DOCSLIB.ORG

ARISTOTELIAN THEOLOGY AFTER ARISTOTLE1 I Will Begin with Three Quotations: Aristotle in His Third Book De Philosophia Creates Gr

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
ARISTOTELIAN THEOLOGY AFTER ARISTOTLE1 I Will Begin with Three Quotations: Aristotle in His Third Book De Philosophia Creates Gr ARISTOTELIAN THEOLOGY AFTER ARISTOTLE1 R.W. SHARPLES I will begin with three quotations: Aristotle in his third book de Philosophia creates great confusion ... at one moment he attributes all divinity to intellect; at another he says that the universe itself is a god; then he puts some other god in charge of the world and gives it the role of governing and preserving the movement in the world by a sort of counter-rotation; and then he says that it is the heat of the heaven that is god ... when he wants god to be incorporeal, he deprives him of all sensation and wisdom. "What," someone might say, "do you class Aristotle and Epicurus together?" Certainly, as far as the point at issue is concerned. For what is the difference, as far as we are concerned, between banishing the divine outside the world and leaving no association between us and it, or confining the gods inside the world but removing them from earthly affairs? ... For we are looking for a providence that makes a difference to us, and he who does not admit daimones ( 8atJ..LOVE~) or heroes or the possibility of the survival of souls at all has no share in this. This outstanding investigator of nature and accurate judge of divine matters places human affairs beneath the very eyes of the gods but leaves them neglected and disregarded, managed by some "nature" and not by god's reasoning. The first quotation is from Cicero, in a passage2 where the Epicurean Velleius is presented as tendentiously seeking to discredit theories of the gods other than Epicurus' own.3 The second and third quotations 1 Versions of this paper have been delivered at Edinburgh, as an A.E. Taylor Lecture; at Gothenburg; and at the Symposium Hellenisticum in Lille. I am grateful to all those who have contributed helpful comments: especially to Brad Inwood who read through the penultimate draft, and also to Monika Astzalos, Silke-Petra Bergjan, Enrico Berti, Bernard Besnier, Tad Brennan, Sarah Broadie, John Dillon, Philip van der Eijk, Michael Frede, Mats Furberg, Charles Genequand, Pamela Huby, Tony Long, Jaap Mansfeld, Jan Opsomer, Christopher Rowe, Mary Ruskin, Richard Sorabji and Emidio Spinelli. Responsibility for the views expressed here, and for any misuse of their advice, of course remains my own. 2 Cic. N.D. I 33 = Arist. fr. 26 Rose; cf. Cherniss 1944, 592-594. 3 Appeal to Aristotle's surviving works can give at least some degree of credibility to all the descriptions of Aristotle's god given by Velleius except the claim that god, being incorporeal, can have no wisdom, this being based on the 2 R.W. SHARPLES are from Atticus,4 of all Platonists in antiquity perhaps the most implacably anti-Aristotelian. There has been no shortage of discussion among modern scholars as to just what Aristotle's own views on god were. I cannot hope to reproduce that whole debate here, let alone develop it further. The identification of certain central questions will here be purely preliminary to consideration of how these are reflected in discussions of Aristotle's views in the subsequent half-millennium. On a strict interpretation of "Hellenistic philosophy" it is indeed only the first three of those five centuries that are strictly relevant. However, interpretations of Aristotle's position from the first two centuries of the Roman Empire reflect those developed in the Hellenistic period; and the views developed by Alexander of Aphrodisias and his school around the turn of the third century A.D., much more fully documented than what had preceded, are developments of, and reactions to, the preceding debate.5 Moreover, in terms of the contrast between Hellenistic and post-Hellenistic theology developed by Runia elsewhere in this volume, Alexander's treatment, just because it keeps so closely to the Aristotelian texts and the problems they raise, falls on the "Hellenistic" side of the divide, in spite of its later date. Recent scholars have rightly supposed that we can trace develop­ ments in Aristotle's thought about god and about the heavens from one of his works to another. 6 The ancients, however, did not consider such developmental hypotheses; their aim was to extract a coherent position from consideration of Aristotle's works. This means that they had a motivation which we do not for reconciling apparently Epicurean assumption that without sensation there can be no wisdom. Cf. Jaeger 1923/1948, 138-139; Bos 1989, 185-191. (I have throughout used a lower-case initial for "god" in the singular as well as in the plural, to avoid question-begging implications of monotheism where they are not necessarily present in the original Greek texts. I am grateful to Christopher Rowe for raising this point.) 4 Fr. 3, 52-57, 71-74 and 81-85 des Places. Cf. Happ 1968, 79-80. 5 On the general history of the Peripatetic school in the Hellenistic period see Wehrli, F., 'Der Peripatos his zum Beginn der ri:imischen Kaiserzeit', in: Flashar, H., ed., Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie, begriindet von Friedrich Ueberweg: Die Philosophie der Antike, 3, Basel: Schwabe, 1983, 459-599; in the Imperial period, Moraux 1973, id. 1984, and Gottschalk 1987. I have attempted an overview of the entire period in 'The Peripatetic School', in DJ. Furley, ed., From Aristotle to Augustine, London: Routledge 1999 (Routledge History of Philosophy, vol. 2), 147-187. 6 Cf.Jaeger 1923/1948, especially 342-367; Ross, W.D., Aristotle's Physics, Oxford 1936, 94-102; Guthrie 1939, xv-xxxvi; Frede 1971; Kosman 1994. Below, nn. 12, 14, 32. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Philosophy As a Path to Happiness
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Philosophy as a Path to Happiness Attainment of Happiness in Arabic Peripatetic and Ismaili Philosophy Janne Mattila ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki in auditorium XII, University main building, on the 13th of June, 2011 at 12 o’clock. ISBN 978-952-92-9077-2 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-7001-3 (PDF) http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/ Helsinki University Print Helsinki 2011 2 Abstract The aim of this study is to explore the idea of philosophy as a path to happiness in medieval Arabic philosophy. The starting point is in comparison of two distinct currents within Arabic philosophy between the 10th and early 11th centuries, Peripatetic philosophy, represented by al-Fārābī and Ibn Sīnā, and Ismaili philosophy represented by al-Kirmānī and the Brethren of Purity. These two distinct groups of sources initially offer two contrasting views about philosophy. The attitude of the Peripatetic philosophers is rationalistic and secular in spirit, whereas for the Ismailis philosophy represents the esoteric truth behind revelation. Still, the two currents of thought converge in their view that the ultimate purpose of philosophy lies in its ability to lead man towards happiness. Moreover, they share a common concept of happiness as a contemplative ideal of human perfection, merged together with the Neoplatonic goal of the soul’s reascent to the spiritual world. Finally, for both happiness refers primarily to an otherworldly state thereby becoming a philosophical interpretation of the Quranic accounts of the afterlife.
    [Show full text]
  • Aristotle and Newman on the End of Liberal Education Mary Katherine Tillman
    Document generated on 10/01/2021 6:29 a.m. Paideusis The Philosophic Habit of Mind: Aristotle and Newman on the End of Liberal Education Mary Katherine Tillman Volume 3, Number 2, 1990 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1073397ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1073397ar See table of contents Publisher(s) Canadian Philosophy of Education Society ISSN 0838-4517 (print) 1916-0348 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Tillman, M. (1990). The Philosophic Habit of Mind: Aristotle and Newman on the End of Liberal Education. Paideusis, 3(2), 17–27. https://doi.org/10.7202/1073397ar ©, 1990 Mary Katherine Tillman This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ The Philosophic Habit of Mind: Aristotle and Newman on the End of Liberal Education Mary Katherine Tillman University of Notre Dame John Henry Newman fiJ'st read Aristotle in 1818 as an undergraduate at Trinity College, Oxford. For his degree examination in 1820, he prepared three of Aristotle's works, the Rhetoric, Poetics, and Nicomachean Ethics. After he was named a Fellow of Oriel College in 1822, Newman worked closely for six years with the influential Dr. Richard Whately, whose textbook on logic replaced the manual used at Oxford for over a century.
    [Show full text]
  • John Cage's Entanglement with the Ideas Of
    JOHN CAGE’S ENTANGLEMENT WITH THE IDEAS OF COOMARASWAMY Edward James Crooks PhD University of York Music July 2011 John Cage’s Entanglement with the Ideas of Coomaraswamy by Edward Crooks Abstract The American composer John Cage was famous for the expansiveness of his thought. In particular, his borrowings from ‘Oriental philosophy’ have directed the critical and popular reception of his works. But what is the reality of such claims? In the twenty years since his death, Cage scholars have started to discover the significant gap between Cage’s presentation of theories he claimed he borrowed from India, China, and Japan, and the presentation of the same theories in the sources he referenced. The present study delves into the circumstances and contexts of Cage’s Asian influences, specifically as related to Cage’s borrowings from the British-Ceylonese art historian and metaphysician Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. In addition, Cage’s friendship with the Jungian mythologist Joseph Campbell is detailed, as are Cage’s borrowings from the theories of Jung. Particular attention is paid to the conservative ideology integral to the theories of all three thinkers. After a new analysis of the life and work of Coomaraswamy, the investigation focuses on the metaphysics of Coomaraswamy’s philosophy of art. The phrase ‘art is the imitation of nature in her manner of operation’ opens the doors to a wide- ranging exploration of the mimesis of intelligible and sensible forms. Comparing Coomaraswamy’s ‘Traditional’ idealism to Cage’s radical epistemological realism demonstrates the extent of the lack of congruity between the two thinkers. In a second chapter on Coomaraswamy, the extent of the differences between Cage and Coomaraswamy are revealed through investigating their differing approaches to rasa , the Renaissance, tradition, ‘art and life’, and museums.
    [Show full text]
  • Aristotelian Theology and Ontology: the Problem of the Prime Mover and the First Principles
    Aristotelian theology and ontology: the problem of the Prime Mover and the first principles Andreea Gae ANNALS of the University of Bucharest Philosophy Series Vol. LXI, no. 1, 2012 pp. 83 – 98. ARISTOTELIAN THEOLOGY AND ONTOLOGY: THE PROBLEM OF THE PRIME MOVER AND THE FIRST PRINCIPLES ANDREEA GAE1 Abstract The problem of the Aristotelian First Unmoved Mover presents hermeneutical challenges to researchers. What mean matter, movement and potentiality in Aristotle’s metaphysics? How does actuality and final cause cooperate to secure motion, explaining the Being and the Unity? What is the causal connection between the Prime Mover and the particular objects and how could it explain the multiple Moved Movers? Why the Unmoved Mover is defined as the thought that thinks on itself and in which way the prototype of Substance can transform the relationship between the Aristotelian ontology and theology? Keywords: Unmoved Mover, substance, thought, actuality, potentiality, motion, causality. Matter, Movement and Potentiality At the end of Book Θ, Aristotle suggests that the priority of actuality has a very important hermeneutics: “Obviously, therefore, the substance or form is actuality. According to this argument, then, it is obvious that actuality is prior in substantial being to potency; and as we have said, one actuality always precedes another in time right back to the actuality of the eternal prime mover. But actuality is prior in a stricter sense also; for eternal things are prior in substance to perishable things, and no eternal thing exists potentially.” 2 This idea introduces the Unmoved Mover as a warrantor for the motion of the First Moved Mover.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity
    THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY IN LATE ANTIQUITY The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity comprises over forty specially commissioned essays by experts on the philosophy of the period 200–800 ce. Designed as a successor to The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy (ed. A. H. Armstrong), it takes into account some forty years of schol- arship since the publication of that volume. The contributors examine philosophy as it entered literature, science and religion, and offer new and extensive assess- ments of philosophers who until recently have been mostly ignored. The volume also includes a complete digest of all philosophical works known to have been written during this period. It will be an invaluable resource for all those interested in this rich and still emerging field. lloyd p. gerson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is the author of numerous books including Ancient Epistemology (Cambridge, 2009), Aristotle and Other Platonists (2005)andKnowing Persons: A Study in Plato (2004), as well as the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Plotinus (1996). The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity Volume II edited by LLOYD P. GERSON cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 8ru,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521876421 C Cambridge University Press 2010 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
    [Show full text]
  • Aristotle's Concept of Law: Beyond Positivism and Natural
    Journal of Ancient Philosophy Vol. IV 2010 Issue 2 Aristotle’s Concept of Law: Beyond Positivism and Natural Law Jesús Vega (Universidad de Oviedo) This paper presents an interpretation on Aristotle’s distinction between natural law and positive law. According to this interpretation, the traditionally assumed thesis on Aristotle’s “iusnaturalism” should be severely rectified otherwise dismissed. It is not either to be found in Aristotle’s legal reflections any variety of “legal positivism”. Departing from a natural law reading of the famous passage of Nichomachean Ethics where Aristotle draws the distinction between the two forms of political justice, natural justice (physikon dikaion) and legal justice (nomikon dikaion), we cannot find conclusive reasons to see therein a conceptual dualism between natural law and positive law as it has been traditionally understood. Rather it must be concluded that the true conceptual line is not that relating natural and legal justice but the one relating political (politikon dikaion) and legal justice. Under this reading, not only legal justice but also the so-called natural justice should be included within the Aristotelian concept of positive law in terms of a philosophically grounded universalism in the realm of practical reason as opposed to a metaphysical, natural-law view (that is, ultimately a theological one). This is indeed corroborated by an analysis of the central role played by the notion of praxis, with its epistemological background, in Aristotle's works on ethics and politics, and in particular by an analysis of his theory of law. In this essay, I shall explore an interpretation on the well-known Aristotle’s definition of “legal justice” as it appears in his Nichomachean Ethics in contrast to that of “natural justice”.
    [Show full text]
  • From Vice to Virtue: Contours of Idolatry and New Obedience
    Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Concordia Seminary Scholarship Spring 5-21-2021 From Vice to Virtue: Contours of Idolatry and New Obedience Michael Fieberkorn [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.csl.edu/phd Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, Practical Theology Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Fieberkorn, Michael, "From Vice to Virtue: Contours of Idolatry and New Obedience" (2021). Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation. 89. https://scholar.csl.edu/phd/89 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Concordia Seminary Scholarship at Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FROM VICE TO VIRTUE: CONTOURS OF IDOLATRY AND NEW OBEDIENCE A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Department of Systematic Theology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Michael Todd Fieberkorn May 2021 Approved by: Dr. Joel D. Biermann Dissertation Advisor Dr. Robert A. Kolb Reader Dr. Erik H. Herrmann Reader © 2021 by Michael Todd Fieberkorn. All rights reserved. ii Ad gloriam et laudem Dei To the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1:11) iii Et ita vitam Christiani ne imagineris statum et quietem esse, sed transitum et profectum de vitiis ad virtutem, de claritate in claritatem, de virtute in virtutem, et qui non fuerit in transitu, hunc nec Christianum arbitreris.
    [Show full text]
  • Infinity on the Threshold of Christianity: the Emergence of a Positive Concept out of Negativity
    TRAMES, 2009, 13(63/58), 4, 307–340 INFINITY ON THE THRESHOLD OF CHRISTIANITY: THE EMERGENCE OF A POSITIVE CONCEPT OUT OF NEGATIVITY Rein Undusk The Under and Tuglas Literature Centre, Tallinn Abstract. As part of an expected further investigation into the role of infinity in stimulating contacts among religion, knowledge, and art in Western culture, the article focuses on the change in the attitude to infinity occurring in Neoplatonism and early Christianity. The overcoming of the so-called disgust with infinity, characterizing the ancient thought, must be linked largely to two factors. First, Christian monotheism provided the means for channelling the monistic (and theological) undercurrent of ancient thought, which had secretly let it drift (in Platonism) towards the positive concept of ápeiron, while retaining simultaneously a wish to offer a rational and dialectically founded explication for the world. The fitting together of these divergent ends – theological and rational – was rendered possible by a second factor, by the specifically Christian, i.e. Trinitarian, concept of God. Assisted by the seminal studies of Pierre Hadot, the present article tries to elucidate the conceptual developments and mutations underlying the emergence of the new understanding of infinity in Christian culture. DOI: 10.3176/tr.2009.4.01 Keywords: infinity, Plato, Aristotle, Neoplatonism, Christianity, the Holy Trinity, existence, substance 1. Introduction The repudiation of infinity, or horror infiniti, has generally been considered as an insignia of ancient culture. (For a general introduction to the topic, see e.g. Moore 1993, Moore 1990, Maor 1987, de Vogel 1959, and Cohn 1896.) In the same vein it is usually argued that a significant change occurred in the attitude to infinity at the beginning of the Christian era and its newborn religion.
    [Show full text]
  • Marsilio Ficino and the Religion of the Philosophers
    Marsilio Ficino and the Religion of the Philosophers The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Hankins, James. 2008. Marsilio Ficino and the Religion of the Philosophers. Rinascimento 48, forthcoming. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:2961670 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#OAP 1 Forthcoming in Rinascimento n.s. 48 (2008). Marsilio Ficino and the Religion of the Philosophers James Hankins (Harvard University) This essay aims to characterize the way Marsilio Ficino thought about the relationship of philosophical reason and religious belief, and to situate his view in the spectrum of theological positions on human reason’s power to cognize the divine nature and divine will. Its wider goal is to show the significance of Ficinian Platonism in the history of theology. My contention, in brief, is that Ficino is conservative and Augustinian in his theological method, but that some of his conclusions, especially on the subject of Christianity’s place in the family of world religions, represent radical innovations in the history of Christian theology. I shall also discuss his theory of the sources of religious knowledge, arguing that, while indebted to Iamblichus and late ancient Platonism, it too is an innovative approach which looks forward to Romantic theories of religious experience as a precognitive source for Christian theology.
    [Show full text]
  • Classic Jewish Philosophers : from Saadia Through the Renaissance
    The Classic Jewish Philosophers SCHWEID_f1_i-xxxi.indd i 10/18/2007 4:04:44 PM Supplements to The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy Edited by Leora Batnitzky (Princeton University) Christian Wiese (University of Sussex) Elliot Wolfson (New York University) VOLUME 3 SCHWEID_f1_i-xxxi.indd ii 10/18/2007 4:04:44 PM The Classic Jewish Philosophers From Saadia through the Renaissance by Eliezer Schweid translated by Leonard Levin LEIDEN • BOSTON 2008 SCHWEID_f1_i-xxxi.indd iii 10/18/2007 4:04:44 PM This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on http://catalog.loc.gov. ISBN 1873-9008 ISBN 978 90 04 16213 6 © Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. Originally published as Ha-Filoso m ha-Gedolim Shelanu All rights reserved © Miskal/Yediot Aharonot Books, 1999, Tel-Aviv. Translations of Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed are taken from Moses Maimonides, The Guide of the Perplexed, trans. by Shlomo Pines (Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 1963, reprinted in 2 volumes, 1974). Reprinted with kind permission of the University of Chicago Press. © 1963, 1974 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography Aristotle's Philosophical Theology
    Bibliography Updated November 5, 2019 BIBLIOGRAPHY ARISTOTLE’S PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY Alexandru, S. (1999) ‘A new manuscript of Pseudo-Philoponus’ commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics containing a hitherto unknown ascription of the work’, Phronesis 44, 347- 52. Alexandru, S. (2014) Aristotle’s Metaphysics Lambda: annotated critical edition based upon a systematic investigation of Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew Sources, Leiden: Brill. Aquinas, St. Thomas (1995) Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics, trans. John P. Rowan, South Bend, IN: Dumb Ox Books. Arnim, H. (1931) ‘Die Entwicklung der aristotelischen Gotteslehre’, Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, philosophisch-historische Klasse, 212:5, 3-80; repr. in Hager, 1-74. Baltzly, D. (2015) ‘Two Aristotelian puzzles about planets and their Neoplatonic reception’, Apeiron 48, 483-501. Barker, E. F. (1957) Social and political thought in Byzantium: from Justinian I to the last Palaeologus: passages from Byzantine writer and documents, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Barnes, J. (1984) (ed.) The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation, 2 vols., Princeton: Princeton University Press. Barnes, J. (1997) ‘Roman Aristotle’, in J. Barnes and M. Griffin (eds), Roman togata II: essays on philosophy and Roman society, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Beere, J. B. (2000) ‘Counting the unmoved movers: astronomy and explanation in Aristotle’s Metaphysics XII.8,’ Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 85, 1-20. Berti, E. (1997) ‘Da chi è amato il motore immobile? Su Aristotele Metaph. XII 6-70, Methexis 10, 59-82. Berti, E. (2000) ‘Unmoved mover(s) as efficient cause(s) in Metaphysics Λ 6’, in Frede and Charles, 181-206. Berti, E.
    [Show full text]
  • Metaphysical Insideoutness
    METAPHYSICAL INSIDEOUTNESS: AN INTERPRET ATION OF OVERCOMING METAPHYSICS IN THE HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY, WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON JACQUES DERRIDA, AND ITS APPLICATION TO THE THOUGHT OF FRIEDRICH SCHLEIERMACHER A DISSERTATION Submitted to the faculty of The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Normunds Titans June 2003 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT VI A NOTE ON TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS Vll INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE THE PROBLEM OF OVERCOMING METAPHYSICS IN THE HISTORY OF WESTERN THOUGHT INTRODUCTION TO PART ONE................................ 11 Chapter 1. THE WAY FROM AMBIGUITY TO THE RELATIVELY LATE DEFINITIVENESS OF METAPHYSICS 13 The Problematic Origins of Metaphysics: The Aristotelian Puzzle The Middle Ages: The "Golden Age" of Metaphysics? Metaphysics Finally Defined 2. THE OVERCOMING OF METAPHYSICS IN MODERN PHILOSOPHY 24 The First Decisive Overcoming of Metaphysics: Descartes The Second Decisi ve Overcoming of Metaphysics: British Empiricism Kant and Metaphysics Husser!: Phenomenology Overcomes Metaphysics Heidegger's Overcoming of Metaphysics The Prevalence of Metaphysical Insideoutness: Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Positivism, Pragmatism, Levinas 3. DERRIDA AND METAPHYSICAL INSIDEOUTNESS 87 Derrida's Understanding of Metaphysics II The Impossible Overcoming The Impossible Possibility: Overcoming without Leaving Insideoutness Outwitting Metaphysical Language with Words: Some Figures of Insideoutness The Interpretative Scheme of the Dissertation PART TWO SCHLEIERMACHER'S METAPHYSICS: UNDERST ANDING AND CONTEXT 4. MET APHYSICS AS SPECULATION 118 Speculation Defined Empirical Speculation as the Proper Speculation 5. SCHLEIERMACHER AND KANT'S METAPHYSICS 137 Similarities and Influences Differences: Schleiermacher's Overcoming Kant Schleiermacher and Kant: Difference in Similarity Summary PART THREE THE CONSCTRUCTIVE METAPHYSICS OF SCHLEIERMACHER INTRODUCTION 181 6.
    [Show full text]