Epicureans – Survival Ethics

1. Epicureans – Survival Ethics Negative Hedonism Advocated against gluttony and excess Suggest we make 3 mistakes when thinking about happiness. • Looking for love instead of friends.

2. 2. Materialism – we have to make sacrifices to get it and lack a sense that we “make a difference”. • Mistake luxury for calmness (security) There are only 3 things you need for a happy life. • Friends • Sense of personal accomplishment • Meditation to seek calmness rather than the pursuit of luxury.

3. Epicurean Communes were very common even up until the 5th century. At its peak there were 400,000 people living in communes. Christianity wiped them out, but converted them to monasteries.

4. Stoicism Anxiety - Expect the worst and you will not be disappointed. We are each stronger than we think. We will be able to survive what ever hardship makes us anxious . . . and if we cannot, there is always the option of suicide.

5. Preached that we should regularly practice the worst possible scenario to remind oneself that almost nothing material is needed for a happy life. Anger Argue it is not a natural tendency but is the result of ignorance about the nature of life. Keeping low expectations will keep us from getting hurt.

6. Rise of Christianity Christianity began in 1st century AD Jerusalem as a minor jewish sect. It spread initially in the Near East, ultimately becoming the state religion of Armenia in either 301 or 314, of Ethiopia in 325, of Georgia in 337, and then the state religion of the Roman Empire in 380. During the Age of Exploration (15th to 17th cent.), Christianity expanded throughout the world, becoming the world's largest religion.

7. St. Paul (10 – 64) Born in Tarsus (Turkey) Trained as a Rabbi in Jerusalem Combined Greek and Jewish theology with Christ’s teachings. Dualist Human body is evil Human soul (spirit) divine Like Plato saw the body as our major source of problems Unlike Plato he said faith in God (rather than reason) as the solution to the conflict..

8. 60 BC 180 AD Between 1st and 4th century – Growth of Christianity Pagan Philosophers were replaced by Patrists (Fathers of the Church) 3rd Century – Constantine adopts Christianity Battle of Milvian Bridge 2345 6 (Parts 1 and 2)

9. Roman Culture “The Romans invented no art forms, constructed no original system of philosophy. And made no scientific discoveries. They made good roads. Systematic legal codes, and efficient armies: for the rest they looked to Greece.” Bertram Russell, History of Western Philosophy. Video beginning to 19:50 After Constantine restart at 53.00

10. Autocracy - political power is held by a single self-appointed ruler.

11. Edict of Milan In February 313, Constantine I, emperor controlling the western part of the Roman Empire and Licinius, controlling the Balkans, met in Milan and, among other things, agreed to treat the Christians benevolently.

12. Plotinus – 205 – 270 Neo-Platonism Combined Plato with ethical concepts from Christianity, Judaism and Near Eastern Mysticism Like Plato – Idealist To get closest to the One, each individual must engage in divine work. Each individual as a microcosm reflects the gradual ordering of the universe referred to as the macrocosm. In mimicking the divine mind, one unites with it. Thus the process of unification, of "The Being", and "The One", making each man a God by replacing the concept of God as creator with themselves as creators, builders, craftsmen of their own lives.

13. Orthodoxy & Heresy 1st & 2nd Century – no authority = no Heresy 3rd Century – Bishop of Lyons Refutation of Heresies -

14. One of the earliest heresies to arise in the Christian church was Gnosticism Gnostics were dualists, teaching that there are two great opposing forces: good versus evil light versus darkness knowledge versus ignorance spirit versus matter. Since the world is material, and leaves much room for improvement, they denied that God had made it.

15. How can the perfect produce the imperfect, the infinite produce the finite, the spiritual produce the material? Gnostic’s solution was to say that there were thirty beings called AEons, and that God had made the first AEon, which made the second AEon, which made the third, and so on to the thirtieth AEon, which made the world.

16. They taught that Christ did not really have a material body, but only seemed to have one. It was an appearance, so that he could communicate with men, but was not really there.

17. They said that Jesus had had two doctrines: one a doctrine fit for the common man, and preached to everyone, and the other an advanced teaching, kept secret from the multitudes, fit only for the chosen few, the spiritually elite. They, the Gnostics, were the spiritually elite, and although the doctrines taught in the churches were not exactly wrong, and were in fact as close to the truth as the common man could hope to come, it was to the Gnostics that one must turn for the real truth.

18. Constantine backs the authority of the bishop and confiscates the public property of heretics. Persecuted become persecutors!

19. Augustine of Hippo(345 – 430) • one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity • Strongly influenced by Neo-Platonism. Dualist - humans have souls – animals do not. Free Will (Choice) Intrinsic motivation Doing good leads to feelings of virtue Doing evil leads to guilt. People who choose evil deny themselves an afterlife

20. Concepts of original sin and just war Unbelievers persecuted because of cruelty; Christians persecuted because of love. Science and Philosophy not in the service of theology were suspect. Roman Empire in the West was starting to disintegrate Augustine developed the concept of the Church as a spiritual City of God distinct from the material City of Man. “Give me chastity and continency, but not yet”

21. AD 385 – executions for heresy begin. • Priscillian Bishop of Villa – charges with witchcraft. Tried and Tortured; confessed and were executed. Schisms in the Church

22. 475 Fall of Rome 475 – 1000 Dark ages

24. Middle Ages (500 – 1500) • Crusades began around 1100 ad • Plague • Famine • Writings were lost to western culture

25. Saint Anselm (1033 -1109) Contrary to Christian belief he felt that reason Could help better understand God. Scholasticism – to join faith with reason Use logical deduction to account for traditional theological teachings. Ontological Argument for God’s existence If God did not exist, then something greater than He could be thought; thus, God must exist.

26. Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 -1274) Argued Reason and Faith are compatible Reintroduced Aristotle theology Tabla Rasa Empiricist Argued for the supremacy of reason – free will.

27. John Duns Scotus (1265 – 1308) Criticized both Aquinas and Aristotle Argued for the Supremacy of God’s will If God’s will is subordinate to reason then it appears that God is limited, which can not be. Thus God must be absolutely free. God’s moral rules are good because God willed them to be good, not because His wisdom recognized them to be. Thus one cannot understand morality from a rational standpoint. Dunsmen, Duncemen --- Dunces.

28. Late Middle Ages – Famine, Plague, War, Peasant Revolutions When you hit Bottom, there is no where to go but up!!!

29. Late Middle Ages William of Ockham Ockham’s Razor - the principle that when trying to choose between multiple competing theories the simplest theory is probably the best. (K.I.S.S!) Nominalist – Universals (truths) exist in name only. Charged with heresy & excommunicated.

30. The first European medieval institutions generally considered to be universities were established in Italy, France, and England in the late 11th and the 12th. Representation of a university class, (1350s).

32. RENAISSANCE

33. Lorenzo de' Medici Ruler of Florence and patron of arts Lorenzo the Magnificent The Elizabethan era (16th century to the early 17th century) - the English Renaissance with the work of writers William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, John Milton, and Edmund Spenser.

34. 1450 – first publication – the bible. by 1492 – 20 million books had been printed. 1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail.

35. Humanism The view that we can make sense of the world using reason, experience and shared human values and that we can live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs.

36. Martin Luther German father of the Protestant Reformation • Called for more personalized, less ritualized religion. • Reformation polka

37. Challenged the absolute authority of the Pope over the Church by maintaining that the doctrine of indulgences, as authorized and taught by the Pope, was wrong. • Salvation was by faith alone without reference to good works, alms, penance, or the Church's sacraments. • challenged the authority of the Church by maintaining that all doctrines and dogmata of the Church not found in Scripture should be discarded. 

39. The Edict of Worms was a decree issued on 25 May 1521 by Emperor Charles V, declaring: “For this reason we forbid anyone from this time forward to dare, either by words or by deeds, to receive, defend, sustain, or favor the said Martin Luther. On the contrary, we want him to be apprehended and punished as a notorious heretic, as he deserves, to be brought personally before us, or to be securely guarded until those who have captured him inform us, where upon we will order the appropriate manner of proceeding against the said Luther. Those who will help in his capture will be rewarded generously for their good work.”

40. John Calvin Ruled Geneva as a religious dictatorship • No drinking, dancing, icons, candles, incense and obligatory church attendance for everyone. • In Calvin’s view, Man, who is corrupt, is confronted by the omnipotent (all powerful) and omnipresent (present everywhere) God who before the world began predestined some for eternal salvation (the Elect) while the others would suffer everlasting damnation (the Reprobates).

41. The chosen few were saved by the operation of divine grace which cannot be challenged and cannot be earned by Man’s merits. You might have lead what you might have considered a perfectly good life that was true to God but if you were a reprobate you remained one because for all your qualities you were inherently corrupt and God would know this even if you did not. However, a reprobate by behaving decently could achieve an inner conviction of salvation. An Elect could never fall from grace.

42. Renaissance Science 1543 – Nicolaus Copernicus • Heleocentric view of the world. • As opposed to a ptolemic (Earth centered). • Contrary to common sense. • Biblical reference. (5 days creating earth, 1 day on universe and 1 day on resting).

43. Giordano Bruno: (1548 – 1600) • Proposed the existence of multiple suns and innumerable earths, each revolving around its own sun and potentially inhabited by sentient beings ~ a limitless universe. • Burned at the stake in 1600.

44. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Uses of the Telescope (war and business) Galileo used it to peer into the sky. His finding supported Copernicus. Pope Urban supported the publication of Copernicus but insisted on a disclaimer that Coperinicanism was a hypothesis. “Simplicius’ Disclaimer” “The Holy Spirit intended to teach us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go”.

45. "My dear Kepler, I wish that we might laugh at the remarkable stupidity of the common herd. What do you have to say about the principal philosophers of this academy who are filled with the stubbornness of an asp and do not want to look at either the planets, the moon or the telescope, even though I have freely and deliberately offered them the opportunity a thousand times? Truly, just as the asp stops its ears, so do these philosophers shut their eyes to the light of truth." In 2000, Pope John Paul II issued a formal apology for all the mistakes committed by some Catholics in the last 2,000 years of the Catholic Church's history, including the trial of Galileo among others.

46. Economy Cities and towns were centers of wealth production and of creativity. European cities expressed their sense of corporate pride and identity in public buildings – infrastructure. Economic organization within towns was usually through guilds.

47. Sir Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) If I have been able to see further, it was only because I stood on the shoulders of giants. ‘This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being. …” Sir Edmund Halley used Newton’s Laws of motion to predict the next occurrences of Halley’s comet. Count down to Armageddon

48. When a body is once in motion, it moveth, unless something else hinder it, eternally; and whatsoever hindereth it cannot in a instant, but (only) in time and by degrees, quite extinguish it; and as we see in the water, though the wind cease, the waves give not over rolling for a long time after; so also it happenth in that motion that is made in the internal parts of a man, then, when he sees, dreams, etc. For after the object is removed, if the eye shut, we still retain an image of the things seen, though more obscure than when it was seen.

49. Invisible Colleges The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge” - common theme was to acquire knowledge through experimental investigation

50. Sir Francis Bacon (1605) When I set before the conditions of these times, in which learning hath made her third visitation or circuit, in all the qualities thereof: the excellence and vivacity of the wits of this age, the noble and lights which we have the travails of ancient writers: the art of printing, which communicateth books to men of all fortunes: the openness of the world by navigation, which hath disclosed multitudes of experiments, and a mass of natural history …I can not but be raised to this persuasion, that this third period of time will far surpass that of the Graecian and Roman learning.