ANTH 301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Tabula Rasa, Omnipotence, Stoicism
I. The Historical/ Intellectual Currents that Shaped the Nascent Discipline of
Anthropology.
A. Aristotle
- 384-322 BCE
- A reasonable but arbitrary early ancestor so honored for his scientific approach
- Was an empiricist
- Thinks can know the world/ can make empirical observations of life and the natural
world
- Though social phenomenon was knowable empirically.
- Plato thinks our senses deceive us---allegory of cave
-
B. The Stoics
- Primary of logos, a natural cosmic order; no intervention by humans or god required
in general
- Reasoned that knowledge is acquired though experience (tabula rasa at birth) a
precursor to a more robust theory of culture
C. Rise of Christianity and Mysticism
- Christianity became the state religion of Rome under Constantine (288-337 CE)
D. Augustinian Christianity
- Humans flawed by nature
- God was perfect- omnipotent and unknowable by flawed humans.
- Pointless for humans to study god or nature
- Why called the dark ages
- No intellectual activity- thought that it was futile – that humans cant understand -just
trust that the createor did
- Everything that humans needed to know was revealed in Scripture
E. Middle Ages
- Challenged by Islamic scholars
- As Islam spread from the middle east to Africa and Spain it carried Aristotelian
concepts of logic and science.
- To them only, god in this view is unknowable
- Christianity
F. Science and Religion
- Clashed
- Forced to choose
G. The Renaissance
- Intellectual resistance to the strictures of the Church
- Rediscovery of classical Greco- Roman philosophy
- Invention of printing press
- Move from sacred to secular outlook.
H. Voyages of Discovery
Document Summary
The historical/ intellectual currents that shaped the nascent discipline of. A reasonable but arbitrary early ancestor so honored for his scientific approach. Thinks can know the world/ can make empirical observations of life and the natural world. Plato thinks our senses deceive us---allegory of cave: the stoics. Primary of logos, a natural cosmic order; no intervention by humans or god required in general. Reasoned that knowledge is acquired though experience (tabula rasa at birth) a precursor to a more robust theory of culture: rise of christianity and mysticism. Christianity became the state religion of rome under constantine (288-337 ce: augustinian christianity. God was perfect- omnipotent and unknowable by flawed humans. Pointless for humans to study god or nature. No intellectual activity- thought that it was futile that humans cant understand -just trust that the createor did. Everything that humans needed to know was revealed in scripture: middle ages.
