DOCSLIB.ORG

Religion As a Virtue: Thomas Aquinas on Worship Through Justice, Law

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

RELIGION AS A VIRTUE: THOMAS AQUINAS ON WORSHIP THROUGH JUSTICE, LAW, AND CHARITY Submitted by Robert Jared Staudt A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctorate in Theology Director: Dr. Matthew Levering Ave Maria University 2008 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE: THE CLASSICAL AND PATRISTIC TRADITION CHAPTER TWO: THE MEDIEVAL CONTEXT CHAPTER THREE: WORSHIP IN THE WORKS OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS CHAPTER FOUR: JUSTICE AS ORDER TO GOD CHAPTER FIVE: GOD’S ASSISTANCE THROUGH LAW CHAPTER SIX: TRUE WORSHIP IN CHRIST CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY ABBREVIATIONS 2 INTRODUCTION Aquinas refers to religion as virtue. What is the significance of such a claim? Georges Cottier indicates that “to speak today of religion as a virtue does not come across immediately as the common sense of the term.”1 He makes a contrast between a sociological or psychological evaluation of religion, which treats it as “a religious sentiment,” and one which strives for truth.2 The context for the second evaluation entails both an anthropological and Theistic context as the two meet within the realm of the moral life. Ultimately, the study of religion as virtue within the moral life must be theological since it seeks to under “the true end of humanity” and “its historic condition, marked by original sin and the gift of grace.”3 Aquinas places religion within the context of a moral relation to God, as a response to God’s initiative through Creation and 4 Redemption. 1 Georges Cardinal Cottier. “La vertu de religion.” Revue Thomiste (jan-juin 2006): 335. 2 Joseph Bobik also distinguished between different approaches to the study of religion, particularly theological, philosophical, and scientific, all of which would give different answers to the question “what is religion?.” Veritas Divina: Aquinas on Divine Truth: Some Philosophy of Religion. (South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine’s Press, 2001), 19. See also page 24. For an example of different approaches to the study of religion see What is Religion? An Inquiry for Christian Theology. ed. Mircea Eliade and David Tracy. (New York: The Seabury Press, 1980). This work (an issue of Concilium) includes essays that approach religion from a theological, sociological, cultural, philosophical, anthropological, and historical context. In the editorial David Tracy notes that “no clear consensus on the nature of religion emerges from these studies. What does emerge, however, is a clear vision of the importance of heightening Christian theological consciousness on these issues as well as an analysis of some major contemporary ways by means of which the question of religion is focused for Christian thought and praxis in both context- dependent and cross-cultural manners.” ix. 3 ibid. 4 Robert Sokolowski makes a key distinction, which provides an important backdrop for understanding Aquinas’ treatment of religion. He states: “Religion is not simply a genus for Christianity as a species. The way Christian religion and its discourse differ from religion and its discourse is complex, and this difference is based on the way the divine is understood in both cases. Sociologically or anthropologically, natural religion might be considered a genus for Christianity, but it cannot be so considered theologically.” “Christian Religious Discourse.” in Religions and the Virtue of Religion. ed. Thérèse-Anne Druart and Mark Rasevic. (Washington, D.C.: The American Catholic Philosophical Association, 1992), 45. Aquinas places religion within the moral life as part of a response to God’s initiative in the world. Religion does not refer to a human phenomenon or religious body primarily for Aquinas, but entails the way in which one relates to God. 3 At its very core, this dissertation concerns the relation between humanity and God.5 There is a natural order toward God established through Creation. This forms the foundation of the moral life insofar as human nature provides the rationale by which to understand the order of the intellect and will toward God. Justice is the virtue by which the soul orders all of its life to God, justly acknowledging and advancing toward Him as its end. However, this order runs up against a twofold limit: the distortion of sin and the intrinsic limits of nature. The true relation through which one must examine the state of the soul in relation to God is that of grace. It is charity which orders the soul toward God in a supernatural manner as its happiness in the beatific vision. Both justice and charity express themselves in worship, by which the soul acknowledges the greatness of God and gives oneself and one’s goods to Him in sacrifice. Worship holds a prominent place in the thought of Aquinas. He treats this topic in almost all of his major works and it compromises a large number of questions in the Summa Theologiae. The topic is multi-faceted, finding a place within discussions of natural law, virtue, Old Law ritual, the Ten Commandments, the religious state of life, the theological virtues, Christ’s priesthood and the sacraments. The word for worship also varies widely: religio, cultus, latria, pietas, adoratio, servitus, laudatio, eusebia, and theosebia. Thomas treats this topic as part of a long tradition stretching from pagan understandings of justice to the textbook treatment found within medieval commentaries on Peter Lombard’s Sentences. This crucial and complex topic comprises a significant portion within Aquinas’ account of the way in which one relates to God and therefore deserves a thorough exposition. 5 In his introduction to The Worship of God, M.-D. Philippe stresses the supreme importance of understanding the proper relation to God. He does so as follows: “Only in so far as he recognizes his Creator’s sovereign rights over him can man fully realize his own nature. If he does not discover God, and does not recognize God’s rights, but looks at himself as his own master, he fails to discover the source and object of his being, and then he is like a traveler who has lost his way, knowing neither where he comes from nor where he is going.” trans. Dom Mark Pontifex. (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1959), 7. Worship reveals the fundamental reality of humanity as dependent upon God for its existence and ordered toward Him as its end. 4 The most prominent treatment of worship in Aquinas’ thought comes with his exposition of the virtue of religion, which stands at a crucial juncture in his account of the moral life. It is indeed through this virtue that all of one’s actions are devoted to God as an offering for His praise and glory. This is something justly demanded due to the debt that exists from having received one’s life and sustenance from God and from the ordering of human life to God as its end. Furthermore, the just ordering of one’s life to God arises from the natural law, which has been instilled into Creation and has been developed by human and divine law, which gives it its determinate shape. The virtue of religion’s relation to the New Law brings about discussion of the way in which religion orders one to God: while it is the chief of the moral virtues due to its proximity to God, nevertheless, it cannot bring about final union with God, the beatitude which comes from a direct vision of God. Therefore, these three themes of religion—as a part of the virtue of justice, its relation to law (of all kinds), and its relation to the Christian life of grace— will be discussed as the key themes of Aquinas’ treatment of religion. Before engaging in this discussion, however, it is crucial to recognize that Aquinas built upon and synthesized many elements of the Classical and Christian tradition to arrive at this treatment of religion. Servais Pinckaers argues for the need to study Aquinas’ sources to better understand his own thought. He states that a speculative examination of his work is rounded out by a historical consideration that reveals the genesis and unfolding of his thought, helping us to perceive better its vitality and richness. Such a study also aids us discovering the timelessness of a teaching nourished by the great scriptural and patristic traditions and those of Augustine and Aristotle.6 In particular this study takes into account his major influences in the area of virtue, law, and religion. His main Classical source on religion was Cicero, who himself drew upon many 6 “The Sources of the Ethics of St. Thomas Aquinas.” in The Pinckaers Reader: Renewing Thomistic Moral Theology. ed. John Berkman and Craig Steven Titus. (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2005), 3. 5 strands of the Greek philosophical tradition. Through the writings of Cicero, the Latin West gained inspiration for its own conception of law in its relation to justice, of the connection between reason and action, and of the role of nature in disposing toward virtue. Significantly, it is also from Cicero that Western theology drew its definition of religion. Nevertheless, it would not be appropriate to say that Latin Christianity merely appropriated the writings of Cicero without its own significant contributions. Chief among Aquinas’ influences on religion from within the Church stands St. Augustine. St. Augustine did draw upon Cicero for inspiration, yet he insisted that the deepest understanding of religion must come from Scripture. Therefore, while he recognized Cicero’s definition of religion as valid, he nevertheless turned to the word latria to more adequately describe the Christian religion in distinction from the idolatrous practices of the pagans. Furthermore, Augustine points to Christ as the true embodiment of religion, who offered Himself on the Cross as a true sacrifice, and who enables humans to engage in a similar offering and surrender of self to God.
Recommended publications
  • Fathers of the Church, Part 2: the Latin (Or Western) Fathers

    Fathers of the Church, Part 2: the Latin (Or Western) Fathers

    Fathers of the Church, Part 2: The Latin (or Western) Fathers A previous In Focus explored some of the great Fathers of the Eastern, or Greek, Church. This week the Latin (Western) Fathers are highlighted. While there is no official list of the Fathers, since the fifth century the criteria for selection has been that the individuals lived holy lives, were orthodox in their teachings and writings, lived during antiquity (the first through seventh centuries) and have been approved by the Church. According to some historians, there are more than 100 total Church Fathers (East and West); many of the same names are found on the different lists. The Fathers helped define, establish and promote the dogmas of the Catholic faith. They not only explained and advanced Christianity, but they stood against those who would defame, deny or exploit our Lord, Jesus Christ. This author is not able to adequately measure or describe the sanctity of these men, who were popes, bishops, theologians, apologists and writers. Some are saints, and all gave themselves in the service of the Lord. Here are a handful among the giants from the Western Church who have the title Church Father. They are categorized by those who lived just before the Council of Nicea, those in the era of Nicea and those after the council, up through the seventh century. Part one about the Greek (Eastern) Church Fathers was published Jan. 21 and can be found at: bit.ly/fatherspart1. Ante-Nicea Fathers Tertullian (c. 155-220) Tertullian Public domain The Fathers of the Western Church begin with Tertullian in the second century.
  • Plutarch's 'Lives' and the Critical Reader

    Plutarch's 'Lives' and the Critical Reader

    Plutarch's 'Lives' and the critical reader Book or Report Section Published Version Duff, T. (2011) Plutarch's 'Lives' and the critical reader. In: Roskam, G. and Van der Stockt, L. (eds.) Virtues for the people: aspects of Plutarch's ethics. Plutarchea Hypomnemata (4). Leuven University Press, Leuven, pp. 59-82. ISBN 9789058678584 Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/24388/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. See Guidance on citing . Publisher: Leuven University Press All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading’s research outputs online Reprint from Virtues for the People. Aspects of Plutarchan Ethics - ISBN 978 90 5867 858 4 - Leuven University Press virtues for the people aspects of plutarchan ethics Reprint from Virtues for the People. Aspects of Plutarchan Ethics - ISBN 978 90 5867 858 4 - Leuven University Press PLUTARCHEA HYPOMNEMATA Editorial Board Jan Opsomer (K.U.Leuven) Geert Roskam (K.U.Leuven) Frances Titchener (Utah State University, Logan) Luc Van der Stockt (K.U.Leuven) Advisory Board F. Alesse (ILIESI-CNR, Roma) M. Beck (University of South Carolina, Columbia) J. Beneker (University of Wisconsin, Madison) H.-G. Ingenkamp (Universität Bonn) A.G. Nikolaidis (University of Crete, Rethymno) Chr. Pelling (Christ Church, Oxford) A. Pérez Jiménez (Universidad de Málaga) Th.
  • The Song Elite's Obsession with Death, the Underworld, and Salvation

    The Song Elite's Obsession with Death, the Underworld, and Salvation

    BIBLID 0254-4466(2002)20:1 pp. 399-440 漢學研究第 20 卷第 1 期（民國 91 年 6 月） Visualizing the Afterlife: The Song Elite’s Obsession with Death, the Underworld, and Salvation Hsien-huei Liao＊ Abstract This study explores the Song elite’s obsession with the afterlife and its impact on their daily lives. Through examining the ways they perceived the relations between the living and the dead, the fate of their own afterlives, and the functional roles of religious specialists, this study demonstrates that the prevailing ideas about death and the afterlife infiltrated the minds of many of the educated, deeply affecting their daily practices. While affected by contem- porary belief in the underworld and the power of the dead, the Song elite also played an important role in the formation and proliferation of those ideas through their piety and practices. Still, implicit divergences of perceptions and practices between the elite and the populace remained abiding features under- neath their universally shared beliefs. To explore the Song elite’s interactions with popular belief in the underworld, several questions are discussed, such as how and why the folk belief in the afterlife were accepted and incorporated into the elite’s own practices, and how their practices corresponded to, dif- fered from, or reinforced folk beliefs. An examination of the social, cultural, * Hsien-huei Liao is a research associate in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, U.S.A. 399 400 漢學研究第20卷第1期 and political impact on their conceptualization of the afterlife within the broad historical context of the Song is key to understand their beliefs and practices concerning the underworld.
  • Chapter 4 the Catholic Scholastics

    Chapter 4 the Catholic Scholastics

    Chapter 4 The Catholic Scholastics N HIS autobiography, B. A. Santamaria recalled his schooldays at Melbourne’s St Kevin’s College. IThe type of Catholic “apologetics” which was the strength of religious teaching at St Kevin’s prepared my mind for John Henry Newman and later C.S. Lewis, who both provided confirmation of my religious beliefs. To the professional philosopher, Newman and C.S. Lewis might appear to be no more than popularizers of other men’s ideas. Yet I do not despise the popularizer, since it seems that there are few new objections to religious belief. What one normally encounters are new formulations of the old objections—except, of course, for those contemporary philosophic systems which, in complete self-contradiction, pretend to prove the uselessness of reason as a mechanism in the search for truth … In the last analysis, the “apologetics” we absorbed could not lift religion above dependence on an act of faith, but an act of faith sustained by, and consonant with, reason. It was not an act of faith standing, as it were, unsupported or contrary to reason ... Sheehan’s Apologetics and Christian Doctrine provided me, as a schoolboy at matriculation standard, with the rational justification for my act of faith in Catholic Christianity. When I examine what so many Catholic students at the same level are offered today, I stand appalled not merely at the intellectual poverty of the offering but at the ease with which so many so-called teachers of religion dismiss the intellect as a convincing support for religious belief in favour of highly subjective “religious experience”.
  • Theodicy: an Overview

    Theodicy: an Overview

    1 Theodicy: An Overview Introduction All of us struggle at one time or another in life with why evil happens to someone, either ourselves, our family, our friends, our nation, or perhaps some particularly disturbing instance in the news—a child raped, a school shooting, genocide in another country, a terrorist bombing. The following material is meant to give an overview of the discussion of this issue as it takes place in several circles, especially that of the Christian church. I. The Problem of Evil Defined Three terms, "the problem of evil," "theodicy," and "defense" are important to our discussion. The first two are often used as synonyms, but strictly speaking the problem of evil is the larger issue of which theodicy is a subset because one can have a secular problem of evil. Evil is understood as a problem when we seek to explain why it exists (Unde malum?) and what its relationship is to the world as a whole. Indeed, something might be considered evil when it calls into question our basic trust in the order and structure of our world. Peter Berger in particular has argued that explanations of evil are necessary for social structures to stay themselves against chaotic forces. It follows, then, that such an explanation has an impact on the whole person. As David Blumenthal observes, a good theodicy is one that has three characteristics: 1. "[I]t should leave one with one’s sense of reality intact." (It tells the truth about reality.) 2. "[I]t should leave one empowered within the intellectual-moral system in which one lives." (Namely, it should not deny God’s basic power or goodness.) 3.
  • The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus by Philip Schaff About ANF01

    The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus by Philip Schaff About ANF01

    ANF01. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus by Philip Schaff About ANF01. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus by Philip Schaff Title: ANF01. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus URL: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.html Author(s): Schaff, Philip (1819-1893) Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library Description: The Ante-Nicene Christian library is meant to comprise translations into English of all the extant works of the Fathers down to the date of the first General Council held at Nice in A.D. 325. The sole provisional exception is that of the more bulky writings of Origen. It is intended at present only to embrace in the scheme the Contra Celsum and the De Principiis of that voluminous author; but the whole of his works will be included should the undertaking prove successful. Publication History: Text edited by Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson and first published in Edinburgh, 1867. Additional introductionary material and notes provided for the American edition by A. Cleveland Coxe 1886. Print Basis: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, reprint 2001 Source: Logos Research Systems, Inc. Rights: Public Domain Date Created: 2002-10 Status: Proof reading, ThML markup and subject index for Version 3.0 by Timothy Lanfear General Comments: Hebrew and Greek were checked against page scans of the 1995 Hendrickson reprint by SLK; errors in the hard copy have not been corrected in this digitized text. Contributor(s): Timothy Lanfear (Markup) CCEL Subjects: All; Early Church; Classic; Proofed; LC Call no: BR60 LC Subjects: Christianity Early Christian Literature.
  • Online Library of Liberty: the Dialogues of Plato, Vol. 1

    Online Library of Liberty: the Dialogues of Plato, Vol. 1

    The Online Library of Liberty A Project Of Liberty Fund, Inc. Plato, The Dialogues of Plato, vol. 1 [387 AD] The Online Library Of Liberty This E-Book (PDF format) is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a private, non-profit, educational foundation established in 1960 to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. 2010 was the 50th anniversary year of the founding of Liberty Fund. It is part of the Online Library of Liberty web site http://oll.libertyfund.org, which was established in 2004 in order to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. To find out more about the author or title, to use the site's powerful search engine, to see other titles in other formats (HTML, facsimile PDF), or to make use of the hundreds of essays, educational aids, and study guides, please visit the OLL web site. This title is also part of the Portable Library of Liberty DVD which contains over 1,000 books and quotes about liberty and power, and is available free of charge upon request. The cuneiform inscription that appears in the logo and serves as a design element in all Liberty Fund books and web sites is the earliest-known written appearance of the word “freedom” (amagi), or “liberty.” It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, in present day Iraq. To find out more about Liberty Fund, Inc., or the Online Library of Liberty Project, please contact the Director at [email protected].
  • Russian Orthodoxy and Women's Spirituality In

    Russian Orthodoxy and Women's Spirituality In

    RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY AND WOMEN’S SPIRITUALITY IN IMPERIAL RUSSIA* Christine D. Worobec On 8 November 1885, the feast day of Archangel Michael, the Abbess Taisiia had a mystical experience in the midst of a church service dedicated to the tonsuring of sisters at Leushino. The women’s religious community of Leushino had recently been ele­ vated to the status of a monastery.1 Conducting an all-women’s choir on that special day, the abbess became exhilarated by the beautiful refrain of the Cherubikon hymn, “Let us lay aside all earthly cares,” and envisioned Christ surrounded by angels above the iconostasis. She later wrote, “Something was happening, but what it was I am unable to tell, although I saw and heard every­ thing. It was not something of this world. From the beginning of the vision, I seemed to fall into ecstatic rapture Tears were stream­ ing down my face. I realized that everyone was looking at me in astonishment, and even fear....”2 Five years later, a newspaper columnistwitnessedasceneinachurch in the Smolensk village of Egor'-Bunakovo in which a woman began to scream in the midst of the singing of the Cherubikon. He described “a horrible in­ *This book chapter is dedicated to the memory of Brenda Meehan, who pioneered the study of Russian Orthodox women religious in the modern period. 1 The Russian language does not have a separate word such as “convent” or nunnery” to distinguish women’s from men’s monastic institutions. 2 Abbess Thaisia, 194; quoted in Meehan, Holy Women o f Russia, 126. Tapestry of Russian Christianity: Studies in History and Culture.
  • Anselm's Cur Deus Homo

    Anselm's Cur Deus Homo

    Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo: A Meditation from the Point of View of the Sinner Gene Fendt Elements in Anselm's Cur Deus Homo point quite differently from the usual view of it as the locus classicus for a theory of Incarnation and Atonement which exhibits Christ as providing the substitutive revenging satisfaction for the infinite dishonor God suffers at the sin of Adam. This meditation will attempt to bring out how the rhetorical ergon of the work upon faith and conscience drives the sinner to see the necessity of the marriage of human with divine natures offered in Christ and how that marriage raises both man and creation out of sin and its defects. This explanation should exhibit both to believers, who seek to understand, and to unbelievers (primarily Jews and Muslims), from a common root, a solution "intelligible to all, and appealing because of its utility and the beauty of its reasoning" (1.1). Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo is the locus classicus for a theory of Incarnation and Atonement which exhibits Christ as providing the substitutive revenging satisfaction for the infinite dishonor God suffers at the sin of Adam (and company).1 There are elements in it, however, which seem to point quite differently from such a view. This meditation will attempt to bring further into the open how the rhetorical ergon of the work upon “faith and conscience”2 shows something new in this Paschal event, which cannot be well accommodated to the view which makes Christ a scapegoat killed for our sin.3 This ergon upon the conscience I take—in what I trust is a most suitably monastic fashion—to be more important than the theoretical theological shell which Anselm’s discussion with Boso more famously leaves behind.
  • The Ministerial Exemption Seems to Take Religious Autonomy As the Core Value to Be Effectively Cancelling Their ‘Special’ Status

    The Ministerial Exemption Seems to Take Religious Autonomy As the Core Value to Be Effectively Cancelling Their ‘Special’ Status

    This is an electronic reprint of the original article. This reprint may differ from the original in pagination and typographic detail. The Ministerial Exception – Comparative Perspectives Slotte, Pamela; Årsheim, Helge Published in: Oxford Journal of Law and Religion DOI: 10.1093/ojlr/rwv008 Published: 01/01/2015 Document Version (Peer reviewed version when applicable) Link to publication Please cite the original version: Slotte, P., & Årsheim, H. (2015). The Ministerial Exception – Comparative Perspectives. Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, 4(2), 171–198. https://doi.org/10.1093/ojlr/rwv008 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. This document is downloaded from the Research Information Portal of ÅAU: 30. Sep. 2021 This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Special Issue Article Oxford Journal of Law and Religion following peer review. The version of record, Pamela Slotte and Helge Årsheim, ‘The Ministerial Exception – Comparative Perspectives’, Oxford The Ministerial Exception – Comparative Perspectives Journal of Law and Religion, 2015, 4, 171-198, is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/ojlr/article/4/2/171/1396294 , doi: 10.1093/ojlr/rwv008 . ABSTRACT: This essay introduces the theme of the special issue on the legal practice of granting ‘ministerial exceptions’ to religious organizations and the relation of this practice to the principle of collective religious autonomy.
  • Haecceities, Quiddities, and Structure∗

    Haecceities, Quiddities, and Structure∗

    compiled on 18 December 2015 at 14:00 Haecceities, quiddities, and structure∗ Wolfgang Schwarz Draft, 18 December 2015 Abstract. Suppose all truths are made true by the distribution of funda- mental properties and relations over fundamental particulars. The world is then completely characterized by stating which fundamental properties and relations are instantiated by which fundamental particulars. But do we have to mention the fundamental particulars by name? Arguably not. Arguably, all truths – or at least all truths we can ever know – are made true by the pattern in which fundamental properties and relations are instantiated by fundamental particulars, irrespective of the identity (“haecceity”) of those particulars. Parallel arguments suggest that the identity (“quiddity”) of fundamental properties and relations can be omitted. It would follow that all truths (or all knowable truths) are made true by the abstract structure of the world, the pattern in which fundamental properties and relations are instantiated by fundamental particulars, irrespective of the identity of the properties, relations, and particulars. I argue that this is almost correct: while not all truths are made true by the abstract structure of the world, the remaining truths are (in a certain sense) not made true by the world at all. 1 Introduction Most truths can be explained by other, more fundamental truths. That salt dissolves in water, for example, can be explained by the chemical composition of salt and water together with the general laws of physics. Explanations of this kind plausibly come to an end. At some point we reach a bottom level of fundamental facts that are not explainable in terms of anything more basic.
  • EPISTEMIC CIRCULARITY: MALIGNANT and BENIGN Michael Bergmann

    EPISTEMIC CIRCULARITY: MALIGNANT and BENIGN Michael Bergmann

    EPISTEMIC CIRCULARITY: MALIGNANT AND BENIGN Michael Bergmann Consider the following dialogue: Juror #1: You know that witness named Hank? I have doubts about his trustworthiness. Juror #2: Well perhaps this will help you. Yesterday I overheard Hank claiming to be a trustworthy witness. Juror #1: So Hank claimed to be trustworthy did he? Well, that settles it then. I’m now convinced that Hank is trustworthy. Is the belief of Juror #1 that Hank is a trustworthy witness justified? Most of us would be inclined to say it isn’t. Juror #1 begins by having some doubts about Hank’s trustworthiness, and then he comes to believe that Hank is trustworthy. The problem is that he arrives at this belief on the basis of Hank’s own testimony. That isn’t reasonable. You can’t sensibly come to trust a doubted witness on the basis of that very witness’s testimony on his own behalf.1 Now consider the following soliloquy: Doubter: I have some doubts about the trustworthiness of my senses. After all, for all I know, they are deceiving me. Let’s see ... Hey, wait a minute. They are trustworthy! I recall many occasions in the past when I was inclined to hold certain perceptual beliefs. On each of those occasions, the beliefs I formed were true. I know that because the people I was with confirmed to me that they were true. By inductive reasoning, I can safely conclude from those past cases that my senses are trustworthy. There we go. It feels good to have those doubts about my senses behind me.