epistemology: Roman vs. Christian
... these inherent truths. There are things that cannot be argued with and in fact must be true. This is truth: atoms exist, whose motion, Order, position, shape and combination Cause fire; alter their order and they alter Whatever they make; they don’t resemble fire Or anything else that casts its particles Against our sense to touch and be touched On the Nature of Things, 44 Lucretius argues that these atoms make up the world as it can be known by mankind and that these are inherent truths that cannot be argued with. There are parts of nature that are too small to be perceived by our senses though we can feel the accumulation of these particles and so we know that they must exist. The third tenet by which the epicurean can experience the world around him is feeling pleasure and pain. This criterion allows for the body to discern goodness and actions that should be undertaken; to the epicurean pleasure is to be maximized while pain is to be minimized within the limits wherein pleasure would become pain. Epicurus in “Letter to Herodotus” (64) calls on feelings as a source of information about the makeup of the soul. Feelings then allow for one to gain an introspective knowledge. The Stoics were empiricists who drew on epicurean thought but stopped short of recognizing sensory perception alone as the door-way to human knowledge. Stoics argue that it is the sensory perception as well as the interpretation of the perception that allows for acquisition of knowledge. A person cannot gain knowledge if he cannot interpret the experience of his senses accurately. Cicero argues towards the idea of a false impression in Academia (77) that “there in fact existed no presentation coming from something true which was not such that one of the same quality could have come from something false.” He recognizes through the analogy of twins that something can be perceived incorrectly through a false perception of the senses. The Stoic claims that there is a difference between what is clear fact, as perceived by the senses, and what is an opinion, which can also be perceived by the senses. Cicero states this Stoic claim in clear contrast to the Epicurean philosophy in On the nature of the Gods (1.70) Arvesilaus [a skeptic] attacked Zeno [stoic founder] because, while he himself said that all sense-perceptions were false, Zeno said that some were false, but not all. Epicurus was afraid that, if one sense-perception were false, none would be true; so he said that all sense perceptions where messengers of the truth. [Epicurus] did not show much cleverness; in order to ward off a minor blow, he opened himself up to a more serious one. Stoic metaphysics claim that sense perceptions themselves which provide one with knowledge- if they are accurate- are a result of the interaction between the soul and physical objects. So knowledge for the stoics is dependent upon the interaction between the soul and the body in understanding what it is that the natural world is presenting. In many ways the Stoic and Epicurean epistemological views are very similar. Christian epistemology was radically different from anything the Roman philosophers had experienced. Standing before Pilate, Jesus was asked “Are you the king of the Jews?” (NIV, John 18:33) Jesus responds in verse 37 saying “You are right in saying that I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” In a true, Roman philosophical way Pilate responds by asking Jesus “What is truth?” in verse 38. Up to the point of Christianity the Romans had figured out that truth was entirely dependent upon your perception of the natural world. Christianity presented an entirely different idea that God, immortal and eternal had create the natural world for the enjoyment of His creation, made in his image; that the only real truth or necessary knowledge is the knowledge of God. Paul writes to the church in Corinth “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” (NIV 1Cor 3:19) Chapter 4 of 1st Corinthians then goes on to warn about the false judgments that can come from perception. Paul warns that God will “bring light to what is hidden in the darkness” (4:5). Paul discusses that the only knowledge available to a Christian is that which is revealed by God. John describes Christ as the logos (John 1:1), the very reason and understanding that the Romans had not declaratively established. Furthermore, Christ himself ascribes his calling to the testimony of truth. He claims “blessed is he who has not seen, yet believes”. Further removing Him from the Roman view that the senses deem what you can know and what you can dwell on in thought. It is impossible to discuss the question of how it is possibl...