MedievalQuestions

WEEKLY QUESTIONS: MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

FIRST WEEK No Questions Due

SECOND WEEK Due Monday. WP, 254-272.

1) Explain what the One means for Plotinus and how everything that is partakes in the One.

2) What are the different explanations Plotinus gives for evil? Which do you prefer and why?

THIRD WEEK Due Monday. MP, 29-37.

1) Explain what Plotinus means by beauty and how it functions to orient the soul?

2) Do you think Plotinus's account of the soul's search for enlightenment is sufficient? Why or why not?

FOURTH WEEK Due Monday. WP, 242-253, 275-289. MP, 17-19, 22-29. Sabbath I Sabbath II

1) Distinguish between what Philo means by literal and figurative interpretation of the scriptures and explain why figurative interpretation is so important to Philo.

2) Using Philo's ideas, give a brief account of how you might interpret G-d's creation of the world.

3) Justin Martyr makes the following claim: "Those who lived by reason are Christians, even though they have been considered atheists: such as, among the Greeks, Socrates, Heraclitus and others like them...." Why do you think he makes such a claim and do you agree it is justified? From what you have read in both WP and MP would Tertullian agree with Justin Martyr's assertion? Why or why not?

FIFTH WEEK Due Monday. Levinas on Forgiveness in the Talmud: TEXT

1) What is the difference between approaching G-d for forgiveness and approaching one's neighbor? Why is the former not enough for the rabbinical sages?

2) What are the duties of the one who has suffered wrong in the situation of forgiveness? Why is forgiveness such a perilous task?

3) What is meant by the sentence on pg. 25: "Aggression is the lack of attention par excellence"?

4) Should Levinas forgive Heidegger? (Heideger was a Nazi but also Levinas's teacher--after the war Heidegger cannot teach but continues to write and never explicitly apologizes for his alliance with National Socialism. On the other hand, Heidegger never engaged in overt anti-semiticism.

SIXTH WEEK Due Monday. WP, 290-317; MP, City of G-d, 101-110(top). TEXT (Excerpt from On the Trinity)

1) Compare and contrast the thought of Plotinus and Augustine in regard to the Creator and Creation.

2) In what manner is the human soul an image of G-d?

3) How does Augustine characterize the goodness of nature and natural entities? In what manner might Augustine support or give a critique of our current concern for the environment?

SEVENTH WEEK Due Monday. MP: Confessions: 75-90(top); City of G-d, 101-118; TEXT (Beginning of Confessions)

1) How does Augustine define evil? Why does he define it in this manner?

2) Discuss Augustine's understanding of peace in the context of worldly and heavenly existence.

3) Look at the first few paragraphs of the Confessions-TEXT-and consider what is meant by confession for Augustine.

4) Find and explain at least three paradoxes at play in Augustine's discussion of time from Book XI of his Confessions.

EIGHTH WEEK Review and Midterm Study Questions

NINTH WEEK Islamic Philosophy WP, 340-357; MP, 199-209, 230-235.

1) Write what you think is the meaning of the discussion in Chapter 13 of Avicenna's Concerning the Soul

2) How does Averroes treat the issue of allegorical interpretation in Chapter Two of The Decisive Treatise? Do you agree with his argument? Why or why not?

TENTH WEEK Maimonides WP, 366-375; MP, 242-251, 260(bottom)-264

1) In what manner is a "difference among those who have obtained a knowledge of G-d" argued for in Part I, Chapter 59 (MP, 270-274) of Maimonides' The Guide for the Perplexed?

2) Maimonides argues the world is basically good. Do you agree with his analysis or not? Why or why not?

ELEVENTH WEEK Aquinas WP, 376-418; MP, 324-326, 328-332

1) Read "Arguments for God's Existence" in WP 391-398; MP, 324-326. Of the five arguments for the existence of God elaborated by Aquinas, choose the one you like the best and briefly consider its strong and weak points from the viewpoint of the discussion in WP.

2) What do you think Aquinas is arguing in regard to positive names of God in "Question 13: The Names Of God" (MP, 328-332). Do you agree with his argument or not? And why? (Looking at WP on "God's Nature" (398-405) should be helpful here.)

3) Discuss the difference between Aquinas and Bonaventure in arguing whether the universe can exist eternally, given there is a creator G-d. Which approach do you prefer and why? (see WP, 376-380)

TWELFTH WEEK Imaginative Thought in Philosophy TEXT

1) What is meant when the author claims the task of the imagination is essentially hermeneutical for medieval philosophers?

2) How does Plotinus characterize the work of the imagination in knowing the supersensual realm and ultimately the One?

3) Contrast Ibn Ezra’s and Avicenna’s views of the imagination.

THIRTEENTH WEEK Chapter 2, "Sermon" and "Analysis" pp. 55-84.

1) What is meant by "living with why"?

2) What is meant by "the Godhead beyond God"?

3) How is equanimity undestood in the non-Christian vs. Christian traditions?

FOURTEENTH WEEK Chapter 2, "Commentary" pp. 84-121.

1) How is "releasement" a four step process?

2) What exactly is meant by "dehiscence"?

3) What is meant by the claim that source or origin (Ursprunc or arche) is not the beginning of being but nothingness and anarchy (p. 120)?