12th century Renaissance 5 Key Areas
Knowledge and Methods→
Institutions→
Unify Knowledge (Reason+Faith)
Revival of Aristotle's, natural philosophy and theology
Mysticism to heresy
Key developments
Universities (Latin Universitas→ guild)
Mendicant (begging orders, friars (brothers))
Mystics and Lay Orders*
Heretics
Reasons
Aristotelian logic
Challenges to papacy from skeptical groups and clerical authority
Knowledge/ Methods
Education, experience, empirical thinking → 5 senses
Common sense observations (empirical)
Reason→ Our capacity to make sense of what our senses tell us
Intuition→ Conscious, makes connections better, sees how things relate
Visions, dreams, voices, messages from beyond, faith and its connection to grace
What can/does the world tell us VS other sources? What is more important?
2 Key events that shake things up
Return of Aristotle’s works to the West in the mid-1200’s and summaries by Averroes
Required figuring out the power of reason
Establishment of Universities; replaced wandering scholars and Monastic Schools
Required establishing an acceptable curriculum- but few would be exposed to scholarly learning
Universities
Main focus of higher learning
Granted BA’s, MA, and Ph Ds (Theology, Medicine, Law→ original professors)
All students had to pass the liberal arts→ Why?
God’s work→ the Universe (study natural philosophy)
God’s word→ the Bible (study theology)
Handmaiden to theology (maiden that worked for wage to pay a dowry)
Liberal Arts professors→ covered logic (methods) and natural philosophy
The trivium and quadrivium
Theology professors→ Taught higher knowledge
Bishops, Cardinals, and Pope→ decided theological disputes→ professor expected to tow the line
Problem: Literacy spread beyond the university and communities began to think for themselves
Unifying Knowledge
Universities, 3 possibilities
Knowledge of nature and truths of scripture cannot conflict (must be reconciled)
Scripture overrules conflicts of natural philosophy
Problem→ If scripture contradicts philosophy here, then where else is it wrong.
Conflicts cannot be resolved
3rd similar to Peter Abelard’s view (1079-1142)
1st was Augustine of Hippo’s view and that of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) and became the main view (pgs. 247-249)
2nd gets invoked, some of Aristotle considered heresy
Thomas Aquinas
From a noble family, became a Dominican
Proofs of God
Self Evident- Once we know God, He becomes self-evident
Demonstrable- God is the cause, the universe is the Effect (miracles)
Demonstration propter quid→ Understanding the fact of a thing and the Truth of it is necessary
Demonstration quia→ Only understanding the factual existence of a thing
His methods→ Human limitations
5 proofs
Motion→ Everything moves, so tracing it back God sets the first motion
Efficient Causality→ Cannot be an infinite regression of causes
1 absolutely necessary thing→ God
Perfection→ There is a perfect form of everything, so God must be it
Super intelligent being
Favored reason and tried to reconcile Aristotle’s philosophy with scripture
Others believed faith was still essential (Duns Scotus→ c. 1265-1308, p. 249)
Papacy stressed BOTH, as well as its own importance
So long as you worked within Church parameters you were okay
Revival of Aristotle
Integrated into the school of arts
Scholars traveled to Byzantium to learn Greek and read Aristotle in the original
Some texts in the West went from Greek to Arabic to Latin
Some of Aristotle’s doctrines were problematic for the Church
World created, no immortal soul
Numerous debates throughout the Church
Some natural philosophers took Aristotle’s position over the Bible
Struggle between the professors in the school of liberal arts and the theologians in some universities
Led to the Condemnations of 1277
Reaffirmed God’s power, freed thinking in some ways
God’s existence led to other questions too…
Mysticism to Heresy
Eschatology→
