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7. Scholasticism （经院哲学）
(1) What is scholasticism?
n Scholasticism comes from the Latin word scholasticus which means “that [which] belongs to the school”. It is not a philosophy or a set of beliefs, but a method, or technique, of teaching and learning created by late 11th Century medieval scholars and theologians. Scholasticism was significant because it was possible to determine the answer to a question through one's own reason, in contrast to the prevailing method of monasticsm (monastic learning) which found authority purely through what was written in ancient manuscripts, but not through one's own reasoning.
n There were numerous scholastic philosophies in the Middle Ages, but basic to all scholastic thought was the conjunction of faith and reason. For the greatest of the scholastics, this meant the use of reason to deepen the understanding of what is believed on faith and ultimately to give a rational content to faith.
（2 ）Some important questions for scholasticism
I. the existence of God
n St. Anselm in the late 11th cent. took as his life’s motto “faith seeking understanding”(“为了理解而信仰”——“我们决不是理解了才能信仰，而是信仰了才能理解。”) and sought to use reason to illuminate the content of belief.
n An example of this is his famous ontological proof of the existence of God.
Anselm’s ontological argument
n i. In order to affirm or deny anything about god, we must first form in our minds the appropriate concept, namely the concept of “that than which nothing greater can be conceived” (“在一切可能想像中之最伟大(最完满)的存在"). Having done so, we have in mind the idea of God.
n But of course God does not necessarily exist in reality, since we often think about things that do not (or even cannot) actually exist. (来源：www.EnglishCN.com)
n ii. Suppose the alternative: If “that than which nothing greater” can be conceived existed only in my mind and not in reality, then I could easily think of something else which would in fact be greater than this (namely, the same thing existing in reality as well as in my mind), so that what I originally contemplated turns out not in fact to be that than which nothing greater can be conceived.
n →This is a contradiction, only a fool would believe it. So that than which nothing greater can be conceived (that is, God) must exist in reality as well as in the mind.
Kant’s criticism of Anselm’s ontological argument
Kant’s criticism of Anselm’s ontological argument is to the point. In his words, “existence” (namely, existing both in the mind and reality) is not an attribute. We can imagine God having the greatest attributes, yet this doesn’t mean it does not necessarily follow that God really exists in reality. For instance, I can imagine that there are fifty dollars in my pocket, but this does not mean that these dollars really exist in my pocket.
II. The problem of universals
n One of the issues that most plagued scholastic philosophers during this period was the problem of universals.
n Realists (唯实论者), following in the tradition of Plato, maintained that each universal is an entity in its own right, existing independently of the individual things that happen to participate in it. Nominalists（唯名论者）, on the other hand, pursuing a view nearer that of Aristotle, held that only particular things exist, since the universal is nothing more than a name that applies to certain individual substances.
(3) Scholastic method: further reading
n I. To discover disagreement and contention among reading sources
n The scholastics would choose a book by a renowned scholar, called auctor （作品的創作者或創始者→authority） , as a subject of investigation, for example the Bible. By reading the book thoroughly and critically, the disciples learned to appreciate the theories of the auctor. Then other documents related to the source document would be referenced, such as Church councils, papal letters, anything written on the subject be it ancient text or contemporary. The points of disagreement and contention between these multiple sources would be written down and looked at from all sides with an open mind.
n II. To prove the two sides of an argument were in agreement and not contradictory through a series of dialectics. This was done in two ways:
n i. philoloigical analysis:
n Words were examined and it would be argued they could have more than one meaning, that the author could have meant the word to mean something else. Ambiguity in words could be used to find common ground between two otherwise contradictory statements.
n ii. logical analysis:
n The scholastics relied on the rules of formal logic to show contradictions did not exist, but were subjective to the reader.
(4) Scholastic school: further reading
n Scholastic schools had two methods of teaching:
n I. the lectio (诵读圣言, 经文评注) . A teacher would read a text, expounding on certain words or ideas, but no questions were allowed. It was a simple reading of a text, the instructors explained, and silence for the students
II. the disputatio (disputation 辩论)
n There were two types of disputatio's:
n i. "ordinary" disputatio (通常的辩论) :
n The question to be disputed was announced beforehand.
n ii. the quodlibetal （随意性辩论） :
n The students would pop the question to the teacher without any prior preparation. The teacher would then have to come up with a response. Such as "Is it ok to steal?" The teacher would then cite from authoritative texts such as the Bible and prove his position. Students would then rebut the response and this would go back and forth often digressing into unruly affairs. During this haphazard exercise someone would be keeping notes on what was said, the teacher would then summarize the arguments from the notes and present his final position the next day answering all the rebuttals in a final answer.
8. Literature: 105
(1) National epics: 105
I. Definition of national epic:
n The epic written in vernacular languages, namely, the languages of various national states that came into being in the Middle Ages. It was the starting point of a gradual transition of European literature from Latin culture to a culture that was the combination of a variety of national characteristics.
II. Famous national epics:
n i. Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic: 105
n ii. Song of Roland, French epic
(2) Dante Alighieri & The Divine Comedy
Dante shown holding a copy of The Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence, in a fresco.
I. Significance of The Divine Comedy: 118
n Written between 1308 and his death in 1321, The Divine Comedy is widely considered the greatest epic of Latin literature, and one of the greatest of western literature (in parallell with Homeric Epics, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and Goethe’s Faust). Its influence is so great that it affects the Christian view of the afterlife to this day.
n While the poem itself is a Christian poem with a profound vision of the medieval Christian world, it also expresses humanistic ideas which foreshadowed the spirit Renaissance.
II. Structure and story of The Divine Comedy
n The Divine Comedy is composed of three parts:
n Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise)
n The poet tells in the first person his travel through the three realms of the dead. His guide through Hell and Purgatory is the Latin poet Virgil, author of The Aeneid, and the guide through Paradise is Beatrice, Dante's ideal of a perfect woman.We may say that Virgil and Beatrice respectively represents wisdom and love which are able to lead one to paradise
The nine circles of Hell:
n The circles are concentric, each new one representing further and further evil, culminating in the center of the earth, where Satan is held, bound. Each circle's sin is punished in an appropriately revengeful way to fit the crime.
n The nine circles of Hell (九圈地狱) :
n Circle 1. Limbo:
n The unbaptized and virtuous pagans, who, though not sinful, did not accept Christ, namely, such poets, pilosophers and scientists in ancient Greece and Rome as Homer, Plato and Aristotle. They are not punished in an active sense, but are merely unable to reach Heaven and denied God's presence for eternity.
n → Dante put these people in circle 1 because he had to agree with the dominant Christian notion that anyone who didn’t believe in Christianity would go to hell after death, but their freedom from any punishment shows Dante’s admiration of wisdom.
n Circle 2:
n Those overcome by lust (好色之徒), trapped in a violent storm. For example, Archilles, Paris, Hellen, Cleopatra.
n → As a Christian himself, Dante had to put such people in the hell and let them suffer so as to agree with the Christian notion that appetites or physical pleasures should be disciplined, but as a man Dante shows a deep sympathy for them.
n Circle 3:
n Gluttons (饕餮者，暴食者 ) face-down in the mud and gnawed apart by Cerberus, the dog monster in the hell.
n → Cf. the Christian emphasis on simple, moderate life. For them, the wine they drink is the blood of Jesus, and the bread they eat is the meat of Jesus. This is why they feel obliged to pray to God for granting them food.
n Circle 4:
n The greedy (who hoarded possessions), and the indulgent (who squandered them), forced to push giant rocks in opposite directions.
n → For the Christians, grudging and wasting possessions are equally sinful.
n Circle 5:
n The wrathful (动辄发怒者), fighting each other in the swamp-like water of the river Styx, and the slothful, trapped beneath the water.
n → Christianity emphasizes moderation or self-discipline of emotions, passions, as well as appetites. So, becoming wrathful is a sign of evil desire.
n Circle 6:
n Heretics （邪教徒）, trapped in flaming tombs.
n Circle 7:
n The violent (暴虐者）, including the violent against people and property (in a river of boiling blood), the violent against themselves—suicides (turned into thorny black trees), the violent against God, art, and nature—blasphemers, sodomites, and usurers（in a desert where fire rains from the sky).
The last two circles of Hell punish sins of malice, or sins of the intellect; that is, sins involving conscious fraud or treachery, and can only be reached by descending a vast cliff into the "pit" of Hell:
n Circle 8：
n The fraudulent (欺诈者)— those guilty of deliberate, knowing evil. They include:
n Panderers and seducers （诱奸者）, running forever in opposite directions, whipped by demons;
n Flatterers （阿谀奉承者）, steeped in human excrement;
n Those who committed simony (买卖圣职罪), placed head-first in holes, flames burning on the soles of their feet;
n Sorcerers and false prophets （伪先知）, their heads twisted so they can only see what is behind them;
n Corrupt politicians （腐败政客）, trapped in a river of burning pitch;
n Hypocrites （伪善者） made to wear brightly painted lead cloaks;
n Thieves （偷盗者）, chased by venomous snakes;
n Fraudulent advisors （恶谋者）, trapped in flames:
n Sowers of discord （挑拨离间者）, whose bodies are ripped apart, then heal, only to be attacked again;
n Falsifiers （作假者）, i.e. alchemists, counterfeiters, perjurers, and impersonators. Each group is punished by being afflicted with a different type of disease.
ii. Purgatorio
n Having survived the depths of Hell, Dante and Virgil then ascend out of the undergloom, to the Mountain of Purgatory, where those whose sins were not to the point of going to hell purified themselves for ascending to the Paradise.
Seven terraces of Purgatory （七层炼狱）：
n Terrace 1: Pride, by carrying a heavy weight tied around the neck that disables the wearer from standing up straight.
n Terrace 2: Envy, by having one's eyes sewn shut, and wearing clothing that makes the soul indistinguishable from the ground.
n Terrace 3: Wrath, by walking around in acrid smoke.
n Terrace 4: Sloth, by continually running.
n Terrace 5: Avarice, by lying face-down on the ground.
n Terrace 6: Gluttony, by abstaining from any food or drink.
n Terrace 7: Lust, by burning in an immense wall of flames |
