ACS Formal Questions #2

Define and give examples of the universal, the particular, and the individual.

Universal- All things in a category (all triangles)
Particular- some things (right sided triangles)
Individual- one thing (specific and certain triangle)

What language is the Old Testament in?

Hebrew

What language is the New Testament in?

Greek

How might you translate Genesis?

Creation and becoming

What kind of term would Genesis be for a platonist?

Ontological- The theory or study of being or reality

In Genesis, everything is said to be ___?

Good

The Tree of Knowledge is said to be what?

Good and evil

How is the acquisition of knowledge in Genesis ambiguous? How is it good? Bad?

More knowledge equals more divine and god-like. Knowing evil is the loss of innocence, no longer in harmony with nature. We can now choose between good and evil, leaving our lives up to free-will.

What does Pneuma mean?

Spirit or breath. A vehicle for divine reason.

What is the definition of parable?

A short allegorical story designed to convey some truth or moral lesson. It is translated to "riddle" in Hebrew

What is an allegory?

A presentation of an abstract of spiritual meaning in concrete or material lessons

According to Jesus's explanation of the parable of the sower, the sower sows what?

The word

What is the ancient Greek word for "word"?

Logos

What are other words for logos?

Word, speech, reason

Why does the concept of logos require the use of a parable?

The concept is difficult because it is transcendent and imminent at the same time. We need to be exposed to some faction of logos in our imminent experience, but we need to understand in deeper meaning how it points to transcending. It needs to point beyond its concrete meaning

Where does Augustine grow up and where is it?

Thagaste in Northern Africa

How is Augustine's geographic location reflected in his family?

Father- Roman and Pagan
Mother- From the area and Christian

Who is Plotinus?

Greatest of the Neoplatonists who are followers of Plato. He is Egyptian, Greek speaking who has great influence in Rome. Works get translated into Latin while in Rome, which Augustine is able to connect through. Augustine struggles with Greek

According to Augustine, how and why do we acquire language?

We acquire language through a collection of sounds. We get a sense of space in order to have relative space to others. We try to communicate our wants to others. We learn to associate certain words to certain wants from our interior desires. Once others understand our needs, we need to accept others wants and desires now. We lose our innocence.

What does Augustine think is the only innocent part of a baby?

Their physical body and frame

What does Augustine study in Carthage?

Rhetoric

Why does Augustine start reading Ciceros book?

Required to read it through his studies. Wishes to read it because he wants to master rhetoric and become more eloquent.

What happens when Augustine starts to read Hortensious?

Starts reading it to gain skill but gets affected by its deeper meaning. The inner spring that is mentioned, the exhortation to philosophy, is what he connects to. It ends up changing his nature of prayers and desires, realizing that he is self-absorbed. He makes an ascent to higher level of wisdom where he can see his desires as self absorbed and in vain.

What is the Hortensious lacking?

Christ

What does he think of scripture now?

Thinks it is surface level reading where he cannot access it's deeper meaning. Cicero is much more involved and Augustine is attached to his deeper meanings.

According to Diatima, how do we come to have knowledge of the beautiful?

We begin with intense physical love, only loving for physical appearance. Then we move to the attraction of the mind, then we begin to love nature, and all higher forms of society.

How may we characterize the beautiful?

Invariant, unchanging, eternal,absolute

How can we characterize the beautiful as absolute?

Low levels of ascent are relative. Higher levels are completely objective and more intellectual/conceptual

What is the definition of ontology?

The theory of logic of reality

What are the two parts of platonic conceptions of reality?

Being (eternal, unchanging) and becoming (Comes into existence and passes away)

Which is more real to the Platonists and why? Being or becoming?

Being is universal and particular. It is original.

What does it mean to behold beauty with the eye of the mind?

With only our eyes, we are subjective to our minds. With the eyes of our mind, we are at a more conceptual level and invariant to level of society. We see with our mind rather than a base form of our eyes.