IV. Classical Philosophy:

1
IV. Classical Philosophy

• Aristotle

2
IV.A. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

• Aristotle and his Master --
• Rejection of the theory of the Forms
• Acceptance of knowledge as apprehension of what
  is real and universal
• So in light of the change in this world, how can
  we know anything?
• Immanent Forms
• Potentiality

3
IV.A. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

• Aristotle on the Soul --
• Understood in material terms
• Unclear whether it survives death
• Perhaps capable of independent existence through
  absorption into the divine mind

4
IV.B. Aristotles Categories

• Immanent Forms
• Forms that exist in something else
• Talking about Immanent Forms --
• Primary Substance
• Predicates
• Essential Predicates ( Secondary Substances)
• Non-essential Predicates ( Accidents)

5
IV.B. Aristotles Categories

• 1) Substance 6) Time
• 2) Quantity 7) Posture
• 3) Relation 8) Having
• 4) Quality 9) Action
• 5) Place 10) Being acted on

6
IV.C. Aristotles View of Potentiality

• Four Kinds of Causes --
• That out of which something comes
• The form or archetype
• The primary source of the change (motion) or rest
• The end for which a thing is done

7
IV.C. Aristotles View of Potentiality

• Cause and Motion --
• The difficulty of classifying motion
• Every mover capable of motion is moved by
  something else (an actual cause).
• Some motion (that of heavenly bodies) is eternal.

8
IV.C. Aristotles View of Potentiality

• Motion and God --
• All motion is toward something.
• That toward which things move does not itself
  move.
• Therefore, it is the unmoved mover, the cause of
  motion.
• This unmoved mover is separate from this world.

9
Thoughts on Plato and Aristotle

• Plato This world reflects the Forms.
• Aristotle This world moves toward God.
• Plato The Forms exist in themselves.
• Aristotle Substances exist in themselves the
  Forms exist in other substances.
• Plato Degrees of reality
• Aristotle Potential vs. actuality

10
V. Classical Philosophy

• Platonism

11
V.A. Middle Platonism (80 B.C. A.D. 200)

• Middle Platonist Cosmology --
• Emergence of the idea of God or the One
• Logos or Nous begins to be understood as separate
  from and lower than the One.
• World-Soul begins to be seen as sub-rational.
• Thus, an unequal trinity of One, Nous, World-Soul
• Forms as ideas in the mind of the One
• Removal of the One from world and filling the
  void with intermediate divinities (daimones)

12
V.A. Middle Platonism

• Middle Platonist Ethics --
• The human soul belongs to the One but has fallen
  into this world.
• Platos end of the good becomes likeness to
  God.
• Stoic question of determinism enters the
  equation.

13
V.A. Middle Platonism

• Philo (ca. 20 B.C. ca. A.D. 50)
• Moses the Middle Platonic philosopher
• The One the God of the OT
• God is completely unknowable.
• Creation, but not creation ex nihilo
• Logos as the archetype

14
V.B. Neoplatonism (3rd cent. A.D.)

• Plotinus (ca. 204-270) --
• A hierarchy of degrees of unity
• The One is so perfect that it is beyond the
  intelligible realm and has no form.
• The idea of emanation
• The One is unconcerned about the world.
• Choice is a sign of LACK of freedom.

15
V.B. Neoplatonism

• Plotinus --
• The One, the Mind, and the Soul
• The human soul (higher and lower)
• The means to union with the One

16
V.B. Neoplatonism

• Porphyry (ca. 232-302)
• A simplification of Plotinus
• Focus on ascetics, not mystical knowledge
• Influential on the Latin Church
• A sharp critic of Christianity

17
Neoplatonism and Christianity

• Degrees of divinity vs. an equal Trinity
• Emanation vs. true creation
• An impersonal One vs. the personal God
• The soul as essentially connected to the divine
  realm
• The return to God as the souls task
• The Ones lack of interest in the souls quest