Post by Christopher Martin on Sept 15, 2016 14:04:03 GMT
The "Lecture and Notes" threads are meant to act as a sort of guidepost for each weeks' reading. They will help you understand better the context from which the texts emerge, and therefore, help you to understand the readings better. Be advised that material appearing in the "Lecture and Notes" threads may appear on the exams.
Week 2:
Great Books (GB) 102 is the second in a four-year rotation of Great Book classes, immediately following the year studying the Greeks. It makes sense, then to have a (very) brief review of what the Greeks contributed to Western Civilization. For our purposes, we'll say that it was threefold:
1) THE INVENTION OF DEMOCRACY.
GB 101 began with Homer, and ended with Aristotle. In the meantime, we saw a massive development of what it meant to be a human being: from a "peon" unworthy of mention in Homer, to a real citizen with rights and a vote at the height of Athens' status as a polis (city-state). It can be a little confusing to us in GB 102, given our starting point, however, for Virgil does NOT pick up where the Greeks left off . . . rather, he seems to have more in common with the Homeric version of man: the ordinary guys receive no mention at all, and certainly have no vote in what Aeneas or any other leader might do. To make things even more confusing, although Virgil wrote about events occurring in approximately the 12th century B.C. (1100s), Virgil wrote The Aeneid LONG AFTER the creation of Democracy in Rome, and in fact, even after Democracy had been toppled in favor of Julius Caesar's imperial takeover in 49 BC!(hint hint, THAT'S IMPORTANT!) Nevertheless, the point still stands: The Greeks invented Democracy, leaving a blueprint for the Romans which they would eventually follow.
2) THE INVENTION OF PHILOSOPHY
Initially, the creation of Philosophy isn't anything on which to hang your hat. The first known philosopher, Thales, preached that all that existed was composed of water, and the second known philosopher, Anaximander, preached that all that existed was composed of fire. Although revolutionary in the sense that they were attempting to understand reality, they were far from the mark. Nevertheless, they paved the way for guys like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, each of whom were instrumental in the development of real epistemology (the study of how we can know things).
3) THE GROWTH OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
What makes the Greeks triply cool is that they managed to stave off (or rebound from) catastrophe on multiple occasions. Protecting their legacy for Western Civilization, defeats of massive Persian threats at the Battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea ensured that the Greek culture, not Persian culture, would be the dominant influence in the ensuing centuries. Even more importantly, the ascent and campaigns of Alexander the Great not only made Greek civilization and culture accessible to more and more people in the modern world, but it also made that world smaller, as travelers, merchants and kings began to sponsor far greater trading and interaction among the world's nations after Alexander had brought them into contact with each other.
Phew, enough about the Greeks. Now we have time time for a bit of a forecast in how we'll see that Rome has contributed to Western Civilization. Roughly speaking, we can break it down into four big things:
1) THE DEFEAT OF CARTHAGE
As we shall see, Carthage and Rome would eventually challenge each other for mastery of the Mediterranean and its markets. The fact that Rome won out ensured that Rome, not Carthage, would be the dominant civilization at the time of Christ's birth. This is immensely important, for, although pagan, the Romans had far more in common with a Christian view of the world than did the Carthaginians (silly ol' sacrificers of babies . . . ).
2) NATURAL LAW PHILOSOPHY
This is one of the main reasons why Christians melded well (eventually) with Roman culture: whereas the pagan Roman philosopher would say that (for example) lying was a transgression against the natural law, known through their invention of Natural Law Philosophy, the Roman christian would say that lying was a transgression against God's law, known through divine revelation. The fact that they disagreed about the origin of those laws wouldn't be as significant as the fact that they agree on those laws' existence, and they would eventually propose that God had authored both divine revelation as well as the Natural Law.
3) THE SPREAD OF CIVILIZATION INTO WESTERN AND NORTHERN EUROPE
Whereas the Greeks (and Alexander the Great, specifically) had introduced, through military conquest, Western Civilization far into the East, the Romans would do the same for much of Western and Northern Europe. Even more significantly, they were instrumental in civilizing those areas, as places as far off as Britain lived for a time under Roman law and customs. More and more people were shown that it is better to be a part of a large, civilized society than to exist as part of an isolated tribe. (Between you and me, I think it's the plumbing they liked the most . . . )
4) A PERIOD OF PEACE AND ORDER
Eventually we'll stumble across this phrase called the Pax Romana (The Peace of Rome). It refers to a significant period of time where there were no major military conflicts being prosecuted by or towards the Roman Empire. Small wonder that when we read in the Bible that Christ came "in the fullness of time," we find that he lived during the Pax Romana. Christianity managed to take root during this time, assisted by the fact that there were no wars to preoccupy or threaten Roman society. Later (especially in times of war), Christians would find themselves (from time to time) labeled as a threat to the Roman military, or even Roman civilization in general, but this would occur only AFTER the Pax Romana had allowed Christianity to take root.
Finally I should point out that two other significant developments occurred during the events of this year's GB study:
THE AXIAL AGE
No no no . . . it has nothing to do with Vikings stomping around North-Western Europe swinging their axes at everyone . . . those were called Berserkers, and although quite efficient with their axes, they have nothing to do with the Axial Age.
Rather, the Axial Age refers to a BIG period of time (approximately 700BC to 200AD) where we see a slow revolution in the way that the people viewed the relationship between civil and moral authorities (even in China and India!). In other words, before 700 BC, people generally viewed their society's leader (be it king, tribal chief or whatever) as both the moral and civil authority . . . his rules were seen as drawing the boundaries for both law and morals. What he says is illegal is also immoral, and vice vursa (yea, so you could definitely go to hell for getting a speeding ticket). By 200 AD, however, the majority of people view the civil and moral authorities of their society as two separate things. For example, the local prince has outlawed murder, taxes me, and protects me from invading princes, but only the local bishop (and his delegates) can make moral and religious decisions, such as whether you can kill the invading prince without committing a sin. We in the 21st century are used to this separation of civil and religious authorities, but back in 200AD there was quite a bit of adaptation . . . monarchs and emperors often tried to control the Church, and while nearly all of them eventually failed, they serve as reminders that, before (and often during) the Axial Age, monarchs were often seen as both king and god.
MAN'S ASCENT
(last one, I promise) As the king is seen less and less as a godhead, we will also see that the ordinary main gains more and more control over his own destiny. Certainly in Homer, everyone, even the kings, part-gods, demi-gods and (perhaps) even Zeus himself must submit to the highest of all spiritual powers, FATE. Beginning with The Aeneid, however, that relationship is problematized . . . we will see more and more that human beings see themselves as having control over their destiny. Certainly this goes hand-in-hand with the developments of the Axial Age, but the really important takeaway is that we're going to see a massive shift in the role that the gods play in the narratives we read. Whereas in Homer, everything is a result of what the gods will or won't allow, we are going to see different view of things this year, beginning with Virgil.
AND THAT'S IT! I promise that I will try to make future lectures shorter, but this first lecture is SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT: YOU SHOULD KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR THE ABOVE THEMES IN YOUR WEEKLY READINGS. Bonam Fortunam! (Latin: "Good luck!")
Week 2:
Great Books (GB) 102 is the second in a four-year rotation of Great Book classes, immediately following the year studying the Greeks. It makes sense, then to have a (very) brief review of what the Greeks contributed to Western Civilization. For our purposes, we'll say that it was threefold:
1) THE INVENTION OF DEMOCRACY.
GB 101 began with Homer, and ended with Aristotle. In the meantime, we saw a massive development of what it meant to be a human being: from a "peon" unworthy of mention in Homer, to a real citizen with rights and a vote at the height of Athens' status as a polis (city-state). It can be a little confusing to us in GB 102, given our starting point, however, for Virgil does NOT pick up where the Greeks left off . . . rather, he seems to have more in common with the Homeric version of man: the ordinary guys receive no mention at all, and certainly have no vote in what Aeneas or any other leader might do. To make things even more confusing, although Virgil wrote about events occurring in approximately the 12th century B.C. (1100s), Virgil wrote The Aeneid LONG AFTER the creation of Democracy in Rome, and in fact, even after Democracy had been toppled in favor of Julius Caesar's imperial takeover in 49 BC!(hint hint, THAT'S IMPORTANT!) Nevertheless, the point still stands: The Greeks invented Democracy, leaving a blueprint for the Romans which they would eventually follow.
2) THE INVENTION OF PHILOSOPHY
Initially, the creation of Philosophy isn't anything on which to hang your hat. The first known philosopher, Thales, preached that all that existed was composed of water, and the second known philosopher, Anaximander, preached that all that existed was composed of fire. Although revolutionary in the sense that they were attempting to understand reality, they were far from the mark. Nevertheless, they paved the way for guys like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, each of whom were instrumental in the development of real epistemology (the study of how we can know things).
3) THE GROWTH OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
What makes the Greeks triply cool is that they managed to stave off (or rebound from) catastrophe on multiple occasions. Protecting their legacy for Western Civilization, defeats of massive Persian threats at the Battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea ensured that the Greek culture, not Persian culture, would be the dominant influence in the ensuing centuries. Even more importantly, the ascent and campaigns of Alexander the Great not only made Greek civilization and culture accessible to more and more people in the modern world, but it also made that world smaller, as travelers, merchants and kings began to sponsor far greater trading and interaction among the world's nations after Alexander had brought them into contact with each other.
Phew, enough about the Greeks. Now we have time time for a bit of a forecast in how we'll see that Rome has contributed to Western Civilization. Roughly speaking, we can break it down into four big things:
1) THE DEFEAT OF CARTHAGE
As we shall see, Carthage and Rome would eventually challenge each other for mastery of the Mediterranean and its markets. The fact that Rome won out ensured that Rome, not Carthage, would be the dominant civilization at the time of Christ's birth. This is immensely important, for, although pagan, the Romans had far more in common with a Christian view of the world than did the Carthaginians (silly ol' sacrificers of babies . . . ).
2) NATURAL LAW PHILOSOPHY
This is one of the main reasons why Christians melded well (eventually) with Roman culture: whereas the pagan Roman philosopher would say that (for example) lying was a transgression against the natural law, known through their invention of Natural Law Philosophy, the Roman christian would say that lying was a transgression against God's law, known through divine revelation. The fact that they disagreed about the origin of those laws wouldn't be as significant as the fact that they agree on those laws' existence, and they would eventually propose that God had authored both divine revelation as well as the Natural Law.
3) THE SPREAD OF CIVILIZATION INTO WESTERN AND NORTHERN EUROPE
Whereas the Greeks (and Alexander the Great, specifically) had introduced, through military conquest, Western Civilization far into the East, the Romans would do the same for much of Western and Northern Europe. Even more significantly, they were instrumental in civilizing those areas, as places as far off as Britain lived for a time under Roman law and customs. More and more people were shown that it is better to be a part of a large, civilized society than to exist as part of an isolated tribe. (Between you and me, I think it's the plumbing they liked the most . . . )
4) A PERIOD OF PEACE AND ORDER
Eventually we'll stumble across this phrase called the Pax Romana (The Peace of Rome). It refers to a significant period of time where there were no major military conflicts being prosecuted by or towards the Roman Empire. Small wonder that when we read in the Bible that Christ came "in the fullness of time," we find that he lived during the Pax Romana. Christianity managed to take root during this time, assisted by the fact that there were no wars to preoccupy or threaten Roman society. Later (especially in times of war), Christians would find themselves (from time to time) labeled as a threat to the Roman military, or even Roman civilization in general, but this would occur only AFTER the Pax Romana had allowed Christianity to take root.
Finally I should point out that two other significant developments occurred during the events of this year's GB study:
THE AXIAL AGE
No no no . . . it has nothing to do with Vikings stomping around North-Western Europe swinging their axes at everyone . . . those were called Berserkers, and although quite efficient with their axes, they have nothing to do with the Axial Age.
Rather, the Axial Age refers to a BIG period of time (approximately 700BC to 200AD) where we see a slow revolution in the way that the people viewed the relationship between civil and moral authorities (even in China and India!). In other words, before 700 BC, people generally viewed their society's leader (be it king, tribal chief or whatever) as both the moral and civil authority . . . his rules were seen as drawing the boundaries for both law and morals. What he says is illegal is also immoral, and vice vursa (yea, so you could definitely go to hell for getting a speeding ticket). By 200 AD, however, the majority of people view the civil and moral authorities of their society as two separate things. For example, the local prince has outlawed murder, taxes me, and protects me from invading princes, but only the local bishop (and his delegates) can make moral and religious decisions, such as whether you can kill the invading prince without committing a sin. We in the 21st century are used to this separation of civil and religious authorities, but back in 200AD there was quite a bit of adaptation . . . monarchs and emperors often tried to control the Church, and while nearly all of them eventually failed, they serve as reminders that, before (and often during) the Axial Age, monarchs were often seen as both king and god.
MAN'S ASCENT
(last one, I promise) As the king is seen less and less as a godhead, we will also see that the ordinary main gains more and more control over his own destiny. Certainly in Homer, everyone, even the kings, part-gods, demi-gods and (perhaps) even Zeus himself must submit to the highest of all spiritual powers, FATE. Beginning with The Aeneid, however, that relationship is problematized . . . we will see more and more that human beings see themselves as having control over their destiny. Certainly this goes hand-in-hand with the developments of the Axial Age, but the really important takeaway is that we're going to see a massive shift in the role that the gods play in the narratives we read. Whereas in Homer, everything is a result of what the gods will or won't allow, we are going to see different view of things this year, beginning with Virgil.
AND THAT'S IT! I promise that I will try to make future lectures shorter, but this first lecture is SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT: YOU SHOULD KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR THE ABOVE THEMES IN YOUR WEEKLY READINGS. Bonam Fortunam! (Latin: "Good luck!")