Greek Religion, and the Milesians.

Question 1

Until the 20th century, what 2 roots did Western thought have?

Answer 1

The Greek, and the Biblical.

Question 2

Can the Greek and the Biblical worldviews be synthesised?

Answer 2

No, it is a mistake to do so, despite the similar themes they delve into.

Question 3

What, despite apparent differences, did the Greeks have in common?

Answer 3

1 - None believed in the God of the bible.
2 - None of the Greeks believed that the world was created by a personal, supreme and absolute being.

Question 4

Explain how none of the Greeks believed that the world was created by a personal, supreme and absolute being.

Answer 4

Aristotle and Plato - taught an absolute being, but not a personal one.
Homeric Gods (of the Canaanites, etc.) - these a personal, but not absolute.

Question 5

In Greek religion, the what was the absolute?

Answer 5

Fate.

Question 6

Was fate a personal, or impersonal, force?

Answer 6

Impersonal - even the Gods were subject to it.

Question 7

How does Dooyeweerd describe the Central motive of pre-Homeric Greek religion?

Answer 7

“the shapeless stream of life flowing throughout the process of birth and decline of all that exists in corporeal form”

Question 8

What was the old-nature Greek religion replaced with?

Answer 8

The religion of the Olympian Gods.

Question 9

What was the difference between the old-nature Greek religion, and the Olympic Gods?

Answer 9

The difference was not huge - just that many of the Gods gave way to personifications of nature. It is one of form, measure and harmony. The Olympians live far above the shapeless stream of life.

Question 10

What did the Olympian Gods become? And who did the Greeks really believe in?

Answer 10

The Olympians were the official Gods of order; however, in their private lives, the Greeks still worshiped the old Gods of life and death.

Question 11

What did the Olympian Gods provide?

Answer 11

Some meaning to history, some reason, so that not only impersonal fate, but rational thought became part of the process.

Question 12

Despite the Olympian Gods, what flaw did the Greek religion still contain?

Answer 12

Irrational fate was and the stream of life were still superior to the Gods, and held history in place.

Question 13

In Greek religion, what then are humans?

Answer 13

Still the pawns of fate and chaos (and the Olympian Gods)

Question 14

When about did the new religion: Philosophy start?

Answer 14

About 800 B.C.

Question 15

What change did Philosophy bring to Greek thinking?

Answer 15

Some thinkers tried to understand the world without religion - these were called philosophers, lovers of wisdom.

Question 16

What distinguished Greek philosophy from other religions and teachers at the time?

Answer 16

Their insistence on the supremacy of human reason. (Frame: Rational autonomy)

Question 17

How did Greek philosophers consider the role of myth?

Answer 17

As secondary, at best, and rationally inadequate.

Question 18

In the mind of the Greek philosopher, what must reason be?

Answer 18

Autonomous, self-authenticating, and subject to no other standards than its own.

Question 19

What was Greek philosophy, ultimately?

Answer 19

A revolution in worldview.

Question 20

Name 6 themes of Greek philosophy:

Answer 20

1) The supreme authority of human reason
2) Consequent attempts to make rational claims about the nature of all reality
3) The problem of dualism - antagonism between personal fate, and the shapeless stream of life
4) The above challenges the ability of reason to grasp reality
5) They attempt to impose reason on an inherently irrational world
6) These invalidate much of what they say.

Question 21

Who were the Milesians?

Answer 21

A group originating from Miletus.

Question 22

Name three key Milesians:

Answer 22

Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander

Question 23

When about did Thales live?

Answer 23

546-620 (roughly) B.C.

Question 24

When about did Anaximenes live?

Answer 24

528 B.C.

Question 25

When about did Anaximander live?

Answer 25

546 B.C.

Question 26

What three questions did the Milesians seek to answer?

Answer 26

1) What is the fundamental nature of reality?
2) Where did everything come from?
3) How did the universe get to be as it is?

Question 27

What did Thales fundamentally believe about the nature of reality?

Answer 27

Everything is water.

Question 28

What did Anaximander fundamentally believe about the nature of reality?

Answer 28

Everything is made up of a substance without definite nature (not to do with individual elements).

Question 29

What did Anaximenes fundamentally believe about the nature of reality?

Answer 29

Everything is air.

Question 30

What do the ‘all’ statements of the Milesians represent?

Answer 30

Human reason as vastly exceeding its limits. Their observations of the elements, etc, would have lead to their conclusions. Yet, they could not possibly observe ‘all’, and so were examples of human reason exceeding its limit. Therefore, this is armchair speculation - rationalism.

Question 31

What did Anaximander believe about the four elements?

Answer 31

None could explain the variety of the world:
and therefore it had to be a substance without definite nature, that took on limitations, that made up the substance of the world.

Question 32

What does the ‘water’, ‘air’ and ‘boundless substance’ of the Milesians point back to?

Answer 32

The shapeless stream of the old religion. They cannot be controlled, or leashed. They are random, and subject to chance and change, and so put into question the possibility of rationality.

Question 33

Name a problem for Heraclitus:

Answer 33

If the Gods are water too, then even the God’s are subject to random change, etc.

Question 34

State a problem for the Milesians in general:

Answer 34

If all our thoughts are just random waves of water, etc., then why should we think any one true? Natural processes can account for waves, but not for the truth and validity of Human thought.

Question 35

What can we conclude about the Milesians?

Answer 35

Their epistemological failure is linked to their metaphysical failure, as they exclude the biblical relation between creator and creature. There is no fundamental difference between God, and us, if all is water. Thus, all standards of meaning and truth is ruled out.