Mini Midterm Outline

Mini Midterm Outline

I. The Dark Ages
A. St. Augustine
1. The world is sinful and dark
a. Our bodies lie to us that sin and lust feel good.
2. Only God’s grace allows us to access true salvation and happiness.
3. Must remove the faulty impression of sensory knowledge to attain divine wisdom.
4. Science and philosophy are anti-Church.
B. Romanesque Architecture
1. Old St. Peters
a mirror of St. Augustine’s view of the universe.
1) The ‘outside’ material world is sinful flesh à ugly, wretched
2) The ‘inside’ world of the soul & heaven à beautiful
b. Was a basilica because they were the only buildings not already used for Pagan worship. (courthouses)
1) Destroying the old philosophies (Paganism) and replacing it with the new (Christianity) à Ex: Columns.
II. The Middle Ages
A. Neo-Platonism
1. 1033 CE à 1000 years after Jesus died à finally got the picture.
a. Plotinus à The last great Pagan philosopher of the Greek civilization.
b. Allegory of the Cave
1) Plotinus
a) A small piece of God’s soul lies within us. à divine spark.
b) You just need reason to get there.
2) Christians
a) Chains are our sins à You can never get out alone, your body will lie to you.
b) You need God’s grace to realize that your body is lying to you à Read the Bible.
B. Abbot Suger
1. Wanted to rebuild the abbey church of St. Denis.
a. To eliminate space problem, glorify the monarchy
2. Suger a Neo-Platonist
a. The world is ugly and we need to escape to the world of the Forms and God à some of the things in this world has a certain divine spark as well.
b. You should appreciate all the objects around you which partake in the glory and light of God.
3. You cannot get the beatific vision through reading the Bible à Must be active Church member.
4. Suger to bring more light of God into the Church.
C. Gothic Architecture
1. The Abbey Staint-Denis (1140-44)
a. Romanesque Church burned down à replaced.
b. Beautifying it with stain glassed windows, gems, and gold à visitor with be dazzled.
1) Clerestory windows give knowledge to the illiterate.
c. Groin, ribbed, quadripartite, sexpartite vaults; large buttresses; piers à help support the structure of larger illuminating windows.
III. Renaissance
A. Thomas Aquinas: Reintroduces Science and Logic
1. Science & Logic is used in architecture
a. More complicated design of vaults, buttresses and compilation of the elements.
2. St. Augustine à as long as science & logic help the church its okay
3. Thomas Aquinas à As long as science & logic don’t contradict each other its okay.
a. We should go out and actively use it.
b. Used Islamic philosophers to justify the use of science & logic.
B. Islamic Art: Geometry
1. Logic
a. Islamic artists combined geometry with traditional art to form a new art.
b. Islamic philosophers embraced Greek philosophy and mathematics à works of Euclid (father of geometry) & Pythagoras.
1) Study of geometry also led to the study of stars and astronomy.
c. Geometric motifs were used for decorating every surface, whether walls or floors, pots or lamps, book covers or textiles
1) This art expressed the logic and order inherent in the Islamic vision of the universe.
d. Domes of Islamic mosques are better built to reflect sound during worship.
1) Made through geometry.
2. Science
a. These images include geometric patterns of the cells of our bodies, plant-forms, and geological structures hence the statement “geometry is God manifest.”
3. Religion
a. Created infinite, decorative patterns of geometric shapes
1) Symbolized how God is infinite and how the strict rules for construction of geometric patterns provide a visual analogy to religious rules of behavior
2) Represents how un-changing the laws of God were.
3) Also comprehended with Mohammad’s warning that human or animal forms should not be depicted in art.
4. “The designs are so intricate and geometric that they seem to turn in endlessly upon themselves, inviting your own mind to do the same.” – Brian Wingate
a. “Seek knowledge, even if it be in China.”
C. Renaissance Art
1. Leonardo Da Vinci
a. Linear Persepctive à Giotto thought of it, Brunelleschi portrayed it, Alberti wrote about it, Leonardo perfected it.
b. Linear perspective is a mathematical system for projecting the three-dimensional world onto a two-dimensional surface à Geometry.
1) Brunelleschi studied Greek Geometry and created developed the theory of perspective.
2. The Last Supper
a. Every single element of the painting directs the audience’s attention straight towards the midpoint of the composition, Christ’s head.
1) His head is the vanishing point.

Bacon's Four Idols

In attempt to take the power of education the Church had its only grasp on, Francis Bacon came up with four examples of idolatry that the Church had been guilty of committing.

1. Idols of the Tribe - "The bias of human beings to jump to conclusions based on what is new or strange rather than investing time to understand what is true. "

This is the idea that since humans are so used to the 'norm' whenever something new or out of the ordinary is represented to them, they jump to conclusions and criticize or try and eliminate it even before they get to know it. Anything that is remotely out of the traditional view of the Church is straight out, immediately, labeled something bad and the Church doesn't even give a second thought about. Any new piece of knowledge, any new piece of philosophy like Galileo's theories that the sun was the center of the solar system would be condemned as wrongful and the Church would not "investigate time to understand what is true". It basically really is jumping to conclusions without knowing better.

2. Idols of the Cave - "Creating individual biases through the educational system."

This is when human beings have created biases based on what we've learned through school. When education gives us a close-minded view of the world, we create biases of the rest of the world and end up living those lies. In books we always learn about past wars from the ones who've won and instead of getting the viewpoints from the one's who lost. Because of this there is an immediate inferiority to the loser and we get the idea that the losing side either deserved what is got, was more brutal to the "good side", or is weaker compared to the winners. Of course, the winners would also write these entries with bias in mind, so we do not get the whole picture and we continue to spread these bias ideas because we don't know better. But the thing is, there is no "good side". Any side in a war would be considered the "good side" depending on which side you're on. In the Church we would get bias from their victories in wars as well. The Church is supposed to be this good place to help better yourself to get to Heaven, but the Church itself is the one being hypocritical and indulging in sinful ideas or torture or inquisition. What right the Church ever have to determine someone's death or life? When did it ever have the right to declare someone of heresy? Or when did the Church get the justification for the mass slaughter they committed in "the name of God" to the Jews? Everyone at that time was on the Church's side, so they was a bias already created in their minds that the Church WAS doing what is "right" so they would think badly of anything other than the Church. Poor idiots.

3. Idols of the Marketplace - "The language created to share knowledge (e.g. philosophy is more concerned with winning arguments than revealing truth) locks us into specific ways of knowing.

The Church used this "double meaning" method to win the favor of the people rather than revealing the truth and inner workings of the sinful Church. They used philosophy and certain quotes of the Bible (i'm guessing) in order to lock people into thinking what is right or what is wrong. They used their fancy words and gestures and ended up taking over Europe for over 1,000 years by twisting their words instead of revealing their true evil plots. Because most people didn't know better, they'd except these philosophies given from the Church and live their lives without truly knowing. "Oh, well since it sounds smart, it must be right."

4. Idols of the Theatre - "The Christian West has given reference to four or five Greek scholars and has ignored any other understanding of the world."

The Church would take some Greek philosophies that would appeal to them and their ideas and ignore the rest, giving the wrong idea to the rest of the world that lived under the Church. This is incredibly wrong because than the already illiterate people under the rule of the Church would not know better and most of them wouldn't try and look for more opinions about a certain topic or belief. Because the Church was extremely narrow minded in their beliefs they ignored the other great philosophies of the Greeks and failed to get the opinions of everyone to find the Truth, and only took bits of what appealed to them.

Galileo's Daughter

Galileo's daughter was essential to his writing because for one thing, she kept him alive long enough to write the book and she also acted as his editor. Maria Celeste was a dutiful Italian daughter who did all the chores like laundry, cooking, cleaning and basically took care of Galileo. Galileo had also complained a lot that he had many maladies and she would create herbal medicines to give to her father. I think that without her remedies then Galileo would've died even before the Pope had given him "permission" to create a book for his theories. She would constantly look after him and in her letters she would urge Galileo to stop spending so much time in the garden but learn to watch over himself as well. When Galileo was being questioned by the Inquisition she suggested that it would be wise to just tell them what they wanted to hear and save himself from being burned alive like Bruno. Lastly, and most importantly Maria Celeste had also been the editor for Galileo's book. She prepared the manuscripts and edited them even though she had not been educated. Maria made it easier for Galileo to finish his book on his theories that would end up changing the world of science and belief forever.

Aquinas' Five Proofs

Looking at Aquinas' Five Proofs, i would have to say his best is the Third Way: Contingent and Necessary Objects, and his worst would be the First Way: The Argument from Motion .

The Third Way in Aquinas' Proofs talks about how there must exist a being which is necessary to cause contingent beings, which would be God. The existence of contingent beings ultimately concludes that there was a necessary being that made these dependent beings. In a world of corruption and sin, i would have to agree that we are just contingent beings that depend upon the existence of necessary beings in order to look up to something morally higher. We need someone to blame, someone to go to in need, and someone to debate upon which would mean that God was a necessary being for us contingent beings.

The First Way in Aquinas' Proofs is about how objects put into the motions were first put there by the UNMOVED MOVER (GOD). I think just by reading that sentence, it's ridiculous. That the motion of things implies that there is a Godly being that is unmoving, that causes us to move. But how is it that we do not know that God doesn't move either? I mean how does he move other things without physically moving the first moving obejct? "If every object in motion had a mover, then the first object in motion needed a mover." I don't understand this because one moving thing doesn't cause a chain of other moving things througout the world. I can understand if it suggests an underlying meaning like we can move to the next stage in our lives without God, but here Aquinas is seriously talking about moving like the planets or a rolling stone.

St. Augustine & Gothic Architecture

St. Augustine was the most influential philosopher of the Western Christian tradition, who also may have influenced Gothic Architecture as well. Augustine was always looking for answers on such topics like what drove us to do sin and he found part of the answer from the Manicheans. They believed that the reason there is evil in this world is because there really is no good power. Our soul is composed of light while our body which traps our divine souls is composed of darkness. So by looking inwards into our souls (the light) one can achieve happiness and salvation. Looking at Gothic Architecture, we can see the contrast of light and darkness in the churches. Outside is an ugly portrayal of a church, which almost seems dark and gloomy. Once you enter the church you can see many colored clerestory windows bring in the light from inside, illuminating the church in different colors and Bible stories. The outside of the church is evil and ugly signifying our bodies that our souls are trapped in. But, once you look in the inside you can see the true beauty in the soul. To get to that salvation of reaching the pureness and goodness of your soul you must then enter the church and become a Christian. So St. Augustine provided the philosophical way to experience the Beautific Vision, while the Gothic Churches themselves give the physical display of our bodies and souls.

Common Fallaces

On Nation and Race - Adolf Hitler - Chapter 11 of Mein Kampf

"If Nature does not wish that weaker individuals should mate with the stronger, she wishes even less that a superior race should intermingle with an inferior one; because in such a case all her efforts, throughout hundreds of thousands of years, to establish an evolutionary higher stage of being, may thus be rendered futile.
History furnishes us with innumerable instances that prove this law. It shows, with a startling clarity, that whenever Aryans have mingled their blood with that of an inferior race the result has been the downfall of the people who were the standard-bearers of a higher culture. In North America, where the population is prevalently Teutonic, and where those elements intermingled with the inferior race only to a very small degree, we have a quality of mankind and a civilization which are different from those of Central and South America. In these latter countries the immigrants – who mainly belonged to the Latin races – mated with the aborigines, sometimes to a very large extent indeed. In this case we have a clear and decisive example of the effect produced by the mixture of races. But in North America the Teutonic element, which has kept its racial stock pure and did not mix it with any other racial stock, has come to dominate the American Continent and will remain master of it as long as that element does not fall a victim to the habit of adulterating its blood.

Man’s effort to build up something that contradicts the iron logic of Nature brings him into conflict with those principles to which he himself exclusively owes his own existence. By acting against the laws of Nature he prepares the way that leads to his ruin.
Here we meet the insolent objection, which is Jewish in its inspiration and is typical of the modern pacifist. It says: "Man can control even Nature." "


In here, Adolf Hitler has shown a common fallacy that could fall into the category of hasty generalization or post hoc. Here he jumps to conclusions saying that fallen nations that have gone against nature and intermingled with the inferior races has caused them to become the "downfall of the people who were the standard-bearers of a higher culture". He only mentions the few nations that have fallen from intermingling with 'inferior' races. But first of all what really are 'inferior' races. Humans are all the same and none are in a higher culture or are inferior to the other. He also only uses the examples of nations that have been destroyed but fails to mention other nations that have been brought up by the intermingling of other races. I mean, where did the asians ultimately come from? Because the mongolians intermingled with other races. How can you create new races that will eventually become overpopulated without intermingling with others? Then Hilter goes on to jump to conclusions to say that the Jewish are the product of this superior to inferior intermingling, therefore they must be wiped out before they cause the downfall of Germany and the entire world. Ultimately, the evidence he used to base his argument that nature does not wish different races to mix, is insufficient because he has only mentioned some of the ones that have actually produced a downfall in culture. This could've been affected by many other factors such as location, disease, or rescources, but Hitler fails to mention all the other factors that would've provided a more logical argument for what produced their downfall. In the last sentence he is also assuming a post hoc fallacy. With the argument that nature does not want the mixing of people, he brings up the Jews and how they will become the reason for if and why the nation of Germany and the entire world begins to fall like the few fallen nations he has mentioned.