Enrique Geremia Teodoro

2nd year Aspirant

Society of St. Paul
1. Compare and contrast the similarities and differences of the classical philosophers,
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in terms of the content of philosophy, method and purpose
of their writings. (40)

Socrates
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Socrates was a historian, teacher, and philosopher

who was born in ancient Greece. His Socratic approach
laid the basis for Western systems of logic and
philosophy.

As the political climate in Greece turned against him,

Socrates was condemned to death in 399 B.C. by hemlock
poisoning. Instead of escaping into prison, he
acknowledged this decision. (Timmons, 2019)

Philosophy

Socrates argued how philosophy could yield practical outcomes in order to increase the
well-being of society. He sought to create a moral framework focused on human reason
rather than on religious theory. Socrates pointed out that human choice was guided by a need
for pleasure. Ultimate insight emerges from self-knowledge. The more a person learns, the
better his or her capacity to reason and make decisions that offer real happiness. Socrates
argued that this converted into politics, with the strongest system of government, being
neither tyrannical nor democratic. Instead, the government performed well when run by
people who possessed the most skill, wisdom, and virtue, and had a full view of themselves.
(Timmons, 2019)

Socratic Method

The Socratic method, also known as the Elenchus method, the Elenctic method, or the
Socratic debate, is named after the famous Greek philosopher Socrates. It is a method of
study and conversation between individuals, focused on asking and addressing questions that
promote critical thought and enlighten ideas. It is a dialectical process, frequently requiring a
conversation in which the defense of one point of view is questioned; one speaker may lead
another to refute one another in any manner, thereby undermining the point of the defender.

The Socratic approach is a method of hypothesis elimination, such that stronger

hypotheses are formed by continuously finding and deleting those that contribute to
contradictions. (The Socratic Way of Thinking.)

Ethics
Enrique Geremia Teodoro
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In ethics Socrates states that Self-knowledge is a sufficient condition for a good
existence. Socrates distinguishes knowledge of virtue. If knowledge can be acquired, so
virtue can be learned. Thus, the virtue of Socrates may be learned. He claims that
"unexamined life is not worth living." Knowledge and wisdom must be pursued before
private interests. Awareness is therefore pursued as a form of ethical action. What one
actually believes is the dictates of one's conscience or soul: these theories are the philosophy
of the Socratic Paradox. (The Ethics of Socrates.)

For Socrates Knowledge is virtue, Knowledge can be taught but virtue cannot. Virtue is
based on something that is good or right. For him because knowledge is virtue if you know
that something is good but you did not do it the you are being ignorant. For him all of us
choose what is good for us but when we choose the wrong side, for Socrates it only means
that we choose it because it seems good for us. For him we know that something is good if it
leads to happiness.

Plato

Plato is one of the best known and most widely read and learned thinkers in the world. He
was a pupil of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle, and he wrote in ancient Greece in the
middle of the fourth century B.C.E. While mostly inspired by Socrates, to the point that
Socrates is generally the main character in much of Plato's writings, he was also influenced
by Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans. (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.)
Enrique Geremia Teodoro
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Plato’s Dualism

Plato believed that the soul could and would live separately from the flesh, and that it would
exist after the death of the body. He gave a "proof" for this position, and was the first to do so in
writing that we had some evidence of doing so. He gave a variety of separate proofs or claims,
none of which are today compelling. They are considered to be specious claims, or to be terribly
flawed and unconvincing. He believed that human beings were made up of bodies and souls, but
the soul was more essential and eternal. His claims were based on premises that we are
criticizing today.

Plato, for example, felt that he should infer that the spirit could function independently of the
body since it behaved independently of the body while it participated in pure thought. This is no
longer recognized as valid, because it is similarly apparent today that without a physical brain
thinking it seems impossible to occur. Plato felt that the best way to understand how humans
came to recognize something is to recall the wisdom embedded in their minds before their souls
were in the domain of pure thought and eternal ways before they reached the body, after which
they had failed to be disturbed by physical thoughts and feelings and restricted perception by
their senses.

This is no longer known as the simplest example of how people get to know each other. None
the less, Plato is credited as being the first human to claim to show that humans had souls and
that they survived the death of the body and that they were invincible. In the Dialog he wrote
entitled Phaedo, he gave these arguments. (Dualism.)

The Theory of the Form

In several of his dialogs, Plato discusses supersensible entities that he terms "forms" (or
"ideas"). So, for example, in the Phaedo, we are told that particular sensible equivalent things—
for example, equal sticks or stones (see Phaedo 74a-75d)—are equal because of their
"participation" or "sharing" in the character of the Form of Equality, which is completely,
unchangeably, perfectly, and basically equal. Plato often describes this involvement in the form
as a kind of imagery or imitation of the form. The same can be said about the many things that
are bigger or smaller and the Great and Small Types (Phaedo 75c-d), or the many tall things and
the Tall Form (Phaedo 100e), or the many pretty things and the Beauty Form (Phaedo 75c-d,
Symposium 211e, Republic V.476c). As Plato writes of "approximating" Forms cases, it is
convenient to conclude that Forms are examples for Plato. If so, Plato claims that the form of
beauty is perfect beauty, the form of justice is perfect justice, and so on. It was important for
Enrique Geremia Teodoro
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Plato to think of forms in this manner because it helped the philosopher who knows the entities
to be able to determine the degree to which rational instances of the forms are good
representations of the forms they approximate. (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.)

Platonic Idealism: Idealism

In the domain of ideas ("Idealism" = "Ideas"), eternal realities exist instead of in what we
would term the natural, physical universe. "In your mind, these eternal truths can exist, but in the
physical world they cannot be observed or perceived (think for a minute what "physical world"
refers to: that world that operates on the laws of physics, or that world of objects with mass); that
is, there is no truth in the world that we can see with our senses: sight, sound, etc. Plato calls this
untrue world the "sensible world (Plato
https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl257/classical/platonic%20idealism.htm.)

The Intelligible and The Sensible

Our knowledge is split between what we learn by our senses, or sensible knowledge-what
I can see and hear, etc.-and what we perceive psychologically, intelligible knowledge or the
domain of thoughts, what I believe. Sensitive/sensory awareness in Plato's hierarchy is flawed
and a mere shadow or reflection of true knowledge. (Plato
https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl257/classical/platonic%20idealism.htm.)

Plato Ethics

Plato practices a virtue-based Eudaemonistic ethics, as all ancient philosophers. That is to say,
the highest objective of moral thinking and action is human well-being (eudaimonia); the virtues
(aretê = 'excellence') are the abilities and character qualities required. (Frede, 2007)

For Plato he said that virtue can be taught and for him all the things that we see as good it is only
a reflection of a Higher Good. Also, for him if we are not virtues, we may lead to something that
is bad. Just like if the leader of the state does not know what is good for the state his ruling may
lead to something that is bad. For him all of us is a captain of our own ship and if we are virtues,
we can lead to something that is good.
Enrique Geremia Teodoro
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Aristotle

In ancient Greek philosophy, Aristotle was a towering figure

who made major contributions to logic, criticism, rhetoric,
physics, biology, psychology, mathematics, metaphysics, ethics,
and politics. For twenty years, he was a Plato pupil, but he is
known for rejecting Plato's theory of forms. He was more
empirically inclined than Socrates, the teacher of Plato and
Plato.

Virtue ethics or Virtue Theory

Virtue Ethics or Virtue Theory is a philosophy developed by Aristotle and other ancient
Greeks. It is the quest for a life of moral character to understand and live.

This character-based approach to morality assumes that through practice we acquire

virtue. A person develops an honorable and moral character through the practice of being honest,
brave, just, generous, and so on. According to Aristotle, when confronted with ethical
challenges, people will likely make the right choice by honing virtuous habits. So, virtue ethics
helps us understand what it means to be a virtuous human being. And, it gives us a guide for
living life without giving us specific rules for resolving ethical dilemmas. (Virtue Ethics 2021)

Golden Mean

For Aristotle the golden mean is the mean of two extremes the first end is the excess and
the other is the deficiency. For Aristotle in order to live a life morally you must find a way to be
between the to extremes. (Aristotle - the golden mean)

Natural Law

Aristotle considered by many to be the father of natural law—argued that what is “just by
nature” is not always the same as what is “just by law.”. Aristotle believed that there is a natural
 Enrique Geremia Teodoro
2nd year Aspirant
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justice that is valid everywhere with the same force. Aristotle believed that this natural justice is
positive, and does not exist by "people thinking this or that" (Staff, Natural Law Definition 2020)

Ethics of Aristotle

For Aristotle his ethical view is always teleological leading to an end or a goal. For him
virtue is always in the mean of two opposites or vices. Also, for him different people have its
own different list of virtue. For him we do the things that we do because first of all we desire an
end or a goal then we see certain things as the means for that then we trace the means back then
we see something we can do now then we choose to do it now. Just like if happiness is the goal
and I believe that health leads to happiness to be healthy I need to exercise then I exercise to be
happy.

Similarities and Differences

Philosopher View of Main Paramount Worst Philosophical Method

s human concepts virtue vice works
nature
Socrates Teacher Exercise Knowledge Wisdom, Ignoranc Socratic
of Plato reason to is virtue, courage, e method
achieve unexamine temperance,
happines d life is not justice
s worth
living
Plato Teacher Exercise Moral Wisdom, Ignoranc Theory of Platonic
of reason to health as courage, e Forms, Method
Aristotle, achieve inner temperance, Dualism,
Student happines harmony justice Platonic
of s Idealism
Socrates
Aristotle Student Exercise Golden Wisdom, Ignoranc Virtue Aristotleian
of Plato reason to Mean courage, e Theory, Method
achieve temperance, Natural Law,
happines justice Golden Mean
s

This table will show the Similarities and the Differences of the Three Ancient Philosophers
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle
Enrique Geremia Teodoro
2nd year Aspirant
Society of St. Paul

2. Compare the historiography of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas using their
commonalities and differences. Include their impact to Christendom during the medieval
and renaissance? (30)

St. Augustine

Augustine of Hippo (/ɔːˈɡʌstɪn/; Latin:

Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13
November 354 – 28 August 430), also
known as Saint Augustine, was a
theologian, philosopher, and the bishop
of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman
North Africa. His writings influenced
the development of Western philosophy
and Western Christianity, and he is viewed
as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period.
His many important works include The City of God, On Christian Doctrine, and
Confessions.

Original Sin
Augustine's most famous work, Confessions, articulates his articulation of
"original sin" In it he recounts an experience from his youth when he was with a group of
friends and stole pears from a neighboring farm. Augustine concludes that he had an
inordinate desire to take the fruit because he knew it was wrong. This perverse desire
(concupiscence) results from the corruption of the will, incurred from the "fall of man"
The force of Augustine's position echoed loudly throughout the church and officially
became doctrine in the Council of Carthage (418 C.E.). (Why was St. Augustine so
important in Christian History?)

Grace
Enrique Geremia Teodoro
2nd year Aspirant
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Grace is a major theme throughout the Pauline epistles and was heavily discussed
by the Greek fathers. Augustine understands it as an unmerited gift of God's love and
favor. Augustine's theology of grace is largely developed through a series of letters to and
from another Christian contemporary of Augustine. For Augustine, original sin is the
source of the brokenness; grace is the means or restoration, writes Fr. Peter Schmitz. The
word grace in Christian theology tends to have a variety of meanings, he says. The debate
between Augustine and Pelagius was a pivotal moment in Christian discourse. It helped
elucidate the importance of grace in the moral life and the very real effects of original sin
according to the Christian narrative. (Why was St. Augustine so important in Christian
History?)

Pagan Virtue
Augustine famously believed that the virtuous life was exclusively Christian. In
order to be ethical, one had to do the right thing and carry it out for the right end.
Christian faith effectively becomes the point of departure for the happy life. This view
will radically change the trajectory of ethical thought and praxis in the Western world
until the dawn of the Enlightenment when both God's goodness and existence will be
questioned. In this way, right belief (or Christianity) becomes paramount in acting well.
(Why was St. Augustine so important in Christian History?)

Christian Communion
In addition to the Pelagian controversy, Augustine also argued with another
faction of Christians in northern Africa called the Donatists. According to Donatism,
some bishops were forced under the threat of death to surrender Christian books and
scriptures to be burned. Augustine saw this schism as severely wounding the unity within
the body of Christ. Even in spite of Augustine's outrage in regards to their eager
schismatic efforts, he urged that theDonatists be treated with tolerance and love. This
tone and exhortation would carry over into the Church's discussion of Donatism in the
Council of Carthage (417 C.E.) and in the debate on the Donatism at the Carthage
Council (417C.E.). Augustine's condemnation was a statement about what it meant to be
a Christian: in catholic communion bound by the bond of mutual charity (love)
(Why was St. Augustine so important in Christian History?)

Works of St. Augustine

Confessions

Augustine's Confessions is a richly textured meditation by a middle-aged man on

the course and meaning of his own life. Augustine is especially influenced by the
Enrique Geremia Teodoro
2nd year Aspirant
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powerful intellectual preaching of the suave and diplomatic bishop St. Ambrose.
Augustine could not bring himself to seek the ritual purity of baptism without cleansing
himself of the desires of the flesh to an extreme degree, he writes. The decisive scene
occurs in a garden in Milan, where a child's voice seems to bid Augustine to "take up and
read," he says. The narrative of Confessions shows Augustine forming the will to
renounce sexuality through a reading of the letters of St. Paul, Augustine writes. He
writes that in the extraordinary eighth book he finds inspiration to adopt a life of chastity
in Paul's writings. The seventh book of Confessiones recounts a perfectly satisfactory
intellectual conversion, but the eighth book takes him one necessary step further,
Augustine says. It recounts a conversion to Christianity in all its express manifestations,
he says, and in particular to chastity as defined by the Bible and by the writings of Paul.

The rest of Confessions is mainly a meditation on how the continued study of Scripture
and pursuit of divine wisdom are still inadequate for attaining perfection. Augustine
makes peace with his imperfections. (Confessions)

The City of God

Augustine's Confessions was written 15 years after he wrote Confessions. In 410,

a "barbarian" army seized Rome, holding it for several days before decamping to the
south of Italy. The symbolic effect of seeing the city of Rome taken by outsiders shook
the secular confidence of many thoughtful people. Augustine saw in the murmured
doubts a splendid polemical occasion he had long sought, and so he leapt to the defense
of God's ways. Rome was dethroned, and the sack of the city shown to be of no spiritual
importance, writes Augustine. The City of Man was doomed to disarray, and wise men
would, as it were, keep their passports in order as citizens of the City above, he writes.
The true home and source of citizenship for all Christians is Jerusalem, he says.
Augustine's intended audience comprised many people who were at least outwardly
affiliated with the Christian church, writes historian Julian Zelizer. Zelizer: Augustine
outlined a new way to understand human society, setting up the City of God over and
against the City of Man.

Augustine's work is divided into 22 books. First 10 refute claims to divine power of
various pagan communities. Last 12 retell the biblical story of humankind from Genesis
to the Last Judgment. Augustine presents history of the City of God as the true history
against which, including the history of Rome, can be understood. At its heart is a
powerful contrarian vision of human life, one which accepts disaster, death, and
disappointment while holding out hope of a better life to come. It would be read in
various ways throughout the Middle Ages, at some points virtually as a founding
document for a political order of kings and popes that Augustine could hardly have
imagined. (Confessions)
Enrique Geremia Teodoro
2nd year Aspirant
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In Conclusion

Augustine laid the groundwork for the formulation and acceptance of the doctrine
of original sin. He launched a nuanced discussion on the role of grace in the morality and
soteriology. His philosophy and theology drastically changed throughout his life.
Depending on what time period one encounters Augustine, one may be getting a more or
less radical version of his thought. He is such a formidable thinker that his writings stand
as a bulwark of orthodoxy in the Church.

St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican

theologian. He developed his own conclusions
from Aristotelian premises. He is recognized by
the Roman Catholic Church as its foremost
Western philosopher and theology. His doctrinal
system and explanations and developments
made by his followers are known as Thomism.
As a poet, he wrote some of the most gravely
beautiful eucharistic hymns in the church's
liturgy. He died March 7, 1274, in Fossanova, near Terracina, Latium, Papal States. (St.
Thomas Aquinas 2021)

Education
In 1239, Saint Thomas Aquinas began attending the University of Naples. In
1243, he secretly joined an order of Dominican monks, receiving the habit in 1244. His
family felt so betrayed that he had turned his back on the principles to which they
subscribed that they decided to kidnap him. Thomas held fast to the ideas he had learned
at university and went back to the Dominican order. He was ordained in Cologne,
Germany, in 1250, and went on to teach theology in Paris. He died at the age of 80 in
Paris in 1280. (St. Thomas Aquinas 2021)

Works of Aquinas

Summa Theologica
Aquinas' Summa Theologica is a "theological summary" It seeks to describe the
relationship between God and man and explain how man's reconciliation with the Divine
Enrique Geremia Teodoro
2nd year Aspirant
Society of St. Paul
is made possible. Aquinas is attempting to offer a truly universal and rational view of all
existence. Some editions include a supplement with additional questions on a wide
variety of loosely related issues. The Summa is divided into three parts; each part
contains numerous subdivisions. The last part of the Summa deals with Christ and his
role as bridge between man and the Divine. (SparkNotes)

Similarities and Differences

Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas are both known for their
philosophical and theological explorations. Both believed in the idea that religious belief
did not only stem from faith, but also from reason. Augustine believed that using reason
(logic, history, and natural sciences) was beneficial to illuminating the Christian faith.
Aquinas believed that faith and reason, are essential and not contradictory, in fact,
knowledge is essential in the act of faith. They both believed that something can be true
of faith, false or inconclusive in philosophy, but never the other way around. Aquinas
somewhat agrees with Augustine on the question of contradiction between reason and
scripture. Aquinas maintained that while there may be no evidence of something from
sensational experience, we must trust in "articles of faith" which he defines as divine
testimony.

3. Discuss the major changes shown in the historiographical methods of Leopold van
Ranke. Design a diagram illustrating the impact of his style to modern way of writing
history today? (30)

Leopold von Ranke, (born Dec. 21, 1795,

Wiehe, Thuringia, Saxony [Germany]—died
May 23, 1886, Berlin), leading German
historian of the 19th century, whose scholarly
method and way of teaching (he was the first
to establish a historical seminar) had a great
Enrique Geremia Teodoro
2nd year Aspirant
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influence on Western historiography. He was ennobled (with the addition of von to his
name) in 1865.

Ranke made major contributions to the emergence of modern history writing and
is regarded as the founder of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries' "scientific" historical
school. Because of him, in academic schools, methodical concepts in archival analysis
and source critique became prevalent. (authors et al., Leopold von Ranke on Irish history
and the Irish nation)

Establishing Emphasis on
Emphasis on the
history as a critical methods
past in context
professional (primary
(historicism)
discipline in sources)
universities

Modern Style
of Writing
History

Leopold von Ranke

1. Establishing history as a professional discipline in universities

2. Emphasis on the past in context (historicism)
3. Emphasis on critical methods (primary sources)
Enrique Geremia Teodoro
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“To history has been assigned the office of judging the past, of instructing the present for the
benefit of future ages. To such high offices this work does not aspire: it wants only to show what
actually happened.”

References:

Aristotle - the golden mean. http://faculty.bucks.edu/rogerst/jour275morals.htm.

authors, A., |, A. D. B., Additional informationNotes on contributorsAndreas D. BoldtAndreas D.

Boldt was educated in Germany and Ireland where he visited the University of Bremen
and Maynooth University. He completed his PhD at Maynooth University in 2005
entitled “Leopold von Ra, & ReferencesAdams. Leopold von Ranke on Irish history
and the Irish nation. Taylor & Francis.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311983.2017.1314629#:~:text=Ranke
20made%20important%20contributions%20to,became%20commonplace%20in%20aca
emic%20institutions.

Dualism. https://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialsciences/ppecorino/intro_text/Chapter%206%20Mind
Body/DUALISM.htm.

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Confessions. Encyclopædia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Augustine/Confessions#ref24814.

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2021, February 3). St. Thomas Aquinas. Encyclopædia
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Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Forms as perfect exemplars. Encyclopædia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plato/Forms-as-perfect-exemplars.

Frede, D. (2007, June 14). Plato's Ethics: An Overview. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
https://stanford.library.sydney.edu.au/archives/sum2008/entries/plato
ethics/#:~:text=Like%20all%20ancient%20philosophers%20Plato,requisite%20skills%2
and%20character%2Dtraits.

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://iep.utm.edu/plato/.

Enrique Geremia Teodoro
2nd year Aspirant
Society of St. Paul
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://iep.utm.edu/plato/#SH6b.

Plato. https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl257/classical/platonic%20idealism.htm.

SparkNotes. SparkNotes. https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/aquinas/section1/.

Staff, I. (2020, December 14). Natural Law Definition. Investopedia.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/natural law.asp#:~:text=Aristotle
%20(384%E2%80%93322%20BCE),and%20does%20not%20 xist%20by%20%22.

The Ethics of Socrates. https://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/socrates.html#:~:text=If

%20knowledge%20can%20 e%20learned, a%20means%20to%20ethical%20action.

The Socratic Way of Thinking.

https://www.socrethics.com/Folder1/Sokratisch.htm#:~:text=Socratic%20method%2C%
0also%20known%20as, thinking%20and%20to%20illuminate%20ideas.

Timmons, G. (2019, September 9). Socrates. Biography.com.

https://www.biography.com/scholar/socrates#:~:text=only%20important%20one.,
Philosophy, by%20the%20desire%20for%20happiness.

Virtue Ethics. Ethics Unwrapped. (2021, January 25).

https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/virtue-ethics.

Why was St. Augustine so important in Christian History? Why was St. Augustine so important
in Christian History? - DailyHistory.org.
https://dailyhistory.org/Why_was_St._Augustine_so_important_in_Christian_History%
F.