consists of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain

Question 10

how did the greeks and the romans differ philosophically?

Answer 10

the greeks valued philosophy and science for its own sake - the romans were fiercely pragmatic. where the greeks championed debate and event the chaos of democracy, the romans sought law and order

Question 11

stoicism

Answer 11

Zeno of Citium (335-263) - founder of stoicism. believed that the world was ruled by a dividing plan and that everything in nature, including humans, was there for a reason

Question 12

what did the stoics believe?

Answer 12

living in accordance with nature was the ultimate virtue - the most important part of believing in the divine plan was that idea that whatever happens, happens for a reason. there are no accidents, and everything must simply be accepted as part of the plan

the good life involved accepting one’s fate with indifference, even if suffering was involved

Question 13

epicureanism

Answer 13

the belief that he best life is one of long-term pleasure resulting from moderation

Question 14

neoplatonism

Answer 14

philosophy that emphasized the most mystical aspects of plato’s philosophy. transcendental experiences were considered the most significant type of human experience

Question 15

Philo (25 BC - 50 AD)

Answer 15

a neoplatonist who combined jewish theology with plato’s philosophy. philosophy differentiated between the lower self (the body) and a spiritual self, which is made in god’s image. the body is the source of all evil; therefore, for the spiritual self to develop fully, one should avoid or minimize sensory experience

Question 16

what was new about Philo’s theory?

Answer 16

he presented a new view of knowledge, one that would have been foreign to the greeks. rather than knowledge being sought rationally, it was revealed by god but only to souls that were prepared to receive it - that is, to souls that had purged themselves of all influences of the flesh

Question 17

plotinus (205-270)

Answer 17

neoplatonist who emphasizes the importance of embracing the soul through introspection. these subjective experiences were more important and informative than physical experiences

believed that the physical world was an inferior copy of the divine realm - the body is the prison of the soul, which is part of God

Question 18

what happened to Rome 410?

Answer 18

it was sacked by the Visigoths, and shortly thereafter almost all oft he empire was under Germanic control

it had been in serious decline for many years prior to its downfall, and yet of course in some sense it endures even today

Question 19

vedantism

Answer 19

indian religion that emphasized the importance of semi ecstatic trances

Question 20

jesus (6 BC - 30 AD)

Answer 20

a simple, sensitive man who St. Paul and others claimed was the Messiah. those who believe Jesus to be the son of God are called christians

alas, none who formalized Jesus’ teachings ever met him, so little of Jesus’s original intent survived the the various attempts to formalize his ideas

Question 21

St Paul (10-64)

Answer 21

founded the christian church by claiming that Jesus was the son of god. paul placed the soul or spirit in the highest position among the human faculties, the body in the lowest, and the mind in a position somewhere in between

aligned with Plato in his thinking that true knowledge can be attained only by escaping from the influence of sensory information and transformed it into battle between the soul, which contains the spark of God

Question 22

What major questions did St. Paul leave behind for future theologians?

Answer 22

Paul’s efforts left major questions for future theologians to answer. Given the fact that God is all knowing and all powerful, is there room for human free will? And given the importance of faith for salvation, what is the function or value of human reason? There was also a third question: Given the fact that God is perfect and loving, what accounts for the evil in the world?

Question 23

what was Paul’s attitude toward women?

Answer 23

he was a gross mysogynist for the most part, but made some progressive comments

Question 24

constantine (272-337)

Answer 24

Roman Emperor whose Edict of Milan in 313 made Christianity a tolerated religion within the Roman Empire. Under Constantine’s leadership, widely diverse Christian writings and beliefs were formalized, thus facilitating the widespread acceptance of Christianity

evidence was provided that Constantine actually had no vision but invented it to inspire his troops

Question 25

What did Constantine charge the bishops of the time to do?

Answer 25

with the task of arriving at a single set of documents to be used by al Christian communities. this created the constantine bible, which, unfortunately, is lost to history, so its exact contents are unknown

Question 26

Where did Constantine’s sympathy towards Christianity come from

Answer 26

in spite of his deep involvement with the Christian church, Constantine continued to embrace a number of pagan beliefs, and it has often been argued that his sympathy toward Christianity was more matter of political expediency than religious conviction

Question 27

St. Augustine (354-430)

Answer 27

After having demonstrated the validity of inner, subjective experience, said that one can know God through introspection as sell as through the revealed truth of the scripture. Augustine also wrote extensively on human free will

Question 28

What were augustines confessions?

Answer 28

he was instrumental in shifting the locus of control of human behavior from the outside (the city of man) to the inside (the city of god). for him, the acceptance of free will made personal responsibility meaningful. because individuals are personally responsible for their actions, it is possible to praise or blame them, and people can feel good or bad about themselves depending on what choices they make

Question 29

did the Christian appeal have wide range?

Answer 29

yes. to people suffering from hunger, plague, and war, a religion that focused on a more perfect, nonphysical world was comforting. to slaves and others with low status, a feeling of justice came from knowing that all humans were created in God’s image.

Question 30

predestination

Answer 30

the belief that god has preordained, even before birth, which people will be granted salvation (the elect) and which are condemned to eternal damnation

Question 31

the middle ages

Answer 31

the sack of rome by the visigoths marks the beginning of the middle ages, which saw very little, if any, progress made in science, philosophy, and literature

mattes began to improve around 782, when the palatine school was organized.

Question 32

when did the church wield the most power?

Answer 32

during the middle ages. the question of what was true had already been answered, and there was no need to look elsewhere. people were either believers or heretics, and heretics were often dealt with harshly. The church owned tons of property, and the priest controlled the behavior, feelings, and thoughts of the citizens

Question 33

islamic and jewish influences

Answer 33

the dark ages are, of course, dark only with reference to the Western world, and during this same time, Islam became more powerful. Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570, and in middle age, believers say he received a revelation from God instructing him to preach

within 100 years after the prophet’s death, Islam extended over an area larger than that of the Roman Empire at its peak

Question 34

avicenna (980-1037)

Answer 34

a child prodigy and muslim physician and philosopher whose translations of, and commentaries on, the works of Aristotle strongly influenced subsequent Western philosophers

he thought there were 7 internal senses, whereas Aristotle thought there were 5

Question 35

averroes (1126-1198)

Answer 35

muslim physician from Cordova, Spain who, among other things, wrote commentaries on Aristotle’s work on the senses, memory, sleep and waking, and dreams

Question 36

maimonides (1135-1204)

Answer 36

Jewish physician and philosopher who attempted to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and Judaism

Question 37

St. Anslem (1003-1109)

Answer 37

argued that sense perception and rational powers should be supplements of faith

Question 38

scholasticism

Answer 38

the synthesis of Aristotelian philosophy with Christian teachings

Question 39

peter Abelard (1079-1142)

Answer 39

one of the first western philosopher-theologians to emphasize the works of aristotle

Question 40

realism

Answer 40

the belief that abstract universals (essences) exist and that empirical events are only manifestations of those universals

Question 41

nominalism

Answer 41

the belief that so-called universals are nothing more than verbal labels or mental habits that are used to denote classes of experiences

Question 42

conceptualism

Answer 42

abelard’s proposed solution to the realism-nominalism debate. abelard argued that concepts do nat have independent existence (realism), but that, being abstractions, they are more than mere names (nominalism).

Question 43

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Answer 43

epitomized scholasticism. he sought to Christianize the works of aristotle and to show that both faith and reason lead to the truth of god’s existence

Question 44

St. Albert Magnus (1200-1280)

Answer 44

made a comprehensive review of aristotle’s work. following aristotle’s suggestion, he also made careful, direct observations of nature

Question 45

William Occam (1285-1349)

Answer 45

denied the connection of the realists that what we experience are bit manifestations of abstract principles. instead, he sided with the nominalists who said that so-called abstract priceless, or universals, were nothing more than verbal labels that we use to describe classes of experiences. for occam, reality is what we experience directly; there is no need to assume a “higher” reality beyond our senses