History of Philosophy and Christian Thought

Speaker:

Dr. Ron Nash

Overview

This course is a basic introduction to the history of philosophy and Christian thought. These lectures were given at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida during the fall semester of 2001.

Class Outline

Introduction
Introduction	Introduction
I. Pre-Socratic
Milesians	Thales and Anaximander were two philosophers in the sixth century BC that lived in Miletus.
Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Parmenides	Heraclitus and Pythagoras lived into the 5th century BC.
Worldviews	Any worldview addresses the subjects of God, ultimate reality, human knowledge, ethics and human persons.
Naturalism	Fundamental beliefs of a naturalistic worldview is that nothing exists outside the physical universe and that all things evolved.
II. Platonic
Introduction, Opposition	Plato was a student of Socrates and lived into the fourth century BC. He opposed hedonism, empiricism, relativism, materialism, atheism and naturalism.
The Forms	Plato described the universe as having three levels: the world of particulars, the world of forms, and the form of the good.
Dualism	Plato's view of the universe was dualistic.
Rationalism	One of Plato's fundamental arguments is that the human soul is immortal.
Appraisal, Creation, Tensions	Evaluation of Plato's arguments and comparison of Plato's philosophy with biblical theology.
Rationalism	Empiricism teaches that all human knowledge arises from sense experience. Rationalism teaches that some human knowledge does not arise from sense. experience
III. Aristotelian
His Life	Aristotle was a student of Plato and lived in the fourth century BC.
Contrast, Substance, Causes, Categories	Aristotle rejected Plato's doctrine of two worlds.
Incarnation	Discussion of Aristotelian philosophy as it relates to the incarnation.
View of God, Psychology	Aristotle's philosophy as it relates to attributes of God and fundamental assumptions about psychology.
Intellect	Aristotle made a distinction between passive intellect and active intellect.
Law	Discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the law of non-contradiction.
Matter	Discussion of the nature and substance of matter.
IV. Hellenistic
Introduction	Hellenistic philosophy was an approach that was popular from the fourth century BC to the fifth century AD.
Stoicism	Stoics were determinists who believed in living according to nature.
Hedonism	Hedonism emphasized pleasure as the greatest good. "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we might be dead."
Philo	Philo's philosophy was based on a synthesis of Stoicism and Platonism.
Hebrews	Implicit "Logos" Christianity is an underlying theme in the book of Hebrews.
Plotinus	Plotinus lived in the third century AD and is considered the founder of Neoplatonism.
V. Augustinian
His Life	Augustine is a Latin church father, is considered by many to be one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity.
Confessions	Augustine wrote Confessions as an autobiographical work to record his experience as a sinful youth and his experience becoming a follower of Christ.
Faith	Augustine wrote to refute some heresies of the day by focusing on the concepts of faith and reason.
Evil	Augustine writes about the problem of evil and describes evil as the absence of good.
Pelagianism	Augustine writes to refute Pelagianism by focusing on the biblical teaching about sin.
Donatism	Augustine writes to refute Donatism.
Skepticism	The fundamental idea of skepticism is that no one can know anything. Augustine this statement contradicts itself because the skeptic is claiming that you can know that you can't know anything.
History	When Augustine wrote "The City of God," he had a linear view of history.
Knowledge	In Augustine's theory of knowledge, he says that eternal reason and human reason are two different levels of reason.
Illumination	Augustine was personally convinced of the importance of divine illumination.
VI. Thomistic
Background	The intellectual background of Thomas Aquinas was influenced by the discovery of ancient manuscripts, the rise of universities, the rise of religious brotherhoods and the rise of Muslim philosophy.
Faith	Aquinas describes faith as whatever a human can know through special revelation, and reason as whatever a human can know outside of special revelation.
Arguments	Aquinas attempts to prove God's existence.
Law	Aquinas describes four kinds of law as eternal, divine, natural and positive.
VII. Modern
Modern	The rationalists and empiricists set the stage for Kant and other philosophers of the modern era.
A. Kant
Understanding	Kant argued that moral requirements are based on a standard of rationality he dubbed the “Categorical Imperative."
Two Worlds	Kants two worlds are the phenomenal world and the noumenal world.
Response	Discussion of criticisms and questions about Kant's ideas.
Postmodernism	Similarities between Kant's ideas and postmodernism.
B. Hegel
Hegel	The dialectic is a central idea in Hegel's philosophy.
C. Marx
Stages	Ideally, Marxism begins with class struggle, then revolution, dictatorship of the proletariat, withering away of the state, and a utopian classless society.
Faces	Discussion of four faces of Marxism.
D. Nietzsche
Nietzsche	Nietzsche proclaimed that, "God is dead." His cure was to live life knowing there is no ultimate meaning. Kierkegaard emphasized a worldview based on true faith.

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