Universals

            Universals may or may not exist. They are the general forms, or ideas, behind everything that we experience in the corporeal world. The corporeal world is processed through our senses. The world of universals can only be accessed through the intellect. This is essentially the Platonic version of the universals, or ideals. Examples of ideals are the form, general idea, or species “cat,” as opposed to an actual example of a cat. The same could be said for chair, lamp, candle, shirt, and so on.

            Although I like Plato’s delineation of the ideals, as he refers to them, I agree neither with him nor with Aristotle about the nature of the ideals. I do not believe that they exist on earth in the forms that represent them, as Aristotle believed, or that they exist in a kind of Platonic heaven. I recognize that the idea behind them was a breakthrough in thinking, leading to Aristotle’s delineation of species by creating the idea of a genus, and I like that this concept has been used practically, but to think that an idea actually existing somewhere is frankly a little absurd. Numbers are examples of forms, so this is akin to saying that the number two actually exists somewhere. There are plenty of mathematicians who do believe this, and I find it a bit more plausible than the idea of “cat” existing somewhere, but I also believe that it is inaccurate.

            Abstract entities create a lot of problems because they are, by definition, hard to define and to pin down exactly, and because they can only be accessed through the intellect, it is impossible to actually prove anything about them. However, there are plenty of opinions on the forms, and I stay firm in mine. Universals are merely a fabrication of the mind, and although if we had never existed, two plus two would still equal four, it would not matter because there would not have been anyone to first create that idea. 

Universals?

A universal can be defined as an abstract of what many individual objects have in common.  For example, the property of “dog-ness” is a universal of what all dogs must have in common to be called dogs.  For an inanimate object, two chairs might be said to have “chair-ness” meaning that both chairs contain something that makes them similar and consequently both a chair.  One reason universals are so controversial is due to the difficulty in creating and upholding a demarcation criterion for things like chair and creatures like dog.  For what exactly is it that makes a chair a chair?  Four legs?  Well, what about beanbag chairs?  Is it the fact that it is intended to be sat upon?  So is a bench or a stone pillar or a tree trunk also a chair?  Where do we draw the line for what is a chair and what is not?  It is obvious that these questions could continue on and on for hours, at the very least.

              It would seem to me that all objects, all creatures, are indeed quite distinct from one another (in the literal sense that they do not occupy the same space at the same time).  But to be frank, I do not believe that universals exist because it seems to me that not only are separate objects of the same kind (whatever that may mean) distinct from one another in this literal sense, but it also seems that even the same objects are continuously changing.  Even myself – the very cells and bacteria that make up my body are different from those that made it up yesterday.  Furthermore, (I plan to post the abstract to an article that describes this) there are recent finding that neurons within the frontal lobe of the human brain- the part we believe is responsible for our personality – undergo rearrangement of DNA as time goes on.  That could mean that the literal cells responsible for our personality are different, changing continuously each day.  Thus, I am, in every sense of the word, a different person than I was yesterday.  And if there cannot be any meaningful way in which I might introduce myself as the same Hannah I was yesterday or three years ago – how could I say that the essence of anything at all is the same among different entities?

            This may seem a bit off-topic, but in essence, I do not believe universals exist mostly because when I am presented with two things – perhaps they are two dogs, I find it quite easy to describe what it is that makes them distinct from one another.  Even if the two dogs are of the same breed, the same size, have the same energetic disposition; it is usually quite easy to pick out the multitude of characteristics that makes them ultimately a different dog.  However, when I am asked to describe what it is that makes them the same, I find my task extremely difficult.  The same breed – that is just an arbitrary name, the same coloring – I find myself noticing the ways in which their colors are slightly different and suddenly I find myself simply trying again to separate the things that make the dogs different from the things that make them similar.  And in the latter set, usually all I am left with is a name.

Here is that link if anyone is interested:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2932632/

Universals Controversy

Universals are abstract concepts shared as common features among separate things.  For example, two pieces of white chalk share the universal properties of whiteness and chalkness.

These abstractions are so controversial because we are not sure whether they exist or not.  Do pieces of white chalk actually share the concept of whiteness, or are the instances of whiteness separate?  If the whiteness is shared, then Platonic forms may exist, and perfect whiteness exists as incorporeal and separate from sensible things in Platonic heaven, lending itself out to corporeal instances of chalk for a less perfect incorporation of itself.  Another point of controversy is whether universals exist in sensibles or not.  Is whiteness physically inside the chalk or outside of it?  It is also possible that universals only exist in language and in our minds and are an accident of our abilities to categorize things and label them with words.

My opinion is that universals are actual and exist within things, accounting for shared attributes among separate things.  There are reasons that two pieces of white chalk share their whiteness.  Certain physical properties that happen to be the same, like chemical makeup, cause the pieces of chalk to appear as white.  Similarly, another account for universals is that the univerals of separate objects are physically related.  Different pieces of chalk have been cut from the same rock or the same type of rock, humans are descended from common ancestors.

Other universals may actually be an accident of our drive to classify.  I don’t know if the whiteness of the paint on the wall is the same as the whiteness of the pieces of chalk, but classifying them both as white makes life easier and more convenient, especially in communication.

Early Disputes of Christian Doctrine

2 Great points of Christian dispute: Filioque & Papal Supremacy

Nicene Creed

-the most widely used Christian liturgy (Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Angelican, major Protestant Churches)

First Council of Nicaea /FILIOQUE

-325, modern day Turkey

-established the first uniform Christian doctrine

-the first ecumenical council, about 300 bishops in attendance

-called by Constantine (the emperor who tolerated and later converted to Christianity) who wanted a unified church; an important instance of the church being given authority by the state

-the controversy of Filioque: is the Son of the Father divine?

-Arius and his follower (Arians) claimed that the Son was created by the Father, and therefore not equal in nature

-the consensus of the council was that the Trinity is united: the Father and Son are of the same substance & co-eternal

-Arius exiled

-the council was far from definitive however, as Arius’s views were not suppressed (the two emperors who followed Constantine were Arians)

-around 360 issues arose when people realized that the nature of the Holy Spirit was still a mystery

Theodosius/ First Council of Constantinople (381)

-last emperor to rule both the eastern and western empires (Byzantine & Roman empires), died 395

-named Catholicism the state religion

-called the Council to repair the schism between the East and West

-Differences between East and West : linguistic and cultural (Latin in West, Greek in east=translation nightmares)

-the East by now had gained greater influence, 3 presiding bishops were Eastern; the bishop of Constantinople was second only to the bishop of Rome

-Con. was firmly Arian; men had to decide the nature of the Holy Spirit; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal, though the HS ‘proceeded’ from the Father, while the Son was ‘begotten’ of him

-there were a number of ‘heretical’ sects of Christianity, though most of them were relatively insignificant and died off due to lack of followers or oppression

Papal Supremacy

-what does it mean to be the Bishop of Rome? Is he the ultimate authority or merely the ‘first among equals’?

-the West naturally wanted to give greater authority to Rome than the East, this became a major source of conflict

-eventually the West demanded to be recognized as supreme, the East refused, and the Great Schism followed

The Great Schism

-differences of Doctrine, Theology, Geography, Politics, Language, Culture

-the other language is outlawed

-in 1054 both Bishops try to excommunicate each other, the Church split

-early 16^th century Luther and the 95 Thesis mark the beginning of Western Protestantism

The Islamic Golden Age

Islamic Golden Age

• Overview
- The Islamic Golden Age was an era of blossoming intellectual and cultural achievement in science, philosophy, engineering and other fields within Islamic Civilization from the mid-8^th century to the mid-13^th century.  The empire was ruled by the Abassid Caliphate.  The Age was built upon the successful expansion of the Arab empire into North Africa, parts of Europe, and South and Southeast Asia.  The successful expansion was attributed to reasons related to the strength of the armies, the use of common language, and the fair treatment of conquered peoples.  These factors allowed for a free exchange and blending of multiple traditions from different regions.

• Arts
- Ceramics, glass, metalwork, textiles, illuminated manuscripts, woodwork, painting, and calligraphy flourished.

• Science

- Mathematics including trigonometry, as well as optics and astronomy were substantially advanced.

• Medicine
- Scholars took important medical knowledge from Rome, Persia, and especially Greece and then made their own advancements.

• Philosophy
- Islamic scholars translated philosophical literature from many cultures including China, India, and Ancient Greece.
- In early Islamic philosophy, two main currents may be distinguished. The first is Kalam, that mainly dealt with Islamic theological questions, and the other is Falsafa, that was founded on interpretations of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism. There were attempts by later philosopher-theologians at harmonizing both trends, notably by Avicenna and Averroes.

• Decline
- The decline of the Islamic Golden Age was the result of several factors, including the end of the Abassid Caliphate, which decentralized power.
- Religious groups splintered and fundamentalism was on the rise.  The appeal by some theologians including Al-Ghazali turned the tide toward orthodoxy, declaring reason and its entire works to be bankrupt. They declared that experience and reason that grew out of it were not to be trusted. As a result, free scientific investigation and philosophical and religious toleration were phenomena of the past. Schools limited their teaching to theology and scientific progress came to a halt.
- The European Crusades (1097-1291) assailed Islam militarily from the West and the Mongols invaded from the East.  The Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258 is widely considered the end of the Golden Age as the Islamic Empire never recovered. Trade routes became unsafe. Urban life broke down. Individual communities drew in upon themselves in feudal isolation. Science and philosophy survived for a while in scattered pockets, but the Golden Age of Islam was at an end.

Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age
http://robtshepherd.tripod.com/islamic.html
http://regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/goldenages/islam.cfm

The Dark Ages

            The term “Dark Ages” was originally used to describe the whole of the Middle Ages, but during the 20^th century it began to be used exclusively to describe the early part of the era, or roughly the 5^th to the 10^th centuries C.E., when there was no Roman emperor in the West. The term is a pejorative, used to describe the Middle or early Middle Ages as a time of death, decay and intellectual stagnation following the decline of the Roman Empire.

            The idea of this “dark age” comes from Petrarch, who in the 1330s described how men of genius had emerged in the preceding centuries, but that these great thinkers were obscured by the darkness around them.

            One of the most important yet contentious figures of this period was the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, who ruled from 527 to 565 C.E. His reign was marked by a desire to restore Rome to its former glory and to reconquer the lost western half of the Roman Empire. But, ironically, Justinian seemed to help bring Europe and the Mediterranean further away from antiquity and closer to the intellectual darkness that this time period is often derided for. In 529 C.E., he placed Plato’s academy under state control for fear of paganism. This date is recognized by some as the end of antiquity and, therefore, the beginning of the Dark Ages. It is representative of much of what happened during this time and of why it has been given the title “Dark Ages,” because it is during this period that we see the closing and/or destruction of many ancient schools and libraries, as well as that of a stable government and a common currency and language. Along with the academy, the famous law school of Beirut also lost its importance, never to return to its former greatness.

            The Dark Ages are generally said to have begun with the decline, or fall, of the Roman Empire. Theories abound as to what actually caused the fall, but what we can say with certainty is that a slow decline of political, economic and military institutions occurred over the course of roughly 4 centuries, culminating in the 476 when the Roman emperor Romulus Augustus was deposed by Germanic chieftain Odoacer. The cause of this decline came both from within and from without. Rome was being attacked from the North by Germanic tribes such as the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths, who succeeded in sacking the city in 410 C.E. Along with these attacks, both political and social frictions were slowly eroding Rome from the inside. Assassinations occurred frequently, and the patricians and plebeians, the elite and their subordinates, were involved in class warfare.

            Another crucial yet unfortunate event that occurred during the Dark Ages was the so-called “Plague of Justinian,” which swept through the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, empire between approximately 541 and 542 C.E. It was originally believed to have been caused by the bubonic plague, although recent discoveries have effectively refuted this. At its peak, the plague probably killed about 5,000 people per day in Constantinople, ultimately killing about 40% of the city’s population and maybe a quarter of the population of the eastern Mediterranean. This plague continued to appear throughout the 6^th, 7^th and 8^th centuries, although in less devastating forms, and after the 8^th century it did not appear again until the “Black Death” of the 14^th century.

The Black Death spread throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, peaking in Europe between approximately 1348 and 1350 C.E. The plague eventually killed about 30-60 percent of Europe’s population, and reduced the world population from about 450 million to about 350-375 million. It took about 150 years for Europe’s population to recover. Again, the cause of the Black Death was originally understood to be bubonic plague, but recent discoveries have found that Yersinia pestis, which probably started in China, was more likely the cause.

            Another reason that the Dark Ages are referred to as such is that during this time we see frequent warfare, the virtual disappearance of urban life, a lack of Latin literature and contemporary written history, and less emphasis on building and cultural accomplishments in general. It was seen as a return to barbarism, especially by those in the Enlightenment era, which is referred to as such because it was seen as the light at the end of years of darkness. This is when classical learning and ancient writing and thought were returned to, after they had (supposedly) been denounced and ignored throughout the Dark Ages. We now see that this was of course not the case, as much significant thought and innovation took place throughout the Dark Ages, including the emergence of our modern education system. For this reason, “Dark Ages” has become somewhat of an antiquated term.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages_(historiography)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinian_I

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Justinian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death

http://library.thinkquest.org/2834/gather/darkage/darkage.htm

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/151663/Dark-Ages

Nova - The Illusion of Time (documentary)

Contradicts Augustine's claim that the past and future do not exist, instead saying that the past and future are real and our experience of it flowing in one direction may be an illusion.