Rome and the Medieval Period

1. Rome and the Medieval Period 404 BC – 1500 AD

2. QUICK FACTS • Classical period covers most of the history of Ancient Greece • 510 - 404 BC • Hellenistic period covers the time between the dissolution of the Greek-city states and the emergence of Roman Empire (31 BC) • 404 BC -500 AD • Medieval period covers the time from the fall of the Roman empire to the rise of the Ottoman empire • 500 AD-1500 AD

3. Overview of Hellenistic & Medieval Period • Greece was incorporated into the Roman Empire • The center of learning shifted from Athens to Alexandria in Egypt • Greek theoretical speculations were rejected and condemned • Neoplatonistic ideas informed the emergence of Christianity • The decline of Roman Empire marshalled the ‘Dark Ages’

4. Intellectual Climate of Hellenestic and Medieval Period • Lack of interests in the empirical evaluation of scientific theories • Most of their theories were based on classical and theological authorities.

5. The ROMAN AGE 1st CE to 5th century CE

6. HOW IT IS BEST TO LIVE? • WHAT IS THE NATURE OF GOOD LIFE? • WHAT IS WORTH BELIEVING IN? • WHY DO WE PURSUE HAPPINESS?

7. The Hellenistic Period • The theoretical speculations of early Greek thinker were rejected and replaced by more practical philosophies of life • Many new schools of thought emerged • They advocated the suspension of beliefs and recommended that people follow the local and moral religious practices • Subsequently, conventional morality was refuted and life of independence was recommended

8. Skepticism • Founded by Pyrrho of Elis (360-270 BC) • They had much in common with early Sophists because they target dogmatism (arriving at an indisputable truth) • There should be doubt in seeking truth • People’s life should be guided by the appearances (simple sensations) and convention (traditions, laws, customs) • People should follow religious codes and morals prevalent in the society

9. Skepticism • Radical doubt as the stepping stone for reaching conclusions that cannot be doubted • Antecedents of skepticism • Democritus’ idea of atomism (Nothing is but atom and void) • e.g., perceptible qualities are nothing but atoms • Beliefs would give rise to disturbance.. Disbelief would lead to tranquility • Ignorance is better than knowledge (nature of things are unknowable)

10. Class Interaction WHY WOULD A LIFE WITHOUT BELIEF BE A LIFE OF CALM AND A LIFE FREE OF TROUBLE?

11. Cynicism • Important figures: Antisthenes & Diogenes • They were called Cynics by the virtue of the primitive form of life they advocated and exemplified • They demonstrate contempt for ease and pleasure… a life free from wants and passions • Society’s standard is a distortion and should be avoided • Happiness depended on self-sufficiency-a quest for an simple independent and natural life • Nonhuman animals provide the best conduct for men

12. Cynicism • It should be nature and not social convention that should guide human behavior • Cynics has firm disbelief about the importance of religion • “Nothing natural can be bad” • Natural desires are best satisfied in the easiest, cheapest, and most practical way • Largely influenced humanistic psychology

13. ALL THE THINGS THAT WE HAVE RIGHT NOW, ALL THE PLEASURE AND COMFORT THEY GIVE ARE HELD TO BE WORTHLESS. IT IS TIME TO GO BACK TO NATURE

14. Epicureanism • Important Figure: EPICURUS of Samos • Developed a philosophy of happiness grounded on Democritean atomism but rejected determinism • It is the nature of atoms an atomic activity that gave humans their freedom not a disembodied soul • Like Democritus, believed that the world is physical

15. Epicureanism • A philosophy of moderation based upon choice, reason, and discipline • Intense pleasure was to be avoided because it is always followed by pain • Believed that fame and power makes others envious • Influenced the idea of hedonism (seeking pleasure and avoiding pain) • Good life is the presence of pleasure and absence of pain • Not just simple hedonism but long term happiness (balance of lack of and excess of) • Reason must be exercise to attain the good life

16. GOOD LIFE MUST BE ATTAINED IN THIS WORLD FOR THERE IS NO OTHER.

17. IDEA OF IMMORTALITY DESTROYED THE ONLY HOPE MOST PEOPLE HAD FOR ESCAPING PAIN

18. Stoicism • INFLUENTIAL FIGURE: Zeno of Citium • Everything in nature is predetermined according to a divine plan • Everyone is assigned with a role and destiny prescribed by God • The good life is accepting one’s fate • Material possessions are not of high value • The joy in life comes from knowing that you are part of a grand plan

19. Stoicism • Although there is a divine plan, there is still personal choice and freedom • Life in accordance with nature was the ultimate virtue • A life that is incompatible with nature is immoral

20. YOUR BODY CAN BE CHAINED BUT NOT YOUR WILL

22. Alexandrian Science • The center of science and learning shifted from Athens to Alexandria, as founded by Alexander the Great and Ptolemy. • The dynasty created universities and famous libraries well known for research and teaching. • The Romans were great technologians and inventors. • Science entered a progressive decline with the development of Christianity in 380 AD

23. Neoplatonism Early years of the Helennestic period

24. Neoplatonistic philosophies • Renewed interest in Plato’s philosophy in the early years of Roman empire • Focused on the mystical and spiritual elements of Plato’s philosophy rather than its critical rationalism • Ideas that became a fundamental part of Christianity

25. Philo (25 B.C. – 25 A.D. ) • Dubbed as the Jewish Plato, because his ideas were a blending of Platonism and Judaism • Creation of man as the main idea of his philosophy: human body was created from earth but human soul was part of God himself. • Life of human can be directed toward the inner light or directed toward the experiences of the flesh • Sensory experiences should be condemned because such experience interferes with a direct understanding of God

26. Philo (25 B.C. – 25 A.D.) • All knowledge comes from God • The soul must be purified and the mind free of all sensory distractions • A purified, passive mind must act as a recipient of divine illumination • Philo disagreed with Plato on introspecting the contents of the soul to reveal knowledge • Knowledge comes a direct, personal relationship with God, not sought rationally • Aside from meditation knowledge comes from dreams and trance

27. Plotinus (205-270 A.D.) • He arranged all things in a hierarch • Did not share Plato’s low opinion of sensory experience • Sensory experience is not evil, it not just as perfect as the spirit • We must aspire to learn beyond the physical world, because the truth it contained was obscure

28. Plotinus (205-270 A.D.) • Like Plato and other Neoplatonists, Plotinus saw the body as the soul’s prison • Only through intense meditation that the body can be released from the body and dwell among the eternal and the changeless • Good life is turning away from the empirical world in order to enter a union with “The One”

29. Emphasis on Spirit

30. Major Monotheistic Religions of the World

31. St. Paul 10 A.D. – 64 A.D. • Humans have been seeking atonement from our original sin and God has sacrificed his son, Jesus Christ, to atone for our shared transgression • Acceptance of Christ as the savior was the only way for redemption • Influenced by Plato that knowledge can only be attained by escaping from the influence of sensory information, however placed faith above reason

32. St. Paul 10 A.D. – 64 A.D. • The human body is divided into three parts: the body, the mind, and the spirit • The body was the cause of problems and difficulties of man • The spirit was the highly valued and is the God within us • The mind is caught between the body and the spirit • Humans are caught in an eternal struggle between sinful, bodily urges and God’s law • He had a negative attitude towards women

33. Thoughts to ponder • Given the fact that God is all knowing and all powerful, is there any room for human free will? • And given the importance of faith for salvation, what is the function or value of human reasoning? • Given that God is perfect and loving, what accounts for the evil in the world?

34. Emperor Constantine 272 A.D. – 337 A.D. • He visualized the Christian cross in the sky and attributed to it the event of eventually winning a battle • He attributes his victory to the god of the Christians. • During his time there were several conflicting versions of Christianity • Constantine’s efforts help define Christianity as a major religion in the Roman Empire

35. St. Augustine (354 A.D. – 430 A.D. • Rise of intellectual criticisms of Christianity • Christianity not only accepted simply on faith but within a philosophical framework • Combined Stoicism, Neoplatonism, and Judaism into a powerful Christian worldview • Also expressed contempt for the pleasures of the flesh • Arrival at genuine knowledge comes from the internal knowledge of the forms (universal ideas), and to the awareness of God. • Ultimate knowledge consisted of knowing God.

36. St. Augustine (354 A.D. – 430 A.D.

37. St. Augustine (354 A.D. – 430 A.D. • HOW DO WE ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD? • It doesn’t matter if we chose good over evil, or we are Christians, or not • People are chosen by God to enter heaven, it is determined by God’s grace (doctrine of predestination) • If salvation is a Gift from God, independent of one’s action, what prevents moral carelessness? • The doctrine was eventually rejected by Christian theologians

38. St. Augustine (354 A.D. – 430 A.D. • HOW DO WE KNOW GOD? • We do not have to wait for the death of our body to know God • Knowledge of God was attainable in human’s lifetime through the examination of one’s inner experiences • Faith is the most important ingredient for human existence – it carries us away from the empirical world • Augustinian introspection becomes the means of achieving a personal communion with God

39. The feeling of love that one experiences when one is contemplating God creates an ecstasy unsurpassed among human emotions. Such a goal is the primary goal of human existence. - St. Augustine

40. Homework #2 • In what unique ways did Neoplatonstic thinking influence the practices and beliefs of contemporary religion?

41. MEDIEVAL PERIOD 500 A.D.-1500 A.D.

42. Quick Facts: Medieval Period • With the defeat of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 A.D. • Marked by the death of Augustine in 430 A.D. • Deposition of Emperor Romulus Augustus in 476 A.D. • Most of the early works were destroyed or lost and later did become available to the Western Scholars • Customarily represented as hostile to scientific thinking, it involves active persecution of scientists and scholars • Civilization and learning stagnated in Europe with the Christian Church becoming more influential and powerful • Works of Aristotle were rediscovered by the Muslims in the West during the holy wars

43. The zeitgeist of the Medieval period • There were only two types of people: believers and nonbelievers. No in-betweens. • Astrology, superstition, and magic characterized all people: peasants and kings alike. • A time of dogmatism, the death of open inquiry. Inquiry was characterized by only a single paradigm: the Christian conception.

44. The Islamic Influences • Islam was a powerful force in the world • Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570 A.D. and was believed to receive a revelation from God • Within 100 years, Muslims had conquered already Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Persia, Sicily, and Spain and later became more expansive than the Roman empire • Muslims had come in contact with the ancient wisdom of Greece and Rome • However, focused mainly on Aristotle’s work to make it compatible with Islam

45. Muslim & Jewish Philosophers

46. Avicenna • A child prodigy who had memorized the Koran by age of 10 and became one of the best Muslim physicians • Had read Aristotle’s Metaphysics book, and wrote books on many topics • Most of his books were heavily borrowed from Aristotle • He employed a wide range of treatments for physical and mental illnesses • e.g., music therapy for melancholic patients

47. Avicenna • Human thinking started with the “external senses” • He then postulated about the “interior senses” which were arranged in a hierarchy • For Avicenna, the understanding of God represented the highest level of intellectual functioning (active intellect)

48. Averroës • Was also an Aristotelian • His works were commentaries on Aristotle’s philosophy with emphases on the senses, memory, sleep and waking, and dreams • He disagreed with Avicenna that human intelligence is arranged in a hierarchy with only the highest level enabling humans to have contact with God. • For him, all human experiences reflect God’s influence • Agrees with Aristotle that is the soul that survives death

49. Maimonides • A Jew physician born in Spain • Psychosomatic disorders can be explained by the relationship between ethical living and mental health • He also sought a reconciliation between Judaism and Aristotelian philosophy

50. Reconciliation of Christian Faith and Reason