Heritage Sectional Exam #2

Religions

Buddhism

Basic Concepts

Nirvana : the highest destiny of the human spirit, a condition beyond enlightenment; literally means to "bow out"

Arhat: a person who desires nothing and is beyond ordinary human consciousness

Metaphysical speculation: The Buddha claimed that the Jiva does not exist as a personal soul. Enlightenment, Nirvana, and Atman are all concepts beyond ordinary human consciousness

Karma: The law of Karma has no influence on the Arhat; since the Arhat are completely detached and desire nothing, the laws of nature no longer affect them.

Dharma: refers to the legacy of Buddhist teaching or scripture, the way of the Buddha

It emerged in opposition to the violence, suffering and inequality he witnessed in Indian society. Siddhartha felt that war, animal sacrifices, and the caste system ( which ranked members of Indian society by heredity) all undermined peace and degraded life.

Siddhartha Gautama

The Buddha was historically an Indian prince named Siddhartha Gautama of the Sakyas class

iHe was born in 563 BCE and was shielded from the differing in the world by his father.

Eventually he was confronted with the spectacles of age, disease, and death. These sights disturbed him and set him on his quest for spiritual enlightenment.

At the age of 29, he left the palace and became a wandering ascetic

After years of strict asceticism and nearly dying of starvation, he concluded that asceticism was not the proper path; henceforth, he advocated the Middle Way—a life of physical moderation

The Awakening

After a six year spiritual quest, he became enlightened at age 35. From there, he took the name of “the Buddha” meaning awakened one.

Hence Buddhism is the religion of spiritual awakening

Departure from Hinduism

The Buddha taught it was not necessary to cycle through many lifetimes of reincarnation in order to reach Nirvana, one could reach Nirvana in one lifetime.

Consequently, he taught that six traditional aspects of religion divert and distract people from the path to enlightenment.

Authority

Tends to be concentrated in the hands of a few; jurisdiction over religious knowledge is carried to the point of abnormality

The Buddha sought to eliminate the caste system of India; specifically he taught that the Brahmin caste made religious knowledge privileged property, thereby making the other castes feel inferior.

This monopolization led to religious corruption and oppression

Ritual

Senseless, repetitious ceremony originating as magic and superstition, ritual becomes more important than religion, leading to idolatry

Speculation

Intellectual speculation about unanswerable questions and the unknown is useless

Tradition

Has no logical useful function and should be rejected

Autonomy

Individuals should count on themselves and not become dependent upon God as an emotional crutch

Dogma

Dogmatic doctrines, mysticism, superstition, and supernatural beliefs should be eliminated from religion

Seven Points of Proper Religion

In contrast to the six aspects of improper religion, the Buddha taught that correct religion had seven features

Empirical: direct experience of true knowledge

Scientific: Discover cause and effect relationships regulating nature

Pragmatic: Rejection of speculation and theology

Therapeutic: Cessation of suffering

Psychological: All suffering and negative aspects of human nature originated with a specific cause, which over time has become blurred and distorted

Democratic: Total rejection of caste system, classicism, racism, etc

Individualistic: Humans should seek relgious salvation

By departing from these six aspects of religion as practiced in Hinduism, Buddhism became a separate religion

In India, over the next 500 years, Buddhism became re-absorbed into Hinduism

Four Noble Truths

The Truth of Suffering (dukkha)

Life is discontentment and suffering. The world is an illusion and because we do not understand it, we become fixated on various desires and attachments causing us to become frustrated and suffer. Suffering ceases when the illusion of Maya is eliminated through “awakening” or enlightenment

6 Types of Dukkha

Trauma of Birth
Pathology of sickness
Morbidity of Decrepitude
Phobia of Death
Incurable Disease
Separation from loss of love

The Truth of the Origen of Suffering

The Cause of Dukkha is Tanha, psychological attachment to worldly things and aspirations

The Truth of Cessastion of Suffering

Overcoming selfish desires (Manifoldness): Overcoming the dislocation of self (being off centered) and self-centered emotional and physical cravings

The Truth of the Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering

The Noble Eightfold Path

Right knowledge: Meaning of 4 Noble Truths

Right Aspiration: To know what is wanted

Right Language: Speech indicated the character and personality; by changing speech patterns, character can be transformed

Right Behavior: Proper conduct is essential

Right Occupation: Be a moral businessperson and promote life

Right Effort: Exhibit proper ambition and restraint

Right Mindfulness: we are what we think; we must think correctly

Right Absorption: Raja Yoga (meditation and self-control)

Liberation: Emancipation from the cycle of birth and death via the Eight-fold Path
The Eight-fold Path

Historical Developments

Buddhism developed into various branches depending on various groups’ interpretations

Mahayana Buddhism

The individual is dependent on others and is part of the “One”

There are virtues of grace that “the one” helps with

Humans need not make religion a full time preoccupation

The way to enlightenment is through the heart and wisdom gained in the absence of self-seeking desire

Theravada Buddhism

The way to enlightenment is through the heart and wisdom gained in the absence of self-seeking desire

Nirvana is achieved through wisdom and a full time preoccupation with enlightenment and religion

Chen (Zin) Buddhism

Zen

Japan

Tibetan Buddhism

Daili Lama

Tibet

Hinduism

Central Doctrine

A polytheistic religion with many gods and goddesses which express the the infinite Brahmin

Contrasts western religions which believe God is supernatural and seperate from the world. Hindus believe that God is everything and is infinite, a view called Pantheism.

Paradox of human nature is the desires, wants, and needs of humans are infinite, yet humans themselves are part of the finite (limited by their mortality). The conflict between our infinite wants and our finite being is the source of human distress and suffering

Hindus accept that

Success is limited and exclusive

Humans are icapable of being satisfied

Someday humans will become aware they are finite.

Material goods and comforts are finite

What humans really need are Being, Awareness, and Liberation/Joy

There are limitations to Joy and happiness, including: pain, boredom, frustration, and finitude

There are limitations to awareness: Ignorance is in all its manifestations

There is a limitation on Being: Death

Historical developmen

Religion began with philosophy

Vedas to Upanishads to Mahabharata to Bahavad Gita

Purpose of Religion

The road to liberation is religion; success and wealth are self defeating pursuits.

Detachments and indifference to the misfortunes of life is essential

The human being is a body, a personality, and Atman - Brahman(God Head), (the soul)

The part of God in each human being is the Atman

The purpose of life is to reunite the Atman and Brahman

Maya (god) is the veil of illusion that makes people think they are seperated from Brahman

Yoga

A method of achieving enlightenment

Paths to the goal of life is different because people have different personalitys

the four types of personalities are emotional, reflective, active, and experimental

Each of these types requires a different yoga

Types of Yoga

Bhakti

Through love, for the emotionally inclined person

Karma

Through work, for the active individual

Jinana

Through knowledge, for the reflective or intellectual

Raja

Through psychological exercise for the royal experiment.

Steps

Eliminating bodily addictions

Social obligations conquered

Eliminating physical distractions

Conquering breathing mechanisms

Control of senses

Control of mind

Atman facing Brahman: subject - object relationship

Object disappears; veil of Maya is lifted; thinking of "no being"

Nirvana - liberation of enlightenment

Ultimately all yoga is a process of rejection of ego/self.

A 5th type of, Hatha yoga, focuses on gaining control over bodily processes and desires

Stages of Life

Student - 10 years or older - religious education

Householder - 20 years or older - mirage and family

trancends wants

Retirement - 30 years or older - grandchildren

true education : yoga

Sannyasin - liberation - contemplative detachment - wondering monk

Reincarnation

One's present condition is a reflection of one;s virtue in previous lifetimes

Karma

The total difference between good and bad deeds

describes a moral universe with a moral law of cause and effect

Humans have free will and moral responsibility for their decisions and, as a result of those decisions, accumulate good and bad karma

The balance and ratio of the two in a previous life determines an individual's present condition

Present condition determines future lifetimes

The Jiva

The surviving personal part in enlightenment; the personal soul

One's essence after death' it is also that which preserves through various cycles of reincarnation

Ideally one progresses through many cycles of reincarnation and is reincarnated into higher forms each successive time

Depending on the form that Hinduism takes, even animals can be revered as sacred

The end goal of the process of reincarnation is final and complete union with Atman

Islam

Islam born into a conflictual environment, Mecca 610 CE.

"Was Islam spread by the Sword"?

JIHAD

"Struggle"

HADITH

important tool for understanding the Qu'ran

Dichotomy

1. Division of a whole into two parts.
a. spec. in Logic, etc.: Division of a class or genus into two lower
mutually exclusive classes or genera; binary classification.
b. gen. Division into two. Something divided into two or resulting from
such a division; something paradoxical or ambivalent.

Central Doctrine

Strict Monotheism

There iis no God but God (Allah)

Muhammad is God's messenger

Muhammad

Born in Arabia in 570 CE

Shortly after the Byzantine Empire peaks under Justinian (527-65)

First Revelation in 610 CE

He started his quest to unite the tribes of Arabian under Islam in 622.

Converted many polytheistic tribes to Islam

Died 632 CE

Although Moses and Jesus are also recognized as prophets, Muhammad's message is thought to be God's final revelation

The Divinity of Jesus is explicitly rejected by Muslims , as is the Trinity

Islam allows for belief in Angels and the personification of evil

Sources of Islam

The Qur'an is thought to be the direct revelation of God through his messenger Muhammad

Thought to be the Miracle of Islam

Argued that it was impossible for Muhammad (who was an illiterate, uneducated shepard, to have composed prose of such prodound beauty, wisdom, and sublime nature

Devout Muslims believe that it is impossible to translate the Qur'an from Arabic

It loses its beauty/impact in translation

The Sunna is thought to be an authentic record of Muhammad's actions and decisions on moral matters without clear scriptiural instruction. This provides a morally exemplary example for all followers of Islam

Religious Requirements

Daily Prayer

Pilgrimage (Hajj)

Almsgiving

Fasting

Ramadan

Monotheism

There is no God but God

Islamic Attitudes toward other religions

Islam regards Jews and Christians as people of the book

Since Abraham and Jesus are recognized as prophets of the same God as Muhammad's Allah

Muhammad is viewed as bringing God's final revelation to humanity and as such the Qur'an supersedes the authority of the Buble and the Torah

Most notably, Islam rejects as Idolatry the Christian notion of the trinity and denies any divine element in the person of Jesus. Jesus and Muhammad are seen as both mortal humans who were chosen by God to deliver a certain message

Salvation

If they are to be accepted by God, Muslims must follow a very straight-forward and clear-cut system of ethics

Islam has a clear belief of Heaven and Hell and the appropriateness of a person's logos

A person must live up to the requirements of the Qur'anm fulfill their religious duties and obligations, and refrain from prohibited actions

Muslims believe that on the Day of Judgement humans will be resurrected and judged by God

There is no need for Grace in Islam for human actions cary merit, God's mercy, and His goodness

The World

Islam views the world as good, a creation of God, there for humans to enjoy

Islam is not opposed to science, for science is seen as an attempt to understand God's understanding

Religion and State

Religion and State are inseparable

Subtopic

Forms of Islam

Since Muhammad appointed no clear- cut sucessor, after his death the Muslim community became divided on who should succed the Prophet

To compound difficulties , Muhammad had no son, so the question became whether the religion should be continue based upon Muhammad's lineage (closest relative) or be determined by the most spiritually qualiefied person

The first division occured between Sunni and Shi'ites and persists to the present day

Major divisions:

Sunni

Comprised of 85% of Muslims

Subtopic

Believe that the successor of the Prophet should be chosen by consensus of the Muslim community

Shi'ite

Claim Muhammad announced 'Ali would be his successor

The imam is viewed as the spiritual leader of the community

Ali is the first imam. 'Ali's successos are the true imam

Christianity

Jesus

Facets of Jesus

Angry

Temple/money changes, Hypocracy of Pharisees

Teacher

Golden Rule

Compassionate

Friend, Mary M.

Handyman

Revolutionist

Healer

Heals the sick and raises the dead.

Church Fathers from Rome to Byzantium

Central Doctrine

A monotheistic religion contending the most complete revelation of god was personified in Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus is conceived as both human and divine

as divine, he is the incarnation of god: he is the christ- god in human form

as human, he is the man Jesus of Nazareth, but unlike any other humans, without sin.

The most crucial beliefs in this religion:

Jesus was resurrected from the dead on Easter Sunday

God is believed to be manifest in three persons: Father, son, and holy spirit. this doctrine of the trinity is rejected by jews and muslims.

Christ

Jesus is veiwed as having been born of the virgin mary and living a morally exemplary life. He demonstrated his teachings by example, parable, sermons, and miracles

It is claimed as the son of god, jesus made a willing sacrifice- through his cruxifiction- so that through his blood those that believed in him will be cleansed of sin. many christians view this sacrifice as an act of grace- a great gift bestwoed upon an undeserving humanity.

The Sacred and the Profane

Christian thought is characterized by a certain duality that divides reality into the profane and the sacred.

Historically Christianity has demostrated a certain antagonism toward the natural world as profane and therefore inferior, matter. This tendency has often times surfaced in historical Christianity as a negative attitude toward ohysical pleasure and the human body.

Human Nature

Humans are viewed as created in "the image of god" and, unlike other creatures, have responsibility to god and are morally accountable.

Regarding human nature there is some division in christian views:

Some contend that humans are inherently sinful from the time of birth and can only overcome this with god's help.

Another view holds that humans are capable of acting in keeping with both god's wishes and through proper nurture and devotion to god can live morally acceptable lives.

Both agree that God's grace is essential.

Salvation

Only through the grace of god is salvation possible

Christianity contends that only by accepting Jesus Christ as one's savior can one be saved through grace.

Good deeds in themselves are insufficient to guaruntee salvation; rather, good deeds may be evidence of repentance after a person is already saved

A person who is saved will live a morally exemplary life due to love of God and their fellow humans.

In sum, worshippers are saved by grace through faith.

Judaism

Central Doctrine

Judaism encompasses some four millenia of development.

The basic tenet of this religion is that god made a covenant with a group of chosen to demostrate God's requirements to the rest of humanity

In contrast to christians who accept Christ as the Messiah, jews, by not accepting christ as devine, are still waiting for their Messiah.

The Chosen People

Jews think of themselves as being chosen as the people responsible to God.

The Torah

The jewish bible is actually a set of books; the most important of thise is the Torah

The first five books of the old testemant comprise the Jewish Torah.

although Moses is credited with the origin of the Torah, it seems to date 400 years after he lived.

The Torah may be understood in conservative or liberal interpretations.

Conservative

The bible is actual word of god and is thus without error.

an accurate account of the history of the jewish people.

Liberal

The bible is the product of the interaction of god with his chosen people and a record of their understanding of God's revelation

historically a conservative interpretation has prevailed

Moses

Moses lived around 1200 BCE and introduced the commandments that are part of the torah.

Moses is the most important person in jewish history, as he is credited with the bringing of the children out of israel out of bondage in egypt(c.1300 BCE) and the covenant between god and his people was renewed under Moses.

By accepting god's commandments, the hebrews agreed to serve god exclusively; in return god would bring them to the promised land and make them a great nation.

The Nature of God

The traditional characteristics of Monotheism reside in the god of the torah; god is endowed with omniscience, omnipotence, and omni-benevolence

Perhaps more importantly, god makes a covenant with the chosen, to protect, instruct, and show them compassion; in return the people upheld god's laws, worshiped, and show proper devotion.

God is traditionally conceived as a personal God

In some interpretations however, God is a fundamental, unfathomable mystery. God is a verb, not a noun; a process, not a singularity; ultimately indescriable and incomprehensible to the human mind.

This veneration of God by some jews is carried on to the extent that they will decline to write the word god and refrain from any naming of it.

Nature and the World

Unlike Christianity, judaism displays no animosity for the natural world. though god is supernatural, the world is nevertheless god's creation. part of the convenant with god is the responsible stewardship over this creation.

The historically negative attitude toward the body and nature as "profane" in christianity is not present in Judaism.

Immortality

Judaism places less emphasis upon an afterlife than Christianity

Although resurrection from the dead is part of Jewish doctrine, Judaism has focused upon a good life on earth and fellowship with god during the person's lifetime.

Distinguishing between Judaism and Christianity

Although Judaism reconizes people of other religions can serve god and live according to god's laws, there are significant exceptions

Judaism is a monotheistic religion that condems all forms of idolatry and rejects polytheism.

Trinitarian Christianity is rejected as polytheistic and Christianity in general is rejectd since Judaism does not accept accept Jesus as the Messiah.

Judaism considers calling Jesus "God" blasphemous.

History

Rise of the Polis

Homeric Society

Achilles

The Geometric Period

c.900-700

New Opportunities in the polis

Resources and population collected together

Collections remain small

Aristocrats

Can exploit the poor more easily

Can compete in larger arena

Non Aristocrats

Can demand the loyalty of the aristocracy

Can play clans off of each other

Orientalizing Trends

Pottery

Statuary

Alphabet

Literature

Homer

Hesiod

Sappho

Archaic Greece

700-480

Aristocratic rule over the polis

Population boom= Agricultural Intensification

Greater exploitation of land

Poor more easily exploited

UNDERMINING ARISTOCRATIC RULE

Trade and cooperation creates new class with wealth, but no status

Change in warfare

HOPLITE WARFARE

700-650

Phalanx

Reinforces polis

Ancestry irrelevant = Merit

Hoplites identically armed = Equality

Communal enterprise = Moderation

Community defends itself = Citizenship

Demands for Change

Written laws

More open admission to office

End of debt bondage

Cancellation of debt

Redistribution of land

Tyrtaeus of Sparta/Sparta

Spartan government

Tyrtaeus (c.650 B.C.)

Spartan poet. said to have written a poem on the spartan constitution. He was best known for the war poetry in which he exhorted Spartan soldiers to bravery in the field.

Poem 2, pg 14, line 9, Citizenship

"and that victory and power should attend on the mass of the people"

Poem 5, pg 15, line 1, Community

"To fall and die among the fore-fighters is a beautiful thing for a brave man who is doing battle on behalf of his country;"

Poem 7, pg 18, line 1, Merit

"I would neither make mention of a man nor hold him in esteem"

Solon of Athens

The Aristocratic regimes in Athens

Solon (594/3 B.C)

Poem 2, pg 65, line 7, Moderation

"and the leaders of the people are unjust in mind. In their case it is certain"

Poem 2, pg 66, line 26, Community

"In this way public calamity comes to each man;s home, and the doors of the courtyard no longer can hold it back;"

Born 640 B.C and died c560 B.C,

A politician and statesman as well as a poet, he served as chief magistrate at a time when Athenian society was polarized between a small and wealthy aristocracy and a common people opressed by poverty and disenfranchisement.

Athens after Solon

594/3 -460 B.C.

The Birth of Democracy (508/7 B.C)

The Persian Wars

Democracy more radical

Athens declares war on Persia in 499 B.C.

The Battle of Marathon (490 B.C.)

Naval Battle

Athens and other Greek City States Vs. Persians

Trirenes

The Invasion of Xerxes (480 B.C)

He was agitated by the radical Athenian democrats

Tririemes

Require 200 rowers

Drawn from those to poor to be hoplites

Athens after the Persian Wars

Art

Helenistic

Roman

Greek

"Order as Beauty"

Repetition in art is very greek

Literature

Virgil

The Aeneid

Topic Questions

What message does Virgil convey to Augustus about how to rule?

The Romans appropriate Greek forms, and yet they make them their own

How dies Virgil imitate Homer's epic?

What does Virgil do with the epic form that is new in the history of literature or that is not "Greeky," but distinctly Roman?

Virgil opposes pietas (piety) and furor (fury?)

Does it hold up all the way through the end of the poem?

What are the values of Augustan Rome?

Pietas

Respect

Dedication

Devotion to

Gods

Family

Loyalty

Duty

Roman Empire/Rome

Imperium

Empire

Command of Life and Death

Order

Strength

Juno

Hated the trojans, who were destined to found Rome and defeat Carthage.

Juno Loved Carthage

What are the opposites of Augustan values?

Furor

Fury

Boiling Rage

Burning Anger

When is the Aeneid set? How are the Punic Wars Relevant

1200 BCE

In the third Punic War Rome destroyed Carthage

Fato- divine world order. Equivalent to Manifest Destiny

It was the destiny of Rome to take over Carthage.

Greek Drama

Origins

Dionysus

Grove of Thespis

Tragic Performance at Athens

The Greater Dionysia (or City Dionysia)

Euripedes

480-406 BCE

Medea (431 BCE)

Jason and the Argonauts

Pelias and the daughters of Pelias

The Argon

The contest of words

Jason Vs. Medea

Whose arguement is more logical? Persuasive? Intelligent?

Who were the sophist philosophers in 5th Century BCE Athens?

Historical Context

Persian Wars (c. 500-479 BCE)

Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 BCE)

What might Euripides in the production of Medea, on the eve of the Peloponnesian War, be saying about to Athenians?

The Athenian jury system

The radicalism of Athenian democracy

The 2nd Scene between Jason and Medea

What different track does Medea take here, and why?

The goddess Peitho: Persuasion

Is Medea justified in taking her revenge against Jason?

What evidence does Euripides give us in the play to answer this question?

What role-if any-do the gods play in Medea's revenge? How do we know?

Why does Euripides overturn his audience's expectations in creating this Jason and this Medea? What might he be saying about Athenian attitudes toward "Others?"

Philosophy

Subjects

Metaphysics

Epistemology

Ethics

Aesthetics

Logic

Pre-socratic Philosophers

Thales

He predicted a solar eclipse

Passed on knowledge of mathematics

from Babylon

WATER

his stuff is water animated internally by a kind of soul

Anaximenes

AIR

his stuff was air animated by a principle of expansion and condensation

Anaximander

his stuff is an eternal apeiron responsible for all things animated by a kind of internal principle of justice

APEIRON

Boundless infinite substance

proposed that humans evolved from sea creatures who came to live on land

Pythagoras

The universe is composed of numbers

Dualism of mind and body

DUALISM

The condition or state of being dual or consisting of two parts;
twofold division; duality.
- A theory or system of thought which recognizes two independent
principles. spec.
- Philos. The doctrine that mind and matter exist as distinct entities;
opposed to idealism and materialism.
- The doctrine that there are two independent principles, one good and
the other evil.

Reincarnation

Some of his ideas probably come from persia and hence Zoroastrianism

Under the Babylonians the Hebrews would have been influenced bt the same ideas, hence emergence in Daniel of the concept of an afterlife

Heraclitus

FLUX

everything is in flux

direct experience confirms that all is constantly changing

Fire is a metaphor for change

"You cant step in the same river twice."

LOGOS

listen to the logos

Parmenides

STATIC universe

everything is static

No NOTHINGNESS

Change is an illusion

Math and reason tell us that change impossible

Zeno

Paradoxes

Socrates

SOCRATIC METHOD

CONCEPTIONAL DIVISION

The ethical life and the social contract with the state

The problem of alcibiades: a corrupted youth?

Sicily Campaign

The trial and Death

The Apology

Plato

How to reconcile differences between Heraclitus and Parmenides

"True friends share in all things"

Metaphysical and epistemological dualism

Two worlds

Two Substances

Two kinds of knowledge

Doctrine of the Forms

Real knowledge is not from sensation

Doctrine of Recollection

Learning is merely remembering knowledge of the forms already present

knowledge demands permanence

EQUAL STICKS ARGUEMENT from the Phaedo

DIALECTIC

intellectual assention to the Forms

Reincarnation of the soul

Aristotle

Trying to explain causality

Wisdom=Happiness

Parmenides and Heraclitus are Mistaken

Neither Metaphysical Monism or Pluralism

The scientist studies change and the cause

Material cause

Substance of a thing

Efficient cause

the oomph, the push, the immediate local force of movement

Formal cause

the overall configuration of a thing

Final cause

A thing's Telos or purpose (a tiny platonic form)

Potentiality to Actuality to Pure Actuality

Great chain of being

Pure actuality=God=Pure thought thinking about itself=The uncaused cause of all change

We are beings of change: doing right is "flourishing well"

Flourishing well is impossible outside the polis

Idiotes=The Quiet Man?=Idiot

Morality (doing right) relies on the Polis

Morality comes from the polis?

Tutor to Alexander the Great

Missed the point of his instruction.

Philosophies of Coping

Epicureanism

Epicurius

The Obstacle to peace of mind is fear of death

Atomistic Metaphysics

Democritus

The Swerve

Cultivate Friendship

Not bodily pleasure

Pursue Pleasure with Friends

Skepticism

Pyrrho

Sextus Empiricus

For every "P" there is a "NOT P"

Law of Universal Contradiction

~(P&~P)

We must suspend judgement

Just walk away if you don't know

ATARAXIA

Quietude

Stoicism

Epictetus

"I told you it would break."

Determinism Vs. Free Will

Universal Brotherhood

Desire the Inevitable

Manicheanism

Two primal principles of good and evil, coeternal and independent

Persian idea handed down by zoroastrians

humans are a mix of good and evil

through sustained activity of the mind, humans should recognize the duality of things

abstain from all "ensouled things"

eat only vegetables

Abstain from mirriage, because bodily urges prolong the powers of darkness

Neoplatonism

Plotinus (205-270 CE)

ONE=>Nouns (Thinker and Thought)=>Soul=>Matter

Each successive stage of being "emanates" from a higher one, but the emanitions do not undold in an external objective time

Emanations all at once

Language forces us to describe emanations as temporal

Emanations are metaphysical stages of being from One to Duality to Many

St. Augustine

A Platonist at heart who believes in metaphysical and epistemological dualism of Plato

NeoPlatonism

Evil is a privation, a turning away, not a positive force

Sensation misleads; reason is the way basic truths are understood, not through faith

Faith is insufficient

We believe in order to understand

Faith is the first step

A life of rightly ordered love is the moral life

Time is a function of the mind

Predestination is inevetiable because God is omniscient

But if predestination is inevetable then can there be free will? If not then what is salvation?

Maimonides

Negaitve Theology

Music

Ancient Music

"Humanly Organized Sounds"

MODE

a patterned arrangement

It is the basic pitch material of music

we can tell where the music is from by the mode

INTERVAL

Distance between modes

Music is the most abstract and sublime of all the arts. Its mysterious power led all ancient cultures it as having a divine origin.

PITCH

represents the percieved frequency of a sound.