End of the Golden Age of Greece

• Athens defeat in Peloponnesian War (431-404 bce)• Death of Aristotle (322 bce)

The Roman Period

• Roman Republic (500 bce – 44 bce)

• Roman Empire (44 bce – 325 ce)

• 4 Roman philosophies

Stoicism

• Stoa Poikile - "painted porch” of “Zeno of Citium”

• Self-control and detachment from distracting emotions allows one to become a clear thinker

• Zeno of Citium - world operates according to a master plan

• Universal determinism governed by fate

• Person is part of the environment

• Life’s events cannot be changed – just accept them

Epicureanism

• Epicurus - goal of life is happiness

• Soul is a material part of the body

• Thought works through atoms of the environment striking the atoms of the soul

• Guiding determination of human activity is hedonism

Skepticism

• We cannot ever truly have definite beliefs about anything

• To avoid believing in something that is false, don’t believe in anything

Cynicism

• Virtue; rejected society’s comforts; attacked society for hypocrisy

• Diogenes the “Dog Philosopher”

Stirrings Afoot: The Rise of Neo-Platonism

• Idea that “The body is both the agent and prison of the soul”

• Emphasis on spirituality

St. Paul’s Neoplatonism (10 ce – 64 ce)

• Body is evil, the soul divine

• Reason was not the way to salvation, faith was

• Provided much of the theology that went into Christianity

• Executed by Nero

Early Christian Philosophy

The Dark Ages and the Fall of Rome (around Year 500)

St. Augustine (300’s – 400’s)

• The Confessions• City of God

St. Augustine’s Philosophy

• Must remove the faulty impressions of sensory knowledge to attain divine wisdom

• Freedom to choose led to evil• ”Inner Experience,” studied through introspection, was valid

• Said that science and philosophy not conducted in the service of theology were suspect

His Accomplishments

• Completed the Christianization of Greek philosophy by reaffirming the Platonic idea about relationship between body and soul

• Established a special relationship between church and state

Middle Ages (500 - 1500)

• Plato (neo-platonism) vs. Aristotle (scholasticism)

Middle Ages Timeline

• 500 Beginning• 715 Muslims conquer Spain• 800 Charlemagne crowned emperor; 1st castles built

in France• 900 Feudalism dominates• 1095 Crusades begin• 1215 Magna Carta• 1337 Hundred Year War begins

Favoring Neo-Platonism (800’s)

• Man's nature is part divine and part animal

• Attempts to fuse neo-platonism with Christian doctrines to reconcile faith and reason

• John Scotus Erigenea

Favoring Aristotle - Islamic and Judaistic Thought

Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (1000)

• Sufi who excelled in mathematics, medicine, science, astronomy, law, music, poetry and philosophy

• al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (the Canon in Medicine)• A'hwal al-Nafs (Conditions of the Psyche)• Stomach ulcers and stress?• Humans are not created with knowledge, but have a

“potential to know”• Attempted to synthesize Aristotle with Islam

Maimonides (1100’s)

• Jewish philosopher “Guide for the Perplexed”

• Reason should guide all things as long as the Bible's doctrines are not sacrificed

• No conflict between faith and reason

• Synthesized Aristotle with Judaism

Favoring Aristotle - The Formation of the School of Scholasticism

St. Anselm (1000’s)

• Dialectics and logic important to theology

• Reason was important for understanding God

• Founder of ”Scholasticism”

Ontological Arguments About the Existence of God

• "God is that than which nothing greater can be thought." If God did not exist, then something greater than He could not be thought; thus, God must exist.

Peter Abelard (1100’s)

• One of the pioneers of the U. of Paris

• Argued against Platonic ideals

• Reason was equal to faith

• The act of thinking and the content of thought are distinct from each other

Abelard and Heloise

• Heloise’s Uncle Fulbert not happy…• Banished to silence

St. Thomas Aquinas (1200’s)

• Major Christian theologian

• Came under the influence of the Dominicans

• The origins of knowledge are revelation and reason

• Faith and reason are independent and compatible

• The truth must be believed, even when it cannot be fully understood (?)

Aquinas and Psychology

• A person is not simply a physical machine propelled by the environment, nor a soul imprisoned in the body

• Accepted the concept of the mind being a “tabula rasa” or “blank slate”

The Human Soul

• The human soul possesses 5 faculties:– Vegetative– Sensitive– Appetitive– Locomotive– Intellectual

John Duns Scotus (1200’s)

• "The Subtle Doctor"• Subtle because no one

could understand his convoluted writing

• Founded his own school called Scotism

Scotism

• The will of man is superior to the intellect of man

• The ultimate end is the love of God and not the knowledge of God

• Argued against Aristotle and Aquinas• Followers were called The Dunsmen

William of Ockham (1300’s)

• "The Venerable Inceptor"

• Franciscan theologian and writer

• Attacked Pope John XII

Ockham’s Razor - The Law of Parsimony

• "If two explanations are equally plausible, the simplest explanation, usually the one with the fewest assumptions, is preferred.”

Pre-Renaissance Science

Power of the Church

• Confirmed emperors and monarchs• Appointed bishops and regulated monasteries• Decided on correct beliefs for the people• Classic writings were lost or censored• Pope most powerful person in Europe• The "Index of Books"

The Crusades (1095-1291)

Plagues and the Black Death

1100's - The First Universities Established

• U. of Bologna (1088 or 1119?)• U. of Paris (1160)• Oxford (1167)• Cambridge (1284)• 1300's - many in Italy

Roger Bacon (1200’s)

• "Dr. Mirabilis” (the wonderful doctor)

• Lenses, optics, gunpowder, magnetic needles

• Emphasized the importance of careful observation

• Empirical observation will gain more than logical arguments

Bacon’s Predictions

• ”Ships will go without rowers and with only a single man to guide them."

• ”Carriages without horses will go at tremendous speed"

• ”Machines will lift incredibly great weights“

Pre-Renaissance Humanism

• Focus is on human interests and away from scholasticism

• Focus on the person as a part of the world of nature

• Humanists advocated the use of common sense

• Exposed the abuses of the Church

• Advanced the “Revival of Learning”

• Erasmus “The Praise of Folly”

Vives (1500’s)

• "De Anima et Vita“• On psychology and the

scientific method• Relied on humors to

explain mental phenomena

• Some consider him to be the "Father of Modern Psychology"

Martin Luther (1500’s)

• Leader of the Protestant Reformation

• Argued that Aristotle was a major cause of the Catholic church's decline

Machiavelli (1500’s)

• "Il Principe " (The Prince)• Quote: "It is better to be

loved than feared, but better to be feared than nothing at all.“

• Used common sense and logic to analyze the principles of effective leadership

• Precursor to organizational psychology and management theory?

How to Keep a Ruler in Power?

• Discourage mass political activism• Channel subjects' energies into private pursuits• Judicious use of violence• Promote material prosperity

The Other Side of Machiavelli

• "Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livius" (1513-21)

• In order for a republic to survive, it needed to foster a spirit of patriotism and civic virtue among its citizens

• Republic would be strengthened by the conflicts generated through open political participation and debate