Introduction
I chose Akbar the Mughal Emperor, Procopius, and Thomas Aquinas as my three to attend a dinner party. I knew I wanted to write about knowledge. Originally, I wanted to include the Queen of Sheba as a member of the dinner party, but I questioned whether I would be able to include enough about this character. My first choice was Thomas Aquinas, because he focused on reason as a way to acquire knowledge. This means that knowledge is internal for him. One section in the Summa Theologica is the “Gift of Knowledge”. I also wanted to play with Aquinas’ writing style. I chose Akbar because he invited so many diverse scholars to speak about a wide array of topics. I use his character to discuss the ways we use knowledge. My final choice was Procopius. I chose Procopius instead of the Queen of Sheba, so I could bring up how we present our knowledge and how our knowledge evolves. Procopius wrote The Secret History and the History of the Wars. These works have alternate views of Justinian, that evolved with events during that time period. My goal is to find a conclusion from these about the value of knowledge, how knowledge is used, and how knowledge is presented.
Thomas Aquinas was born the 13th century in Italy. At fifteen, Thomas Aquinas was sent to the University of Naples. During this time, he was exposed to Aristotle. Although Aquinas did not agree with many of Aristotle’s arguments, he fell in love with his style of argument. It was also during this time he learned to use this method to preach, with other Dominicans. He went on to study with other friars in Cologne. Then, he was sent onto Paris where he settled the strike between the papal authority and the professors who taught Aristotle. In 1260, he wrote his master...
... middle of paper ...
...writers? Looks were exchanged, pages were ripped out, and who knows what was kept from this document. Having a record is the best way to present the gift of knowledge, so that we can make the world better but so much is affected by the surrounding situation. Our knowledge is fallible.”
Works Cited
Aquinas, Thomas. "Of the Gift of Knowledge." In Summa Theologica, by Thomas Aquinas, 423-424. n.d.
Evans, J.A.S. "Justinian and the Historian Procopius." Greece and Rome, 1970: 218-223.
McCabe, Herbert. On Aquinas. New York: Burns and Oates, 2008.
Monserrate, S.J., Trans. Hoylands, S.J. The Commentary of Father Monserrate, S.J. On his Journey to the Court of Akbar. London: Milford, 1922.
Procopius, and translated by Richard Atwater. The Secret History. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1961.
Sayre, Henry. The Humanities: Part 2. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2012.
We’ve taken memory, a private aspect, and made it completely external and superficial. Writing is a prime example of a memory “aid.” Foer uses the anecdote of the Egyptian God, Theuth, who invented writing. In earlier eras, philosophers have strove to think of efficient, faster ways to approach everyday matters.
St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas were considered as some of the best in their period to represent philosophy. St. Anselm’s argument is known as the ontological argument; it revolves entirely around his statement, “God is that, than which no greater can be conceived” (The Great Conversation, Norman Melchert 260). St. Thomas Aquinas’ argument is known as the cosmological argument; it connects the effects of events to the cause for why they happened. Anselm’s ontological proof and Aquinas’ cosmological proof both argued for God’s existence, differed in the way they argued God’s existence, and had varying degrees of success using these proofs.
The "Summa theologica" of St. Thomas Aquinas. London: Burns, Oates & Washburne, Ltd., 1916. Read 6p
Foucault, Michel. “Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977,” Ed. C. Gordon, Pantheon Books, 1980. Print.
Aquinas was born around 1225 in Roccasecca, which is located in Italy today. He was born right after the death of Francis of Assisi. Thomas was from an even richer family than Francis. Thomas had eight siblings, and was the youngest child. His family was low nobility. Before thomas’s birth his mother was told by a holy hermit that her son would achieve unequal sanctity. Following his fate...at the age of five he was sent to a monastery to preach the word of god. Thomas stayed at this monastery until age ten. Until political climate forced his return to Naples. Thomas spent his next five years finishing his education at Naples. Thomas started college at ten years old! Aquinas became drawn to religious learning. He also st...
Throughout the course of history documentation of important events and specific individuals has always seen an abundance of attention. Various characters throughout history however, are sometimes painted in a false light due to having characteristics that are either shameful or portray the individual in a different way than the author intends them to be. This often leads to embellished storytelling, deletion of certain aspects of an individuals personality or a complete adjustment of an important event. The pairs of people that we have gone over this semester are not excluded from this type of documentation. It is my goal of this research paper to examine two pairs of the individuals we have gone over and decide whether or not we could be receiving
The table is set and the aroma of herbed chicken, buttered cheddar rolls and sweet corn risotto fills the air. This dinner party is going to be one to be remembered! I have chosen to invite three very special people to dine with my Husband and I. They each have been chosen for a very specific reason. The people I chose are; Abraham Lincoln, Mary of Bethany, and Truly Wright. The evening will be one of enlightening and enjoyment as we get to learn and converse with these amazing individuals.
Books, to the scholar, should only be used as a link to gathering information about the past. For these books do not give a definite factual account of the past; they provide information for man to form his own opinions. These books were written by men who already had formulated ideas in their heads spawned by other books. Man must look to these books for inspiration in creating his own thoughts. He must use all the possible resources available to get every side and every opinion out there. When man creates his own thoughts, using every source to aid h...
- Chappell, Timothy. "Plato on Knowledge in the Theaetetus." Stanford University. Stanford University, 07 May 2005. Web. 08 May 2014.
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1272) is fundamentally an Aristotelian, and for some, one of the greatest philosophers, and one of the best theologians. His theological writings became regulative of the Catholic Church and his commentaries on Aristotle, represents a great cultural resource, which are now receiving a greater recognition. As a very catholic man, he tried to prove the existence of God. But How?
Augustine, Saint. “Of the Foreknowledge of God and the Free Will of Man, Against the
Philosophy is believed to have begun in the sixth century in ancient Greece. In fact, the word "philosophy" is the Greek term for "love of wisdom" (Pojman). After notable minds of the Ancient World such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, by modernist standards, original thinking ceased for many centuries. Throughout the following period, later known as the Middle Ages, the world was dominated by dogma of the Catholic Church. Scholasticism allied with severe punishment for heresy prevented rationalization outside of religion. Descartes was the first to bring philosophy to its "Renaissance" (Strathern 7-9). He questioned the reality of everything, including God. Though he was a devout Catholic, and later proved the existence of God mathematically, he founded and popularized the concept of questioning that which is taught.
Knowledge is gained through a myriad of personal experiences through a variety of ways that shapes a person’s understanding. The knowledge we obtain is the culmination of our experiences as we learn what our brain interprets from our senses. Knowledge is the transmission of information that shapes a person’s understanding on a particular topic using a way of knowing. The language used by others to formulate our own ideas and thoughts produce knowledge. The knowledge obtained can either be objective and subjective. The two areas of knowledge, history and arts, are both typically at fault for being inaccurate or bias. The role of history is to study, interpret and analyse the events of the past and relay these findings through language. Language communicates thoughts and ideas through a verbal or written broadcast, thus allowing knowledge to be conveyed. The arts are a broad area of knowledge that communicate knowledge through the manipulation of our sense perceptions that allow us to experience sensations through any of our five senses. The inaccuracies and biases of these areas of knowledge and ways of knowing is due to the pre-set beliefs and values that affect how an artist or a historian chooses to express a particular message to others. Each historian belongs to a school of historiography that holds the belief that an event was due to a specific set of factors and the language used supports this claim. Similarly, artists utilize our sense perceptions to convey a message through a painting. Arts are a broad area of knowledge to i...
Aristotle. Translated by Ross, W. D. Nicomachean Ethics. 350 B.C.E. (accessed February 13, 2014). http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html
384 B.C.E., Aristotle was born in Stagira, Greece. At the age of fourteen, Aristotle went to Athens to study Philosophy with Plato. Although he studied with Plato, he did not always agree with some of his teachings. When Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and traveled to Macedonia. While in Macedonia, Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great. Later on in his life, Aristotle returned to Athens and created a school of him own, Lyceum. When Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C.E., Aristotle fled to Euboea to avoid charges and execution. He died shortly after in 322 B.C.E. (Aristotle Biography, 2015). Aristotle is seen as much more than just a great philosopher of his time. He practiced in ethics, biology, science, and much more (Chaffee, 2013, p. 250).