Proslogion

Question 1

What was St. Augustine’s influence on the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

= His system of theology from De Doctrina Christiana shapes how medievals study theology.
= His philosophy was neoplatonism which was absorbed into Christianity.

Question 2

What is neoplatonism?

Answer 2

New study of Plato, focuses on making the Forms just the One.

Question 3

What was lost after the sack of Rome?

Answer 3

They lost contact with important texts from antiquity, like works of Aristotle and some writings of the Greek fathers.

Question 4

When did Boethius live and what did he preserve?

Answer 4

He lived from 480-524 and he preserved Aristotle’s “Logic”.

Question 5

What happened in the 7th-11th centuries?

Answer 5

Islamic thinkers discover the works of Aristotle and try to incorporate his ideas.

Question 6

What happened in the 11th century?

Answer 6

Aristotle is reintroduced into the West though Islamic philosophy.

Question 7

When and what was the High Medieval Ages?

Answer 7

= 11th-13th century.
= It was the hight of medieval civilization in:
- Art, Architecture, Literature, Customs, and Schools.

Question 8

What was a key symbol of the High Middle Ages, and what did it represent?

Answer 8

= The Gothic Cathedral:
- Human longing.
- Human achievement.

Question 9

What are universities and when/how were they developed?

Answer 9

They developed in the High Middle Ages from the cathedral schools of Charlemagne; they were centers dedicated exclusively to learning and study.

Question 10

What is Scholasticism?

Answer 10

“School men”:
An approach learning that emphasizes the harmony between the Christian faith and all other kinds of knowledge.

Question 11

How did Scholastics use Dialect to study?

Answer 11

They pose a problem/question and then cite some responses to it. Then they’ll give their answer with help from an authority/authorities.

Question 12

Who was the first Scholastic?

Answer 12

St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109):
He was an Italian monk who later becomes an English Archbishop.

Question 13

What is Natural Theology?

Answer 13

What we can know about God through reason and philosophy.

Question 14

What kind of argument did the first Scholastic make according to Natural Theology?

Answer 14

He made an Ontological Argument: An argument for the existence of God based upon the conceptions of perfection and necessity.

Question 15

What does Proslogion mean?

Answer 15

“Allocution”:
A form address to a judge by a convicted defendant.

Question 16

What does “Credo ut intellegam” mean?

Answer 16

“I believe in order that I may understand.”

Question 17

What was the first Scholastic’s argument for God’s existence?

Answer 17

1. I have an idea of God in my understanding.
2. God is “Id quo maius cogitate nequit,” - “That than which nothing greater can be conceived.”
3. If something is greater it exists not just in the mind but in reality.
4. But if God exists only in the mind, then I can conceive of something greater: Namely, which exists independent of the mind.
5. But #4 contradicts #2.
6. Ergo, God exists in reality and not just the mind.

Question 18

What was the previous name of the Proslogion?

Answer 18

“Fides quaerens intellectum” - “Faith seeking understanding.”

Question 19

What does “Omnipotence,” “Omnibenevolent,” and “Omniscient,” all mean?

Answer 19

“All powerful,” “All good,” “All knowing,” } God.

Question 20

What is an argument and what is a Self-Evident Proposition?

Answer 20

=Argument: A set of premises (proof) meant to lead to a conclusion (what is proved).
-Self-Evident Proposition: A proposition is one that proves itself.

Question 21

What is the Gaunilean criticism?

Answer 21

Can’t we apply Anselm’s logic from the 1st argument to a wide variety of things?

Question 22

What is the Thomist criticism?

Answer 22

1: God’s premise #1 is true and self-evident if you know the divine nature (as God does) but we do not know God’s nature prior; but through God’s effects.
2: How do we know we’ve actually reasoned to God? (i.e., so that we’d worship Him.)

Question 23

What’s the Kantian criticism?

Answer 23

“Existence” is not a predicate.