Wednesday Wisdom

WHO?

Raphael was a Renaissance artist from Italy, and is considered one of the great masters of that period. He was born Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino in 1483 and was known for his paintings and frescoes, including the Sistine Madonna and the School of Athens. He worked in the court of Pope Julius II and contributed to the High Renaissance style, which emphasized harmony, balance, and ideal beauty. The painting, which is in the Vatican museum, depicts figures engaging in philosophical discussions and debates, symbolizing the birth of Western philosophy in ancient Greece.

"The School of Athens" is one of four wall frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura. Each wall represents one of the four branches of knowledge during the Renaissance—theology, literature, justice, and philosophy.  Raphael's painting depicts various ancient Greek philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and Epicurus all in debates well as Greek mathematicians and philosophers Euclid, Ptolemy, and Pythagoras all seemingly calculating. The Renaissance was characterized by a renewed interest in classical learning, the rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman culture, and a focus on the individual and human potential. Raphael's painting signaled both scholars' and clergy's embrace of the wisdom of the ancient Greeks. However, in this painting, is a man dressed in Arab garb from the 12th century but not from 300 BC.  Why would Raphael include this relatively modern and obscure man in this portrait of the "School of Athens".

What he produced

Ibn Rushd, also known as Averroes, was a medieval Andalusian (Spanish) Muslim polymath, philosopher, legal expert, and physician who lived in the 12th century.  A polymath is someone who has broad and diverse interests and is able to apply their knowledge and skills to multiple fields, rather than being a specialist in only one area. Polymaths are often known for their exceptional intellectual capacity and their ability to make connections between disparate areas of knowledge.

Averroes was known as "The commentator" for his work on transcribing and explaining the works of Aristotle. These commentaries, which aimed to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with Islamic thought, had a profound impact on the development of medieval philosophy and science in Europe, and are considered among the most influential works of medieval philosophy. Raphael realized Averroes was the bridge from the philosophy of ancient Greece to the Renaissance, which is widely believed why Raphael included him in his painting. He was also aware of the huge influence Averroes had on two great thinkers of medieval times and the Catholic church.

Albertus Magnus, also known as Saint Albert the Great, was a German Dominican friar and the Catholic bishop of Ratisbon. He was born in the 13th century and was one of the most influential figures in the medieval period. Albertus Magnus, like Averroes, was also a polymath and is considered one of the greatest scientists and philosophers of the Middle Ages. He made significant contributions to the fields of philosophy, theology, and natural science. He was a prolific writer, authoring many works on a wide range of topics, including logic, metaphysics, ethics, biology, and chemistry. He was notably a teacher and mentor to Thomas Aquinas and taught him to integrate Aristotelian philosophy into Christian theology. St Thomas was canonized in 1323 while Albertus Magnus was belatedly canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church in 1931. Averroes, Magnus, and Aquinas not only shared a passion for Aristotle's teachings, but they were also devoted to the coexistence of faith and reason.

2023 why do we care?

Aristotle believed that reason was a key aspect of human nature and that it was the foundation of all knowledge. He held that the goal of knowledge was to understand the world and to live a virtuous life. Having been well versed in his teachings, Averroes came up with an equation for what happens without reason: "Ignorance leads to fear, which leads to hatred, which leads to violence."

Averroes popularized the term "double truth" as a way of reconciling reason and faith within the Islam religion.  Magnus wrote about the idea of double truth in his works, including his "Super Ethica" and "Super Boetium De Trinitate", where he attempted to reconcile the differences between reason and faith in a way that allowed for the coexistence of double truths. Aquinas furthered this notion in "Summa Theolgia" paving the way for the Renaissance by showing how reason and faith could be harmoniously integrated. Aquinas helped to dispel the fear that knowledge and religion were opponents, and encouraged people to embrace both as important sources of reason and wisdom. Known as the "synthesis of faith and reason," this approach is just as relevant today as it was centuries ago.

As these philosophers teach us, faith may exist in different forms or magnitudes, but knowledge, logic and reason are the fabric that holds us together.

And now you know...

Philosophy is the art of thinking, the building block of progress that shapes critical thinking across economics, ethics, religion, and science. 

METAPHYSICS: Literally, the term metaphysics means ‘beyond the physical.’ Typically, this is the branch that most people think of when they picture philosophy. In metaphysics, the goal is to answer the what and how questions in life. Who are we, and what are time and space?

LOGIC: The study of reasoning. Much like metaphysics, understanding logic helps to understand and appreciate how we perceive the rest of our world. More than that, it provides a foundation for which to build and interpret arguments and analyses. 

ETHICS: The study of morality, right and wrong, good and evil. Ethics tackles difficult conversations by adding weight to actions and decisions. Politics takes ethics to a larger scale, applying it to a group (or groups) of people. Political philosophers study political governments, laws, justice, authority, rights, liberty, ethics, and much more.

AESTHETICS: What is beautiful? Philosophers try to understand, qualify, and quantify what makes art what it is. Aesthetics also takes a deeper look at the artwork itself, trying to understand the meaning behind it, both art as a whole and art on an individual level. A question an aesthetics philosopher would seek to address is whether or not beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

EPISTEMOLOGY: This is the study and understanding of knowledge. The main question is how do we know? We can question the limitations of logic, how comprehension works, and the ability (or perception) to be certain.