PhilosophyLesson 2 of 2 in the course The Emergence of Classical Philosophy

Religious Philosophy from Philo to Early Modern Inquiry

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 5 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

This lesson introduces Jewish, Christian, and Islamic philosophy as traditions that engage both classical philosophical ideas and religious teachings. It focuses on the historical setting of early Jewish philosophy and Philo of Alexandria’s attempt to interpret Jewish scripture through Greek philosophy.

The spread of Greek and Roman empires brought Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa into contact with Hellenism—Greek language, culture, learning, and philosophical ideas. Later, Christians and Muslims also encountered classical philosophy and incorporated or debated its concepts.

All flashcards

Hellenism
The influence and spread of Greek culture, language, learning, and philosophical ideas into other regions.
Logos in Philo’s philosophy
The divine rational principle that mediates between God’s eternal reality and the physical world.
Scholasticism
A medieval method of learning that used systematic reasoning and argument to examine theological questions.
Ibn Sina’s necessary being
A being that cannot fail to exist and upon which contingent existence depends.
Maimonides’s negative theology
An approach that describes God more safely by what God is not than by what God is.

Quiz questions

  1. According to Boethius, why are wealth, political power, and social status unreliable foundations for happiness?Answer: They are unstable goods that can be taken away.
  2. Why did Ibn Sina argue that contingent things require a necessary being?Answer: Contingent things do not explain their own existence.
  3. What position did Ibn Rushd defend concerning philosophical reasoning and Islam?Answer: Reasoned inquiry can be compatible with faith, and the Quran encourages reflection.
  4. What does negative theology allow people to say about God, according to Maimonides?Answer: They can more safely state what God is not or describe divine effects.
  5. What change did Copernicus’s heliocentric model make to the accepted account of the solar system?Answer: It placed the sun at the center, with Earth and other planets revolving around it.

Based on Introduction to Philosophy by Nathan Smith (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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