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ply Adaii—and Eve

    

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Page ‘6

PHILOSOPHY

Continued from Page One

the Greek thought and civilization from

their surroundings, and, in fact, began

to speak Greek instead of Hebrew to

such an extent that in the course of time

* they forgot their own language; and not

to forget or, become unable to use the
Bible or the New Testament, had it
written in Greek.: -All the translations
came out alike, which ‘showed that it
‘was a inspired ‘translation !

In Alexandria then was the beginning
of the cultivation of Greek philosophy
and culture by the Jews and that is why
ly between the
two came up. The Jews wanted to learn
all they could of Greek philosophy. They
absorbed it all. It appéaled to them.
It was very important. and_ interesting,
and enriched. their intellectual life.

-So-that:the-cultured. Jews of the time

found themselves confronted by two dif-|

ferent cultures and they were not. ready
to reject either. One was their own.
_ They had inherited it. The other fas-
It was very interesting.
There was no agreement in a large way,

between the two. They were disparate.
"Phere was dificulty-right-there,-in-the+-

difference between the two” points - of
view. The Jews had to cast about for
some method of unifying them so that
’ they would not lose either one. And
hence the solution I mentioned.

It became generally believed that, of
course, the Hebrew Bible was inspired
and .contained really everything, includ-
ing all that the Greek philosophers chad
taught. Plato and Aristotleswere really
revealed in Moses. There is a hidden
meaning below the surface that you can
only get by applying this method which
came to be knowti as the “allegorical | in-
terpretation: things were not what they
seemed. Adam and Eve were not sim-

Reason and Eve, Sensation. And “you
can easily find. Parmenides any Heracli-
tus in all, this.

The whdle point. is’ that. ‘by means. of
this allegorization. you can read anything
you: like into any"part of the» Seriptures.
And this. made ‘it :possible for the Jews.
in Alexandria to believe that; as a mat-
ter of fact, the. Bible, ;being older than
any of the: ‘earliest books of the Greeks,
really containéd all the ideas that Plato
and Aristotle originatéd “afterwards.

Well, that made thitigs“Very easy. It
was possible for a Jew. without. rejecting
his own belief to assimilate as much as
he pleased of Greek philosophy.
first, or, rather, the. most important ex-.
ponent of- that “kind of combination of
the two philosophies was rome —
of Alexandria. he y

Philo’s philosophical doctrine is ieanor:
tant for the idea of the “Logos found
there. Philo accepts the Platonic notion
of the ideal world as a model of this
physical world; but he modifies it’ some-
what and speaks of the ideal world as
representing God's plan or thought of
the world. God took chaotic material
and then gave it form. His idea is this
“Logos, or God's ;Reason. .

Philo personifies this ‘Logos, ‘treating
it as if it were.a super-ordinary. per-
sonality, not quite a deity, but almost.
He calls it the Son of God, or God in
the act of thinking. If there is anything

original with Philo, it is this idea of}
the Logos, made up of notions from}

‘Horaclitus, Plato and the Stoics. This
Logos was treated by all the mediaeval
Fathers and scholars as Reason, or Wis-
dom. And that, no: doubt, goes back
to the Logos of Philo.

’ That Alexandrian period ends with
- the beginning of the Christian era.

The Jewish colony'in Alexandria dwin-
died in the coufse of time and Philo
exerted very. slight influence on sub-
sequent Jewish thought. Clement calls
Philo one ‘of the Christian writers.
. The Jews dropped him. . They thought
it better to..ignore and neglect him.
The Alexandrian period was an epi-
_sode which soon ceased as a. centre
of Jewish population.
Babylon were where was to be found
the main body of Jewish philosophy
after that. ©
_The mediaeval philosophic move-
ment among the Jews begins all over
again, with no connection with Philo,
about the 9th century, in Mesbpo-

‘tamia, in and around Babylon. “The;

history of* this philosophy is some-
sneer It does lead ti} back

.o ok caper oe philosophy |
rm ithe sate pecied of erty devi

 

But “Adan “was:

And the.

Palestine . and]

   

&

ne | THE COLLEGE NEWS | ,

JOSEPH TRONCELLIT

go back to Greek philosophy. Both
are really due to Greek influences.

But the two movements of Jewish
philosophy which I have mentioned
have nothing to do with each other.
The second movement, in the Middle
Ages, goes back to the Arabs, and
they go back to Syria, and that goes
back to Greek thought.

The Syrian Christians between the
5th and 9th centuries, began to culti-
vate Greek philosophy and science.
Then with the advent. ‘of Mohammedan-
ism in the 7th century aid the coming
into power of the dynasty of the Abas-
sids in the middle of the 8th century,
the Mohammedan caliphs ‘used Syrian
physicians as ‘their court physicians
and, through them, came to, know
that there was such a.thing as Greek

jmedicine, science, ‘philosophy, astron-

omy and mathematics. cs

This movement tan from the 8th to
the 12th century. It ‘decreased then
because a dynasty of fanatic caliphs
arose who persecuted all scientists and
philosophers. Those Jews living in
Mohammedan countries adopted Arabic
as their language. And, in the same
way, as earlier, began to follow the
Arabic culture, as ‘they had done in
Alexandria.

The Arabs got their culture in the
Christians of the 5th and 6th centuries,
and this culture they transmitted to the
Jews who lived in their midst.

The Jews, in. turh, ‘and also the
Arabs, towards the ¢nd of the philo-
sophic period among the Arabs and
Jéws, transmitted a great part of this
philosophy to the Christian scholastics.
So that mediaeval philosophy. among
the Christians ‘came later than it did
among the Arabs and the Jews.

Mediaeval philosophy in the Latin
countries, in the Christian Countries,
divides itself into :two periods. _ First,
the early scholastic period, beginning
about the 8th or 9th ceritury and last-
ing until about the end of the 12th
century. And. second. (the more im-
portant periods, beginning: at the end
of the 12th century and lasting until
the Renaissance.

These two periods are widely differ-
entiated, The early period suffers
from a great poverty of ideas; they
knew very little about Greek. phil-
osophy.

ticism was the Golden Era. It w
entirely different,- not because a”
gradual intellectual development from
the early period, but by reason of new
material that came to the scholastics.
They now had many more of the
writings of Aristole, and also some of
the mathematical and astronomical
writers of the Greeks. The original
contribution to the history of thought
by the Middle Ages was the idea of
harmonizing the two sources of truth.
Whether or not that is a valid or val-
uable contribution I won't discuss now.
But, to me,-it-is-original..
weren't troubled by two sources of
truth. :

As to specific doctrines in Jewish
philosophy, you will find that the main
doctrines came from the Greek. Purely
philosophical doctrines were not cre-
ated by. the mediaeval writers, birt
taken over from the Greek writers.

The, Middle Ages. were very much
interested in God. ~The ‘doctrine of
divine attributes plays avery impor-
tant part in mediaeval philosophy.
You find more of it there than in the
writings of Aristotle. But, apart from

this, you will scarcely find, then, any
absolutely. new. and original problems
among the mediaeval writers.

You. will find the same succession of

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The second period of Latin scholas- }

-The-Greeks.

schools among the Arabs and among
the Jews.

Among the Christians in the Mid-

first part and Aristotle predominant in
the second part.

 

SANDBURG

Continued from Page One

Many of us, in the conviction of our
superiority of outlook, attempt to férce
our culture on others. Now Guizot, in
his History of Civilization, in striving to
establish a criterion for the presence of
civilization, arrives at the conclusion that
diversity of opinion constitutes the best
proof. Similarly, a dead level of opinion
points to a low state of civilization. We
should encourage a diversity, then, and
guard against imposing our own stand-
ards on others. For any one of us, what
we find in a work of art wal] depend on
our own answers to the questions, “What
is worth seeing,” “What is worth listen-
mg to?’—on the personal equation.

Mr. Sandburg first read several of his
thirty-eight definitions of poetry, elabo-
rating on them in his penetrating, whim-
sical manner, and casting the spell of
his lyrical drawl even deeper over his
hearers. He stressed the twenty-eighth:
“Poetry is a pack-sack of invisible keep-
sakes,” speaking of the silence of a per-
son deeply moved and feeling his ex-
‘perience a challenge “To introduce
certain harmonies into their lives.” The
“biological — definition,” number _ ten,
“Poetry is the journal of a sea animal,
living on land, wanting to fly~the”air;’
was particularly happy.

The readings from the poems proper
were selected largely from Good Morn-
ing America and book not yet pub-
lished, Potato Face. The harsh realism
which shrieks from Smoke. and Steel,
uncircumscribed by the discipline of
rhyme, stripping life until its-very heart
lies bare and quivering, has given way in
Cood Morning” America to a mellower
beauty, throbbing with
from nature and swelling with a deep
human sympathy. The pure music of
Mr... S.ndburg’s voice was a perfect
médium for the capricious ‘Maybe, and
the silver “lattice work” of Timber Moon
and the “bright vocabularies” of Precious
Moments; while in the strange juxta-
position of images. in Hells or Heavens;
it lent itself to dry humour.
of Sliphorn. Jazs,

“Are you happy? It’s the
only way to be, kid,”

| was’ the finest bit of the evening. Mr.

Sandburg became the confidential, .ab-
isurdly worldly-wise adviser of the “kid,”
and caught up by the broken character of
the lines the wild; exotic rhythms of
jazz.

Potato Face deals with a blind man
who sits before a cottage door, playing
on an accordion and letting drop words
of wisdom. In Fog Wisp, the maiden
stops to talk with the Potato Face, and
they exchange views on the nature of
things.
the “‘Snookses,” who keep the winds and
are very ordinary and very wise. “Only
a. Snooks knows. what it is to be a
Snooks.” The Potato Face replies with

 

 

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The final group ot the evening were

folk songs from the American Songbag,
which Mr. Sandburg sang, accompanying
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Virginia, they were representative of the
Sandburg has done in this]

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road .songs of Kentucky, or the hot
doughnut cry of the negro in Galveston,
Texas, it was the unique gift of Mr.
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beyond. the. limits. of .a_College-Audito-
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his songs.

 

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