A. Continuities: Ancient and medieval philosophers seek explanation of what is contingent, and this search leads them away from the world of sense experience to something different from the world. The source of the cosmos is sui generis.

B. Discontinuities:

Unlike the Greeks, the medievals, beginning especially with Avicenna, locate a broader or more fundamental contingency which requires explanation. For the Greek it was a feature of the existing world (cosmos), plurality and change. For Jewish, Islamic, and Christian thinkers in the period of systematization what is contingent is the EXISTENCE of the universe itself. Building on the Greek distinction between existence and essence, contingency is explained in terms of the composition of essence and existence. All such objects might not have been, and what might not have been, but nonetheless is, requires a cause for its existence. This is true whether the universe is temporally infinite or finite, for either way we can ask why the universe exists, either for finite or infinite time.

As a result of the more radical contingency thesis, the sui generis character of the First Existent is pushed farther as well, culminating with the doctrine of divine simplicity.

Since human’s are created by God, who is distinct from the realm of nature, human’s have an end which goes beyond their human nature. Although Plato’s forms are beyond the world (in some sense) and Aristotle’s First Mover is beyond the world (in some sense), the medieval theistic view presents a personal God. Man’s end exceeds human nature and is personal, involves a relationship between humans and a personal arche.

Difficulties and Reflections:

The metaphysical progression leads to a view of God which then is used as a constraint on reading the text of Scripture. It allows us to distinguish between those passages which should be read literally and those which should be read metaphorically. This move is generated not merely by a theological compromise arising from the dual commitment to the eternity of the world and God as creator, but is thought to highlight a theme common in all three western religious traditions: God is transcendent.

1. The Scriptural text presents God as creator and as transcendent.

2. Philosophical reasoning then analyzes what this means: divine simplicity, based on the essence, existence distinction.

3. The philosophical conclusion is then used to guide the interpretation of the text of Scripture so that we have a coherent concept of God and creation.

A. Continuities: Knowledge is roughly identical with wisdom and each has as its distinguishing characteristic a drive for explanatory adequacy or advantage which arises from a sense of wonder. The ideal form of knowledge is scientia or episteme: reasoned explanation and an organized body of propositions which form a system of truths.

B. Discontinuities: Knowledge as philosophical reasoning is distinguished from knowledge as what God has revealed to humans. Although the lines between faith and reason are not clearly drawn until the 13th century, by that time theologians such as Thomas Aquinas saw one of the clear implications of the Aristotelian epistemology and science and the Christian metaphysical commitment which locates man’s ultimate telos beyond his human nature: some truths will be within the grasp of human reason to demonstrate, others will not be within the grasp of human reason to demonstrate. Both kinds of beliefs are rational to hold, though for different reasons. We understand that we can know something of God from his effects, but we also know that there are some things we cannot hope to understand. We understand that we cannot understand, and therefore we believe in order that we might understand. Mystery provides a basis for reflection and worship, not unthinking dogmatism.

The process of philosophical reasoning in both the ancient and medieval period was carried out within a distinct context of moral and metaphysical commitments, upheld, inculcated, and reflected on by the community of which one was a member.

The philosopher was not primarily an individual who engaged in unwarranted speculation, but a member of a community with distinct moral interests which warranted a process of critical reflection in order, not to destroy tradition, but to deepen it and broaden it. Philosophy in both the ancient and medieval world was far from neutral in its motives and orientation. But therein lies the greatness of these traditions.

At the beginning of the course I said that the medieval period was a period in western intellectual history unparalleled, and to which the descriptions such as "Middle Ages" or "Dark Ages" are historically inaccurate and philosophical dubious. There is continuity between ancient and medieval philosophy, and medieval philosophers such as Avicenna and Aquinas make real philosophical contributions. That they so in a context, within a tradition, is no strike against them. The enlightenment thinkers had their own assumptions, their own tradition. Alas, it was not as fruitful as those "slaves of dogmatism" and "church authority" we have now completed a study of.

God prepared the world for Christianity with Greek philosophy, but God prepared the way for the intellectual advancement of Western philosophy with Christianity. I take this to be a testimony to the providence of God.

 © Michael Sudduth 1996