Archive for ‘Student Posts’

Aristotle spoke about the idea of the Golden Mean. This idea of finding your virtue (a behavior that is reflective of elevated morality) is intriguing to me. Aristotle spoke about finding your golden mean or virtue when you are at balance and far from negative aspects of a character trait. One example of finding your virtue would be confidence. If a person is too confident, they could come across as arrogant, on the opposite end of the spectrum, if a person is lacking confidence they come across as being insecure. The golden mean of these two polar opposites is confidence. The extremes of confidence (arrogance and insecurity) are negative but the mean of the two is where the virtue of confidence is found. To me, the search for virtue is a part of the Redemption story. We are all living a life of redemption. In living out this life it is important that we try to find our true calling, our virtue. As Christians, we are supposed live our lives as a reflection of Christ’s love. This includes living a virtuous lifestyle. We are to hold our standards of reality high and aim to find our virtue. A person must be careful of being neither too boastful nor too humble. There must always be a good balance.

The idea of the Golden Mean could also be a part of the Creation story as well. In the beginning as a part of a new creation it was often questioned what is the “good life?” Aristotle could argue that the good life could be achieved by finding your Golden mean. By finding the right balance and living a life of virtue, free from negative human qualities a person has achieved balance and achieved the golden mean. According to Aristotle, this would lead to a life of happiness.

“Whatever can be thought or spoken of must exist at all times. Consequently there can be no change, since change consists in things coming into existence or ceasing to be.” Parmenides believed that there was only one reality. That is was stable and unchanging. He proved this because he thought that humans could not think of  something that is not already in existence. Our minds are not capable of creating new things. To me this view of life and creation can make sense for a few reasons.

The first one is that when people die they do cease to exist in the physical world. Animals have become extinct also. We can know them, but not in the true capacity since we could not experience them for ourselves. However, because they cease to exist doesn’t mean they never existed. How about the soul? If one believes in a soul then they do not really die. Memories are said to kee  However I don’t completely think he was talking about human specifically. He would argue that in general humans have existed from the beginning and so have animals. Genesis 1 God has made them both. they exist in many forms and shapes and sizes with different languages and patterns. Bottom line they still exist, yet we are still discovering new species today.

Secondly, Ecclesiastes 1:9 states

That which has been is what will be,

That which is done is what will be done,

And there is nothing new under the sun.”

This supports that what was there in the beginning will always be there  in the end. We can say that with nature and emotions and maybe even problems such as poverty and world hunger. I believe the verse was also talking about the behavior of people. We experience the same emotions and the same tragedies whether it’s the death of a loved one or the joy of falling in love or even getting your heart broken. Also we make the same mistakes too. We have all lied to someone we loved or been scared of the dark or bugs or clowns! Maybe this is where he was getting at. Our reaction to life is always the same. We are born, we work, fall in love, and die. Many different things happen in between, but there is someone somewhere who has experienced maybe something similar to you.  For example, if you are a believer then the most of the people at your church have arrived that they need Jesus and that He is real. How y’all arrived at that may be different, but nonetheless you claim to have a relationship with Christ or want one.

Nothing is new, but we are made aware of new things all the time. We realize new truths to help us deal with the unpredictability of life. Humans are predictable most of the time. We handle life pretty similarly. What was in the beginning will also be in the end, depending on who or what you believe. This view is opposite of what Heraclitus believed. that the world was always changing and moving. I believe the world is always moving and sometimes we pick up on the way and the direction they are going on what it is, but sometimes it takes a few sways of the universe.

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I like to associate Aristotle with creation theory because it was typical of him to inquire of life and purpose. Many of his thoughts were primitive and basic questions simply delving into what human life means and what separates us from other life forms. At the completion of our life, have we accomplished our full function?

Other notable philosophies included other principles about our human condition. For example, he questions happiness and justice: virtues given to human life. Is this what separates us from other animal life? Also what makes the human mind complex? These are ways of asking why we are created this way. Asking about causation as Aristotle was known to do is like talking about our problems on terrestrial Earth. Essentially, like the philosophy of “everything happens for a reason” which is a facet of our physical state on Earth. All natural processes we know of can be traced back to a cause, and so forth. The thought process of Aristotle are things that are important in the here and now.

I believe he is most easily categorized as a creation theorist as opposed to fall, redemption or new creation because the content of what we know of Aristotle today was wonders of life on earth. Although we have a limited knowledge of Aristotle’s view of intelligent design and literally creationism, he attempts to explain big questions like, “what are we doing here?” http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-causality/#FouCauSciNat

According to Aristotle, Thales is the founder of philosophy. He is most famously known for his claim that the world is made of water. When thinking about creation, Thales does not attribute significance to the gods but to natural explanations, an innovative notion for these times. Whereas everyone else makes sense of life through the lens of how gods think, how gods act, how gods are involved with humans, Thales downplays supernatural interaction to instead focus on natural principles. He looks to the laws and order of nature, what he can observe, what he can break down and explain.

I like the way one online article describes Thales’ contributions. This article explains that Thales’ pioneering success comes not from the fact that he declares water as the substance of all life, but the fact that he attempts “to explain nature by the simplification of phenomena and search for causes within nature itself rather than in the caprices of anthropomorphic gods. Thales is important in bridging the worlds of myth and reason.” This bridging of myth and reason opens up a whole new perspective to humans, a new lens that they can look through. Now, people begin to seek knowledge from studying the tangible world at their fingertips. If they find answers in the physical, what does that say about the supernatural? Do gods become powerless? Do myths lose all validity? And if people have been contributing everything to the gods, especially creation, what now do they believe?

Another interesting thing to think about: Thales sees how water falls from the sky, how the earth soaks it up, how water evaporates, rises to the clouds. Through solely observing, Thales discovers a cycle of life, and this cycle is malleable. With knowledge comes power. What level of power do people at this time think they have over the environment? If anything, Thales shows the world that by study and break down of natural processes that have long been in place, people can gain knowledge on how to change them! People can take reason and use it for their benefit, for their advantage, and for their manipulation. Thales’ cosmology pushes against traditional beliefs to create a new way of thinking.

“Thales of Miletus.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 07 Sep. 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/589798/Thales-of-Miletus>.

Hippocrates has much to teach us about the fall of man.  However, he also makes suggestions that lead me to believe he believed in the restoration of people and a different kind of hope.  Usually, we associate the fall of man with things such as sickness, death, childbearing pains, etc.  Likewise, Hippocrates recognizes disease.  We know that Hippocrates was skilled at diagnosing, giving a prognosis, and suggesting treatment for disease.  One thing that’s different about Hippocratics though, is that they did not believe in any supernatural causes for disease.  Instead, they believe all illnesses were a result of natural causes.  For example, the Hippocratics believed in the four humors of the body, (black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm), and if the humors were somehow out of balance, illness resulted.  Although the fall of man in the Bible includes an encounter between man and an evil spiritual force, the serpent, Hippocratics don’t recognize the latter force.  In fact, Hippocrates says, “It is my opinion that those who first called this disease ‘sacred’ were the sort of people we now call witchdoctors, faith-healers, quacks, and charlatans…By invoking a divine element they were able to screen their own failure to give suitable treatment…” (37).   I think it is noteworthy that  in both the case of Adam and Eve and in the case of Hippocratics, Satan can be viewed as deceiving man.  In Genesis, the serpent deceives Adam and Eve into eating the fruit from the forbidden tree.  In the case of Hippocrates, we could say that he is deceived into thinking man can solve all of his own problems.

If I wasn’t a Christian, I think Thales would be my favorite Philosopher. I find his theories very interesting, particularly the one about water being the primary substance of physics. With water being found in all living things and as such a vital resource required for life, this theory makes sense to my scientific side. I also really admire the way he accepted criticism and wasn’t to high and mighty. I think all of us should strive to be better and help one another in a constructive atmosphere.

However, I must categorize him with the fall. Thales, though he acknowledged the existence of the Greek gods, taught natural explanations for everything, deemphasizing any supernatural explanations.  To me Thales represents the overly scientific world with at our society has been consumed by. Instead of looking for any higher being as the source he looks to the world. He would never assume a miracle but would search in nature for a more scientific explanation. Despite categorizing him with the fall, I think that some of Thales ideas are reminiscent of restoration, particularly his creation of the critical tradition. I feel that this idea of building off of one another really aligns with how we as Christians work and think together in order to further God’s kingdom here on Earth. And I love the quote below, but I think in order to find ourselves we must search in God and not in this world.

Plato believed that there was a world of being and a world of becoming; I relate this to Creation. When God created the world, it was in a state of being. Each thing that was created: water, earth, sky, light, etc. was in existence, but had yet to be experienced or to be touched by humans or animals. Once God created the beasts of the land, the birds of the air, and creatures of the deep, followed by mankind, the world changed to a state of “becoming.” Ever since living creatures have been placed on this planet, we have affected it in positive and negative ways, no matter what causing some sort of change, making it so that it is always in a state of “becoming,” rather than just “being.” Plato also believed in the reminiscent theory, which basically states that what we perceive as the “good life,” is what we have already experienced, but have forgotten and have to relearn. This theory can be related to The Fall because it implies that we, as beings, were once more knowledgeable, all-knowing even, and that when we came into existence in this world, we forgot our knowledge and we now must relearn it. This theory also seems to say that we were once worthy of such knowledge and now we are not – that we’ve fallen from grace in a manner of speaking.

In Plato’s Allegory, the slaves live in a cave their entire life and that reality is all they know. They are unable to recognize the images around them are actually distortions. It is not until someone is taken out of the cave that they can see the real world and fully experience life. As soon as the slave is freed, the first thing he wants to do is return back to the cave to tell his friends of the new world he has discovered. But sadly they are unable to comprehend what their friend so desperately wants them to experience.

I believe this can be compared to the redemption section of the theological timeline. As we live in a fallen world, we are also living in a cave. Before we know the love of Christ and the freedom that a life committed to Him has to offer, we are first slaves to sin. Our life in sin is the only reality we know, completely unaware of the amazing life we can experience once we are free from the chains sin puts us in. During our time in the cave, we are unaware that our life is not the full capacity we could experience; just as the slaves are unaware their world is made of distortions. Hearing the good news is like stepping out of the cave. From that point on, we are now free to live a life in Christ. In both instances, once the slave is freed and their life is changed forever. Just as the slave goes back to the cave to tell his friends of his new life, we also tell our friends of Christ’s redemption because it is something everyone should experience. Often times as we share Christ’s love and sacrifice to those we care about, they cannot understand the extent of it until they have experienced it personally. This once again is parallel to the allegory of the cave because the slaves that are still in captivity are also unable to understand the full extent of freedom.

I believe Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans taught ideas that fit well into the category of creation. Much of their teaching seems to answer the question of “Where are we?” Their teachings about how the world is governed by indisputable laws of math speaks to their desire to explain how the world works. They explain that  everything is interrelated by these rules of math. The most well known of these is the Pythagorean theorem, but while it is the most well known it is only one of the many mathematical laws that flow throughout the natural world in Pythagoras’s opinion. I am interested in these ideas because while Pythagoras was by no means a Christian,these ideas could be used to make a strong argument for God, like we talked about in class on Wednesday. The idea of eternal laws of math make an easy jump to an eternal God.

Another creation question that they talk about is, “Is this world real?” Pythagoras theorized that there were two worlds the physical and the abstract. The physical is the world is where we live but according to him the abstract is better because it is where these Laws truly function.

I believe that this math guided world that the Pythagoreans espoused informs a creation view.