The-Philosophy-Book-DK_345

THE ANCIENT WORLD 49

other subjects about which you to gradually elicit insights. He I know nothing except
hear me talking, and that examining likened the process to his mother’s the fact of my ignorance.
both myself and others is really the profession of midwife, assisting
very best thing a man can do.” in the birth of ideas. Socrates
This gaining of knowledge, rather
than wealth or high status, is the Through these discussions, then exposed the contradictions
ultimate goal of life. It is not a matter Socrates came to realize that the within them and brought them to
of entertainment or curiosity—it is Delphic oracle had been right – agree to a new set of conclusions.
the reason why we exist. Moreover, he was the wisest man in Athens,
all knowledge is ultimately self- not because of his knowledge but This method of examining an
knowledge, for it creates the person because he professed to know argument by rational discussion
you are within this world, and nothing. He also saw that the from a position of ignorance marked
fosters the care of the immortal soul. inscription on the entrance to the a complete change in philosophical
In Phaedo, Socrates says that an temple at Delphi, gnothi seauton thinking. It was the first known
unexamined life leads the soul to (“know thyself”), was just as use of inductive argument, in
be “confused and dizzy, as if it significant. To gain knowledge which a set of premises based
were drunk”, while the wise soul of the world and oneself it was on experience is first established
achieves stability, its straying necessary to realize the limits of to be true, and then shown to lead
finally brought to an end. one’s own ignorance and to remove to a universal truth in conclusion.
all preconceptions. Only then could This powerful form of argument
Dialectical method one hope to determine the truth. was developed by Aristotle, and
Socrates quickly became a well- later by Francis Bacon, who used
known figure in Athens, with a Socrates set about engaging the it as the starting point of his
reputation for an enquiring mind. people of Athens in discussion on scientific method. It became,
A friend of his, so the story goes, topics such as the nature of love, therefore, the foundation not
asked the priestess of Apollo at justice, and loyalty. His mission, only of Western philosophy, but
Delphi who the wisest man in the misunderstood at the time as a of all the empirical sciences. ■
world was: the oracular reply was dangerous form of Sophistry—or
that there was no-one wiser than cleverness for the sake of it—was
Socrates. When Socrates heard not to instruct the people, nor even
about this, he was astounded, and simply to learn what they knew, but
went to the most knowledgeable to explore the ideas that they had.
people he could find to try to It was the conversation itself, with
disprove it. What he discovered Socrates guiding it, that provided
was that these people only thought him with insights. Through a series
they knew a great deal; under of questions, he revealed the ideas
examination, their knowledge was and assumptions his opponent held,
proved to be either limited or false.

What was more important,
however, was the method he used
to question their knowledge. He
took the standpoint of someone who
knew nothing, and merely asked
questions, exposing contradictions
in arguments and gaps in knowledge

Socrates was put to death in 399 BCE,
ultimately for questioning the basis of
Athenian morality. Here he accepts the
bowl of hemlock that will kill him, and
gestures defiantly at the heavens.

EARTHLY

KNOWLEDGE IS BUT

SHADOW

PLATO (C.427–347 BCE)



52 PLATO world
of Ideas, which contains
IN CONTEXT the Ideal Forms of everything.

BRANCH We are born The illusory world in which
Epistemology with the concepts of we live—the world of the
these Ideal Forms senses—contains imperfect
APPROACH copies of the Ideal Forms.
Rationalism in our minds.

BEFORE We recognize things in the world,
6th century BCE The Milesian such as dogs, because we recognize
philosophers propose theories
to explain the nature and they are imperfect copies of the
substance of the cosmos. concepts in our minds.

c.500 BCE Heraclitus argues Everything in this world is
that everything is constantly a “shadow” of its Ideal Form
in a state of flux or change.
in the world of Ideas.
c.450 BCE Protagoras says
that truth is relative.

AFTER
c.335 BCE Aristotle teaches
that we can find truth by
observing the world around us.

c.250 CE Plotinus founds
the Neo-Platonist school, a
religious take on Plato’s ideas.

386 St. Augustine of Hippo
integrates Plato’s theories into
Christian doctrine.

I n 399 BCE, Plato’s mentor Initially Plato’s concerns were very his predecessors, Plato concluded
Socrates was condemned to much those of his mentor: to search that the “unchanging” in nature is
death. Socrates had left no for definitions of abstract moral the same as the “unchanging” in
writings, and Plato took it upon values such as “justice” and morals and society.
himself to preserve what he had “virtue”, and to refute Protagoras’s
learnt from his master for notion that right and wrong are Seeking the Ideal
posterity—first in the Apology, his relative terms. In the Republic, In the Republic, Plato describes
retelling of Socrates’ defense at his Plato set out his vision of the ideal Socrates posing questions about
trial, and later by using Socrates as city-state and explored aspects of the virtues, or moral concepts, in
a character in a series of dialogues. virtue. But in the process, he also order to establish clear and precise
In these dialogues, it is sometimes tackled subjects outside moral definitions of them. Socrates had
difficult to untangle which are philosophy. Like earlier Greek famously said that “virtue is
Socrates’ thoughts and which are thinkers, he questioned the nature knowledge”, and that to act justly,
the original thoughts of Plato, but a and substance of the cosmos, and for example, you must first ask what
picture emerges of Plato using the explored how the immutable and justice is. Plato decides that before
methods of his master to explore eternal could exist in a seemingly referring to any moral concept in
and explain his own ideas. changing world. However, unlike our thinking or reasoning, we must

THE ANCIENT WORLD 53

See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 ■ Heraclitus 40 ■ Protagoras 42–43 ■ Socrates 46–49 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ Plotinus 331 ■
St. Augustine of Hippo 72–73

first explore both what we mean by angles of any triangle is always If particulars are to
that concept and what makes it 180 degrees. We know the truth of have meaning, there
precisely the kind of thing that it is. these statements, even though the must be universals.
He raises the question of how we perfect triangle does not exist
would recognize the correct, or anywhere in the natural world. Yet Plato
perfect, form of anything—a form we are able to perceive the perfect
that is true for all societies and for triangle—or the perfect straight asks us to imagine a cave in which
all time. By doing so, Plato is line or circle—in our minds, using people have been imprisoned since
implying that he thinks some kind our reason. Plato, therefore, asks birth, tied up facing the back wall
of ideal form of things in the world whether such perfect forms can in the darkness. They can only face
we inhabit—whether those things exist anywhere. straight ahead. Behind the prisoners
are moral concepts or physical is a bright fire, which casts shadows
objects—must actually exist, of World of Ideas onto the wall they are facing. There
which we are in some way aware. Reasoning brings Plato to only one is also a rampart between the fire
conclusion—that there must be a and the prisoners along which
Plato talks about objects in the world of Ideas, or Forms, which is people walk and hold up various
world around us, such as beds. totally separate from the material objects from time to time, so that
When we see a bed, he states, we world. It is there that the Idea of the the shadows of these objects are
know that it is a bed and we can perfect “triangle”, along with the cast on the wall. These shadows
recognize all beds, even though Idea of the perfect “bed” and “dog” are all the prisoners know of the ❯❯
they may differ in numerous ways. exists. He concludes that human
Dogs in their many species are senses cannot perceive this place
even more varied, yet all dogs share directly—it is only perceptible to us
the characteristic of “dogginess”, through reason. Plato even goes on
which is something we can to state that this realm of Ideas is
recognize, and that allows us to “reality”, and that the world around
say we know what a dog is. Plato us is merely modelled upon it.
argues that it is not just that a
shared “dogginess” or “bedness” To illustrate his theory, Plato
exists, but that we all have in our presents what has become known
minds an idea of an ideal bed or as the “Allegory of the Cave.” He
dog, which we use to recognize any
particular instance.

Taking a mathematical example
to further his argument, Plato shows
that true knowledge is reached by
reasoning, rather than through our
senses. He states that we can work
out in logical steps that the square
of the hypotenuse of a right-angled
triangle is equal to the sum of the
squares of the other two sides, or
that the sum of the three interior

The Allegory of the Cave, in which
knowledge of the world is limited to
mere shadows of reality and truth, is
used by Plato to explain his idea of
a world of perfect Forms, or Ideas.

54 PLATO

According to Plato’s theory of Forms, every other of what Plato considers to be
horse that we encounter in the world around us is reality, also solves the problem of
a lesser version of an “ideal”, or perfect, horse that finding constants in an apparently
exists in a world of Forms or Ideas—a realm that changing world. The material world
humans can only access through may be subject to change, but
their ability to reason. Plato’s world of Ideas is eternal and
immutable. Plato applies his theory
The world of ideas not just to concrete things, such as
beds and dogs, but also to abstract
The world of the senses concepts. In Plato’s world of Ideas,
there is an Idea of justice, which is
world; they have no concept of the the power to perceive with our true justice, and all the instances of
actual objects themselves. If one senses, there is a corresponding justice in the material world around
of the prisoners manages to untie “Form” (or “Idea”)—an eternal and us are models, or lesser variants, of
himself and turn around, he will perfect reality of that thing—in the it. The same is true of the concept
see the objects themselves. But world of Ideas. Because what we of goodness, which Plato considers
after a lifetime of entrapment, he perceive via our senses is based to be the ultimate Idea—and the
is likely to be confused, as well as on an experience of imperfect or goal of all philosophical enquiry.
dazzled by the fire, and will most incomplete “shadows” of reality,
likely turn back toward the wall we can have no real knowledge of Innate knowledge
and the only reality he knows. those things. At best, we may have The problem remains of how we
opinions, but genuine knowledge can come to know these Ideas, so
Plato believes that everything can only come from study of the that we have the ability to recognize
that our senses perceive in the Ideas, and that can only ever be the imperfect instances of them in
material world is like the images achieved through reason, rather the world we inhabit. Plato argues
on the cave wall, merely shadows than through our deceptive senses. that our conception of Ideal Forms
of reality. This belief is the basis This separation of two distinct must be innate, even if we are not
of his theory of Forms, which is that worlds, one of appearance, the aware of this. He believes that
for every earthly thing that we have human beings are divided into two
parts: the body and the soul. Our
bodies possess the senses, through
which we are able to perceive the
material world, while the soul
possesses the reason with which
we can perceive the realm of Ideas.
Plato concludes that our soul, which
is immortal and eternal, must have

The soul of
man is immortal
and imperishable.

Plato

THE ANCIENT WORLD 55

Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor memories of these Ideas requires What we call learning
from 161 to 180 CE, was not just a reason—an attribute of the soul. is only a process
powerful ruler, he was a noted scholar of recollection.
and thinker—a realization of Plato’s idea For Plato, the philosopher’s job Plato
that philosophers should lead society. is to use reason to discover the
Ideal Forms or Ideas. In the theory of Forms. Plato’s ideas later
inhabited the world of Ideas before Republic, he also argues that it is found their way into the philosophy
our birth, and still yearns to return philosophers, or rather those who of medieval Islamic and Christian
to that realm after our death. So are true to the philosopher’s calling, thinkers, including St. Augustine of
when we see variations of the Ideas who should be the ruling class. Hippo, who combined Plato’s ideas
in the world with our senses, we This is because only the true with those of the Church.
recognize them as a sort of philosopher can understand the
recollection. Recalling the innate exact nature of the world and the By proposing that the use of
truth of moral values. However, just reason, rather than observation, is
like a prisoner in the “Allegory of the only way to acquire knowledge,
the Cave” who sees the real objects Plato also laid the foundations of
rather than their shadows, many 17th-century rationalism. Plato’s
will just turn back to the only world influence can still be felt today—
they feel comfortable with. Plato the broad range of subjects he
often found it difficult to convince wrote about led the 20th-century
his fellow philosophers of the true British logician Alfred North
nature of their calling. Whitehead to say that subsequent
Western philosophy “consists of a
Unsurpassed legacy set of footnotes to Plato.” ■
Plato himself was the embodiment
of his ideal, or true, philosopher. He
argued on questions of ethics that
had been raised previously by the
followers of Protagoras and Socrates,
but in the process, he explored for
the first time the path to knowledge
itself. He was a profound influence
on his pupil Aristotle—even if they
fundamentally disagreed about the

Plato Despite the large proportion of 385 BCE. Here he founded a
writings attributed to Plato that school known as the Academy
have survived, little is known (from which the word “academic”
about his life. He was born into a comes), remaining its head until
noble family in Athens in around his death in 347 BCE.
427 BCE and named Aristocles, but
acquired the nickname “Plato” Key works
(meaning “broad”). Although
probably destined for a life in c.399–387 BCE Apology, Crito,
politics, he became a pupil of Giorgias, Hippias Major, Meno,
Socrates. When Socrates was Protagoras (early dialogues)
condemned to death, Plato is said c.380–360 BCE Phaedo, Phaedrus,
to have become disillusioned with Republic, Symposium (middle
Athens, and left the city. He dialogues)
travelled widely, spending some c.360–355 BCE Parmenides,
time in southern Italy and Sicily, Sophist, Theaetetus (late
before returning to Athens around dialogues)

TRUTH

RESIDES IN THE WORLD

AROUND US

ARISTOTLE (384–322 BCE)



58 ARISTOTLE A ristotle was 17 years old It is tempting to imagine that
when he arrived in Athens Aristotle’s arguments had already
IN CONTEXT to study at the Academy had some influence on Plato, who
under the great philosopher Plato. in his later dialogues admitted
BRANCH Plato himself was 60 at the time, some flaws in his earlier theories,
Epistemology and had already devised his theory but it is impossible to know for
of Forms. According to this theory, certain. We do know, though, that
APPROACH all earthly phenomena, such as Plato was aware of the Third Man
Empiricism justice and the color green, are argument, which Aristotle used to
shadows of ideal counterparts, called refute his theory of Forms. This
BEFORE Forms, which give their earthly argument runs as follows: if there
399 BCE Socrates argues that models their particular identities. exists in a realm of Forms a perfect
virtue is wisdom. Form of Man on which earthly men
Aristotle was a studious type, are modelled, this Form, to have
c.380 BCE Plato presents his and no doubt learnt a great deal from any conceivable content, would
theory of Forms in his Socratic his master, but he was also of a very have to be based on a Form of the
dialogue, The Republic. different temperament. Where Plato Form of Man—and this too would
was brilliant and intuitive, Aristotle have to be based on a higher Form
AFTER was scholarly and methodical. on which the Forms of the Forms
9th century CE Aristotle’s Nevertheless, there was an obvious are based, and so on ad infinitum.
writings are translated mutual respect, and Aristotle stayed
into Arabic. at the Academy, both as a student Aristotle’s later argument
and a teacher, until Plato died 20 against the theory of Forms was
13th century Translations years later. Surprisingly, he was not more straightforward, and more
of Aristotle’s works appear chosen as Plato’s successor, and so directly related to his studies of the
in Latin. he left Athens and took what would natural world. He realized that it
prove to be a fruitful trip to Ionia. was simply unnecessary to assume
1690 John Locke establishes that there is a hypothetical realm
a school of British empiricism. Plato’s theory questioned of Forms, when the reality of things
The break from teaching gave can already be seen here on Earth,
1735 Zoologist Carl Linnaeus Aristotle the opportunity to indulge inherent in everyday things.
lays the foundations of modern his passion for studying wildlife,
taxonomy in Systema Naturae, which intensified his feeling that Perhaps because his father
based on Aristotle’s system Plato’s theory of Forms was wrong. had been a physician, Aristotle’s
of biological classification. scientific interests lay in what we

different Using our senses and our
instances of “dog” in reason, we understand what
the world around us.
makes a dog a dog.

We recognize the We find the truth
common characteristics from evidence

of dogs in the world. gained in the world
around us.

THE ANCIENT WORLD 59

See also: Socrates 46–49 ■ Plato 50–55 ■ Avicenna 76–79 ■ Averroes 82–83 ■ René Descartes 116–123 ■
John Locke 130–33 ■ Gottfried Leibniz 134–37 ■ George Berkeley 138–41 ■ David Hume 148–53 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71

Plato and Aristotle differed in their
opinion of the nature of universal
qualities. For Plato, they reside in the
higher realm of the Forms, but for
Aristotle they reside here on Earth.

of the world what the shared
characteristics are that make
things what they are—and
the only way of experiencing
the world is through our senses.

now call the biological sciences, to back up his theories. What he The essential form of things
whereas Plato’s background had learnt from studying the natural Like Plato, then, Aristotle is
been firmly based in mathematics. world was that by observing the concerned with finding some kind of
This difference in background characteristics of every example immutable and eternal bedrock in a
helps to explain the difference in of a particular plant or animal that world characterized by change, but
approach between the two men. he came across, he could build up he concludes that there is no need
Mathematics, especially geometry, a complete picture of what it was to look for this anchor in a world of
deals with abstract concepts that that distinguished it from other Forms that are only perceptible to
are far removed from the everyday plants or animals, and deduce what the soul. The evidence is here in the
world, whereas biology is very much makes it what it is. His own studies world around us, perceptible through
about the world around us, and is confirmed what he already the senses. Aristotle believes that
based almost solely on observation. believed—that we are not born things in the material world are not
Plato sought confirmation of a realm with an innate ability to recognize imperfect copies of some ideal
of Forms from notions such as the Forms, as Plato maintained. Form of themselves, but that the
perfect circle (which cannot exist essential form of a thing is actually
in nature), but Aristotle found that Each time a child comes across inherent in each instance of that
certain constants can be discovered a dog, for example, it notes what it thing. For example, “dogginess”
by examining the natural world. is about that animal that it has in is not just a shared characteristic
common with other dogs, so that of dogs—it is something that is
Trusting the senses it can eventually recognize the inherent in each and every dog. ❯❯
What Aristotle proposed turned things that make something a
Plato’s theory on its head. Far from dog. The child now has an idea Everything that
mistrusting our senses, Aristotle of “dogginess”, or the “form”, as depends on the action
relied on them for the evidence Aristotle puts it, of a dog. In this of nature is by nature
way, we learn from our experience as good as it can be.

Aristotle

60 ARISTOTLE

By studying particular things, All men by nature that the truth of the world is to be
therefore, we can gain insight into desire to know. found here on Earth, and not in
their universal, immutable nature. Aristotle some higher dimension, that he set
about collecting specimens of flora
What is true of examples in the Aristotle classified many of the and fauna, and classified them
natural world, Aristotle reasons, different strands of knowledge and according to their characteristics.
is also true of concepts relating learning that we have today, such
to human beings. Notions such as physics, logic, metaphysics, poetics, For this biological classification,
as “virtue”, “justice”, “beauty”, and ethics, politics, and biology. Aristotle devised a hierarchical
“good” can be examined in exactly system—the first of its kind, and so
the same way. As he sees it, when by which we come to know them beautifully constructed that it forms
we are born our minds are like (the latter being the fundamental the basis of the taxonomy still in
“unscribed tablets”, and any ideas quesion of “epistemology”, or the use today. First, he divides the
that we gain can only be received theory of knowledge). And it was natural world into living and
through our senses. At birth, we this difference of opinion on how nonliving things, then he turns his
have no innate ideas, so we can we arrive at universal truths that attention to classifying the living
have no idea of right or wrong. As later divided philosophers into two world. His next division is between
we encounter instances of justice separate camps: the rationalists plants and animals, which involves
throughout our lives, however, we (including René Descartes, the same kind of thinking that
learn to recognize the qualities that Immanuel Kant, and Gottfried underpins his theory of universal
these instances have in common, Leibniz), who believe in a priori, qualities: we may be able to
and slowly build and refine our or innate, knowledge; and the distinguish between a plant and
understanding of what justice is. empiricists (including John Locke, an animal almost without thinking,
In other words, the only way we George Berkeley, and David Hume), but how do we know how to make
can come to know the eternal, who claim that all knowledge that distinction? The answer, for
immutable idea of justice, is by comes from experience. Aristotle, is in the shared features
observing how it is manifested of either category. All plants share
in the world around us. Biological classification the form “plant”, and all animals
The manner in which Plato and share the form “animal.” And once
Aristotle departs from Plato, Aristotle arrive at their theories tells we understand the nature of those
then, not by denying that universal us much about their temperaments. forms, we can then recognize them
qualities exist, but by questioning Plato’s theory of Forms is grand and in each and every instance.
both their nature and the means otherworldly, which is reflected in
the way he argues his case, using This fact becomes more apparent
highly imaginative fictionalized the more Aristotle subdivides the
dialogues between Socrates and natural world. In order to classify a
his contemporaries. By contrast, specimen as a fish, for example, we
Aristotle’s theory is much more have to recognize what it is that
down to earth, and is presented in makes a fish a fish—which, again,
more prosaic, academic language. can be known through experience
Indeed, so convinced was Aristotle and requires no innate knowledge
at all. As Aristotle builds up a
complete classification of all living
things, from the simplest organisms
to human beings, this fact is
confirmed again and again.

Teleological explanation
Another fact that became obvious
to Aristotle as he classified the
natural world is that the “form”
of a creature is not just a matter
of its physical characteristics, such

THE ANCIENT WORLD 61

as its skin, fur, feather, or scales, thing; the efficient cause, or how telos, of the eye—telos is a Greek
but also a matter of what it does, a thing is brought into being; and word that gives us “teleology”, or
and how it behaves—which, for the final cause, or the function or the study of purpose in nature. A
Aristotle, has ethical implications. purpose of a thing. And it is this teleological explanation of a thing
last type of cause, the “final cause”, is therefore an account of a thing’s
To understand the link with that relates to ethics—a subject purpose, and to know the purpose
ethics, we need first to appreciate which, for Aristotle, is not separate of a thing is also to know what a
that for Aristotle everything in from science, but rather a logical “good” or a “bad” version of a thing
the world is fully explained by four extension of biology. is—a good eye for example, is one
causes that fully account for a that sees well.
thing’s existence. These four causes An example that Aristotle gives
are: the material cause, or what a is that of an eye: the final cause In the case of humans, a “good”
thing is made of; the formal cause, of an eye—its function—is to see. life is therefore one in which we
or the arrangement or shape of a This function is the purpose, or fulfill our purpose, or use all the
characteristics that make us
Aristotle’s classification of living things is human to the full. A person can be
the first detailed examination of the natural world. considered “good” if he uses the
It proceeds from general observations about the characteristics he was born with,
characteristics shared by all animals, and then and can only be happy by using all
subdivides into ever more precise categories. his capabilities in the pursuit of
virtue—the highest form of which,
for Aristotle, is wisdom. Which
brings us full circle back to the
question of how we can recognize
the thing that we call virtue—and
for Aristotle, again, the answer is
by observation. We understand the
nature of the “good life” by seeing
it in the people around us.

Does it fly? The syllogism
Yes No In the process of classification,
Aristotle formulates a systematic
form of logic which he applies
to each specimen to determine ❯❯

Does it have feathers? Does it have scales? Linnaeus and Cuvier
Yes No Yes No have been my two gods,
though in very different
ways, but they were mere
schoolboys to old Aristotle.

Charles Darwin

62 ARISTOTLE

“Socrates is mortal” is the undeniable conclusion
to the most famous syllogism in history. Aristotle’s
syllogism—a simple deduction from two premises
to a conclusion—was the first formal system of logic.

All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Every action must be
due to one or other of
Therefore Socrates seven causes: chance,
is mortal. nature, compulsion,

habit, reasoning,
anger, or appetite.

Aristotle

whether it belongs to a certain innate faculty, which is necessary power in the Mediterranean, and the
category. For example, one of the for us to learn from experience. philosophy it adopted from Greece
characteristics common to all And as he applied this fact to his was that of the Stoics. The rival
reptiles is that they are cold-blooded; hierarchical system, he saw that schools of Plato and Aristotle—
so, if this particular specimen is the innate power of reason is what Plato’s Academy and the Lyceum
warm-blooded, then it cannot be a distinguishes us from all other Aristotle founded in Athens—
reptile. Likewise, a characteristic living creatures, and placed us at continued to operate, but they
common to all mammals is that the top of the hierarchy. had lost their former eminence.
they suckle their young; so, if this
specimen is a mammal, it will suckle Decline of Classical Greece As a result of this neglect, many
its young. Aristotle sees a pattern The sheer scope of Aristotle’s ideas, of Aristotle’s writings were lost. It
in this way of thinking—that of and the revolutionary way in which is believed that he wrote several
three propositions consisting of he overturns Plato’s theory of Forms, hundred treatises and dialogues
two premises and a conclusion, for should have ensured that his explaining his theories, but all that
example in the form: if As are Xs, philosophy had a far greater impact remain are fragments of his work,
and B is an A, then B is an X. than it did during his lifetime. That mainly in the form of lectures and
The “syllogism”, as this form of is not to say that his work was teacher’s notes. Luckily for posterity,
reasoning is known, is the first without fault—his geography and these were preserved by his
formal system of logic ever devised, astronomy were flawed; his ethics followers, and there is enough
and it remained the basic model for supported the use of slaves and contained in them to give a picture
logic up until the 19th century. considered women to be inferior of the full range of his work.
human beings; and his logic was
But the syllogism was more than incomplete by modern standards. Aristotle’s legacy
simply a by-product of Aristotle’s However, what he got right With the emergence of Islam in the
systematic classification of the amounted to a revolution both 7th century CE, Aristotle’s works
natural world. By using analytical in philosophy and in science. were translated into Arabic and
reasoning in the form of logic, spread throughout the Islamic world,
Aristotle realized that the power But Aristotle lived at the end of becoming essential reading for
of reason was something that did an era. Alexander the Great, whom Middle Eastern scholars such as
not rely on the senses, and that he taught, died shortly before him, Avicenna and Averroes. In Western
it must therefore be an innate and so began the Hellenistic period Europe, however, Boethius’s Latin
characteristic—part of what it is of Greek history which saw a decline translation of Aristotle’s treatise on
to be human. Although we have no in Athens’ influence. The Roman logic (made in the 6th century CE)
innate ideas, we do possess this Empire was becoming the dominant remained the only work of Aristotle’s

THE ANCIENT WORLD 63

The influence of Aristotle on the and the Organon. In the 13th There is nothing in
history of thought can be seen in century, Thomas Aquinas braved the mind except was
the Great Chain of Being, a medieval a ban on Aristotle’s work and
Christian depiction of life as a hierarchy integrated it into Christian first in the senses.
in which with God presides over all. philosophy, in the same way that John Locke
St. Augustine had adopted Plato,
available until the 9th century CE, and Plato and Aristotle came to Again, the differences between the
when all of Aristotle’s works began lock horns again. philosophers were as much about
to be translated from Arabic into temperament as they were about
Latin. It was also at this time that Aristotle’s notes on logic (laid substance—the Continental versus
his ideas were collected into the out in the Organon) remained the the English, the poetic versus the
the books we know today—such as standard text on logic until the academic, the Platonic versus the
Physics, The Nicomachean Ethics, emergence of mathematical logic Aristotelian. Although the debate
in the 19th century. Likewise, died down in the 19th century,
his classification of living things there has been a revival of interest
dominated Western thinking in Aristotle in recent times, and
throughout the Middle Ages, a reappraisal of his significance.
becoming the Christian scala His ethics in particular have
naturae (the “ladder of nature”), been of great appeal to modern
or the Great Chain of Being. This philosophers, who have seen in
depicted the whole of creation his functional definition of “good”
dominated by man, who stood a key to understanding the way
second only to God. And during the we use ethical language. ■
Renaissance, Aristotle’s empirical
method of enquiry held sway.

In the 17th century, the debate
between empiricists and rationalists
reached its zenith after René
Descartes published his Discourse
on the Method. Descartes, and
Leibniz and Kant after him, chose
the rationalist route; in response,
Locke, Berkeley, and Hume lined
up as the empiricist opposition.

Aristotle Born in Stagira, Chalcidice, in In 335 BCE he returned to Athens,
the northeast region of modern encouraged by Alexander, and
Greece, Aristotle was the son of set up the Lyceum, a school to
a physician to the royal family rival Plato’s. It was here that
of Macedon, and was educated as he did most of his writing, and
a member of the aristocracy. He formalized his ideas. After
was sent to Plato’s Academy in Alexander died in 323 BCE,
Athens at the age of 17, and spent anti-Macedonian feeling flared
almost 20 years there both as a up in Athens, and Aristotle
student and a teacher. When fled to Chalcis, on the island
Plato died, Aristotle left Athens of Euboea, where he died
for Ionia, and spent several years the following year.
studying the wildlife of the area.
He was then appointed tutor at Key works
the Macedonian court, where he
taught the young Alexander the Organon, Physics (as compiled in
Great and continued his studies. book form in the 9th century).

64

DEATH IS
NOTHING TO US

EPICURUS (341–270 BCE)

IN CONTEXT E picurus grew up in a time Central to the philosophy that
when the philosophy of Epicurus developed is the view
BRANCH ancient Greece had already that peace of mind, or tranquillity,
Ethics reached a pinnacle in the ideas of is the goal of life. He argues that
Plato and Aristotle. The main focus pleasure and pain are the roots of
APPROACH of philosophical thinking was good and evil, and qualities such
Epicureanism shifting from metaphysics toward as virtue and justice derive from
ethics—and also from political to these roots, as “it is impossible to
BEFORE personal ethics. Epicurus, however, live a pleasant life without living
Late 5th century BCE found the seeds of a new school of wisely, honorably, and justly, and
Socrates states that seeking thought in the quests of earlier it is impossible to live wisely,
knowledge and truth is the philosophers, such as Socrates’ honorably, and justly without living
key to a worthwhile life. examination of the truth of basic pleasantly.” Epicurianism is often
human concepts and values. mistakenly interpreted as simply
c.400 BCE Democritus and being about the pursuit of sensual
Leucippus conclude that pleasures. For Epicurus, the
the cosmos consists solely of greatest pleasure is only attainable
atoms, moving in empty space. through knowledge and friendship,
and a temperate life, with freedom
AFTER from fear and pain.
c.50 BCE Roman philosopher
Lucretius writes De rerum Terrifying images of the merciless Fear of death
natura, a poem exploring god of death Thanatos were used to One of the obstacles to enjoying the
Epicurus’s ideas. depict the pain and torment ancient peace of a tranquil mind, Epicurus
Greeks might incur for their sins, both reasons, is the fear of death, and
1789 Jeremy Bentham when they died and in the afterlife. this fear is increased by the
advocates the utilitarian idea religious belief that if you incur
of “the greatest happiness for the wrath of the gods, you will be
the greatest number.” severely punished in the afterlife.
But rather than countering this fear
1861 John Stuart Mill argues by proposing an alternative state
that intellectual and spiritual of immortality, Epicurus tries to
pleasures have more value explain the nature of death itself.
than physical pleasures. He starts by proposing that when

THE ANCIENT WORLD 65

See: Democritus and Leucippus 45 ■ Socrates 46–49 ■ Plato 50–55 ■
Aristotle 56–63 ■ Jeremy Bentham 174 ■ John Stuart Mill 190–93

The goal of life Death is the end Death is the end
is happiness. of sensation, of consciousness,
so cannot be
physically so cannot be
painful. emotionally

painful.

Our unhappiness Death is Epicurus
is caused by fear, nothing
to fear. Born to Athenian parents on
and our main the Aegean island of Samos,
fear is of death. Epicurus was first taught
philosophy by a disciple of
If we can Plato. In 323 BCE, Alexander
overcome fear the Great died and, in the
political conflicts that
of death, we followed, Epicurus and his
can be happy. family were forced to move
to Colophon (now in Turkey).
we die, we are unaware of our are unable to feel anything, mentally There he continued his studies
death, since our consciousness or physically, when you die, it is with Nausiphanes, a follower
(our soul) ceases to exist at the foolish to let the fear of death cause of Democritus.
point of death. To explain this, you pain while you are still alive.
Epicurus takes the view that the Epicurus taught briefly
entire universe consists of either Epicurus attracted a small but in Mytilene on the island of
atoms or empty space, as argued devoted following in his lifetime, Lesbos, and in Lampsacus on
by the atomist philosophers but he was perceived as being the Greek mainland, before
Democritus and Leucippus. dismissive of religion, which made moving to Athens in 306 BCE.
Epicurus then reasons that the soul him unpopular. His thinking was He founded a school, known
could not be empty space, because largely ignored by mainstream as the The Garden, consisting
it operates dynamically with the philosophy for centuries, but it of a community of friends and
body, so it must be made up of resurfaced in the 18th century, in followers. There he set down
atoms. He describes these atoms the ideas of Jeremy Bentham and in great detail the philosophy
of the soul as being distributed John Stuart Mill. In revolutionary that was to become known
around the body, but as being so politics, the tenets of Epicureanism as Epicureanism.
fragile that they dissolve when are echoed in the words of the
we die, and so we are no longer United States’ Declaration of Despite frequent ill health,
capable of sensing anything. If you Independence: “life, liberty, and and often being in great pain,
the pursuit of happiness.” ■ Epicurus lived to the age
of 72. True to his beliefs, he
described the last day of his
life as a truly happy day.

Key works

Early 3rd century BCE
On Nature
Prinicipal Doctrines,
Vatican Sayings

66

HE HAS THE MOST
WHO IS MOST
CONTENT WITH
THE LEAST

DIOGENES OF SINOPE (C.404–323 BCE)

IN CONTEXT P lato once described Rejecting worldly values, Diogenes
Diogenes as “a Socrates chose to live on the streets. He flouted
BRANCH gone mad.” Although this convention, by eating only discarded
Ethics was meant as an insult, it is not scraps and dressing—when he actually
far from the truth. Diogenes shares bothered to do so—in filthy rags.
APPROACH Socrates’ passion for virtue and
Cynicism rejection of material comfort, but can do this, as Diogenes himself
takes these ideas to the extreme. did by living a life of poverty with
BEFORE He argues that in order to lead a only an abandoned tub for shelter,
Late 5th century BCE good life, or one that is worth living, the nearer one will be to leading
Socrates teaches that the it is necessary to free oneself from the ideal life.
ideal life is one spent in the external restrictions imposed
search of truth. by society, and from the internal The happiest person, who in
discontentment that is caused Diogenes’ phrase, “has the most”,
Early 4th century BCE by desire, emotion, and fear. This is therefore someone who lives
Socrates’ pupil Antisthenes can be achieved, he states, by in accordance with the rhythms
advocates an ascetic life, lived being content to live a simple life, of the natural world, free from
in harmony with nature. governed by reason and natural the conventions and values of
impulses, rejecting conventions civilized society, and “content
AFTER without shame, and renouncing with the least.” ■
c.301 BCE Influenced by the desire for property and comfort.
Diogenes, Zeno of Citium
founds a school of Stoics. Diogenes was the first of a group
of thinkers who became known as
4th century CE St. Augustine the Cynics, a term taken from the
of Hippo denounces the often Greek kunikos, meaning “dog-like.”
shameless behavior of the It reflects the determination of the
Cynics, although they become Cynics to spurn all forms of social
the model for several ascetic custom and etiquette, and instead
Christian orders. live in as natural a state as possible.
They asserted that the more one
1882 Friedrich Nietzsche
refers to Diogenes and his See also: Socrates 46–49 ■ Plato 50–55 ■ Zeno of Citium 67 ■
ideas in The Gay Science. St. Augustine of Hippo 72–73 ■ Friedrich Nietzsche 214–21

THE ANCIENT WORLD 67

THE GOAL OF
LIFE IS LIVING
IN AGREEMENT
WITH NATURE

ZENO OF CITIUM (C.332–265 BCE)

IN CONTEXT T wo main schools of control, and be indifferent to pain
philosophical thought and pleasure, poverty and riches.
BRANCH emerged after Aristotle’s But if a person does so, Zeno is
Ethics death. These were the hedonistic, convinced that he will achieve a
godless ethic of Epicurus, which life that is in harmony with nature
APPROACH had limited appeal, and the more in all its aspects, good or bad, and
Stoicism popular and longer-lasting Stoicism live in accordance with the rulings
of Zeno of Citium. of the supreme lawgiver.
BEFORE
c.380 BCE Plato states his Zeno studied with a disciple of Stoicism was to find favor across
thoughts on ethics and the Diogenes of Sinope, the Cynic, and much of Hellenistic Greece. But it
city-state in The Republic. shared his no-nonsense approach drew in even more followers in the
to life. He had little patience with expanding Roman empire, where it
4th century BCE Diogenes metaphysical speculation and came flourished as a basis for ethics—
of Sinope lives in extreme to believe that the cosmos was both personal and political—until it
poverty to demonstrate his governed by natural laws that were was supplanted by Christianity in
Cynic principles. ordained by a supreme lawgiver. the 6th century. ■
Man, he declares, is completely
AFTER powerless to change this reality,
c.40–45 CE Roman statesman and in addition to enjoying its
and philosopher Seneca the many benefits, man also has to
Younger continues the Stoic accept its cruelty and injustice.
tradition in his Dialogues.
Free will Happiness is a good
c.150–180 Roman emperor However, Zeno also declares that flow of life.
Marcus Aurelius writes his man has been given a rational soul
12-volume Meditations on with which to exercise free will. Zeno of Citium
Stoic philosophy. No one is forced to pursue a “good”
life. It is up to the individual to
1584 Flemish humanist choose whether to put aside the
Justus Lipsius writes De things over which he has little or no
Constantia, combining
Stoicism with Christianity to See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ Epicurus 64–65 ■ Diogenes of Sinope 66
found a school of Neo-Stoicism.

THE MED
WORLD

250–1500

IEVAL

70 INTRODUCTION

Plotinus founds Crises brought on by both Boethius begins to The prophet Muhammad
Neo-Platonism, internal and external forces translate Aristotle’s performs the Hejira, his
a school of mystical lead to the division of the
philosophy based on Roman Empire into east and work on logic. journey from Mecca to Medina,
the writings of Plato. west. The western empire marking the beginning of
the Muslim era.
falls within a century.

C.260 395 C.510 622
397–98 711
313 618

Constantine I proclaims St. Augustine of The Tang dynasty is Conquest of
religious freedom within Hippo writes his established in China, Christian Iberia
the Roman Empire in the bringing a Golden Age
Confessions. of cultural development. (now Spain and
Edict of Milan. Portugal) by

Muslim invaders.

P hilosophy did not play a became the dominant authority in exploration of questions such as
large part in Roman culture, Western Europe, remaining so for “Is there a God?” or “Does man
other than Stoicism, which almost 1,000 years. The Greek idea have an immortal soul?” as a search
was admired by the Romans for of philosophy as rational examination for a rational justification for the
its emphasis on virtuous conduct independent of religious doctrine belief in God and an immortal soul.
and doing one’s duty. The broader sat uncomfortably with the rise of
philosophical tradition that had Christianity. Questions about the The Dark Ages
been established by the Classical nature of the universe and what As the Roman Empire shrank and
Greeks was therefore effectively constitutes a virtuous life were held eventually fell, Europe sank into the
marginalized under the Roman to be answered in the scriptures; “Dark Ages” and most of the culture
Empire. Philosophy continued to be they were not considered subjects it had inherited from Greece and
taught in Athens, but its influence for philosophical discussion. Rome disappeared. The Church
dwindled, and no significant held the monopoly on learning,
philosophers emerged until Plotinus Early Christian philosophers such and the only true philosophy that
in the 3rd century CE, who founded as St. Augustine of Hippo sought survived was a form of Platonism
an important Neo-Platonist school. to integrate Greek philosophy into deemed compatible with
the Christian religion. This process Christianity, and Boethius’s
During the first millennium of was the main task of scholasticism, translation of Aristotle’s Logic.
the Common Era, Roman influence a philosophical approach that
also waned, both politically and stemmed from the monastic schools Elsewhere, however, culture
culturally. Christianity became and was renowned for its rigorous thrived. China and Japan in
assimilated into the Roman culture, dialectical reasoning. The work of particular enjoyed a “Golden Age”
and after the fall of the empire in scholastic philosophers such as of poetry and art, while traditional
the 5th century, the Church Augustine was not so much an eastern philosophies coexisted

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 71

The “House of St. Anselm The Black Death Fall of the Byzantine
Wisdom” is writes the reaches Europe, killing Empire, the eastern
established in Proslogion. more than a third of the remnant of the Roman
continent’s population.
Baghdad, attracting Empire, when its capital
scholars from around Constantinople is captured

the world to share by the Ottoman Turks.
and translate ideas.

832 1077–78 1347 1453

C.1014–20 1099 1445 1492

Avicenna (Ibn Sina) Christian crusaders Johannes Gutenberg Christopher
writes his Kitab al-Shifa capture the holy city of Germany invents the Columbus crosses
(The Book of Healing). printing press, allowing
of Jerusalem. for a greater dissemination the Atlantic and
reaches the
of knowledge. West Indies.

happily with their religions. In thinking within the medieval knowledge to medieval Europe.
the lands that had been part of Christian Church. But whereas Aristotle’s scientific methods had
Alexander the Great’s empire, the Plato’s philosophy had been been refined to sophisticated levels
Greek legacy commanded more comparatively easy to assimilate in Persia, and advances in chemistry,
respect than in Europe. Arabic and into Christian thought, because it physics, medicine, and particularly
Persian scholars preserved and provided rational justification for astronomy undermined the authority
translated the works of the Classical belief in God and the immortal of the Church when they arrived
Greek philosophers, incorporating human soul, Aristotle was treated in Europe.
their ideas into Islamic culture from with suspicion by the Church
the 6th century onward. authorities. Nevertheless, Christian The re-introduction of Greek
philosophers including Roger thinking and the new ideas that led
As Islam spread eastward into Bacon, Thomas Aquinas, Duns to Europe’s Renaissance in the late
Asia and across north Africa and Scotus, and William of Ockham 15th century sparked a change of
into Spain, its influence began to be enthusiastically embraced the new mood as people began to look more
felt in Europe. By the 12th century, Aristotelianism and eventually toward reason rather than faith to
news of ideas and inventions from convinced the Church of its provide them with answers. There
the Islamic world were reaching as compatibility with Christian faith. was dissent even within the
far north as Britain, and European Church, as humanists such as
scholars started to rediscover A new rationality Erasmus provoked the Reformation.
Greek mathematics and philosophy Along with the philosophy that Philosophers themselves turned
through Islamic sources. The works revitalized the Church, the Islamic their attention away from questions
of Aristotle in particular came as world also introduced a wealth of of God and the immortal soul
something of a revelation, and they technological and scientific toward the problems posed by
sparked a resurgence of philosophical science and the natural world. ■

72

GOD IS NOT
THE PARENT
OF EVILS

ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO (354–430CE)

IN CONTEXT Humans are A ugustine was especially
rational beings. interested in the problem
BRANCH of evil. If God is entirely
Ethics In order to be good and all-powerful, why is there
rational, humans must evil in the world? For Christians
APPROACH such as Augustine, as well as for
Christian Platonism have free will. adherents of Judaism and Islam, this
was, and remains, a central question.
BEFORE This means they must This is because it makes an obvious
c.400 BCE In Gorgias, Plato be able to choose fact about the world—that it
argues that evil is not a thing, contains evil—into an argument
but an absence of something. between good or evil. against the existence of God.

3rd century CE Plotinus Humans can therefore Augustine is able to answer
revives Plato’s view of act badly or well. one aspect of the problem quite
good and evil. easily. He believes that although
God is not the God created everything that exists,
AFTER parent of evils. he did not create evil, because evil is
c.520 Boethius uses an not a thing, but a lack or deficiency
Augustinian theory of evil in of something. For example, the evil
The Consolation of Philosophy. suffered by a blind man is that he is
without sight; the evil in a thief is
c.1130 Pierre Abelard rejects that he lacks honesty. Augustine
the idea that there are not borrowed this way of thinking from
evil things. Plato and his followers.

1525 Martin Luther, the An essential freedom
German priest who inspired But Augustine still needs to explain
the Protestant reformation, why God should have created the
publishes On the Bondage world in such a way as to allow
of the Will, arguing that the there to be these natural and moral
human will is not free. evils, or deficiencies. His answer
revolves around the idea that
humans are rational beings. He
argues that in order for God to

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 73

See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Plotinus 331 ■ Boethius 74–75 ■ Pierre Abelard 333 ■
David Hume 148–53

create rational creatures, such as could be without evil—just as St. Augustine of Hippo
human beings, he had to give them discords in music can make a
freedom of will. Having freedom of harmony more lovely, or dark patches Aurelius Augustine was born
will means being able to choose, add to the beauty of a picture. in 354 CE in Thagaste, a small
including choosing between good provincial town in North
and evil. For this reason God had Explaining natural evils Africa, to a Christian mother
to leave open the possibility that Since Augustine’s time, most and a pagan father. He was
the first man, Adam, would choose Christian philosophers have tackled educated to be a rhetorician,
evil rather than good. According the problem of evil using one of his and he went on to teach
to the Bible this is exactly what approaches, while their opponents, rhetoric in his home town,
happened, as Adam broke God’s such as David Hume, have pointed and at Carthage, Rome, and
command not to eat fruit from the to their weaknesses as arguments Milan, where he occupied
Tree of Knowledge. against Christianity.Calling sickness, a prestigious position.
for instance, an absence of health
In fact, Augustine’s argument seems to be just playing with words: For a while Augustine
holds even without referring to illness may be due to a deficiency of followed Manichaeism—a
the Bible. Rationality is the ability something, but the suffering of the religion that sees good and
to evaluate choices through the sick person is real enough. And evil as dual forces that rule
process of reasoning. The process is how are natural evils, such as the universe—but under the
only possible where there is freedom earthquakes and plagues, explained? influence of Archbishop
of choice, including the freedom to Ambrose of Milan, he became
choose to do wrong. Someone without a prior belief attracted to Christianity.
in God might still argue that the In 386, he suffered a spiritual
Augustine also suggests a third presence of evil in the world proves crisis and underwent a
solution to the problem, asking us that there is no all-powerful and conversion. He abandoned his
to see the world as a thing of beauty. benevolent God. But for those who do career and devoted himself to
He says that although there is evil already believe in God, Augustine’s writing Christian works, many
in the universe, it contributes to an arguments might hold the answer. ■ of a highly philosophical
overall good that is greater than it nature. In 395 he became
Bishop of Hippo, in North
What made Adam Africa, and he held this post
capable of obeying God’s for the rest of his life. He died
in Hippo, aged 75, when the
commands also made town was beseiged and
him able to sin. sacked by the Vandals.

St. Augustine of Hippo Key works

A world without evil, Augustine says, c.388–95 On Free Will
would be a world without us—rational c.397–401 Confessions
beings able to choose their actions. c.413–27 On the City of God
Just as for Adam and Eve, our moral
choices allow for the possibility of evil.

74

GOD FORSEES
OUR FREE THOUGHTS
AND ACTIONS

BOETHIUS (C.480–525 CE)

IN CONTEXT God lives in the God knows the future
eternal present. as if it were the present.
BRANCH
Epistemology I am free not to go God knows that I will
to the cinema today. go to the cinema today.
APPROACH
Christian Platonism God foresees our free
thoughts and actions.
BEFORE
c.350 BCE Aristotle outlines the T he Roman philosopher afternoon I might go to the cinema,
problems of claiming as true Boethius was trained in or I might spend time writing. As it
any statement about the the Platonist tradition of turns out, I go to the cinema. That
outcome of a future event. philosophy, and was also a Christian. being the case, it is true now (before
He is famous for his solution to a the event) that I will go the cinema
c.300 BCE Syrian philosopher problem that predates Aristotle: this afternoon. But if it is true now,
Iamblichus says that what can if God already knows what we are then it seems that I do not really have
be known depends upon the going to do in the future, how can the choice of spending the afternoon
knower’s capacity. we be said to have free will? writing. Aristotle was the first to
define this problem, but his answer
AFTER The best way to understand the to it is not very clear; he seems to
c.1250–70 Thomas Aquinas dilemma is to imagine a situation in have thought that a sentence such
agrees with Boethius that God everyday life. For instance, this
exists outside of time, and so
is transcendent and beyond
human understanding.

c.1300 John Duns Scotus says
that human freedom rests on
God’s own freedom to act, and
that God knows our future, free
actions by knowing his own,
unchanging—but free—will.

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 75

See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■ John Duns Scotus 333 ■ Benedictus Spinoza 126–29 ■
Immanuel Kant 164–71

as “I shall go to the cinema this to spend the afternoon writing, since Lady Philosophy and Boethius discuss
afternoon” is neither true nor false, that would conflict with what God free will, determinism, and God’s vision
or at least not in the same way as already knows. of the eternal present in his influential
“I went to the cinema yesterday.” book, The Consolation of Philosophy.
Boethius solves the problem by
A God beyond time arguing that the same thing can be our future actions, as if they were
Boethius faced a harder version known in different ways, depending present, does not stop them from
of the same problem. He believed on the nature of the knower. My dog, being free.
that God knows everything; not only for instance, knows the sun only as
the past and the present, but also something with qualities he can Some thinkers today argue that
the future. So if I am going to go sense—by sight and touch. A person, since I have not yet decided whether
to the cinema this afternoon, God however, can also reason about the I shall go to the cinema this
knows it now. It seems, therefore, category of thing the sun is, and afternoon, there is simply nothing
that I am not really free to choose may know which elements it is made to be known about it, so even a God
of, its distance from Earth, and so on. who is all-knowing does not, and
Everything is cannot, know if I shall go or not. ■
known, not according to Boethius considers time in a
itself, but according to the similar kind of way. As we live in
capacity of the knower. the flow of time, we can only know
events as past (if they have occurred),
Boethius present (if they are happening now),
or future (if they will come to pass).
We cannot know the outcome of
uncertain future events. God, by
contrast, is not in the flow of time.
He lives in an eternal present, and
knows what to us are past, present,
and future in the same way that we
know the present. And just as my
knowledge that you are sitting now
does not interfere with your freedom
to stop, so too God’s knowledge of

Boethius Anicius Boethius was a Christian Theoderic. Some five years later
Roman aristocrat, born at a time he became a victim of court
when the Roman Empire was intrigue, was wrongly accused
disintegrating and the Ostrogoths of treason, and sentenced to
ruled Italy. He became an orphan death. He wrote his most
at the age of seven and was famous work, The Consolation
brought up by an aristocratic of Philosophy, while in prison
family in Rome. He was extremely awaiting execution.
well educated, speaking fluent
Greek and having an extensive Key works
knowledge of Latin and Greek
literature and philosophy. He c.510 Commentaries on
devoted his life to translating Aristotle’s “Categories”
and commenting on Greek texts, c.513–16 Commentaries on
especially Aristotle’s works on Aristotle’s “On Interpretation”
logic, until he was made chief c.523–26 The Consolation of
adviser to the Ostrogothic king Philosophy

76 IN CONTEXT

THE SOUL BRANCH
IS DISTINCT Metaphysics
FROM
THE BODY APPROACH
Arabic Aristotelianism
AVICENNA (980–1037)
BEFORE
c.400 BCE Plato argues that
mind and body are distinct
substances.

4th century BCE Aristotle
argues that mind is the “form”
of the body.

c.800–950 CE Aristotle’s works
are translated into Arabic for
the first time.

AFTER
1250s–60s Thomas Aquinas
adapts Aristotle’s account of
the mind and body.

1640 René Descartes argues
for dualism in his Meditations.

1949 Gilbert Ryle describes
dualism as a “category mistake”
in The Concept of Mind.

A vicenna, also known as
Ibn Sînâ, is the most
important philosopher in
the Arabic tradition, and one of the
world’s greatest thinkers. Like his
predecessors, al-Kindî and al-Fârâbî,
and his successor, Averroes,
Avicenna self-consciously marked
himself out as a philosopher rather
than an Islamic theologian, choosing
to follow Greek wisdom and the
path of reasoning and proof. In
particular, he saw himself as a
follower of Aristotle, and his main
writings are encyclopedias of
Aristotelian philosophy.

However, these works explain
Aristotle’s philosophy as re-thought
and synthesized by Avicenna. On

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 77

See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ Al-Kindî 332 ■ Al-Fârâbî 332 ■
Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■ René Descartes 116–23 ■ Gilbert Ryle 337

If I were blindfolded …I would not know
and suspended in the that I have a body.
air, touching nothing…

So my soul is not But I would know Avicenna
a body, but something that I—my “self”
or “soul”—exists. Ibn Sînâ, or Avicenna as the
different. Europeans called him, was
born in 980 in a village near
The soul is Bukhara, now in Uzbekhistan.
distinct from Although he wrote mainly in
Arabic, the language of
the body. learning throughout the
Islamic world, he was a native
some doctrines, such as the idea reason Aristotle does not seem to Persian speaker. Avicenna
that the universe has always existed, think it possible for anything to was a child prodigy, rapidly
Avicenna kept to the Aristotelian survive the death of the body. surpassing his teachers not
view despite the fact that it clashed only in logic and philosophy,
with Islamic orthodoxy, but in other By contrast, Avicenna is one of but also in medicine. While
areas he felt free to depart radically the most famous “dualists” in the still in his teens, he became
from Aristotle. One striking example history of philosophy—he thinks known to the Samanid ruler
is his explanation of the relationship that the body and the mind are two Nuh ibn Mansur as a brilliant
between mind (self or soul) and body. distinct substances. His great physician, and was given the
predecessor in this view was Plato, use of his magnificent library.
Mind and body are distinct who thought of the mind as a
Aristotle claims that the body and distinct thing that was imprisoned Avicenna’s life was spent
mind of humans (and other animals) in the body. Plato believed that at in the service of various
are not two different things (or the point of death, the mind would princes, both as physician and
“substances”), but one unit, and that be released from its prison, to be political adviser. He started
the mind is the “form” of the human later reincarnated in another body. writing at the age of 21, and
body. As such, it is responsible for went on to write more than
all the activities a human being can In seeking to prove the divided 200 texts, on subjects as
perform, including thinking. For this nature of mind and body, Avicenna diverse as metaphysics,
devised a thought-experiment animal physiology, mechanics
known as the “Flying Man”. This ❯❯ of solids, and Arabic syntax.
He died when his medications
for colic were altered, possibly
maliciously, while on campaign
with his patron Alâ al-Dawla.

Key works

c.1014–20 Book of Healing
c.1015 Canon of Medicine
c.1030 Pointers and Reminders

78 AVICENNA

appears as a treatise, On the Soul, from each other, so I can touch The secret conversation
within his Book of Healing, and it nothing. Suppose I am entirely is a direct encounter
aims to strip away any knowledge without any sensations. None the
that can possibly be disproved, and less, I will be sure that I myself exist. between God and the soul,
leave us only with absolute truths. But what is this self, which is me? abstracted from all
It remarkably anticipates the much It cannot be any of the parts of my material constraints.
later work of Descartes, the famous body, because I do not know that I Avicenna
dualist of the 17th century, who also have any. The self that I affirm as
decided to believe nothing at all existing does not have length or by anything material. It is easy to
except that which he himself could breadth or depth. It has no extension, see how the parts of physical, shaped
know for certain. Both Avicenna or physicality. And, if I were able things fit with the parts of a physical,
and Descartes want to demonstrate to imagine, for instance, a hand, shaped sense organ: the image of
that the mind or self exists because I would not think that it belonged the wall that I see is stretched over
it knows it exists; and that it is to this self which I know exists. the lens of my eye, each of its parts
distinct from the human body. corresponding to a part of the lens.
It follows from this that the But the mind is not a sense organ;
The Flying Man human self—what I am—is distinct what it grasps are definitions, such
In the Flying Man experiment, from my body, or anything physical. as “Man is a rational, mortal animal”.
Avicenna wants to examine what The Flying Man experiment, says The parts of this phrase need to be
we can know if we are effectively Avicenna, is a way of alerting and grasped at once, together. The mind
robbed of our senses, and cannot reminding oneself of the existence therefore cannot be in any way like
depend on them for information. of the mind as something other or part of the body.
He asks us each to imagine this: than, and distinct from, the body.
suppose I have just come into
existence, but I have all my normal Avicenna also has other ways
intelligence. Suppose, too, that I am to show that the mind cannot be
blindfolded and that I am floating in something material. Most are
the air, and my limbs are separated based on the fact that the type of
intellectual knowledge the mind
can grasp cannot not be contained

The immortal soul
Avicenna goes on to draw the
conclusion that the mind is not
destroyed when the body dies, and
that it is immortal. This did not
help to make his thinking more
palatable to orthodox Muslims, who
believe that the whole person, body
and mind, is resurrected and enjoys
the afterlife. Consequently, Avicenna
was attacked in the 12th century
by the great Islamic theologian
al-Ghazâlî, who called him a heretic

Avicenna’s medical knowledge
was so vast that it won him royal
patronage. His Canon of Medicine
influenced European schools of
medicine until the mid-17th century.

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 79

But what is it thing that he cannot be deceived times. We are now able to explain
that I am? about, he realizes, is that he exists. quite precisely how thinking goes
This self is exactly the self which on in different areas of the brain—
A thinking thing. Avicenna’s Flying Man is sure of, though whether this means that we
René Descartes when he has no other knowledge. can explain thinking without
Like Avicenna, Descartes can then reference to a self is not so clear.
for abandoning the central Islamic conclude that the “I”, or self, is An influential 20th-century British
tenet of the resurrection of the dead. completely distinct from the body, philosopher, Gilbert Ryle, caricatured
But in the same century Avicenna’s and that it must be immortal. the dualists’ self as “a ghost in the
work was also translated into Latin, machine”, and tried to show that
and his dualism became popular The ghost in the machine we can explain how human beings
among Christian philosophers and One very strong objection to the perceive and function within the
theologians. They liked the way his dualism of Avicenna or Descartes world without resorting to this
interpretations of Aristotle’s texts is the argument used by Aquinas. “ghost” of a self.
made them easily compatible with He says that the self which thinks
the idea of an immortal soul. is the same as the self which feels Today philosophers are divided
sensations in the body. For instance, between a small number of dualists,
The indubitable self I do not just observe that there is a larger number of thinkers who say
Some 200 years later, in the 1250s, a pain in my leg, in the way that a that the mind is simply a brain, and
Thomas Aquinas championed a sailor might notice a hole in his ship. the majority, who agree that thinking
more faithful interpretation of The pain belongs to me as much as is the result of the physical activity
Aristotle, in which the mind and my thoughts about philosophy, or of the brain, but still insist there is
body are much more closely tied what I might have for lunch. a distinction between the physical
together, and his views were widely states of the brain (the gray matter,
accepted by the theologians of the Most contemporary philosophers the neurons, and so on), and the
16th and 17th centuries. But in 1640 reject mind-body dualism, largely thinking which derives from them.
Descartes returned to a dualism because of the increasing scientific
that was nearer to Plato’s than knowledge of the brain. Avicenna Many philosophers, especially
Aristotle’s, and his argument for and Descartes were both very continental European thinkers, still
it was very like Avicenna’s. interested in physiology and they accept the results of Avicenna’s
produced scientific accounts of thought experiment in one central
Descartes imagines that there activities such as movement and way. It shows, they say, that we each
is a demon who is trying to deceive sensation. But the process of have a self with a first-person view
him about everything on which he rational thinking was inexplicable of the world (the “I”) that cannot be
might possibly be deceived. The one with the scientific tools of their accommodated by the objective
view of scientific theories. ■

Philip Pullman’s tale, Northern Lights,
picks up on the ancient Greek idea of a
person’s soul, or daimon, being separate
to the body, by presenting it as an
entirely separate animal, such as a cat.

80

JUST BY THINKING
ABOUT GOD WE CAN
KNOW HE EXISTS

ST. ANSELM (1033–1109)

IN CONTEXT A lthough Christian thinkers can be thought”, and second,
believe as a matter of faith that existence is superior to
BRANCH that God exists, in the non-existence. By the end of the
Philosophy of religion Middle Ages they were keen to argument the Fool is forced to
show that God’s existence could either take up a self-contradictory
APPROACH also be proved by rational argument. position or admit that God exists.
Platonic-Aristotelian The Ontological Argument invented
by Anselm—an 11th-century Italian The argument has been accepted
BEFORE philosopher who worked on the by many great philosophers, such as
c.400 CE St. Augustine of basis of Aristotelian logic, Platonic René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza.
Hippo argues for God’s thinking, and his own genius—is But there have been many others
existence through our grasp probably the most famous of all. who took up the Fool’s side. One
of unchanging truths. contemporary of Anselm’s, Gaunilo
Anselm imagines himself of Marmoutiers, said that we could
1075 In his Monologion, arguing with a Fool, who denies use the same argument to prove that
Anselm develops Augustine’s that God exists (see opposite). The there exists somewhere a marvellous
proof of God’s existence. argument rests on an acceptance island, greater than any island that
of two things: first, that God is can be thought. In the 18th century
AFTER “that than which nothing greater Immanuel Kant objected that the
1260s Thomas Aquinas argument treats existence as if it
rejects Anselm’s Ontological We believe that were an attribute of things—as if I
Argument. You [God] are that might describe my jacket like this:
than which nothing “it’s green, made of tweed, and it
1640 René Descartes uses a greater can be thought. exists.” Existing is not like being
form of Anselm’s Ontological green: if it did not exist, there would
Argument in his Meditations. St. Anselm be no jacket to be green or tweed.

1979 American philosopher Kant holds that Anselm is also
Alvin Plantinga reformulates wrong to say that what exists in
Anselm’s Ontological Argument reality as well as in the mind is
using a form of modal logic greater than what exists in the
to establish its truth. mind alone, but other philosophers
disagree. Is there not a sense in
which a real painting is greater
than the mental concept the painter
has before he starts work? ■

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 81

See also: Plato 50–55 ■ St. Augustine of Hippo 72–73 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■
René Descartes 116–23 ■ Benedictus Spinoza 126–29

Anselm The Fool

Do you agree that if
God existed he would be the
greatest thing that there could be—
“that than which nothing greater

can be thought?”

Yes.

And do you agree that “that Yes, in my mind— St. Anselm
than which nothing greater can be but not in reality.
St. Anselm of Canterbury was
thought” exists in your mind? Yes, I suppose so— born in Aosta in Italy in 1033.
an ice cream in my He left home in his twenties to
But would you agree hand is better than study at the monastery of Bec,
that something that exists in in France, under an eminent
reality as well as in the mind is one that’s just in logician, grammarian, and
greater than something that my imagination. Biblical commentator named
Lanfranc. Anselm became a
exists in the mind alone? That’s true. monk of Bec in 1060, then
The being that prior, and eventually abbot in
So if “that than which really exists would 1078. He traveled to England,
nothing greater can be thought” and in 1093 was made
exists only in the mind, it is less great be greater. Archbishop of Canterbury,
than if it existed also in reality. despite his protestations of
That doesn’t ill-health and lack of political
So now you are saying even make sense. skills. This position put him in
that there is something greater conflict with the Anglo-Norman
than “that than which nothing Anselm’s Ontological kings William II and Henry I,
Argument was written as he tried to uphold the
greater exists?” in 1077–78, but acquired Church against royal power.
its title from the German These disputes led to two
Exactly. And the only philosopher Kant in 1781. periods of exile from England
way around this contradiction for Anselm, during which he
is to admit that God (“that than which visited the pope to plead the
nothing greater exists”) does exist— case for the English Church
and his own removal from
both in thought and reality. office. Ultimately reconciled
with King Henry I, Anselm
died in Canterbury aged 76.

Key works

1075–76 Monologion
1077–78 Proslogion
1095–98 Why did God
become Man?
1080–86 On the Fall of
the Devil

82

PHILOSOPHY AND
RELIGION ARE NOT
INCOMPATIBLE

AVERROES (1126–1198)

IN CONTEXT A verroes worked in the legal everyone else should be obliged to
profession; he was a qâdî accept the teaching of the Qur’an
BRANCH (an Islamic judge) who literally. Averroes does not think
Philosophy of religion worked under the Almohads, one of that the Qur’an provides a completely
the strictest Islamic regimes in the accurate account of the universe if
APPROACH Middle Ages. Yet he spent his nights read in this literal way, but says that
Arabic Aristotelian writing commentaries on the work it is a poetic approximation of the
of an ancient pagan philosopher, truth, and this is the most that the
BEFORE Aristotle—and one of Averroes’ avid uneducated can grasp.
1090s Abû Hâmid al-Ghazâlî readers was none other than the
launches an attack on Islamic Almohad ruler, Abû Yacqûb Yûsuf. However, Averroes believes that
Aristotelian philosophers. educated people have a religious
Averroes reconciles religion and obligation to use philosophical
1120s Ibn Bâjja (Avempace) philosophy through a hierarchical reasoning. Whenever reasoning
establishes Aristotelian theory of society. He thinks that shows the literal meaning of the
philosophy in Islamic Spain. only the educated elite are capable Qur’an to be false, Averroes says
of thinking philosophically, and that the text must be “interpreted”;
AFTER
1270 Thomas Aquinas true.
criticizes the Averroists for
accepting conflicting truths But some parts of it are
from Christianity and demonstrably false.
Aristotelian philosophy.
Philosophy and The text is a poetic truth,
1340s Moses of Narbonne religion are not and must be interpreted using
publishes commentaries on incompatible.
Averroes’ work. philosophical reasoning.

1852 French philosopher
Ernest Renan publishes a
study of Averroes, on the
basis of which he becomes an
important influence on modern
Islamic political thought.

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 83

See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ Al-Ghazâlî 332 ■ Ibn Bâjja 333 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■
Moses of Narbonne 334

Philosophers believe to contradict this view. However, the of Aristotle and Averroes became
that religious laws are resurrection of the dead, a basic known as Averroists, and they
necessary political arts. tenet of Islam, is harder to include included Jewish scholars such
within an Aristotelian universe. as Moses of Narbonne, and Latin
Averroes Averroes accepts that we must scholars such as Anicius Boethius
believe in personal immortality, and Siger of Brabant. The Latin
that is to say the obvious meaning and that anyone who denies this is Averroists acccepted Aristotle as
of the words should be disregarded a heretic who should be executed. interpreted by Averroes as the truth
and the scientific theory But he takes a different position according to reason—despite also
demonstrated by Aristotelian from his predecessors by saying that affirming an apparently conflicting
philosophy accepted in its place. Aristotle’s treatise On the Soul does set of Christian “truths.” They have
not state that individual humans been described as advocating a
The immortal intellect have immortal souls. According to “double truth” theory, but their view
Averroes is willing to sacrifice some Averroes’ interpretation, Aristotle is rather that truth is relative to the
widely-held Islamic doctrines in claims that humanity is immortal context of enquiry. ■
order to maintain the compatibility only through a shared intellect.
of philosophy and religion. For Averroes seems to be saying that Some Muslims did not view philosophy
instance, almost all Muslims believe there are truths discoverable by as a legitimate subject for study in the
that the universe has a beginning, humans that hold good for ever, but 12th century, but Averroes argued that
but Averroes agrees with Aristotle that you and I as individuals will it was essential to engage with religion
that it has always existed, and says perish when our bodies die. critically and philosophically.
that there is nothing in the Qur’an
Later Averroists
Averroes’ advocacy of Aristotelian
philosophy (if only for the elite) was
shunned by his fellow Muslims. But
his works, translated into Hebrew
and Latin, had enormous influence
in the 13th and 14th centuries.
Scholars who supported the opinions

Averroes Ibn Rushd, known in Europe as Despite the increasingly liberal
Averroes, was born in 1126 in views of the Almohads, the
Cordoba, then part of Islamic public disapproved of Averroes’
Spain. He belonged to a family of unorthodox philosophy, and
distinguished lawyers and trained public pressure led to a banning
in law, science, and philosophy. of his books and personal exile in
His friendship with another doctor 1195. Reprieved two years later,
and philosopher, Ibn Tufayl, led Averroes returned to Cordoba
to an introduction to the Caliph but died the following year.
Abû Yacqûb Yûsuf, who appointed
Averroes chief judge and later Key works
court physician. Abû Yacqûb
also shared Averroes’ interest in 1179–80 Decisive Treatise
Aristotle, and commissioned him 1179–80 The Incoherence of the
to write a series of paraphrases of Incoherence
all Aristotle’s works, designed for c.1186 Great Commentary on
non-specialists such as himself. Aristotle’s ‘On the Soul’

84

GOD HAS
NO ATTRIBUTES

MOSES MAIMONIDES (1135–1204)

IN CONTEXT M aimonides wrote on both who thinks this, he says, should
Jewish law (in Hebrew) be excluded from the Jewish
BRANCH and Aristotelian thought community. But in the Guide of the
Philosophy of religion (in Arabic). In both areas, one of his Perplexed, Maimonides pushes this
central concerns was to guard idea to its farthest extent, developing
APPROACH against anthropomorphizing God, a strand of thought known as
Jewish Aristotelian which is the tendency to think “negative theology.” This already
about God in the same way as a existed in Christian theology, and
BEFORE human being. For Maimonides, the it focuses on describing God only
c.400 CE The philosopher worst mistake of all is to take the in terms of what God is not.
Pseudo-Dionysius establishes Torah (the first part of the Hebrew
the tradition of Christian Bible) as literal truth, and to think God, Maimonides says, has no
negative theology, which that God is a bodily thing. Anyone attributes. We cannot rightly say
states that God is not being, that God is “good” or “powerful.”
but more than being.
Attributes are either…
860s John Scotus Eriugena
suggests that God creates …accidental. …essential.
the universe from the nothing
which is himself. But God has Essential attributes
no accidents. define.
AFTER
1260s Thomas Aquinas God has But God
moderates Maimonides’ no attributes. is indefinable.
negative theology in his
Summa Theologiae.

Early 1300s Meister Eckhart
develops his negative theology.

1840–50s Søren Kierkegaard
claims that it is impossible
to provide any form of external
description of God.

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 85

See also: Johannes Scotus Eriugena 332 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■
Meister Eckhart 333 ■ Søren Kierkegaard 194–95

This is because an attribute is When the intellects Moses Maimonides
either accidental (capable of change) contemplate God’s essence,
or essential. One of my accidental Moses Maimonides (also
attributes, for example, is that I am their apprehension turns known as Rambam) was born
sitting; others are that I have gray into incapacity. in 1135 in Cordoba, Spain, into
hair and a long nose. But I would Maimonides a Jewish family. His childhood
still be what I essentially am even if was rich in cross-cultural
I were standing, red-haired, and had we are told that “God is a creator”, influences: he was educated
a snub-nose. Being human—that is, we must understand this as stating in both Hebrew and Arabic,
being a rational, mortal animal—is what God does, rather than the and his father, a rabbinic
my essential attribute: it defines sort of thing God is. If we were to judge, taught him Jewish law
me. God, it is generally agreed, has consider the sentence “John is a within the context of Islamic
no accidental attributes, because writer”, we might normally take it Spain. His family fled Spain
God is unchanging. In addition, to mean that being a writer is John’s when the Berber Almohad
says Maimonides, God cannot have profession. But Maimonides asks us dynasty came to power in
any essential attributes either, to consider only what has been 1148, and lived nomadically
because they would be defining, done: in this instance John has for 10 years until they settled
and God cannot be defined. So God written words. The writing has been first in Fez (now in Morocco)
has no attributes at all. brought about by John but it does and then Cairo. The family’s
not tell us anything about him. financial problems led
Speaking about God Maimonides to train as a
Maimondes claims that we can say Maimonides also accepts that physician, and his skill led to
things about God, but they must be statements which seem to attribute a royal appointment within
understood as telling us about God’s qualities to God can be understood only a few years. He also
actions, rather than God’s being. if they are taken as double negatives. worked as a rabbinic judge,
Most discussions in the Torah should “God is powerful”: should be taken but this was an activity for
be understood in this way. So when to mean that God is not powerless. which he thought it wrong
Imagine a game in which I think of to accept any payment. He
a thing and tell you what it is not was recognized as head of
(it is not large, it is not red...) until the Jewish community of
you guess what it is. The difference Cairo in 1191, and after his
in the case of God is that we have death his tomb became a
only the negations to guide us: we place of Jewish pilgrimage.
cannot say what God is. ■
Key works
The Mishneh Torah was a complete
restatement of Jewish Oral Law, which 1168 Commentary on the
Maimonides wrote in plain Hebrew so Mishna
that “young and old” could know and 1168–78 Mishneh Torah
understand all the Jewish observances. 1190 Guide of the Perplexed

86

DON’T GRIEVE.
ANYTHING YOU LOSE
COMES ROUND IN
ANOTHER FORM

JALAL AD-DIN MUHAMMAD RUMI (1207–1273)

IN CONTEXT alwa in one endless continuum ases
ys reborn in another form. T
BRANCH to exist in one form is ce
Islamic philosophy Everything in the universe,
. and the present to the future
APPROACH
Sufism flow of life. Anything that
cludinhegpamstaisnli,niksedptaorttheopfreasnentendle
BEFORE in ss
610 Islam is founded by the
Prophet Mohammed. S ufism, the mystical and family moved from the eastern
aesthetic interpretation of edges of Persia to Anatolia in the
644 Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Qur’an, had been part mid-13th century. The Sufi concept
Mohammed’s cousin and of Islam since its foundation in the of uniting with God through love
successor, becomes Caliph. 7th century, but had not always caught his imagination, and from
been accepted by mainstream this he developed a version of
10th century Ali’s mystical Islamic scholars. Jalal ad-Din Sufism that sought to explain the
interpretation of the Qur’an Muhammad Rumi, better known relationship of man with the divine.
becomes the basis for Sufism. simply as Rumi, was brought up in
orthodox Islam, and first came into Rumi became a teacher in a Sufi
AFTER contact with Sufism when his order, and as such he believed he
1273 Rumi’s followers found was a medium between God and
the Mawlawi Order of Sufism.

1925 After the founding of a
secular Republic of Turkey,
the Mawlawi Order is banned
in Turkey. It remains illegal
until 1954, when it receives
the right to perform on
certain occasions.

Today Rumi’s works continue
to be translated into many
languages around the world.

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 87

See also: Siddhartha Gautama 30–33 ■ Avicenna 76–79 ■ Averroes 82–83 ■
Hajime Tanabe 244–45 ■ Arne Naess 282–83

death, and nor should we grieve a
loss. In order to ensure our growth
from one form to another, however,
we should strive for spiritual growth
and an understanding of the
divine–human relationship. Rumi
believes that this understanding
comes from emotion rather than
from reason—emotion enhanced
by music, song, and dance.

The Mawlawi Order, or Whirling Rumi’s legacy Jalal ad-Din
Dervishes, dance as part of the Sufi The mystical elements of Rumi’s Muhammad Rumi
Sema ceremony. The dance represents ideas were inspirational within
the spiritual journey of man from Sufism, and influenced mainstream Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi,
ignorance to perfection through love. Islam too. They were also pivotal also known as Mawlana (Our
in converting much of Turkey from Guide) or simply Rumi, was
man. In contrast to general Islamic Orthodox Christianity to Islam. But born in Balkh, in a province
practice, he placed much emphasis this aspect of his thinking did not of Persia. When the Mongol
on dhikr—ritual prayer or litany— hold much sway in Europe, where invasions threatened the
rather than rational analysis of the rationalism was the order of the region, his family settled in
Qur’an for divine guidance, and day. In the 20th century, however, Anatolia, Turkey, where Rumi
became known for his ecstatic his ideas became very popular met the Persian poets Attar
revelations. He believed it was his in the West, mainly because his and Shams al-Din Tabrizi.
task to communicate the visions message of love chimed with the He decided to devote himself
he experienced, and so he wrote New Age values of the 1960s. to Sufism, and went on to
them down in the form of poetry. Perhaps his greatest admirer in write thousands of verses
Central to his visionary philosophy the 20th century was the poet of Persian and Arabic poetry.
is the idea that the universe and and politician Muhammed Iqbal,
everything in it is an endless flow advisor to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, In 1244 Rumi became
of life, in which God is an eternal who campaigned for an Islamic the shaykh (Master) of a Sufi
presence. Man, as part of the state of Pakistan in the 1930s. ■ order, and taught his mystical-
universe, is also a part of this emotional interpretation of the
continuum, and Rumi seeks to I died as a mineral Qur’an and the importance of
explain our place within it. and became a plant, music and dance in religious
I died as a plant and ceremony. After his death,
Man, he believes, is a link rose to animal, I died as his followers founded the
between the past and future in a animal and I was Man. Mawlawi Order of Sufism,
continual process of life, death, and Jalal ad-Din Rumi which is famous for its
rebirth—not as a cycle, but in a Whirling Dervishes who
progression from one form to another perform a distinctive dance
stretching into eternity. Death and in the Sema ceremony—a form
decay are inevitable and part of of dhikr unique to the sect.
this endless flow of life, but as
something ceases to exist in one Key works
form, it is reborn in another. Because
of this, we should have no fear of Early–mid-13th century
Rhyming Couplets of Profound

Spiritual Meaning
The Works of Shams of Tabriz
What is Within is Within
Seven Sessions

THE UNIVERSE

HAS NOT ALWAYS

EXISTED

THOMAS AQUINAS (C. 1225–1274)



90 THOMAS AQUINAS T he opinions of people today can only be caused by change and
are still divided into those motion. So there could never have
IN CONTEXT that hold that the universe been a first change or motion: the
had a beginning, and those that universe must have been moving
BRANCH hold that it has always existed. and changing for ever.
Metaphysics Today we tend to look to physics
and astronomy for an answer, but The great Arabic philosophers,
APPROACH in the past this was a question for Avicenna and Averroes, were
Christian Aristotelian philosophers and theologians. The willing to accept Aristotle’s view,
answer given by the Catholic priest even though it put them at odds
BEFORE and philosopher Thomas Aquinas, with Islamic orthodoxy. Medieval
c.340 BCE Aristotle says that the most famous of all medieval Jewish and Christian thinkers,
the universe is eternal. Christian philosophers, is especially however, struggled to do so. They
interesting. It is still a plausible held that, according to the Bible,
c.540 CE John Philoponus way of thinking about the problem, the universe has a beginning, so
argues that the universe must and it also tells us a great deal about Aristotle must be wrong: the
have a beginning. how Aquinas combined his faith universe has not always existed.
with his philosophical reasoning, But was this view something that
1250s–60s French theologians despite their apparent contradictions. had to be accepted on faith, or
adopt Philoponus’s argument. could it be refuted by reasoning?
Aristotle’s influence
AFTER The central figure in Aquinas’s John Philoponus, a Greek
1290s French philosopher thinking is Aristotle, the ancient Christian writer of the 6th century,
Henry of Ghent criticizes Greek philosopher whose work was believed that he had found an
Aquinas, saying the universe intensively studied by medieval argument to show that Aristotle
cannot have always existed. thinkers. Aristotle was certain that must be wrong, and that the
the universe has always existed, universe had not always existed.
1781 Immanuel Kant claims and that it has always been home His reasoning was copied and
he can show that the universe to different things, from inanimate developed by a number of thinkers
has always existed, and that objects like rocks, to living species, in the 13th century, who needed to
it has not always existed. such as humans, dogs, and horses. find a flaw in Aristotle’s reasoning
He argued that the universe is in order to protect the teachings of
1931 Belgian priest and changing and moving, and this the Church. Their line of argument
scientist Georges Lemaître was especially clever, because it
proposes the “Big Bang” theory took Aristotle’s own ideas about
of the origins of the universe.

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas was born in experienced something that
1225 at Roccasecca in Italy. He has been considered both some
studied at the University of sort of vision and a possible
Naples and then joined the stroke; after it, he said that all
Dominican order (a new, highly he had done was “mere straw”,
intellectual order of friars) against and he never wrote again. He
the wishes of his family. As a died at the age of 49, and was
novitiate he studied in Paris and recognized as a saint by the
then in Cologne under the German Catholic Church in 1323.
Aristotelian theologian, Albert
the Great. Returning to Paris, he Key works
became Master (professor) of
theology, before leaving to travel 1256–59 Disputed Questions on
around Italy teaching for 10 years. Truth
Unusually, Aquinas was then c.1265–74 Summa Theologica
offered a second period of tenure 1271 On the Eternity of the
as Master at Paris. In 1273 he Universe

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 91

See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Avicenna 76–79 ■ Averroes 82–83 ■ John Philoponus 332 ■ John Duns Scotus 333 ■
Pierre Abélard 333 ■ William of Ockham 334 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71

Aristotle says that The Bible says that
the universe has the universe has not
always existed.
always existed.

The world did have a
beginning, but God could
have created it in such a way
that it existed eternally.

Aquinas is flanked by Aristotle the types of living beings in the Aristotle was therefore wrong; the
and Plato in The Triumph of Thomas universe have always existed. If this universe is not eternal, and this fits
Aquinas. His understanding of ancient were true, they say, it would mean perfectly with the Christian
philosophy was considered greater than that there were already an infinite doctrine that God created the world.
that of Averroes, who lies at his feet. number of human beings by the
time Socrates was born—because Aquinas has little time for this
infinity as a point of departure, but if they have always existed, they line of reasoning. He points out that
turned them against his view of existed then. But since Socrates’ the universe could have existed for
the universe as eternal. time, many more humans have been ever but that species such as
born, and so the number of humans humans and other animals might
An infinity of humans born up until now must be greater have had a beginning, and so the
According to Aristotle, the infinite than infinity. But no number can difficulties raised by Philoponus
is what has no limit. For instance, be greater than infinity. and his followers can be avoided.
the sequence of numbers is infinite, Despite his defence of Aristotle’s
because for each number, there is In addition, these writers add, reasoning, Aquinas does not ❯❯
another higher number that follows. Christian thinkers believe that
Similarly, the universe has existed human souls are immortal. If this There never was
for an infinite time, because for each is so, and an infinite number of a time when there
day, there is a preceding day. In humans has already existed, there was not motion.
Aristotle’s opinion, however, this is must be an infinite number of human
a “potential” infinity, as these days souls in existence now. So there is Aristotle
do not coexist at the same time; an actual infinity of souls, not a
an “actual” infinity—in which an potential infinity; and Aristotle has
infinite number of things all exist said actual infinity is impossible.
at the same time—is impossible.
With these two arguments,
Philoponus and his 13th-century using Aristotle’s own principles as
followers, however, think that this a starting point, Philoponus and his
argument presents problems that followers were confident they had
Aristotle had not noticed. They point demonstrated that the universe
to the fact that he believes that all cannot always have existed.

92 THOMAS AQUINAS

God could have beginning—but he also wants as easily have created an eternal
made the universe to show that there is no flaw in one. If something is created by God,
without humans and Aristotle’s reasoning. He claims then it owes its whole existence to
then made them. that his Christian contemporaries God, but that does not mean that
Thomas Aquinas have confused two different points: there must have been a time when
the first is that God created the it did not exist at all. It is therefore
accept Aristotle’s assertion that the universe, and the second is that the quite possible to believe in an
universe is eternal, because the universe had a beginning. Aquinas eternal universe that had been
Christian faith says otherwise; but set out to prove that in fact created by God.
he doesn’t think that Aristotle’s Aristotle’s position—that the
position is illogical. Like Philoponus universe has always existed— Aquinas gives an example of
and his followers, Aquinas wants could be true, even if it is also true how this might work. Suppose
to show that the universe had a that God created the universe. there was a foot making a footprint
in the sand and it had been there
Creating the eternal for ever. Although there would
Aquinas steps away from Philoponus never have been a moment before
and his followers by insisting that the footprint was made, we would
although it is true, as the Bible says, still recognize the foot as the cause
that the universe had a beginning, of the footprint: if it were not for the
this is not a necessary (undeniable) foot, there would not be a footprint.
truth on logical grounds. As they all
agree, God created the universe Aquinas and synthesis
with a beginning, but he could just Historians sometimes say that
Aquinas “synthesized” Christianity
and Aristotelian philosophy, as if
he took the parts he wanted from
each and made them into a smooth
mixture. In fact, for Aquinas—as
for most Christians—the teachings
of the Church must all be accepted,
without exception or compromise.
Aquinas was unusual, however,
because he thought that, properly
understood, Aristotle did not
contradict Christian teaching. The
question of whether the universe
always existed is the exception
that proves the rule. In this
particular case Aquinas thinks
that Aristotle was wrong, but he
was not wrong in principle, or in
his reasoning. The universe really
might have existed for ever, as far
as the ancient philosophers knew.
It was just that Aristotle, not having
access to Christian revelation, had

Aquinas believed the creation story
on faith, but claimed that some elements
of Christian belief could be rationally
demonstrated. For Aquinas, the Bible
and reason need never conflict.

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 93

Aristotle believed that the universe was infinite,
as each hour and day is succeed by another. Aquinas
disagreed, believing that the universe had a beginning,
but his respect for Aristotle’s philosophy led him to
argue that Aristotle could have been correct.

no way of knowing that it had not. soul—but of saying at the same types of plants and of living things.
Aquinas believes that there are time that according to reason, Aquinas calls this “intellectual
a number of other doctrines central these positions could be shown knowledge”, because we gain it
to Christianity that the ancient to be wrong. by using the innate power of our
philosophers did not know and intellect to seize, on the basis of
could not have known—such as How we gain knowledge sense-impressions, the reality that
the belief that God is a Trinity Aquinas keeps to these principles lies behind them. Animals other
made up of three persons, and that throughout his work, but they are than humans lack this inborn
one person of the Trinity, the Son, particularly clear in two central capacity, which is why their
became a human. But in Aquinas’s areas of his thought: his account knowledge cannot stretch beyond
opinion, whenever humans reason of how we gain knowledge and his the senses. All of our scientific
correctly, they cannot come to any treatment of the relation between understanding of the world is based
conclusion which contradicts mind and body. According to on this intellectual knowledge.
Christian doctrine. This is because Aquinas, human beings acquire Aquinas’s theory of knowledge
both human reason and Christian knowledge through using their owes much to Aristotle, although
teaching come from the same senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, he clarifies and elaborates upon ❯❯
source—God—and so they can and taste. These sense-impressions,
never contradict each other. however, only tell us what things We should see whether
are like superficially. For example, there is a contradiction
Aquinas taught in convents from where John sits, he has a visual between something being
and universities in France and Italy, impression of a tree-shaped object, created by God, and its
and the idea that human reason which is green and brown. I, on the
could never conflict with Christian other hand, am standing next to the existing forever.
doctrine often placed him in fierce tree, and can feel the roughness of Thomas Aquinas
conflict with some of his academic its bark and smell the scent of the
contemporaries, especially those forest. If John and I were dogs, our
who specialized in the sciences, knowledge of the tree would be
which at the time were derived limited to these sense-impressions.
from the work of Aristotle. Aquinas But as human beings we are able to
accused his fellow scholars of go beyond them and grasp what a
accepting certain positions on tree is in a rational way, defining it
faith—for example, the position and distinguishing it from other
that we each have an immortal

94 THOMAS AQUINAS

the latter’s thinking. For Aquinas, as what he calls “life-activity”, such between the intellect and the body,
a Christian thinker,human beings as growing and reproducing, for so they could accommodate the
are only one type of the various plants; moving, sensing, seeking, Christian teaching that the human
sorts of beings that are capable of and avoiding, for animals; and soul survives death. Aquinas,
knowing things intellectually: souls thinking for humans. however, refuses to distort
separated from their bodies in the Aristotle’s position. This made it
afterlife, angels, and God himself Aristotle believes that “form” is far more difficult for him to argue—
can also do this. These other what makes matter into the thing as he did—for the immortality of
knowing beings do not have that it is. Within the human body, the human soul, in yet another
to acquire knowledge through the this form is the soul, which makes example of his resolve to be a good
senses. They can directly grasp the body into the living thing that Aristotelian, and philosopher, while
the definitions of things. This it is by giving it a particular set of remaining a faithful Christian.
aspect of Aquinas’s theory has life-activities. As such, the soul is
no parallel in Aristotle, but it is a tied to the body, and so Aristotle After Aquinas
coherent development of Aristotle’s thinks that, even in the case of Since the Middle Ages, Aquinas
principles. Once again Aquinas humans, the life-soul survives only has come to be regarded as the
is able to hold Christian beliefs so long as it animates a body, and official orthodox philosopher of
without contradicting Aristotle, at death it perishes. the Catholic Church. In his own
but going beyond him. time, when translations of Greek
Aquinas follows Aristotle’s philosophy were being made from
The human soul teaching about living things and Arabic, complete with Arabic
According to Aristotle, the intellect their souls, and he insists that a commentaries, he was one of the
is the life-principle or “soul” of a human being has just one form: thinkers keenest to follow Aristotle’s
human being. All living things have his or her intellect. Although other train of philosophical reasoning,
a soul, he believes, which explains 13th- and 14th-century thinkers even when it did not fit neatly with
their capacity for different levels of also adopted the main lines of Christian doctrine. He always
Aristotle’s view, they cut the
connection Aristotle had made

The laws of cause and effect lead us to look for the caused this newton’s cradle
cause of any event, even the beginning of the universe. to swing. But does the
Aristotle supposed that God set the universe into
motion, and Aquinas agreed, but added that the existence of the universe
“Prime Mover”—God—must itself be uncaused. itself have a cause?

?

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 95

Cosmic background radiation
provides evidence of the “Big Bang”
that started the universe, but we can
still argue, like Aquinas, that this was
not the only possible way for it to exist.

remained faithful to the Church’s can be proved by philosophical science for an explanation of how
teachings, but this did not prevent reasoning. But what some claim for the universe began, the arguments
his thought from almost being philosophy is that it can demonstrate of Aquinas show that philosophy is
condemned as heretical shortly that although religious believers still relevant to how we think about
after his death. The great thinkers hold certain doctrines as a matter the subject. He demonstrates how
and teachers of the following of faith, their overall views are no philosophy can provide the tools for
century, such as the secular less rational or coherent than those intelligent enquiry, allowing us to
philosopher Henry of Ghent, and of agnostics or atheists. This view investigate not what happens to be
the Franciscans John Duns Scotus is an extension and development of the case, but what is possible and
and William of Ockham, were all Aquinas’s constant endeavor to what is impossible, and what are
far more willing to say that purely develop a philosophically coherent intelligible questions to ask. Is it or
philosophical reasoning, as best system of thought, while holding is it not coherent to believe that the
represented by Aristotle’s on to his Christian beliefs. Reading universe had a beginning? This is
arguments, is often mistaken. Aquinas’s works is a lesson in still a question for philosophers, and
tolerance, for Christians and no amount of theoretical physics
Scotus thought that Aquinas’s non-Christians alike. will be able to answer it. ■
Aristotelian view of the soul was
inadequate, and Ockham rejected The role of philosophy One may say that
Aristotle’s account of knowledge Today, we do not look to philosophy time had a beginning at
almost entirely. Henry of Ghent to tell us whether or not the universe the Big Bang, in the sense
explicitly criticized Aquinas’s view has always existed, and most of us that earlier times simply
that God could have created a do not turn to the Bible, as Aquinas
universe that always exists. If it and other medieval philosophers would not be defined.
always existed, he argued, there did. Instead we look to physics, Stephen Hawking
would be no possibility of its not in particular to the theory of the
existing, and so God would not “Big Bang” proposed by modern
have been free to create or not scientists, including the British
create it. Aquinas’s supreme physicist and cosmologist Stephen
confidence in the power of reason Hawking. This theory states that
meant that he had more in common the universe expanded from a state
with the greatest philosopher of of extremely high temperature and
the previous century, the French density at a particular point in time.
philosopher and theologian Pierre Though most of us now turn to
Abélard, than he did with his
contemporaries and successors.

Coherent belief
Both Aquinas’s general view on
the relation between philosophy
and Christian doctrine, and his
particular treatment of the eternity
of the universe, remain relevant
in the 21st century. Today few
philosophers believe that religious
positions, such as the existence of
God or the immortality of the soul,

96

GOD IS THE
NOT-OTHER

NIKOLAUS VON KUES (1401–1464)

IN CONTEXT N ikolaus von Kues belongs some early Christian theologians
to a long tradition of talk of God as “above being.” Von
BRANCH medieval philosophers Kues, writing around 1440, goes
Philosophy of religion who attempt to describe the nature further, stating that God is what
of God, stressing how God is unlike comes before everything, even
APPROACH anything that the human mind is before the possibility of something
Christian Platonism capable of grasping. Von Kues existing. Yet reason tells us the
begins with the idea that we gain possibility of any phenomenon
BEFORE knowledge by using our reason to existing must come before its
380–360 BCE Plato writes on define things. So in order to know actual existence. It is impossible
“the Good” or “the One” as God, he deduces that we must try for something to come into being
the ultimate source of reason, to define the basic nature of God. before the possibility of it arises.
knowledge, and all existence. The conclusion that von Kues
Plato describes “the Good” or comes to, therefore, is that
Late 5th century CE “the One” as the ultimate source of something that is said to do this
The Greek theologian and all other forms and knowledge, and must be described as “Not-other.”
philosopher Dionysius the
Areopagite describes God Whatever-I-know Beyond apprehension
as “above being.” is not God and However, the use of the word
whatever-I-conceive “thing” in the line of reasoning that
c.860 Johannes Scotus is not like God. von Kues adopts is misleading, as
Eriugena promotes the ideas Nikolaus von Kues the “Not-other” has no substance.
of Dionysius the Areopagite. It is, according to von Kues, “beyond
apprehension”, and is before all
AFTER things in such a way that “they
1492 Giovanni Pico della are not subsequent to it, but exist
Mirandola’s On Being and through it.” For this reason too,
the One marks a turning von Kues thinks “Not-other” comes
point in Renaissance closer to a definition of God than
thinking about God. any other term. ■

1991 French philosopher See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Johannes Scotus Eriugena 332 ■ Meister Eckhart 333 ■
Jean-Luc Marion explores the Giovanni Pico della Mirandola 334
theme of God as not a being.

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 97

TO KNOW NOTHING
IS THE HAPPIEST LIFE

DESIDERIUS ERASMUS (1466–1536)

IN CONTEXT T he treatise In Praise of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas,
of Folly, which Erasmus as theological intellectualizing,
BRANCH wrote in 1509, reflects claiming that it is the root cause
Philosophy of religion the Humanist ideas that were of the corruption of religious faith.
beginning to flood across Europe Instead, Erasmus advocates a
APPROACH during the early years of the return to simple heartfelt beliefs,
Humanism Renaissance, and were to play with individuals forming a personal
a key role in the Reformation. It relationship with God, and not one
BEFORE is a witty satire on the corruption prescribed by Catholic doctrine.
354–430 CE St. Augustine and doctrinal wranglings of the
of Hippo integrates Platonism Catholic Church. However, it also Erasmus advises us to embrace
into Christianity. has a serious message, stating that what he sees as the true spirit of
folly—by which Erasmus meant the Scriptures—simplicity, naivety,
c.1265–1274 Thomas Aquinas naive ignorance—is an essential and humility. These, he says, are
combines Aristotelian and part of being human, and is what the fundamental human traits that
Christian philosophy in his ultimately brings us the most hold the key to a happy life. ■
Summa Theologica. happiness and contentment. He
goes on to claim that knowledge, Happiness is
AFTER on the other hand, can be a burden reached when a
1517 Theologian Martin and can lead to complications that person is ready to
Luther writes The Ninety-Five may make for a troublesome life. be what he is.
Theses, protesting against Desiderius Erasmus
clerical abuses. It triggers the Faith and folly
start of the Reformation. Religion is a form of folly too,
Erasmus states, in that true belief
1637 René Descartes writes can only ever be based on faith,
Discourse on the Method, never on reason. He dismisses the
putting human beings at the mixing of ancient Greek rationalism
center of philosophy. with Christian theology by medieval
philosophers, such as St. Augustine
1689 John Locke argues
for separation of government See also: St. Augustine of Hippo 72–73 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■
and religion in A Letter René Descartes 116–23 ■ John Locke 130–33
Concerning Toleration.

RENAISS
AND THE

OF REAS

1500–1750