Medieval Philosophy Lecture Notes

01/28/2016

Greco-Arabic Translation helped by Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad

Flashpoints of revelation:
Jews:
o The Law (Halakhah)
Christian:
o Incarnation
o Trinity
o Eucharist/Holy Communion: Body/Blood- Bread/Wine
Islam
o Quran
Sources of conflict:
Eternity of the World/cosmology
Monotheistic vs Polytheistic- God vs gods- can we describe God?
Soul + body (materialism) immortality
Plenitude/order
Epistemology- how do we know anything?
Eschatology
Universals- ideas, forms
Evil
I. Neo-Platonism
II. Aristotelianism
III. Critique of Aristotilianism, Innovation, Rise of Nominalism
(universals)

Platonist:
What is F? Why is it F?
o Ex: Why are things brown?
Answered by platonists by the Form/Idea of F
o Ex: Philo and Plotinus agrees
o Plotinus = neo-platonist
o Philo = middle Platonist: Form/Idea is rooted in divine
intellect
Large influence on christian authors down to Augustin
The form/idea is grounded in the intellect (nous)
What is a world?
A cosmos, a universe
Philo diff from philosophers from before like Adamist and Epicurians
hold multiverse view
Things in the world- sensible- becoming, always changing vs
Forms/idea- intelligible- Being unchanging
Philo:
The world is created, critical of people who says its eternal
Does God create ex nihilo?
Looks very similar to Timaeous
o God willed to create
Process
1. God creates the intelligible world (forms/ideas)
o Ex: the idea of man
2. God then creates the sensible world
o ex: the actual human being