{
    "id": 257560,
    "slug": "the-light-and-the-dark-vol-xxi-pfm-fontaine",
    "nstc": null,
    "title": "The light and the dark Vol XXI",
    "subtitle": "a cultural history of dualims",
    "collection_title": null,
    "collection_part_number": null,
    "annotation": null,
    "description": "The attentive reader will remark an anomaly in the subtitle of this volume. I have always proclaimed that the series is about dualism and about nothing else. This time it also speaks of non-dualism. This does not mean that I changed my basic concept. I needed the non-dualistic concepts of High Scholasticism as a template against which all ways of thought, whether of centuries prior to this period, or those which still were to follow, may be considered. It was in particular during the years from1250 to 1275, when Thomism was predominant, that a perfect equilibrium between God and the world, the Creator and the created, between God and man, between faith and reason, between theology and philosophy was reached.\n\nCh. I, Part I is about the pre-Scholastic period.. Pseudo-Dionysius is described as the transmitter of ancient lore to the Middle Ages, and Boethius as the one who transmitted Aristotelianism to medieval scholarship. Some of the founding fathers of European civilization are mentioned: Pope Gregory I, St.Isidore of Sevilla, and Alcuin, Charlemagne's 'minister of education'. The first great medieval theologian was Johannes Scotus Erigena. He was the first to raise \"the theological question of the claims of reason [i.e. of philosophy] in the formulation of Christian doctrine\".\n\nPart II is about early Scholasticism. The discussion about the relationship of the universalia (general concepts) and the realia (the concrete thing) would be one of the great issues during the Middle Ages, with its corollary, the discussion about the relationship of the One and the Many. Often it was a question of either-or: either the universalia were so heavily stressed that little or no room was left for the realia, or the reverse was the case so that the universals lost almost all significance. Did universals, general concepts, have an existence of their own, an ontological status, or do they exist only in the mind? Concretely, is the idea of 'man' something that exists separately from the individual person? There were those who denied that ideas would have an ontological status; only concrete individuals - things, persons - are real. There were also the ultra-realists to whom only ideas, concepts, are real; concrete things exist only as manifestations of general concepts. Abelard, famous for his affair with H\u00e9loise, with whom he had a child, occupied a middle position. He accorded things a status of their own, but argued at the same time that universals possess an ontological status. In this way he helped to build the great non-dualistic platform of the Middle Ages. He was followed in this by John of Salisbury.\n\nCh. II, Part I, is about medieval Muslim philosophy. Then as now, Islamic faith had its fundamentalists who adhered to the strictest literal interpretation of the Koran. Yet, there were others who felt the need to apply their reason to the tenets of Islamic faith. This is called kalam: theoretical, rational reasoning in general, also in the theological matters. The first to do this were the Mu'tazilites, who wantd to interpret the Koran in terms of reason. This does not mean that they were freethinkers or unorthodox. The archetypical representative of kalam philosophy was al-Kindi, the 'father of Arabic philosophy.'\n\nYet there were also true freethinkers who sometimes came close to being atheistic. Al-Razi said that people had to choose between faith and reason; that people adhered to a religion was due to their mental laziness. Al-Rawandi fiercely attacked the most sacred truths of Islam; he did not spare the Prophet and not even Allah who he found to be a cruel and arbitrary being. al-Muqaffa' also objected to Islamic faith in several important respects; according to him it was pure mythology. The best-known Muslim philosopher was Avicenna. His influence was immeasurably great, because it was he who made the West acquainted with Aristotle's writings. He believed in God, without being very devout or dogmatic. He conceived of himself as...",
    "imprint": null,
    "language_code": "dut",
    "original_language_code": null,
    "page_count": 448,
    "duration_seconds": null,
    "publication_date_first": "2006-05-05",
    "publication_date_latest": "2006-05-05",
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