Philosophy: Christian, Jewish, and Islam Questions

Who was Augustine and what was important about his Confessions? (C)

A Christian philosopher. In his Confessions, he reflected on his past of sinning and about his journey towards God. He also talked about divine grace.

How did Augustine explain why evil exists in a world created by a God who is good? (C)

He said that evil isn't actually a thing and instead it can be seen as a lack of good.

What did Lady Philosophy teach Boethius? (C)

She taught him that true happiness is not dependent on money, power, or fame, but that it comes from inner virtue and a relationship with God.

What was Anselm arguing for in his Proslogian? (C)

Anselm had an argument called the ontological argument, which stated that if God was the greatest being, he must exist.

What are Thomas Aquinas' 'Five Ways?' (C)

Thomas' 'Five Ways' are arguments that prove God exists.

How did St. Thomas Aquinas use Aristotle's philosophy to argue for the existence of God? (C)

Aquinas used Aristotle's concept of the unmoved mover (something that causes motion without being moved) and the fact that everything needs a cause to show God as the origin of all things.

How did Christian philosophy influence medieval universities and monasteries in Europe? (C)

Philosophy encouraged logical thinking, ethics, and the study of God's creation in universities and monasteries.

What are the "Five Ways" for proving God's existence according to Aquinas? (C)

They are motion, causation, contingency, degree, and teleology.

What did Augustine say about God's plan and his creation? (C)

Augustine held that all of creation was good simply by virtue of the fact that God had created it, nothing in God's creation is evil

What is "natural law"? (C)

Moral rules built into nature by God that humans can't find through reason alone.

How did Christian philosophers see the relationship between faith and reason? (C)

They tried to balance faith with reason and looked at how philosophical reasoning could support religious beliefs?

Who wrote the Proslogion? (C)

Anselm

What school of thought is Anselm, Bishop of Canterbury, said to be the founder of? (C)

Scholasticism

What does Augustine say about God's creation? (C)

All of creation is good simply by virtue be God created it. Nothing in God's creation is evil (they are all part of God's plan).

What does the unmoved mover mean? (C)

The one who put all the entities into motion and the first cause of everything that exists.

What did Augustine say about Free Will? (C)

There are two wills: one desires good while the other desires sin

What Lesson is learned in the Consolation of Philosophy (C)?

The lesson learned is: True good and happiness is found in God

How did Anslem have an impact on St. Thomas Aquinas (C)?

Anselm Impacted St. Thomas Aquinas by creating the School that S.T.A was a part of.

What idea do Christian Philosophers share with Jews? (C)

The belief that one God created the heavens and the earth.

How was Augustine's work, confession, influential to Christianity? (C)

Augustine's work, the confessions, was influential to Christianity, because he used his own life story and turned to Christianity, for an understanding of God's universe and humanity's place within it.

How did Augustine's Confessions use personal experience to explore philosophical and theological questions? (C)

Augustine's Confessions used his life story to explore deep questions about sin, free will, and God's grace. Through his experience, Augustine connects introspection to theology.

What was Augustine's view on the relationship between free will & divine grace? (C)

Augustine taught that humans have free will, but only divine grace enables them to choose good. Without God's grace, human will is weakened by sin.

How did the development of universities at monasteries influence the evolution of Christian philosophy? (C)

The rise of universities & monasteries provided centers for intellectual and theological study. These institutions preserved classical texts, promoted scholastic methods, and encouraged systematic discussion of faith & reason.

What is "scholasticism" in Christian philosophy? (C)

Medieval Christian philosophical method that sought to use reason and logic to defend Christian doctrine

How does Christian philosophy differ from "classical" philosophy? (C)

Unlike classical philosophy which often starts purely with reason and nature, Christian philosophy begins within a religious context, and the philosophers work with both philosophical reasoning and religious commitment

What philosophical connection did Maimonides and Levi ben Gershom attempt to establish? (J)

They south to relate to reason to Jewish scripture

Did Berkovits think Spinoza should be considered a Jewish philosopher? Why or why not? (J)

No, because he didn't start from a blank slate and rather had events and facts to go off of.

What challenge did Jewish philosophers face in their religious texts? (J)

They had to find how to balance religious beliefs and explore new ideas.

What made Spinoza's ideas different? (J)

His philosophy did not rely on religious scripture and this challenged the traditional Jewish beliefs.

What is the name of the philosopher who was the 1st jew to attempt to use Greek philosophy to justify Judaism? (J)

Philo (of Alexandria)

How was Philo's fusion of Greek & Jewish Philosophy significant? (J)

Philo's fusion was significant b/w Greek & Jewish philosophy because it laid the foundation for early Christian doctrine, and his scholarship was preserved by the Christian community.

What led to the Hellenization of Jewish communities following Alexander the Great's conquests? (J)

Hellenization spread after Alexander the Great's conquests because Greek language, education, and culture became dominant in regions he controlled, influencing local Jewish communities socially and intellectually.

What did the Muslim world safeguard? (I)

The teaching of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers.

How did the Proof of the Truthful prove the existence of God? (I)

The Proof of the Truthful proved God's existence by stating that a nonmaterial entity (God) will be required to make a material/changing world.

When was the 'Golden Age of Islam?' (I)

Roughly 8th to 13th century

What are the 5 Animal Senses? (I)

Sight, Smell, Touch, Taste, Hearing

What are the 2 Human Senses? (I)

Memory and Imagination

What is Averroes known for? (I)

He defended Aristotle's philosophy and argued that philosophy supports religions truth, not contradicts it

How did Islamic philosophy impact Europe? (I)

It preserved and expanded Greek philosophy, later translating works into Latin, influencing medieval European thought