DOCSLIB.ORG

Chapter One 1

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Chapter One 1 ABSTRACT John Dewey and Mortimer Adler on Curriculum, Teaching, and the Purpose of Schooling: How Their Views Can be Incorporated Within a Christian Philosophy of Education Claudiu Cimpean Ed.D. Mentor: J. Wesley Null Ph.D. In this dissertation, I explore the topics of curriculum, teaching, and the purpose of schooling in the philosophies of John Dewey and Mortimer Adler. The work evaluates the educational philosophies of these two prominent thinkers for internal consistency, and then evaluates the two philosophers from a Christian perspective. This study also seeks to incorporate their views on curriculum, teaching, and the purpose of schooling within a Christian educational philosophy. Finally, the project includes a practical, forward- looking aspect that connects the study to contemporary topics in curriculum, teaching, and schooling in the United States. The thesis of this dissertation is that the philosophies of John Dewey and Mortimer Adler with regard to curriculum, teaching, and the purpose of schooling cannot be integrated fully into each other, but some of their views can be incorporated within a Christian philosophy of education. This dissertation does not attempt to synthesize the philosophies of Dewey and Adler as a whole; Dewey’s pragmatism and Adler’s Neo-Aristotelianism are rooted in opposing as well as irreconcilable metaphysical, epistemological, and axiological conceptions. These differences render impossible any attempt to synthesize their views into one another. Both thinkers, however, promote specific ideas regarding curriculum, teaching, and the purpose of schooling that can be incorporated into Christian education. Thus, this study will first evaluate these conceptions from a Christian perspective and then will include only those aspects of Dewey’s and Adler’s views that are compatible with Christianity. John Dewey And Mortimer Adler On Curriculum, Teaching, And The Purpose Of Schooling: How Their Views Can Be Incorporated Within A Christian Philosophy Of Education by Claudiu Cimpean, B.A., M.S.Ed. A Dissertation Approved by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction ___________________________________ Larry J. Browning, Ed.D., Chairperson Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Baylor University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Approved by the Dissertation Committee ___________________________________ J. Wesley Null, Ph.D., Chairperson ___________________________________ Michael D. Beaty, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Larry J. Browning, Ed.D. ___________________________________ Perry L. Glanzer, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Tony L. Talbert, Ed.D. Accepted by the Graduate School August 2008 ___________________________________ J. Larry Lyon, Ph.D., Dean Page bearing signatures is kept on file in the Graduate School. Copyright © 2008 by Claudiu Cimpean All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vi DEDICATION viii CHAPTER ONE 1 Introduction 1 Statement of the Problem 2 Rationale, Assumptions, and Research Methodology 3 Review of Existing Research 10 A Christian Perspective: A Standard for Evaluation 15 Christian Metaphysics 19 Christian Epistemology 23 Conclusion 28 CHAPTER TWO 31 John Dewey on Curriculum, Teaching, and the Purpose of Schooling 31 John Dewey’s Quest for Unity: A Journey through Idealism 31 Pragmatism: The Culmination of John Dewey’s Philosophy 43 Democracy: A Pragmatic Purpose for Schooling 50 Human Occupations: A Means of Promoting Democracy 57 John Dewey on Teaching 61 John Dewey on Curriculum 70 Conclusion 76 CHAPTER THREE 78 Mortimer Adler on Curriculum, Teaching, and the Purpose of Schooling 78 iii Neo-Aristotelian Philosophy: Mortimer Adler’s Foundation for Schooling 80 Mortimer Adler on the Myth of Perennial Progress 81 Philosophy vs. Science: Which is More Useful? 84 Democracy: Mortimer Adler’s Purpose of Schooling 85 Schooling: A Means of Promoting Democracy 91 Mortimer Adler on Teaching: Seminar, Coaching, and Didactic Instruction 94 The Seminar Method of Teaching 96 The Coaching Method of Teaching 102 The Didactic Method of Teaching 108 Mortimer Adler on Curriculum 115 English Language and Literature 122 Mathematics 125 Social Studies 128 Manual Arts 134 Conclusion 136 CHAPTER FOUR 138 A Christian Evaluation of Dewey and Adler with Regard to Curriculum, Teaching, and the Purpose of Schooling 138 A Christian Perspective on the Purpose of Schooling 139 Democracy: A Means of Serving and Loving God 149 A Christian Perspective on Curriculum 154 A Christian Perspective on Teaching 160 A Christian Evaluation of John Dewey’s Views on Curriculum, Teaching, and the Purpose of Schooling 166 A Christian Evaluation of John Dewey’s Views on the Purpose of Schooling 166 iv A Christian Evaluation of John Dewey’s Views on Curriculum 170 A Christian Evaluation of John Dewey’s Views on Teaching 174 A Christian Evaluation of Mortimer Adler’s Views on the Purpose of Schooling 182 A Christian Evaluation of Mortimer Adler’s Views on Curriculum 185 Conclusion 191 CHAPTER FIVE 196 Integrating and Applying the Views of John Dewey and Mortimer Adler on Curriculum, Teaching, and the Purpose of Schooling 196 Integrating the Views of John Dewey and Mortimer Adler 197 Integrating John Dewey’s Views on the Purpose of Schooling Within a Christian Perspective 197 Integrating Mortimer Adler’s Views on the Purpose of Schooling Within a Christian Perspective 202 Integrating John Dewey’s Views on Curriculum Within a Christian Perspective 206 Integrating Mortimer Adler’s Views on Curriculum Within a Christian Perspective 210 Integrating John Dewey’s Views on Teaching Within a Christian Perspective 213 Integrating Mortimer Adler’s Views on Teaching Within a Christian Perspective 216 Applying the Christian Philosophy of Education Developed in this Work 222 Conclusion 228 BIBLIOGRAPHY 229 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing a dissertation is not a solitary endeavor, rather it is an activity that includes the participation of various individuals: educators, family members, friends, and colleagues. They all bring a substantial contribution alongside the author to the realization of the dissertation project, and they all deserve the author’s gratitude. I am thankful not only for their contribution to the intellectual development of this work, but also for being welcomed into their lives, and for having established relationships that, I hope, will last for a life time. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. J. Wesley Null, my mentor, Dissertation Chair, and Professor. I appreciate your commitment to constantly improve yourself and your students. That sometimes requires criticism. You have been a harsh but a fair critic, and for that I am grateful. You have known how to motivate me, and how to keep me on task, to use your own words. Also, I thank you for encouraging me to find my own voice in the teaching profession, even though this has often led to us disagreeing with regard to educational matters. Finally, thank you for contaminating me with the passion for teaching. I would like to address a special thank you to Dr. Betty Conaway, my Graduate Advisor and Professor. It was Dr. Conaway, who encouraged me to pursue doctoral studies at Baylor University. For that, I will be always grateful. Thanks to my professors and peers for their role in shaping, challenging, and strengthening both my intellect and character. vi I am also grateful to the members of my dissertation committee: Dr. Michael Beaty, Dr. Larry J. Browning, Dr. Perry L. Glanzer, and Dr. Tony L. Talbert. Thank you for accepting to work with me, and for your insights and challenges that have contributed to the improvement of my dissertation. A special thanks goes to my parents, who have always challenged me to further my education. I thank them for their prayers, and unconditional love and support. I thank them for their wisdom in raising me. They knew how to encourage my development into an individual who is intellectually independent. I also thank them for instilling in me strong moral habits. Without these traits, I would have never been able to accomplish what I have. I would also like to thank my friends. I am especially grateful to Dr. Ioan Stir and his wife Mihaela for helping me come to Baylor, and for their support throughout my graduate studies. I would also thank John and Diana Tomoiaga, and Sergiu Tofanel, my friends from Waco. I will cherish their friendship for the rest of my life. My graduate studies were indeed challenging, but also fulfilling. I have grown both personally and professionally. I am grateful for my experiences at Baylor, which I will treasure as long as I live. vii To Ioan and Raveca, my parents viii CHAPTER ONE Introduction This dissertation explores the topics of curriculum, teaching methods, and the purpose of schooling in the philosophies of John Dewey and Mortimer Adler. The work evaluates the educational philosophies of these two prominent thinkers for internal consistency, and then evaluates the two philosophers from a Christian perspective. This study also seeks to include their views on curriculum, teaching, and the purpose of schooling within a Christian worldview. Finally, the project includes a practical, forward-looking aspect that connects the study to contemporary topics in curriculum, teaching, and schooling in the United States. The thesis of this dissertation is that the philosophies of John Dewey and Mortimer Adler with regard to curriculum, teaching, and the purpose of schooling cannot be integrated fully into each other, but
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Teaching for Apostasy: How Educational Methods and Philosophies Work Against the Church
    The Lutheran Clarion – July 2018 (Volume 10, Issue 6) Teaching for Apostasy: How Educational Methods and Philosophies Work Against the Church Dr. Thomas Korcok gave the presentation below at the 2018 Lutheran Concerns Association conference in Fort Wayne, IN, in January 2018. Since that time it has been slightly revised. Currently in colleges of education across America, almost all future teachers learn from a standard canon of educational thinkers whose work forms the basis for the goals, methods, and structure of the modern American classroom. When students are introduced to these educationists, there is rarely, if ever, any consideration given to what they taught, believed, or confessed in their personal lives. Furthermore, their theories are presented as though they were all based purely on unbiased scientific research. Such an approach should be of concern for the Christian because it is radically different from how the church has traditionally measured teachers. In the history of Western education until the 20th century, (which has always been inseparably linked with Christian education), theology has been the measuring stick for all areas of knowledge, including education. A teacher’s confession of faith was always considered to be the first criterion in judging whether or not his or her teaching was acceptable. In the 16th century, the influential Lutheran educator, Valentin Trotzendorf, insisted that “Those who belong to our school, let the same also be members of our Church and those who agree with our faith, which is most sure and true; because of perhaps one godless person out of the whole body, some evil happens.” 1 In this day and age, we are to believe that the contrary teaching is true: that what a researcher teaches, believes, and confesses has little or nothing to do with the methods he advocates.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    1 Introduction Reading Democracy and Education DAVID T. HANSEN What is John Dewey’s Democracy and Education? In a literal sense, it is a study of education and its relation to the individual and society. More- over, Dewey tells us, it is a philosophical rather than historical, sociologi- cal, or political inquiry. His original title for the work was An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. That was the heading he had in view when he signed a contract to undertake the project on July 21, 1911, with the Macmillan Company of New York (MW.9.377). However, his publishers convinced him to change the title in light of pressing political issues triggered by the cataclysm of World War I. Dewey completed the text in August 1915, and it came out the following year with his original title converted into a subtitle. The book constitutes Dewey’s philosophical response to the rapid social, economic, political, cultural, and technologi- cal change he was witness to over the course of his long life. Born in 1859, when the United States was largely an agrarian society, by the time Dewey pens his educational treatise the country had become an indus- trial, urban world undergoing endless and often jarring transformations, a process that continues unabated through the present. Dewey sought to articulate and justify the education he believed people needed to com- prehend and shape creatively and humanely these unstoppable changes. At the same time, Dewey endeavored in the book to respond to what many critics regard as the two most influential educational works ever written prior to the twentieth century: Plato’s Republic (fourth 1 © 2006 State University of New York Press, Albany 2 John Dewey and Our Educational Prospect century B.C.E.) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Emile (published in 1762).
    [Show full text]
  • Lev Vygotsky Area of Research
    Lev Vygotsky Area of Research ● Vygotsky's first big research project was in 1925 ● Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition Vygotsky, 1978, as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning." ● Unlike Piaget's notion that children’s development must necessarily precede their learning, Vygotsky argued, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized.” Process of Research ● Started teaching at various institutions ● First big research project was in 1925 with his Psychology of Art ● Pursued a career as a psychologist working with Alexander Luria and Alexei Leontiev ● Began the Vygotskian approach to psychology with Alexander Luria and Alexei Leontiev ● His works were revealed after the Cold War ended ● Wrote several articles and books on the subject of his theories and psychology -Thought and Language(1934) ● His research in how children solve their problems that surpassed their level of development led Vygotsky to create the Zone of Proximal Development theory Age of Children Researched ● Crisis of the newborn. ● Infancy (two months to one year). ● Crisis at age one. ● Early childhood (one to three years). ● Crisis at age three. ● Preschool age (three to seven years). ● Crisis at age seven. ● School age (eight to twelve years). ● Crisis at age thirteen. ● Age of puberty (fourteen to eighteen years). ● Crisis at age seventeen. Research Findings ● Private speech: Where children speak themselves to plan or guide their own behavior this is most common among pre schoolers. ● Sociocultural (ZPD) Zone of proximal development Vygotsky believed For example a child accomplishes a task he/she cannot do alone by a more skilled person.
    [Show full text]
  • How Much of a Loss Is the Loss of Self? Undersanding
    This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Author's personal copy New Ideas in Psychology 29 (2011) 98–105 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect New Ideas in Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/newideapsych How much of a loss is the loss of self? Understanding Vygotsky from a social therapeutic perspective and vice versaq Lois Holzman* East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy, 920 Broadway, New York NY 10010, United States abstract Keywords: Using the example of Fred Newman’s social therapy, a methodology that works with the Marx human capability of growing as social units, the contemporary self is explored as an Vygotsky impediment to human development and learning. Following Karl Marx in political Wittgenstein philosophy and Lev Vygotsky in child psychology, it is the group/the collective/the mass Self that engages in developmental activity. In losing the self, we gain the opportunity to create Psychotherapy Social therapy collectivity and in that process come to sense the social-relational-collective quality of creativity and development.
    [Show full text]
  • The Transition from Studying Philosophy to Doing Philosophy
    Teaching Philosophy 34:3, September 2011 241 The Transition from Studying Philosophy to Doing Philosophy JOHN RUDISILL The College of Wooster Abstract: In this paper I articulate a minimal conception of the idea of doing philosophy that informs a curriculum and pedagogy for producing students who are capable of engaging in philosophical activity and not just competent with a specific domain of knowledge. The paper then relates, by way of back- ground, the departmental assessment practices that have played a vital role in the development of my department’s current curriculum and in particular in the design of a junior-year seminar in philosophical research required of all majors. After a brief survey of the learning theory literature that has informed its design, I share the content of this junior-year seminar. In the paper’s conclusion I provide some initial data that indicates our approach to curriculum and pedagogy has had a positive impact on student achievement with respect to reaching the learning goals associated with “doing” as opposed to “merely studying” philosophy. 1. Introduction Capstone projects are common among liberal arts colleges and fre- quently carry an expectation that the final product demonstrates the student’s achievement of becoming a budding biologist, historian, sociologist, philosopher and so on. Even without a formal capstone requirement, I would hope that my philosophy students could—as they finish their undergraduate studies—demonstrate such an achievement. This is because the full set of benefits made available by an education in philosophy includes but extends well beyond knowledge of the history of philosophy and mastery of a philosophical lexicon.
    [Show full text]
  • The Points of Viewing Theory for Engaged Learning with Digital Media
    The Points of Viewing Theory for Engaged Learning with Digital Media Ricki Goldman New York University John Black Columbia University John W. Maxwell Simon Fraser University Jan J. L. Plass New York University Mark J. Keitges University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign - 1 - Introduction Theories are dangerous things. All the same we must risk making one this afternoon since we are going to discuss modern tendencies. Directly we speak of tendencies or movements we commit to, the belief that there is some force, influence, outer pressure that is strong enough to stamp itself upon a whole group of different writers so that all their writing has a certain common likeness. — Virginia Woolff, The Leaning Tower, lecture delivered to the Workers' Educational Association, Brighton (May 1940). With full acknowledgement of the warning from the 1940 lecture by Virginia Woolf, this chapter begins by presenting a theory of mind, knowing only too well, that “a whole group of different” learning theorists cannot find adequate coverage under one umbrella. Nor should they. However, there is a movement occurring, a form of social activism created by the affordances of social media, an infrastructure that was built incrementally during two to three decades of hard scholarly research that brought us to this historic time and place. To honor the convergence of theories and technologies, this paper proposes the Points of Viewing Theory to provide researchers, teachers, and the public with an opportunity to discuss and perhaps change the epistemology of education from its formal structures to more do-it-yourself learning environments that dig deeper and better into content knowledge.
    [Show full text]
  • Developmental Psychology: Incorporating Piaget's and Vygotsky's Theories in Classrooms
    Journal of Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives in Education Vol. 1, No. 1 (May 2008) 59 - 67 Developmental Psychology: Incorporating Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s Theories in Classrooms Barbara Blake and Tambra Pope In today’s society, there is disagreement of their students’ cognitive development, which will among researchers and educators as to the role of lead to the needs of the whole child being satisfied. developmental psychology and its application in the Cognitive psychology is a branch of psychology elementary classrooms. It is widely accepted in the that focuses on studies mental processes, which educational field that children must go through the include how people think, perceive, remember, and process of learning to think and thinking to learn. learn. Its core focus is on how people acquire, Therefore, teachers, who can incorporate the process, and store information. It is advantageous theories of Piaget and Vygotsky into their teaching for teachers to understand cognitive psychology strategies, will be better able to increase student because it can help them improve their teaching and achievement. student learning. Teachers become more cognizant Developmental Psychology, the study of to how people process, learn, and remember age-related changes in behavior, examines the information, which helps them plan more effective psychological processes of development, which lessons and create positive learning environments means it describes the sequence of biological, for their students. By using appropriate cognitive, and socio-emotional changes that humans developmental instructional techniques, teachers undergo as they grow older. It describes the growth have been able to increase the test scores of children of humans, which consists of physical, emotional, in public schools (Black & Green, 2005).
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophical Foundations CEEF6301 New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Christian Education Division Spring 2017 Online
    Philosophical Foundations CEEF6301 New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Christian Education Division Spring 2017 Online Emily Dean, Ph.D. Adjunct Professor, Christian Education Coordinator of Women’s Programs Office: (504) 282-4455 ext.8053 Email: [email protected] Mission Statement The mission of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is to equip leaders to fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandments through the local church and its ministries. Core Value Focus The seminary has five core values. 1. Doctrinal Integrity: Knowing that the Bible is the Word of God, we believe it, teach it, proclaim it, and submit to it. This course addresses Doctrinal Integrity specifically by preparing students to grow in understanding and interpreting of the Bible. 2. Spiritual Vitality: We are a worshiping community emphasizing both personal spirituality and gathering together as a Seminary family for the praise and adoration of God and instruction in His Word. Spiritual Vitality is addressed by reminding students that a dynamic relationship with God is vital for effective ministry. 3. Mission Focus: We are not here merely to get an education or to give one. We are here to change the world by fulfilling the Great Commission and the Great Commandments through the local church and its ministries. This course addresses Mission Focus by helping students understand the biblical foundations for fulfilling the Great Commission and the Great Commandments. 4. Characteristic Excellence: What we do, we do to the utmost of our abilities and resources as a testimony to the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Characteristic Excellence is addressed by preparing students to excel in their ability to interpret Scripture, which is foundational to effective ministry.
    [Show full text]
  • The Historic Importance of LS Vygotsky's “The Psychology of Art
    International Journal of Psychological Research ISSN: 2011-2084 [email protected] Universidad de San Buenaventura Colombia Khinkanina, Alla The Historic Importance of L. S. Vygotsky’s “The Psychology of Art” and Some Problems of Modern Psychological and Pedagogical Field International Journal of Psychological Research, vol. 7, núm. 2, 2014, pp. 85-91 Universidad de San Buenaventura Medellín, Colombia Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=299032684009 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative INT.J.PSYCHOL.RES. 2014; 7 (2): 85-91 The Historic Importance of L. S. Vygotsky’s “The Psychology of Art” and Some Problems of Modern Psychological and Pedagogical Field La importancia histórica de L. S. Vygotsky: “La Psicología del arte” y algunos problemas de la Psicología y Pedagogía Moderna. R e f l e c t i o n a Alla Khinkanina * a Department of Psychology, Volga State University of Technology, Yoshkar-Ola, Russia. Article History ARTICLE INFO Received: 20-05-2014 Revised: 10-08-2014 Accepted: 04-09-2014 ABSTRACT Key words: The article deals with the importance of L. S. Vygotsky‟s paper “The Psychology Cultural-historical of Art” in the present time. The shortage of ideal values is the reality of this time that in a psychology, game, certain way arises the issues of children and young people‟s cultural evolution. Cultural psychological- and historic theory of L.
    [Show full text]
  • Let's Pretend
    Solving the Education Crisis in America: A Special Report LET’S PRETEND by Fred Newman, Ph.D. and Lenora Fulani, Ph.D. January 2011 LET’S PRETEND 1. Here is an idea for solving the education crisis in America. What if all the kids currently failing in school pretended to be good learners? What if all the adults – teachers, principals, administrators, parents – played along and pretended that the kids were school achievers, heading for college? What if this national “ensemble” pretended this was the case day after day, classroom after classroom, school district after school district? We believe that if such a national “performance” were created, the education crisis in America would be over. Children, having developed the capacity to pretend to be who Learning takes they are not, i.e., good learners, also develop the capacity to become the thing they are pretending to be. And, thus, if we could all together assist poor and minority kids in development, pretending that they are classroom achievers, they could choose to become that. and if kids are Is this idea as ridiculous as it might seem at first glance? At the risk of seeming ridiculous, our answer is an emphatic “no.” Because the most innovative researchers and practitioners underdeveloped, have come to discover that pretending, or “creatively imitating,” or performing in social contexts, is how human development is produced.1 Harnessing the uniquely human they do not capacity to perform someone or something we are not, underachieving kids can pretend their way to growth. We have seen the repeated success of this approach – not only in our become after-school programs at the All Stars Project, but also (perhaps unknowingly) in school settings now applauded as the most successful interventions into the “achievement gap” learners.
    [Show full text]
  • John Duns Scotus's Metaphysics of Goodness
    University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 11-16-2015 John Duns Scotus’s Metaphysics of Goodness: Adventures in 13th-Century Metaethics Jeffrey W. Steele University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Medieval History Commons, Philosophy Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Scholar Commons Citation Steele, Jeffrey W., "John Duns Scotus’s Metaphysics of Goodness: Adventures in 13th-Century Metaethics" (2015). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6029 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. John Duns Scotus’s Metaphysics of Goodness: Adventures in 13 th -Century Metaethics by Jeffrey Steele A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Thomas Williams, Ph.D. Roger Ariew, Ph.D. Colin Heydt, Ph.D. Joanne Waugh, Ph.D Date of Approval: November 12, 2015 Keywords: Medieval Philosophy, Transcendentals, Being, Aquinas Copyright © 2015, Jeffrey Steele DEDICATION To the wife of my youth, who with patience and long-suffering endured much so that I might gain a little knowledge. And to God, fons de bonitatis . She encouraged me; he sustained me. Both have blessed me. “O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!!” --Psalm 34:8 “You are the boundless good, communicating your rays of goodness so generously, and as the most lovable being of all, every single being in its own way returns to you as its ultimate end.” –John Duns Scotus, De Primo Principio Soli Deo Gloria .
    [Show full text]
  • Aristotle and the Privation Theory of Evil
    Aristotle and the Privation Theory of Evil Jonathan J. Sanford, PhD Franciscan University of Steubenville [email protected] Though it conflicts with the standard narrative concerning the historical development of the privation theory of evil, it is nevertheless true that the notion that evil is not simply a privation but a privation of a due good has roots in Aristotle’s Metaphysics Theta. This book is Aristotle’s most complete account of being in the sense of actuality and potentiality, and its internal coherency and far reaching implications are often overlooked in commentaries on the Metaphysics, where most of the ink is spilled over books Zeta and Lambda. In this presentation I focus on Metaphysics Theta, chapter 9, draw upon some of the very fine work on this book of the Metaphysics which has been done in recent years, and try to lay out the case that a mature privation theory of evil is not simply compatible with Aristotle’s metaphysics but deployed therein and with profound implications for other areas of his thought. I. The Standard Narrative Before turning to the text of Metaphysics Theta 9, let’s consider a few features of what I identify as the standard narrative. It is Plotinus himself who emphasizes the distance of his own account from Aristotle’s when in Ennead II.4. 16, 3-8 he rejects the Aristotelian distinction between matter and privation. For Plotinus, matter itself is privation, and in Ennead I.8 matter is identified with evil. It is no secret that Aristotle maintains a notion of privation (steresis), and introduces it in Physics I.7 as one of the three principles (archai) of nature, describes its several senses in Metaphysics V.22 and examines it in the context of contrariety (enantiōsin) in 1 Metaphysics X.4.
    [Show full text]