October 2008 Archives

Directed Writing 5

The Enlightenment was an Era of a thinking in which the old ways thought of to be true were challenged.  The traditions and beliefs of the past were not superior by definition but had to be reasoned out and examined.  The Declaration of Independence is a piece of work that is strewn with Enlightenment thoughts.  In this work there are traces of the concepts of Reason, Nature, Progress and Change, and Deism.   

Reason is the main concept behind the Age of Reason or Enlightenment.  The idea of reason is very prevalent in the Declaration of Independence.  The whole point of the Declaration of Independence was to show that the Colonies wished to break away from the British Empire, and the reasons for this course of action.  Looking the Reason of this is extremely interesting how much this document was influenced by the Enlightenment.  The opening words in the Declaration of the Independence is that of how when a Nation's Government begins to look beyond the people it is there to serve, and only interested in its own gain. That is the time when the citizens use their reason and realize that they need to break away and fix the problem emerging. 

                The idea of Nature in the Enlightenment era was that it was a standard of Judgment since Nature functions reasonably.  That is why the people of the Enlightenment period saw a shift toward nature as the way to true Enlightenment.  Thomas Jefferson uses the concept of Nature being a perfect existence before humans to say that this is a shift to a better idea than that of being under a King.  Nature dictates that people govern themselves in a fair and just way.  With a King true justice can never be attained for there is only one who decides everything.  Also it can never be fair in any way since only one voice is heard and listened to. "...the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them..." (Declaration of Independence). 

                The third concept of the Enlightenment is a pair that goes hand in hand.  They are Change and progress.  The belief was that in this time most changes were made to decided upon because they would progress the society that the change was occurring to.  There was no longer this belief that tradition was correct merely because it was the way things had been.  The people of this era began to look at what they were taught and examine it for validity and not accept it blindly because it was tradition or the way things have always been.  This is personified in the Declaration of Independence by the simple fact that they are changing the form of government they currently have and progressing to a new and better way. 

                       The last category of the age of Enlightenment that is also seen in the Declaratoin of independence is that of Deism.  Deism is a religion in which it is believed that everyone has the capability to know the universe's creator through their own reason.  Thomas Jefferson clearly states in the Declaration of Independence that everyone is given non-refundable rights as humans and creations of the God of Nature.  Now since he defined God as the God of nature we can see how they thought of God.  Since they believed nature to be an unchangeable standard to judge all else they look at the creator of this the same way.  God is someone who understandable by reason and a standard for living life.  In that way they discern that he has given them reason to judge what is fair and just for his creations on earth.  They no longer believe in idea that the Dictator is chosen by God.  For if God had chosen them, they would not treat their fellow brothers and sisters with such malice that is seen in most Dictators with absolute power.

                  When the Declaration of Independence is looked at in detail the concepts that drove the Enlightenment movement are very present.  The basic ideas of Reason, the way in which Nature works, the process of Change and Progress, and the belief of Deism are all there inside.  Thomas Jefferson, and many other Founding Fathers, were devote believers in the Enlightenment and its principles.  In that particular time these concepts were the thinking and made perfect sense to the people of this time.  The ideas particularly made sense to a group of people who were breaking off from a Monarchy that was arguably the most powerful at the time.  The Enlightenment brought on many new ideas and concepts and possibly the very country that is now the Superpower of the Modern World.     

Works Cited

Declaration of Independence, 1st Cong. (Thomas Jefferson 1776).

Knopf, Alfred A. A Short History of Western Civilizaton. 6th ed. New York, NY, 1985. Moore, Rebecca. Vocies of Christianity. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 1-477.

Directed Writing 4

Thomas Aquinas lived from 1225 to 1274.  He was an Italian Priest in the Dominican order.  Also he was a philosopher and theologian in his time.  While he lived he wrote many works that have been very influential to the study of religion and its meaning.  One such work is Summa Contra Gentiles.  This is the work that this author will be focusing exclusively.  Even more specific with this work the main focus will be chapter seven of this particular work.  In this work he talks about reason as related to Divine wisdom.  When looking at this particular chapter it is interesting to note the conclusions that he comes to.  They are very basic and build upon one another.  This being the case the individual can take the First Principle "There can be no contradiction in truth" and First Condition "the ability of the mind to understand truth" and apply them as to how he uses them in his work.  It is quite evident and straightforward as to how he does that.  With that being said a person can go in depth and learn as to what Aquinas is trying to say.

When looking at the First Principle "There can be no contradiction in truth" and applying it Thomas Aquinas' work it is very evident throughout.  Aquinas points out that ideas and concepts that are instilled naturally in human reason cannot be false.  They are ideas and concepts that we cannot prove wrong because they can never be untrue.  He then goes on to talk about Faith and the truth of that.  Aquinas states that since Faith is confirmed by God it cannot be untrue.  Also if God created all then he most definitely created human reason and nature along with the Faith in Him and confirmations of that said Faith.  In that case it is logical to assume, since God did indeed create both Faith and reason that they should coincide together and not contradict.  He goes on to say that the naturally known principles are instilled in humans.  Looking at that there is then the case of divine wisdom which God also created.  Since He is the author of both of these, then they must coincide and not contradict each other.  In that way the reason that humans have been instilled with, by God, must coincide with Faith, that God had confirmed through divine Wisdom, in that God has created them both.  God being an all powerful and the creator of all that is does not contradict himself in anything that he does and therefore is no contradiction in natural reason and Faith.  So by taking the First Principle mentioned before and applying it to Aquinas' work humans can find that Faith and reason are indeed in harmony with each other. 

                Tackling the First Condition "the ability of the mind to understand truth" is a bit trickier.  Aquinas does tell us that parts of divine wisdom do surpass human knowledge but that is not because it is not true or contradicts reason.  God only gave humans reason that could understand certain principles of God and his being.  Taking those aside Aquinas tells us that most ideas and concepts in Faith are understandable because God instilled them in people and created reason.  Along with that be created in humans the ability to understand reason as long as certain parts of divine wisdom.  There are parts of the divine wisdom of God that people cannot understand and that is because they are not meant to understand these.  The faith that humans hold in God would not be faith if there were not certain principles that escaped human knowledge.  With that being said human beings are able to understand that which coincides with the reason that God instilled in them.  That reason only goes so far into understanding God for who he is and what he does.  In that way humans can understand what God chooses for them to understand and the rest of it is left for him to know and them to find out when they are reunited with him.

                After taking the First Condition "the ability of the mind to understand the truth" and the first principle "there can be no contradiction in truth" we find that Thomas Aquinas sufficiently proves that human reason and divine wisdom do in fact coexist in harmony.  This was shown by many ways and concepts that are easily accepted and said to be true.  Truth is a funny thing sometimes.  It seems to be the simplest and most basic principle until a person digs deeper into it looking for its true meaning.  There is this harmony between Faith and Reason, people just need to dig deeper on certain ideas and leave others up the God to teach them later.  That is when the understanding can continue and flourish.