1. Faith and Reason united
Scholasticism,
The Medieval Synthesis
Encountering Aristotle
in the middle-ages
CVSP 202 General Lecture
Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018
Hani Hassan
Faith and Reason united
by German painter Ludwig Seitz (1844–1908)
The inscription: “divinarum veritatum splendor, animo exceptus, ipsam juvat intelligentiam” is from Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Aeterni Patris, 1879, and it translates:
“The splendor of the divine truths, received into the mind, helps the understanding”

2. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Scholastic: “from Middle French scholastique, from Latin scholasticus "learned," from Greek skholastikos "studious, learned"”
[Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (
Came to be associated with the ‘teachers’ and churchmen in European Universities whose work was generally rooted in Aristotle and the Church Fathers.

3. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
“That superstitious and senseless race of professors who make their pupils swear never to contradict Aristotle.”
(Laurentius Valla, 15th Century Italian Humanist)
“Three centuries at the bottom of that gloomy abyss did not add a single idea to man's intellectual inheritance.”
(Hippolyte Taine, 19th Century French critic and historian)

4. Bring together a group of scholars to study and translate the corpus
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Imagine if you will that you were a person of monotheistic faith, of some authority, and one with broad scholarly interests; and imagine that you were informed of the recent discovery of a corpus of works in a language of times past, and that the suspicion is that this corpus may hold much of the wisdom of the past. What would you do?
Procure the corpus, and make sure that no word of such discovery gets out until you can figure out what to do with it
Make sure that no word of such a discovery ever gets out, and destroy the corpus
Bring together a group of scholars to study and translate the corpus
Procure the corpus and sell it to the highest bidder

5. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Now imagine further that the decision taken was to translate and study the corpus… However, the more that is translated, the more that it is felt that the content of the works stands in many respects against the accepted beliefs and traditions, and that it may indeed, on some level, threaten the widely accepted world-view. Now what would you do?
Make a public announcement of the discovery and its contents, urging all people to re-examine their accepted world-view
Burn all the manuscripts, and brand anyone who would mention them and their content as a ‘criminal’ of sorts
Continue studying further, and seek out from them what may indeed be of much use
Cover up the fact of their having been translated, pretend they just got discovered, and sell to the highest bidder

6. Historic City of Toledo
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Historic City of Toledo
(Listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Toledo Cathedral, housed the translators in the 12th Century

7. From Toledo to Provence and thereon to Palermo
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
From Toledo to Provence and thereon to Palermo
Route from Toledo, through Provence, to Palermo as suggested by Google maps;
Distance (following main roads by car): Km

8. The common people of Toledo The political powers in Toledo
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
If you were to take a wild guess, who of the following would you think was the main drive and engine behind the translation movement that started in Toledo?
The common people of Toledo
The political powers in Toledo
The Archbishop of Toledo
The Scholars and school-men of Toledo

9. Historic City of Toledo
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Historic City of Toledo
(Listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Toledo Cathedral, housed the translators in the 12th Century

10. Boethius (early 6th Century) John Scotus Eriugena (9th Century)
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Boethius
(early 6th Century)
John Scotus Eriugena
(9th Century)
-theism-and-martyrs-humanism/
wears-two-shoes.html
Christ wears 'two shoes' in the world: scripture and nature.  Both are necessary to understand the Lord, and at no stage can creation be seen as a separation of things from God. (Eriugena)
Anselm
(11th Century)
according-to-st-anselm-of.html

11. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis

12. Three ‘Synthesizers’:
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Three ‘Synthesizers’:
Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
Musa Ibn Maymun
(Maimonides)
Thomas Aquinas

13. Abū l-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn Rushd Born 1126, Córdoba - Spain
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Abū l-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn Rushd
Born 1126, Córdoba - Spain
Studied: Maliki law and Ahs’ari Kalam, philosophy, medicine…
Met Ibn Tufayl in Marakesh in 1153, and
Abū Ya’qūb Yūsuf 1169, and was commissioned by the latter to write commentaries on Aristotle
Judge of Seville: ; Chief judge of Cordoba: ; physician to the royal court as of 1182
Wrote profusely on Aristotle, as well as on philosophy, medicine, Law…
1195: fell from grace and exiled
Died: 1198, Marakesh

14. Decisive Treatise Determining the Nature of the Connection
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Decisive Treatise Determining the Nature of the Connection
between Religion and Philosophy
Copy of Ibn Rushd's commentary on
Ibn Sīnā’s Poem on Medicine

15. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
“If the activity of philosophy is nothing more than study of existing beings and reflection upon them as indications of the Artisan… and if the Law has encouraged and urged reflection on beings, then it is clear that what this name signifies is either obligatory or recommended by law.” (p. 2)

16. “Reflect you have vision” (59:2)
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
“Reflect you have vision” (59:2)
“Have they not studied the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and whatever things God has created?” (7:184)

17. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
“reflection is nothing more than inference and drawing out the unknown from the known, and since this is reasoning or at any rate done by reasoning, therefore we are under an obligation to carry our study of beings by intellectual reasoning.” (p. 2)

18. Summary of the argument:
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Summary of the argument:
The Law obliges us to study beings and reflect on them.
Reflection is only possible through intellectual reasoning, the highest of which is demonstration.
This means one has to study the rules and principles of reasoning, various types of arguments, etc…
This means that one has to study the works of those before us who have done work in these matters…
Having gained the skill, one has to now study beings and reflect upon them (back to 1)
This means one has to study what those before us have done in this field (the study of beings) just like with any other field..
As such: the Law obliges us to study philosophy.

19. (The Guide for the Perplexed), Arabic in Hebrew characters
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Maimonides
Draft of Maimonides‘
Dalalat-al-Harin
(The Guide for the Perplexed), Arabic in Hebrew characters
the-perplexed/

20. Moses Maimonides (Mūsā ibn Maymūn): Born 1135, in Córdoba – Spain
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Moses Maimonides (Mūsā ibn Maymūn):
Born 1135, in Córdoba – Spain
Moved to southern Spain and then settled in Morocco, where he studied at Jami’at al Qarawiyyin and wrote his first major work, the commentary on the Mishnah
1168, moved with his family and settled in Fostat - Egypt
One of the most influential physicians of his time, eventually official doctor to Saladin
1171, appointed Najid or leader of the Egyptian Jewish community
Died: 1204, Egypt

21. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
“There cannot be any belief in the unity of God except by admitting that He is one simple substance, without any composition or plurality of elements” (Chapter 51, page 1)

22. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
“Every description of an object by an affirmative attribute, which includes the assertion that an object is of a certain kind, must be made in one of the following five ways” (Chapter 52, page 2)

23. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
First: Description by definition, i.e. explanation of a name containing the true essence of the object.
“All agree that this kind of description cannot be given of God: for there are no previous causes to His existence, by which He could be defined” (Chapter 52, page 2)

24. Second: Description by part of its definition.
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Second: Description by part of its definition.
“All agree that this kind of description is inappropriate in reference to God; for if we were to speak of a portion of His essence, we should consider His essence to be a compound.” (Chapter 52, page 2)

25. iv. quality resulting from quantity. Examples: tall, short.
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Third: Described by something different from its true essence, and such a description relates to quality, and this is then a description in reference to accident.
Four kinds of qualities – if we consider each we will conclude that none can possibly be applied to God:
i. A man may be described by intellectual or moral qualities, or by dispositions belonging to him. Examples: a carpenter; a benevolent person; …
ii. by physical qualities, whether their presence or absence. Examples: soft; not strong; …
iii. passive qualities or emotions. Examples: a person is shy, lazy; a thing is red, cold…
iv. quality resulting from quantity. Examples: tall, short.

26. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Fourth: Description by the thing’s or person’s relation to another thing. Example: We are in West Hall; I am Naya’s Father, etc…

27. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Fifth manner to describe a thing is by its action, i.e. actions performed by it. Example: Maimonides who wrote the Guide to the Perplexed.
Now this kind of attribute, argues Maimonides, can be employed in describing the Creator, since they are attributes separate from the essence of that which is being described…
“especially since we know that these different actions do not imply that different elements must be contained in the substance of the agent, by which the different actions are produced…”
(Chapter 52, page 4).

28. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
“In short, it is necessary to demonstrate by proof that nothing can be predicated of God that implies any of the following four things: corporeality, emotion or change, nonexistence… In this respect our knowledge of God is aided by the study of Natural Science. For he who is ignorant of the latter cannot understand the defect implied in emotions, the difference between potentiality and reality, the non-existence implied in all potentiality… He who knows these things, but without their proofs, does not know the details which logically result from these general propositions: and therefore he cannot prove that God exists, or that the [four] things mentioned above are inadmissible in reference to God.” (Chapter 54, page 10)

29. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Aquinas
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologica, pars secundus, secundus liber. [Strasbourg: Johann Mentelin, before Advent 1463].
HIGHLIGHTS.Theology2.htm

30. Thomas Aquinas (Tomasso D’Aquino): Born: 1225, Aquino - Southern Italy
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Thomas Aquinas (Tomasso D’Aquino):
Born: 1225, Aquino - Southern Italy
Went to Paris as a student, then to Cologne to teach
Ordained in 1250, and soon after given a teaching position in Paris
Worked towards his Doctor of Theology, received it in 1257
Central influence on the development of Scholasticism, particularly through his work Summa Theologiae
The Summa Theologiae left unfinished, following a profound ‘revelationary’ experience in 1273, in light of which he abandons writing, explaining to his secretary (Brother Reginald):
“I can write no more. All that I have written seems like straw.”
Died: (canonized 1323)

31. Question II: The Existence of God
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Summa Theologiae
Question II: The Existence of God
(In Three Articles)
“(1) Whether the proposition God exists is self-evident? (2) Whether it is demonstrable? (3) Whether God exists?”

32. WHETHER THE EXISTENCE OF GOD IS SELF‑EVIDENT?
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
First Article
WHETHER THE EXISTENCE OF GOD IS SELF‑EVIDENT?
Three objections:
First: “The Knowledge of God is naturally implanted in all” (John of Damascus, or John Damascene)
Second: “as soon as the name God is understood it exists mentally, it also follows that it exists actually.”
Third: “if there is anything true, there must be truth. But God is truth itself: I am the way, the truth, and the life (Jo. xiv.6). Therefore God exists is self‑evident.”

33. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
“But the opposite of the proposition God is can be mentally admitted: The fool said in his heart, There is no God (Ps. Iii.1). Therefore, that God exists is not self-evident.”

34. Aquinas’ Three Replies:
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Aquinas’ Three Replies:
To the First objection: “To know that God exists in a general and confused way is implanted in us by nature […] This, however, is not to know absolutely that God exists”
To the Second: “Perhaps not everyone who hears this name God understands it to signify something than which nothing greater can be thought, seeing that some have believed God to be a body”
To the Third: “The existence of truth in general is self-evident, but the existence of a Primal Truth is not self-evident to us.”

35. WHETHER IT CAN BE DEMONSTRATED THAT GOD EXISTS?
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Second Article
WHETHER IT CAN BE DEMONSTRATED THAT GOD EXISTS?
Three objections:
First: “…it is an article of faith that God exists. But what is of faith cannot be demonstrated.”
Second: “is the middle term of demonstration. But we cannot know in what God's essence consists […] Therefore we cannot demonstrate that God exists.”
Third: “…since a cause cannot be demonstrated by an effect not proportioned to it, it seems that the existence of God cannot be demonstrated.”

36. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
“When an effect is better known to us than its cause, from the effect we proceed to the knowledge of the cause. And from every effect the existence of its proper cause can be demonstrated, so long as its effects are better known to us.”

37. Plato Aristotle Augustine of Hippo Ibn Rushd
Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
Throughout his work, Thomas Aquinas will at numerous places be referencing ‘the Philosopher’, without naming him. Who do you think he is referring to?
Plato
Aristotle
Augustine of Hippo
Ibn Rushd

38. Scholasticism, aka The Medieval Synthesis
“In reliving the Aristotelian Revolution, we understand that we are not just the children of Copernicus and Galileo, Adam Smith, and Thomas Jefferson, but Aristotle’s children: the heirs of a medieval tradition that seems more intriguing and inspiring as the shortcomings of modernity become clearer. Of course, most of us would not return to the Middle Ages if we could. Few people today would embrace the assumptions and conclusions of the medieval scholastics. But the Aristotelian’s quest for meaning is also ours, and we have much to learn from their vision of a science infused by ethics and a religion unafraid of reason. In this little known but formative chapter of our history, we may detect hints of a more humane and integrated global future.”
From the preface to Aristotle’s Children, by Richard Rubenstein, 2003.