| Elements of Epistemology |
Scholastic epistemology
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Credo quia Absurdum Epistemology has two broad philosophical traditions, scientific and religious. The scientific tradition asks how we know about the world, the religious how do we know about God. Throughout history the answers to this question were that God could be known by reason, by faith, or by experience. The proofs of God based on rational deliberations can be classified into cosmological, teleological, and ontological arguments, and are associated with Catholic theology. The rational arguments for the existence of God were elaborated throughout the Middle Ages. Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae (1273) presents five proofs of God's existence in intricate arguments with eloquence fitting the Angelic Doctor. Jacques Maritain in his Degrees of Knowledge (1932) restated Thomas' proofs of God's existence in modern terms. Maritain divides knowledge into the categories of quantity and being, subject matters of mathematics and metaphysics. However, the rational proofs of God's existence are intrinsically self-contradictory and thus Tertullian's desperate cry 'credo quia absurdum' (I believe because it is absurd) echoes through the ages.
Ontological Argument
Ontology (from
Greek on, to be) is the branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of
existence. The ontological argument can be phrased as follows. God is the most
perfect being and since the concept of the most perfect being is inherent to
our consciousness, then God must exist. This argument was originated by Saint
Anselm (1033-1109). Saint Anselm was born in
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Sic et Non The central maxim of scholasticism was fides quaerens intellectum, (belief in search of reason). Primus inter pares of scholastics was Peter Abelard, best known for his book Sic et Non (Yes and No, 1120) about contradictory passages in the Scriptures and writings of the Church Fathers. These passages are discussed within the framework of Aristotle's dialectic method. Dialectic is a series of theses (propositions, arguments), antitheses (counter-propositions, counterarguments) which should result in synthesis, transcending the discussed issue. Dialectics is an important method of epistemology, enabling us to examine inherent contradictions in precepts others would like us to believe. The Sic et Non opens with the statement that 'There are contradictions and obscurities in the writings of the church fathers, but our respect for their authority should not discourage us from their critical evaluation.' Peter Abelard continues with unmistaken sarcasm that, however, 'the freedom of critical evaluation does not extend to the Old and New Testaments. There, if something strikes us as absurd, we should not say so, but must insist that the scribe made an error in copying the manuscript, or that there is an error in interpretation, or that the passage is only allegorical.' Predictably, the Sic et Non earned Peter Abelard hatred of the clerics, notably of Saint Bernard, who denounced him to the Pope Innocent II who had him condemned and his works listed in the Libri Prohibiti (index of forbidden books).
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Occams Canon
The question of how we know certain things are true and how to explain them
became prominent during the Middle Ages with the philosophy of William of Occam
(c.1285-1349) Occam studied at Oxford where he was attracted to the philosophy
of John Duns Scotus. Occam is best known by his canon
entia non sunt multiplicanda
praeter necessitatem,
(a multiplicity of reasons should not be posited unless
necessary).
This is better known as Occams razor, close to the Aristotelian dictum that 'science is demonstration based on secure premises.'
In his
Summa Logicae Occam rejects
