Piecemeal Medieval Philosophies Quiz

Answer: Created the world out of his own divine volition

Plotinus posited that the One (God) did not suddenly 'decide' to create the world (the world as we know it) because He wanted to. Instead, he supposed that the world was a mechanical necessity of the One's sheer greatness, an overflow or an excess from the One, so to speak.

But of course, the creations are less perfect than the One Himself.

Answer: God's divine illumination

Human reason, St. Augustine argued, is in fact imperfect, finite and subject to change. Eternal truths, on the other hand, are the exact opposite. How do you suppose men reach such truths, however evidently men speculate about such truths? St. Augustine answers that this could only have been possible due to God's grace (divine illumination) to allow men to ponder upon immutable ideas which lie in the divine Godhead.

Answer: via Positiva and via Negativa

Pseudo-Dionysius supposed that God is known positively or negatively. The former is to establish what God is supposed to be, e.g. 'God is good', 'God is wise'. However, God would not properly be considered as being 'good' or 'wise', because God is admittedly super-good or super-wise, that is, beyond our understanding of what's good or wise. So he inclines towards the latter, which states that knowing God must be by removing predicates unsuitable to God e.g. 'God is not stupid', 'God is not evil'.

But if you think again, no predicate is suitable to God, for God is ultimately beyond our understanding (our understanding is dependent on the world, but God is beyond the world), hence it leads to mysticism about the nature of God.

Answer: The totality of all things natural and supernatural

Eriugena's conception of Nature is the totality of all things that are and are not, by which he means all things perceivable by the senses and which can be penetrated by the intellect, and those which cannot be perceived by the senses and things that the intellect cannot fully grasp. Essentially, the natural and the supernatural are included, and not just objects or ideas.

Answer: Anselm's argument was a priori, Aquinas' argument was a posteriori.

St. Anselm's ontological argument utilized pure reason, in the sense that unlike Aquinas' five proofs the ontological argument made no use of any observation about the world to infer God's existence instead using only intuitive notions or ideas.

Answer: Ultra-Realism, Ultra-Nominalism and Conceptualism

It was Realism which supposed that universals are real things, while it was Nominalism that supposed that universals are unreal and are just words. Conceptualism supposed that universals are words which refer to a real objective thing. (This is a condensed summary, of course).

Each position refutes the others.

Answer: Happiness is found in pursuing the divine essence

Unlike Aristotle, Aquinas posited that pursuing happiness necessarily meant trying to learn about God (divine essence). Nonetheless, Aquinas borrows from Aristotle in reference to the use of reason and the golden mean, for instance, in getting happiness. Aquinas posited that man's final ends or goal, contrary to Aristotle's assertion, was to find God, and this is true happiness.

Answer: De Consolatione Philosophae

Boethius wrote "The Consolation of Philosophy" while he was imprisoned for the charges of treason. Boethius was generally a cool guy for having translated several ancient philosophical texts. I recommend you to read "The Consolation".

Answer: The Church will inform the State of celestial conduct from God

St. Augustine used an analogy to this: The Church is likened to a heavenly city while the State was likened to an earthly city. He thought that the Church must have been superior to the State because the State, as he might have observed, was more prone to corruption since they operated without divine principles from God.

Answer: Theology is capable of doing whatever philosophy does but may do more.

Nowadays theology is a philosophy, a special branch of metaphysics if you like. However during the medieval period, theologian-philosophers would make the case that theology does in fact do whatever philosophy does but moreover theology gears for ends that philosophy does not endeavor immediately, i.e. the salvation of man, the contemplation of God etc. Whereas theology starts off with these as its premises, philosophy tries to reach those as its conclusions.