Lecture 6

1. Lecture 6 • The Bible on Human Nature: The Fall • Comparison of Plato, Aristotle & Bible • Two responses by Christians to Plato & Aristotle • Boethius • Introduction to Aquinas

2. The Fall: Genesis 2 • Whether to interpret details literally (trees, fruit, serpent) - relatively unimportant. • Knowledge of good and evil: • “Knowledge” seems to mean experiential, intimate (used as euphemism for sex). • “Good and evil” are moral categories: righteousness and wickedness.

3. Variety of Interpretations • Some interpret the story as representing a unique, historical event. Others see it as a story about “Everyman”. (“Adam” is the common noun for human being.) • Among those who interpret it as a unique historical event, there are a variety of views about how much damage is done to human nature (especially, our capacity for virtue and liability to vice).

4. “Original Sin” • The majority of commentators in ancient, medieval and early modern times take it that we have all “inherited” a morally disordered nature as a result of the fall. • Two key elements: concupiscence (uncontrollable desires, both sensual and ambitious), and pride (haughtiness, arrogance, self-worship). • Consequences listed in text focus on pain, toil and physical death.

5. Psalm 139 • God’s universal knowledge and presence. • Encompasses the details of conduct of each individual human being. • God creates each human being. • Possibility of divine deliverance from enemies and guidance.

6. Wisdom and Proverbs 8 • Recall: Aristotle distinguished practical wisdom (phronesis) and philosophical wisdom (sophia). God has only the latter. • Author of Proverbs 8 makes no such distinction: the same wisdom that enabled God to craft the world is available to guide us, enable us to live righteously.

7. The Fruit of Wisdom • Results in riches, honor, wealth and justice. • But -- the fruit she gives is better than gold. • “Happy are those who keep to my ways.” (v. 31) • “He who does injury to me does hurt to his own soul; all who hate me are in love with death.” (v. 36)

8. Common Ground: Plato, Aristotle & the Bible • The world is teleologically organized -- full of systems with built-in purpose. • Human nature exists and is knowable by us. (The law written on the heart -- Rom 2:14-15) • There are absolute, universal values, grounded in human nature. • Acting morally, virtuously is an indispensable component of happiness (blessedness).

9. Knowing and contemplating God is the highest human good. • Human beings have an immaterial component (the soul). • To fulfill their true natures. human beings are in need of discipline, training and restraint. (The 10 commandments, training in the virtues)

10. God (a perfect, self-sufficient, eternal intelligence) exists. • The order of the universe (Logos) is reflected in the rational order of human mind (logos). (Proverbs 8) • Humanity is the highest form of life on earth (Gen. 1,2: created in God's image, commissioned to subdue the earth).

11. Common ground: the Bible and Plato only (not Aristotle) • Human beings survive bodily death (it is uncertain what the mature Aristotle thought about this). • The creation & supervision of the world by a supreme intelligence (according to Aristotle, the world is eternal, uncreated). • One can be supremely happy, even when persecuted and mistreated, so long as one attains righteousness.

12. Common ground: the Bible and Aristotle only (not Plato) • Human beings consist of a unity of soul and body. We are not merely souls that inhabit or possess a body. (Cf. Genesis, 1:7 and 3:19; Psalm 139:13. )

13. Contrasting Elements of the Biblical worldview • It is possible for friendship and mutual love to exist between God and individual human beings. • Physical work (including manual labor) is a positive good, part of human happiness (Gen. 1:28, Jesus as carpenter) • Human beings are essentially equal before God, under God's law.

14. Divine forgiveness and mercy are not a violation of justice and provide no license for unrighteousness. (See Romans 4:21-26). • The truth that God reveals in the Bible is in some conflict or tension with our "natural" knowledge. (I Corinthians 1:19-25). • The positive reality of evil. Evil is more than merely the lack of goodness. Evil deeds lead to an "inherited" proclivity to evil. Evil is like a cancer.

15. Two reactions to philosophy from within the Biblical tradition • Rejectionists: “What has Jerusalem to do with Athens?” Tertullian, al-Gazzali, Martin Luther, Karl Barth, Anders Nygren. • Synthesizers: Boethius, al-Farabi, Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas, Joseph Butler

16. Boethius (480-525 AD) • Last philosophical scholar of the ancient world. Translated Aristotle’s logical works into Latin. • Unjustly sentenced to death as a result of political intrigue in court of Theodoric, barbarian king of Rome. • Wrote The Consolation of Philosophy while on death row.

17. Boethius’s impact • Boethius preserved logic, mathematics for western Europe sliding into the Dark Ages (700-1000 AD). • The Consolation of Philosophy became one of the most influential books in European history. Suggested a unification of Christian piety with Greek philosophy.

18. Boethius: synthesizing Christianity with Plato/Aristotle • All human beings seek happiness -- the supreme good. • Like drunkards, we have lost the way home and stumble into errors, identifying happiness with position, power, honor, wealth, or pleasure. • True happiness consists in possessing (by a kind of participation) God, who is absolute, self-sufficient goodness.

19. Discussion Questions • Why does Boethius not mention anything specifically Christian in The C of P (e.g., Jesus, the Bible, the Church)? • Is Boethius closer to Plato or Aristotle? • What common denominator recurs in all of Boethius’ refutations of false conceptions of happiness?

20. False Conceptions of Happiness • Wealth • Position • Power • Fame • Pleasure

21. Crucial tests • Does it make one self-sufficient, independent? (wealth creates dependencies, new wants, power depends on allies, supporters) • Can it be used for bad, even self-destructive purposes? (wealth, power -- clearly can be) • Is it a source of anxiety? (power, pleasure) • Can it have bad effects? (pleasure)

22. Boethius’s Definition of True Happiness • Once one possesses it, one has no further needs, wants, or reason for anxiety. • It can never be used for anything but good purposes. • It can never have anything but good effects. • It cannot be deceptive or false.

23. Happiness = God • God is the very essence of happiness. • If we can “possess” God, then God would fulfill every need or want, and provide perfect security. • God cannot be the source of evil.

24. Boethius on the Simplicity of God, the Good • Boethius draws heavily on some late (3rd c. AD) Platonists -- the Neo-Platonists, especially Plotinus. • According to Plotinus, the ultimate source of being is the One. • The One is Goodness itself, Being, Beauty, Power. These are just different names for the same, undifferentiated reality.

25. Simplicity, cont. • Consequently, for Boethius, God does not have goodness -- He is goodness itself. • If God merely had goodness, we would have to seek a cause or explanation of why He does. • Since God is goodness (and beauty and power and happiness), no such explanation is possible. God is the First Cause.

26. Boethius & Aristotle • To a degree, Aristotle would agree with Boethius: the intellectual apprehension and comprehension of God is the highest good for human beings. • However, Aristotle did not believe that human beings were capable of a permanent “possession” of God. So, human happiness is inherently insecure, fleeting.

27. A Natural Pointer to the Supernatural? • Boethius argues, in effect, that the fact that human beings can be dissatisfied with any good obtainable in this life points to the reality of a further reality. • Our ultimate aim is to become divine - not intrinsically but by “participation”. • Is this merely wishful thinking?

28. Introduction to Aquinas • Europe emerging from Dark Ages (700-1000) • Scientific works of Aristotle: Byzantium ->Islamic world -> Spain ->Jews ->Western Europe • Averroes (ibn Rushd), Maimonides -- 12th c. Spain

29. St. Albert the Great -- Paris, Cologne, 13th century. Revived use of observation & experimentation. • Roger Bacon (Oxford) -- revived Platonic application of mathematics to science • Thomas Aquinas -- student of Albert. Born near Naples. Joined Dominican order. Kidnapped by brothers.

30. Structure of Summa Theologiae • Work of theology. Appeals to both theological authorities (Bible, Augustine) and to natural reason. • Encompasses the conclusions of philosophy. • Organized by questions.

31. Typical question • Is ....? (the question) • It seems.... (thesis) • [Several plausible arguments, numbered] • On the contrary,.... (antithesis) • Response [Sets out Thomas's opinion -- typically, agrees with the antithesis, or accepts both as partially true.] • [The numbered plausible arguments are rebutted or corrected, one by one.]

32. The Natural and the Supernatural • Natural • Imperfect happiness (“felicity”) • Can be attained by our own, natural powers • Can be understood scientifically • Supernatural • Perfect happiness (“beatitude”) • Requires God’s “grace” (special assistance) • Can be understood only by “faith”

33. Natural Philosophy & Supernatural (Revealed) Theology • Philosophy (including “natural theology”) is competent to understand the natural order. So, Aristotle is a reliable guide to imperfect happiness, and the structure of the cosmos. • Understanding the supernatural requires special revelation (through prophets, inspired Scriptures).

34. Human Nature • For Aquinas, human nature (the essence of humanity) encompasses both levels. • We are “naturally supernatural”. We cannot be fully satisfied with any natural good. • Our capacity to grasp the idea of infinity or perfection bears witness to our supernatural end. (Cf. Boethius)

35. Theory of Mind and Knowledge • Aquinas is a developmental empiricist: all human knowledge begins with the use of the 5 senses, by which we come to know our physical environment. • We start with the natural sciences, and then move to metaphysics and natural theology. • Natural theology tells only that God (a First Cause) exists. It does not tell us much about the nature of God.

36. Not a Strict, Absolute Empiricist • 1. Mind is not a blank slate: it brings specific, pre-determined powers and potentialities to the business of learning through the use of the senses. • 2. Knowledge is always the product of the joint operation of the senses and the intellect. • 3. Ultimately, we can attain some (very limited) knowledge of things beyond the range of our senses.

37. The Structure of the Soul • Rational • Intellect • Speculative • Practical • Will (rational appetite) • Sub-rational • Senses • Bodily appetites • Concupiscible & Irascible

38. The Sub-rational Soul • The senses give us information about the environment. • The appetite propels us to certain apparent goods or away from certain evils: anger and fear (irascible) and desires for food, water, warmth, sex (concupiscible).

39. Rational Soul • The theoretical (or "speculative") intellect strives toward truth and understanding. It begins with the information delivered by the senses, and "abstracts" universal laws from this data. • The practical intellect deliberates about what is the best course of action. It begins with inclinations provided by the appetites, but corrects and supplements them from a rational assessment of a plan of life.

40. The will receives its direction from the practical intellect -- but the will is needed to effect the transition from thought and feeling to action.

41. Essence vs. Accident • What a thing is most fundamentally, versus what a thing just happens to be. • An oak tree (essence) vs. a hammock hanger (accident). • A human being (essence) vs. a source of household income (accident).

42. The signs or criteria of essences • 1. Essences correspond to a shared nature, that can be the subject of scientific investigation. • We can investigate the nature of humans or oak trees, not of hammock-supports or income-sources.

43. 2. Essences provide a non-arbitrary principle for dividing the world into distinct, countable individuals. • Contrast: how many human beings are in the room? vs. How many income sources are in my brokerage account?

44. 3. Essences provide a non-arbitrary principle for identity through time. • If I disassemble and re-assemble a wooden hammock support, is it the same support? Who cares? • Is X the same person as Y? This matters.

45. Function/use • The function of a thing is part of its essence, the use we put it to is an accident. • The dog's function is to be loyal and trainable, its use is to herd sheep.

46. “Double” Truth • Some 13th century philosophers (including Siger of Brabant) were accused of holding a theory of “double” truth: that the same thing could be theologically true but scientifically false. • Aquinas vigorously opposed this distinction: philosophy and theology give us two ways of knowing the truth. Truth itself is one, indivisible.