HUMANITIES: SHORT REVIEW OF
MEDIEVAL ERA
HUM2230 – Lec1_Medieval - power point notes
(2) Augustine of Hippo
City of
Theologian and philosopher
Some think Augustine has been the
most influential person for
Still influential.
Window of
(3) Augustine: Original Sin
Augustine’s formulation of the doctrine of original sin was confirmed at numerous Church Councils (418, 431, 529) and by popes – e.g. Pope Innocent (401-417).
(click) Augustine’s Confessions – still widely read.
Augustine was living in a basically pagan world. Common religions of his day was the source of dreadful stories of the dead. Beliefs in meddling and vengeful gods were the source of man’s fears.
Epicurianism, Stoicism – both undergirded by Atomism. Epicureans want to use free will to pursue a pleasurable life.
Once you understand the makeup of the world (atoms) then one can see that good and evil are merely measurements of pleasure and pain.
Stoics want to keep wills in harmony with nature. Atoms were not merely ‘hooked together,’ rather there is a unified whole ordered by a rational principle (logos).
The whole totality, then, is divine and the Stoic god is immanent in the world. (monism)
Academic Skeptics – did not deny materialism;
just thought there was not way to discover and learn about underlying reality
– it is NOT valid to assume the mind can figure things out.
(click) Augustine – Confessions tell of his journey in search of TRUTH
(4) Augustine’s Search for TRUTH
Augustine desperately seeking TRUTH. Read all kinds of ideas from various writers and philosophies.
Became clear, via Platonism writings, that all things subject to corruption are GOOD – if deprived of ALL good, they would cease to exist altogether.
EVIL was not, therefore, a substance – if it were a substance, it would be good
EVIL was merely an absence of good.
The more you recognize the fragility of life, the more you are going to be thankful for your ‘free will’ choice
If I were not predestined, I would not be in a position to thank God.
Predestination protects thankfulness. You have free will, but since God knows everything, he already knows whether or not you will choose him (before you are born) – in that sense, you are predestined.
Secular Humanists – we’ll look at them coming into the Renaissance – think that human nature is perfectible.
(5) Augustine’s main outlook
(6) St. Thomas Acquinas
(1225-1274
Thomas of Acquin – often referred to as Thomas because Acuqinas refers to his residence rather than his surname.
Thomistic school of philosophy and theology.
Much modern philosophy was a reaction against, or as an agreement with his ideas – ethics, natural law, and political theory.
Considered by many to be the Church’s greatest theologian and philosopher.
During the 13th century, Saint Thomas Aquinas sought to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with Augustinian theology.
Aquinas employed both reason and faith in the study of metaphysics, moral philosophy, and religion.
While Aquinas accepted the
existence of God on faith, he offered five proofs of God’s existence to support
such a belief.
(rationalism)
(7) Double Truth Theory
As close as I could translate, that is the title of this artwork, painted by Benuzzo Gozzoli (1468-1484 ?), oil on wood.
Averroes was the Muslim translator and interpreter of Aristotle’s works – extremely influential in that part of the world during the Middle Ages.
Islamic scholars – many thought that Aristotle was ‘telling the truth,’ which was inconsistent with the teachings of Islam.
Many tried to make them come together. Averroes explained the important roles of reason and the philosophers . . .
And logic must be learned from the ancient masters, regardless of the fact that they were not Muslims.
There was much controversy within the church regarding some of Thomas’ interpretations of Aristotle.
The Church was alarmed by Averroists.
Thomas condemned some of Averroes interpretations.
However, Thomas was working with the same basic problem as Averroes
– he had to struggle with parts of Aristotle’s philosophy that came in conflict with Christian doctrine.
The attempt reconcile Aristotle’s ideas with orthodox theology entailed the double truth theory.
[Frederick Coppleston explains that] this theory “does not mean that a proposition can be true in philosophy and false in theology or vice versa;
rather, that one and the same truth is understood clearly in philosophy and expressed allegorically in theology.”
It is the philosopher who determines what needs to be interpreted allegorically.
Averroes, in particular, had disdain for fideistic conservatives.
It was this attitude which led to burning of philosophic works and prohibition of the study of Greek philosophy.(2, 199)
Averroes says that faith is for the people who are not capable of finding the truth through reason,
--- and believed that God gave us the Koran because very few are able to come to theoretical truth. (6, Mar. 21)
Averroes states: All Muslims accept the principle of allegorical interpretation; they only disagree about the extent of its application.
. . . The double meaning has been given to suit people’s diverse intelligence. The apparent contradictions are meant to stimulate the learned to deeper study. (4, 303)
(8) Acquinas: Faith and Reason
Some aspects of the nature of God can only come through Revelation – such as the nature of the Trinity
Theology for Aquinas is like an applied science which tries to make sense of revelation.
Aquinas does not give reason priority over revelation, but he does agree with Averroes that only a few would come to God by the light of reason:
“. . . For the truth about God, such as reason can know it, would only be known by a few, and that after a long time, and with the admixture of many errors; whereas man’s whole salvation, which is in God, depends upon the knowledge of this truth. . . .It was therefore necessary that, besides the philosophical sciences investigated by reason, there should be a sacred science by way of revelation.” (refer to my essay 4, 516)
(9) Acquinas: General theme
Although he did not accept everything Aristotle said, Aquinas’ affinity with Aristotle stemmed from his view that the world was created with genuinely operative causes and powers.
Man’s natural reason is one of these powers. It enables man to have knowledge of natural essences and to deduce truths from these natural effects, including the knowledge of the very existence of God.(4, 504)
(10) chart: contrasting Middle
Ages with Renaissance/Enlightenment
A few contrasts between Middle Ages
and Renaissance & Enlightenment periods – in
* Not sure of source – life expectancy; things like plagues and lack of scientific knowledge of causes and other medical knowledge – not to mention all the wars!!
(11) intro: Comparing Medieval
& Renaissance Art
You do not have to remember any details about the following slides: This is just a demonstration about the drastic difference in technique and styles, composition and subjects – which are, in large part, a reflection of the prevailing philosophies during their respective eras.
(12) Scupture – busts – 13th c.
& 15th c. (double click to get second picture)
(13) 15th c. bust (again) – Bust
from 5th c. – classical antiquity (double click to get second pic)
(14) Medieval flat painting
(15) Gothic Kings – sculpture on
Gothic Cathedral
(16) Michelangelo’s David /
sculpture from antiquity
(17) Medieval Painting – 12th c.
(18) Botticelli’s Birth of
Venus – 15th c.
(19) Crucifixion - medieval
(20) Crucifixtion (Trinity
with the Virgin,
You will be learning about linear perspective (as shown by markings on the right) (click)
(21) The Last Supper – 11th c.
(22) Da Vinci’s Last Supper –
15th c.
(23) Da Vinci’s Last Supper -
perspective
(24) Creation - medieval
(25) Michelangelo’s – scene from
Creation – early 16th c.
Detail from one of the nine panels in the middle of the top of the Sistine Chapel ceiling – five panels tell story of Creation. . . Here – “Creation of the Sun and the Moon”
(26) Another panel from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling: “The Creation of Adam”
(27) Romanesque Design From Hell
– sculptures on Medieval Cathedral
(28) Medieval Architecture:
Gothic Cathedrals
(29) Height of Gothic Cathedral
Interior
-end-