REL 300 (EXAM 1)

The significance of Augustine’s story of his childhood (Book 1)

Describing the human condition ; Without God we are lost ; Story of his childhood, show us the perspective of the human condition and how he worked his way out it

The Pear theft…both in his analysis and my interpretation (Book 2)

We all have an innate desire to be like God ; Stealing the pear is like being able to have power ; He tried to imitating God (not like his image way) but imitate his power ; It’s not just one a stealing sin, but it’s all sins we do that are stupid because you will never be God, not matter how hard you try

The metaphor of the Theater

Dramatize his inner self ; A metaphor because it is another image of the human condition ; Says that society creates an imaginary world of masks and roles of thoughts and feelings we have that are not grounded in reality ; The question that is raised “how do we get out of it?” of being in a false imagination into something true and real

The Death of Augustine’s friend

Augustine's friend's death teaches him that loving temporary things as if they were permanent leads to suffering, because only God can provide the lasting happiness and stability he is seeking.

The way out of the theater (Cicero & Manicheanism)

the “exit” from the theater is turning away from entertainment and temporary emotional pleasure toward the search for truth. Cicero’s philosophy begins that search, although Augustine initially takes a wrong turn with the Manichees before eventually finding truth in Christianity.

The famous orator Augustine admired

Augustine admired the famous orator Hierius because of his reputation, intelligence, eloquence, and success, even though he had never met him, showing how Augustine was attracted to worldly fame and the image of greatness rather than knowing whether Hierius was truly wise or virtuous.

Augustine and Manicheanism

He was attracted to manicism because of the offer of having absolute truth; it is a simple easy way to deal with augustine’s weakness, because it said that you are not responsible for your own weakness, it is these outside forces that make you weak, so he had an excuse

The Story of the Drunk Beggar

Going to give a speech to honor the emperor ; Sees a homeless guy that is drunk in the middle of the day, but he is happy and wishing everyone luck ; Augustine looks at him and says that “he is cheerful, and i am a nervous wreck”, why is he happy and I am not; my ambitions are more long term so there is more room to fail ; If all you want is to be happy how can you justify taking the long way there instead of the short way

Augustine’s relationship to Ambrose and his preaching

Ambrose is greater emperor and speaker at the time ; Augustine still doesn’t believe in the bible ; Listens to ambrose explains problems that manicies raises and it makes sense to him ; Catholic church promises, not truth, but faith, and Augustine had a problem with that ; Contrasted with manicism promises and how weird and all over the places there promises were because you in a sense made it up

The Story of Faustus the Manichee

Faustus was also a good speaker ; Can’t answer augustine’s questions about science and truth ; Augustine says that ignorance of science is compatible with authentic piety but not if you are a follower manicism ; Faustus wasn’t not up to date with the latest theories of science, and manicism is involved with all types of sciences, augustine says that you can be a christian and be ignorance of science and be fine, but if you are a manicist, you can not be ignorant of science

Reason

is the power to see, understand or comprehend relationships, especially causal and logical relationships

Observation

the skill of focusing intently on the appearance of something, how an object affects the five senses

Common Sense

relationship/ connection between a thing and us, how they affect us in practical ways; practical wisdom; “when you do this, that happens”

Scientific or Critical Thought

we are exterior to it; relationship between things and things

Thoughtfulness

attempts to take into account the self and other objects and the relationship between them

Introspection

the attempt to looking within the self as it is apart from the experience of external objects; works to isolate, observe and relate distinct feelings, moods, memories, ideas, and values in the mind or soul.

Thoughtlessness

we don’t think about our subjective connection to the object of thought; It is the absence of awareness of the self and of questioning of the self. Lecture #2 on Three worldviews ; What are the three historic ways of looking at the world and what are the characteristics of each?

Mythological (3 historic ways of looking at the world)

the universe as a living organism filled with life forces, spirits, and gods who explain the natural world and its origins

• Leading metaphor for unity: living organism

• Everything in the cosmos shares the same life-force

• The origin of universe is explained by myth or story

• Events originate in the will of some personal agent; asks “Who did it?”

Rational aesthetic (3 historic ways of looking at the world)

looks at the world as a rationally coherent, harmonious and beautiful creation of the one God

• Leading metaphor for unity: A work of Art

• Cosmos is a multi-leveled hierarchy of different levels of value and perfection (heaven to earth)

• Abstract reason dominates imagination as a way of making sense of the world

• Events happen because they’re part of a chain of causes leading to first cause

Empirical/ Mechanical Way (3 historic ways of looking at the world)

the world is a spiritless self-sustaining machine, can’t see a spiritual force or God at work

• Leading metaphor for unity: a giant machine

• The cosmos flatten into one level of reality

• Reductionism: with God absent, you can explain everything to same physical laws and matter

• Naturalism: God is irrelevant in relation to the world and has no power in it’s life

• Dualism: radical split of human spirit between the physical world and views values, beliefs, and emotions as subjective rather than scientific knowledge

What is Plato's view of the movement of the heavens and the nature of the world soul?

For Plato soul is the non-material capacity for self-movement. Matter is inert and must be moved by soul. Hence, all movement, celestial and well as terrestrial is caused by soul. All things in the heavens are moved by soul, the world soul. The world soul moves in concentric circular levels. These circular spheres rotate with circular motion which is that most like eternity which is at rest.

• Everything revolves around earth

• Anytime you see something moving it means it has soul

• There is a world soul

• Levels of world soul (movement of same (stars) and movement of different (planets))

• Some moved together and some different

In what ways does Aristotle's view of the universe differ from Plato's?

1. Celestial spheres and stars are made of a different kind of matter, pure and more susceptible to the formation by mind: quintessence (fifth essence) or ether.

2. 55 intermediate spheres rotating in oblique directions account for the observed motions of the wandering stars (the planets).

3. The Concept of "dignity" or "nobility": elements closer to the earth have less dignity (perfection) than those further away.

• Added to plato

• He tried to see more subtle movements

• Quintessence - things in the heavens are made of a 5th element

• things behave so differently than earth

• Nobility - things in the heavens are just better than earth

How does Aristotle's theory of the unmoved mover support a spiritual view of the world?

Outside the changing world of even the highest sphere lies the eternal, never moving, never changing Perfection.

Everything is moved/changed by something → but that chain can't go back forever → therefore, there must be something that started the chain without being moved itself = the Unmoved Mover.

supports a spiritual view because it proposes an eternal, unchanging, immaterial source behind the physical world, showing that reality cannot be explained by matter and physical causes alone.

What part did the belief that matter cannot move itself play in supporting a spiritual worldview?

Unmoved mover moves everything! - the least change (a butterfly flying) has to be worked all the back up the chain to the unmoved mover (to God)

Matter can not move itself, so since the earth is in constant motion, we need an explanation, so we knows that there is a spiritual component to the world

What was Copernicus's new theory?

Sun centered explanation for movement ; The sun is stationary, and the planets revolve around it and orbit it

What discovery of Kepler's made Aristotle's principle of circular movement obsolete?

Discovered elliptical orbit of mars - previously thought everything moved in perfect circles, but realized it isn’t

In what ways did Galileo’s philosophy of science differ from Aristotle’s philosophy of science?

It is not trying to explain everything about everything, instead answering two questions “how much?” as in quantity, and “how do I make it happen?” as in efficient causality ; Was a mathematician - we can measure the quantity with atoms and moleculars

Which one of Aristotle’s 10 categories did Galileo preserve in his science and why?

Picked quantity! - that was can be expressed through numbers

Which one of Aristotle’s 4 causes did Galileo preserve in his science and why?

Picked efficient quality cause - the power that brought together the matter and form

What were Galileo's astronomical discoveries, and in what ways did these discoveries challenge the accepted science?

• Many more stars!

• Jupiters 4 moons that orbit jupiter

• Moon was not smooth

• How could you get more knowledge about cosmology without technology without a telescope?

• Clearly not everything revolves around earth - empirical reputation

Explain Galileo's distinction between primary and secondary qualities, and what is its significance for the question of God and God’s relationship to the world?

• The world you see - the colors, textures, smell, taste - it only exist in your mind - secondary qualities

• All you can really know about the world is what you can put in number/ mathematics; only primary are real

• The things that make our world moral, etc (human qualities) are naively attributed to the world only through our minds

• God relation to the world? effects / hints the message of a divine mind in the distinction, all of a sudden we become deaf to that; the world that is warm maybe really isn’t? Places in doubt to the creator

What is the “logic of reduction,” and what is its significance for the question of God and God’s relationship to the world?

• Mechanical bits are put in relationship to space; you can’t look at something and know everything about it, you have to break it down

• Meaning? The inner world (of something) no longer has any real being, the real being is the parts of which it is made

• raises the question of whether the chain of explanations must ultimately end in an independent, ultimate reality God rather than continuing indefinitely.

How did Descartes resolve the tension between the new mechanical science and the existence of God and the human soul?

• If we are continue to believe that human beings are more than mechanical body, we need a strong ground

• “I know that I am a mind because I am thinking”

• Grounded our knowledge of spirituality of the indupputability of one’s own mind

• used “I think, therefore I am” and belief in God to argue that both the mind/soul and the physical world are real, creating a dualism where the mind is separate from the body and matter

How did Newton resolve the tension between the new mechanical science and the existence of God?

• Had the same problem as above

• The world had a beginning - because of inertia

• But bc of universal gravitation - you need an explanation of why the world is not in one place? There must have been a creator!

• Newton believed the universe works like a machine according to scientific laws, but God created the universe, gave it its initial motion, and guarantees that absolute space and time exist.

How did the French D'Holbach and Diderot transform Newton's theories into atheism?

These two people took newtons idea and challenge the idea that matter is inert - we don’t need God, we don’t need an explanation of movement and change!

• Diderot - matter can move itself

• D’ Holbach - Everything that is known is only by sense experience and everything that can be understood must be explained by physics

• 3 reasons - material world is obvious, problem of evil (perfect god should be perfect world), and belief in God makes no difference

• it is doesn’t fit in a mathematical formula, it doesn't exist

What is secularization, and what are its three forms?

Def - the removal of the religious elements from a sector of human experience.

1. Secularization of state - religion is removed from government and law

2. Secularization of society - removal of religion from social sectors, such as science, education, and economy

3. Secularization of individuals - removal of religion from individual consciousness, stops people from being religious

Describe Hobbes's political philosophy

ORDER

A rational theory of state must be founded on human nature, primitively humans base everything they do on reason/ self interest for pleasure/ avoiding pain, and there is no law to enforce it, everyone has a right to everything, so the rational thing to do would be to contract all your rights to an absolute sovereign who can impose law and order

Describe Locke's political philosophy

NATURAL RIGHTS

Human have natural rights: life, liberty, and property, which need the protection of the state and law, so the state’s function is to protect certain basic natural rights, they possess them and lawfully rebel against the state that abuses it

Describe Rawls's political philosophy

FAIRNESS

A pre-birth conference and agreement in which we decide what sort of government we want to be born into, we construct the rules and law for how went to be governed, reason/ self interest would push fairness, even the least is included because it might be you, wants liberal democracy toward welfare state

In what ways do the political thinkers (Hobbes, Locke, and Rawls) theories differ, and how do they overlap? (Differences)

• Hobbes: People are naturally self-interested and need an absolute government to maintain order. People give up their rights to the state.

• Locke: People have natural rights—life, liberty, and property—given by God. The government’s job is to protect these rights, and people can rebel if it fails.

• Rawls: Uses reason and self-interest but does not rely on God or natural rights. His goal is a fair society that protects the least advantaged.

In what ways do the political thinkers (Hobbes, Locke, and Rawls) theories differ, and how do they overlap? (Similarities)

All three believe that government is created through an agreement/contract between people and that reason and self-interest help determine how society should be organized.

In what ways do the political thinkers (Hobbes, Locke, and Rawls) theories differ, and how do they overlap? (Hobbes vs. Locke)

• Similar: Both believe the government is created through a social contract and that people use reason and self-interest to create government.

• Different: Hobbes believes people should give up most/all rights to an absolute ruler for protection and order. Locke believes people keep their natural rights (life, liberty, property) and can rebel against an abusive government.

In what ways do the political thinkers (Hobbes, Locke, and Rawls) theories differ, and how do they overlap? (Locke vs. Rawls)

• Similar: Both believe government should protect people and create a fair society.

• Different: Locke bases rights on God and natural law, while Rawls does not rely on God or natural rights. Rawls focuses on fairness for everyone, especially the least advantaged.

In what ways do the political thinkers (Hobbes, Locke, and Rawls) theories differ, and how do they overlap? (Hobbes vs. Rawls)

• Similar: Both rely mainly on reason and self-interest rather than God-given natural rights.

• Different: Hobbes uses this to justify a powerful absolute government for order, while Rawls uses it to justify a fair and democratic government that protects the least advantaged. Lecture #7 on the modern view of knowledge

What is the traditional view of knowledge, expertise and wisdom and how does the modern/enlightenment view differ?

• Traditional view: Knowledge came mainly from God, Scripture, and the Church. Experts and authorities were trusted because they preserved and taught this knowledge. Wisdom was connected to knowledge of God.

• Enlightenment view: Knowledge became based more on individual reason, personal experience, and evidence. People were encouraged to question traditional authorities and decide what was true for themselves.

Simple difference: Traditional = trust authority and tradition; Enlightenment = use reason and evidence for yourself.

What is Evidentialism, and what was its original purpose?

• Def - the belief that we should only believe something when there is enough evidence or good reason to support it; it means to be a rational person; found your philosophy in life on things that clear and certain ;

• Its original purpose was to challenge traditional authorities, medieval philosophy, and superstition and establish new rules for what should count as knowledge.

How does Evidentialism favor skepticism over belief?

Evidentialism can favor skepticism because skeptics don't have to prove that something is false, they only have to say there isn't enough evidence to believe it.

How did Evidentialism promote the secularization of the modern world?

• Evidentialism helped secularization by making religious belief subject to the same demand for evidence as other knowledge

• Evidentialism made people question religious authority, which eventually made it possible for society to function independently of religion and the Church

The Modern Self: The narrative of inwardness.

Characteristics of Inwardness

• Inwardness

• Self-awareness

• Individual autonomy

• Reason

• Free will

• Personal dignity

• Subjective meaning

Premodern Self

• Identity was based more on external sources.

• People looked to God, nature, society, and the cosmic order for meaning.

• The good was considered objective and existed outside the individual.

• People were expected to conform to an external moral order.

• Dignity came from things like honor, virtue, and one's place in society.

Main change: The source of identity and moral authority moved from outside the person → inside the person.

The Modern Self: the narrative of Affirmation of ordinary life

Affirmation of Ordinary Life Characteristics

• Ordinary life is valuable

• Fulfillment is accessible to everyone

• Natural desires matter

• Individual dignity

• Internal morality

• Self-love and reason

• Less focus on sacrifice

Premodern Self

• Ordinary life was considered good but not the highest goal

• Higher callings were valued (Military glory and heroic actions)

• Wisdom and civic virtue

• Monastic or religious life

• Total dedication to God

• Fulfillment was often associated with extraordinary achievement, sacrifice, or spiritual excellence.

• Society had a hierarchy of ways of living, with certain lifestyles considered more spiritually valuable than ordinary work, marriage, and family

Main Change: Ordinary life went from being good but secondary → being the highest and most important form of human life. ; Define and list the specific identifying characteristics of the modern self as

The Modern Self: narrative of Expressive view of the self.

• Expressive View of the Self characteristics

  • Inner voice

  • Self-expression

  • Authenticity

  • Individual uniqueness

  • Personal freedom

  • Self-definition

  • Internal source of morality

  • Fullness

• Premodern Self

  • Authenticity meant conforming to an external truth or moral order.

  • People looked to God, Scripture, tradition, and objective moral laws to determine how they should live.

  • Personal desires and impulses could not automatically be trusted.

  • People were expected to discipline their desires and conform to a higher moral standard.

  • The goal was to become good by aligning yourself with an objective good outside yourself.

Main change: The goal of authentic selfhood moved from conforming to an external moral truth → expressing your unique

How did Galileo, Descartes, Locke, Perkins, and Tindal, each in his own way, contribute to the formation of the modern self? Galileo

“The external world is a material machine.”

helped establish the idea that the physical world operates like a machine, separating the material world from the mind

How did Galileo, Descartes, Locke, Perkins, and Tindal, each in his own way, contribute to the formation of the modern self? Descartes

“Freewill is in itself the noblest thing we can have...”

“I think therefore I am.”

Descartes emphasizes free will, the thinking mind, and the individual's ability to reason, which are important parts of the modern self.

How did Galileo, Descartes, Locke, Perkins, and Tindal, each in his own way, contribute to the formation of the modern self? Locke

“The desire, strong desire, of Preserving his Life and Being…”

“Human nature seeks only pleasure and wishes to avoid only pain.”

Locke connects the self to individual desires, pleasure, pain, and reason, moving toward a more autonomous view of the individual.

How did Galileo, Descartes, Locke, Perkins, and Tindal, each in his own way, contribute to the formation of the modern self? Perkins

“The meaneness of the calling, doth not abase the goodnesse of the worke.”

Perkins argues that ordinary work has dignity, helping establish the modern idea that people can find value and fulfillment in everyday life.

Tindal

“Whoever so regulates his natural appetites as will conduce most to the exercise of his reason, the health of his body and the pleasures of his senses…”

Tindal emphasizes natural desires, reason, health, and pleasure, showing the movement toward the idea that ordinary happiness and personal fulfillment are enough.

How did Galileo, Descartes, Locke, Perkins, and Tindal, each in his own way, contribute to the formation of the modern self? Easy Way to Remember

• Galileo → World is a machine

• Descartes → Self is a thinking mind

• Locke → Self is an independent individual

• Perkins → Ordinary life has dignity

• Tindal → Ordinary life + natural desires = happiness

How does each historical narrative contribute to the formation of the modern self in the following moral sources or goods? Inwardness

1. Respect: We respect others because they are autonomous individuals who can use reason to control themselves.

2. Fullness: A fulfilling life comes from self-control, using reason, and controlling your passions and actions.

3. Dignity: Dignity comes from inner integrity, free will, and the ability to control yourself.

Main idea: The source of the good moves inside the individual.

How does each historical narrative contribute to the formation of the modern self in the following moral sources or goods? Affirmation of Ordinary Life

1. Respect: Everyone deserves respect because ordinary people and ordinary work have value, not just heroes or religious elites.

2. Fullness: Fulfillment can be found in ordinary life, such as marriage, children, work, play, and everyday happiness.

3. Dignity: Everyone has dignity because they can live a good and meaningful ordinary life, rather than needing to achieve something extraordinary.

Main idea: The good life moves from extraordinary/elite living → ordinary everyday life.

Expressive View of Nature

1. Respect: We respect others because each person has a unique inner nature that deserves freedom to express itself.

2. Fullness: Fulfillment comes from discovering and expressing your unique self.

3. Dignity: Dignity comes from your uniqueness, autonomy, and ability to define and express yourself.

Main idea: The good life becomes being authentic and expressing your unique inner self.

How does the modern look when all three narratives and the three moral goods are combined to form a composite picture?

The modern self is an autonomous, inward-looking individual who seeks fulfillment through ordinary life and authentic self-expression, while believing that each person has inherent dignity and deserves respect because of their unique individuality.

Easy formula: Modern Self = Inwardness + Ordinary Life + Self-Expression → Respect + Fullness + Dignity