Conflicts between the Popes and the Holy Roman Emperors, the Medieval Political Philosophers - Assignment Example

Philosophy questions 1. Discuss the problem that concerned most of the medieval political philosophers about the relationship between revealed religion and philosophy. Include some discussion of at least one Islamic philosopher.  The most important problem that many medieval scholars, who were also political philosophers, indentified about the relationship between revealed religion and philosophy stood in the question about the unity or the distinction between faith and reason. Plato, for example, believed that the essential task of philosophy itself was to cultivate human mind and to search for knowledge about “the greatest things” (Apology, Four Texts on Socrates: Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito and Aristophanes’ Clouds). Therefore, the aims of philosophy seemed very similar to those of the Christian theology and no distinction had to be made between the two. However, revealed religion, even if it was a part of human wisdom, was based on principles received directly from God through the powerful word of the Scriptures. St. Thomas Aquinas, for instance, who is considered to be one of the most important medieval thinkers, believed that theology treated primarily “those things which by their sublimity transcend human reason”. This way, the main task of revealed theology was “to interpret faithfully the writings of the prophets and the apostles for the benefit of the church and for the salvation of the world” (Topping). Philosophy, on the other hand, reasoned about life and the existence of God based on the limitations of the human mind. Therefore, the way ancient culture envisioned philosophy and the beliefs of the Christian medieval religion didn’t seem to overlap; some would suggest that Scripture itself supports this idea, since Paul warns, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ” (Colossians 2:8, The Bible Gateway). This way, it appeared that religion itself forbidden any interaction with knowledge outside the church, because the Christian religion aimed to reorganize people’s lives based on new beliefs and concepts like God, people’s relationship with God, right and wrong, which were seen in a different manner in the Christian religion then in the great philosophies of early and late antiquity. The Scripture was posing general truths about divinity and the purpose of life that could not be changed; this way, it was hard to find the most appropriate relationship between Christian beliefs and the other branches of knowledge, such as the arts and sciences, including philosophy, which sought to explore all concepts of knowledge and their learning could have contradicted the reading of the Scripture. That is why Christianity had to find a solution, which came as the integration of faith and reason into a new Christian philosophy. Medieval thinkers aimed at defining the role of the Christian beliefs in the secular world; they saw faith as an obedient exercise of reason, and that reason was the principal human attribute that allowed people to serve God, when confronted with divine revelations. Therefore, even if during the period of scholasticism and post-scholasticism Greek philosophers, such as Aristotle, were studied in universities, medieval philosophy wisely used their teachings to develop a way of reasoning in which faith and the human intellect combine in a common investigation into truth and knowledge of the good of the whole. Medieval theology integrated reason and faith in a new meaning of philosophy, which was brought as a service to God. This idea about the role of philosophy is also very interesting when observed in the Islamic philosophy, which had great influence on European medieval thought; for example, Avicenna1 believed that there was an inexorable link between religion and science; as a philosopher and a devout Muslim, he tried to reconcile the rational philosophy of Aristotelianism and Neo-Platonism with Islamic theology; he tried to integrate reason and faith into a more complex system through which people can seek and find the truth. For example, he considers the Qur'an as the basis of teachings, but an accomplished person has to learn and interpret the allegories described in the Qur'an based on the real life, which is impossible to do without reason; his early work, "Compendium on the Soul", was dedicated to establishing that the rational soul or intellect is incorporeal and indestructible. http://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_avicenna.html 2. Discuss the conflicts between the Popes and the Holy Roman Emperors. What were some of the major issues?  The Holy Roman Emperors were considered successors of Charlemagne (814 A.D.) and ruled over a congregation of territories in Central Europe, during the Middle Ages and part of the Modern Era. They were invested by the Pope and this way, they were considered to be the ones chosen by God to rule on Earth; the title of Emperor absolutely implied their role as protectors of the Catholic Church. Still, as the power of the papacy significantly expanded during the Middle Ages, several conflicts arose between popes and emperors over church administration, especially in the selection of regional church officials. However, I tend to believe that most of these conflicts were of political and financial matter, rather than religious reasons. First of all, the Holy Roman Empire was in possession of land not only in Germany, but also in Italy and areas we now consider Eastern Europe. For the Holy Emperors, it was very important what church official was ruling those territories, as often, a man selected as a bishop would find himself ruling over very lucrative territories. The Holy Roman Emperors wanted bishops in key-positions in order to be much easier for them to draw funds and use the military and social influence that these papal grants disposed of. The papacy also held large territories of land, often very profitable land, and the profits of that land were often not taxable by the ruling monarchy. Sometimes, the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor would not agree upon the selection of bishops appointed in certain places, so the major disputes between the popes and the holy emperors concerned the concept of investiture. The most important of these conflicts took place between Pope Gregory VII and the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, during the 11th century. Pope Gregory VII took up his seat in Rome with a vision, to change the way the Church interacted with the secular world and to revive true Christian beliefs among the people. The only way he could accomplish his goal to purify the Church by a reformation of the clergy. Many stood against him along with Henry IV, who joined forces with the nobles against reform. Pope Gregory VII also accused Henry IV of over lay investiture, which was the act of naming and investing of bishops and abbots by secular rulers, not by the Church. However, things between the two took a very bad turn when the pope and the emperor had a dispute over who to appoint the next bishop of Milan. “In the matter of the Archiepiscopal See of Milan, Henry IV supported a candidate through whom he could control Northern Italy. Milan’s bishop was also the civil ruler” (Streich). As the Pope could not agree to his proposition, relations between the emperor and the pope deteriorated. When Henry IV called Pope Gregory IIV and usurper, the pope responded prompt and excommunicated the emperor, calling all his vassals free of obligation if front of him. When Henry IV found himself alone, he had to come back to the Pope and apologize; the pope, however, left Henry standing for three days in the snow before he would see him. Still, when the conflict was resolved and Henry IV got his title back, he declared and anti-pope and sent pope Gregory into exile, where he shortly died. “The Investiture conflict would be resolved in later years only after other powerful popes like Urban II continued Gregory’s fight. By 1095 Urban II launched the first Crusade, uniting much of secular Europe in a cause that helped divert conflict from Europe to the Middle East” (Streich). 3. Discuss any 3 of the medieval political philosophers we studied in the text in terms of their views on distinctions between the power of the Church and the power of secular monarchs.  Medieval political philosophy in Europe was heavily influenced by Christian thinking. The Christian theologians of late antiquity are usually referred to the “Fathers of the Church” since their writings influenced a great part of the immediate medieval thinking and defined the relationship between religion, the people and the state in terms of early Christian thought. Many of these theologians were influenced by the Platonism and Stoicism that every educated person became acquainted with in the ancient world. Perhaps one of the most influential of them in medieval Europe was St. Augustine and one of his best known works is “The city of God”. The two cities, the City of God and an earthly city, are inhabited by people that are candidates to salvation. The City of God is the allegory of the church and the earthly city is the allegory of the state. Saint Augustine believed that all earthly governments, regardless of their form, represented the fallen and imperfect "city of man." Therefore, the role of the Church and the sate separated; the states offered the instrument, through which the sinful man could be disciplined, and this instrument was represented by law and education. The church, on the other hand, represented the perfect and eternal "city of God," preserving the divine, supernatural values of peace, hope, and charity. Hence, church and state were separate but related: they occupied different realms and held different values, but both existed in this world. http://www.dreamessays.com/customessays/History%20Essays/7850.htm After Augustine, I would like to analyze here works of an Islam philosopher, Averroës (1126 - 1198), who influenced very much medieval reasoning in Europe, through his views on the role of philosophy and separation of roles between philosophy and religion. For Averroës, there was no conflict between religion and philosophy, believing rather that they were just different ways of reaching the same truth. He identified two kinds of knowledge of truth: knowledge of truth from religion (for the unlettered multitude, based in faith and untestable); and knowledge of truth from philosophy (the real truth, but reserved for an elite few who had the intellectual capacity to undertake such study). He was bold enough to claim the superiority of reason and philosophy over faith and knowledge founded on faith, and to emphasize the independent use of reason, and the idea that the philosophical and religious worlds are separate entities. Also, he believed that philosophy, that is reasoning, was adequate for those who ruled over the population, that is, for the secular power of the state and was superior to religion. Religion, however, was valuable for the masses that did not have access to higher standards in reasoning and thought. http://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_averroes.html In the end, I will discuss the profile of an another very influential political philosopher of the medieval period was St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), - who helped reintroduce Aristotle's works - which had been preserved in the interim only by the Muslims. Aquinas believed that human beings had several purposes in life, such as the fulfillment of the natural law, the active participation in political society and the exercise of the moral virtues; however, it is impossible for human beings to find their complete perfection and happiness in anything earthly, but only in beatitude—the supernatural end to which is considered their decisive purpose. http://www.iep.utm.edu/aqui-pol Of course, beatitude is can only be fully achieved in the afterlife; still, during their existence on Earth, people are called to experience a supernatural perfection which is made possible due to their active collaboration and communion with God’s grace. Since the state is not entitled with such great powers in order to guide human being towards the attainment of this higher supernatural vocation, the Church should interfere in the governance of a country in order to make sure that people can achieve their greatest purpose in life. 4. During the Renaissance, the Italian political philosopher Machiavelli asserted that it was unnecessary for political philosophers to invent what he dismissed as “imaginary republics” as models for good or perfect government. He included the religious philosophers for criticism. How do you think any of the medieval political philosophers would have responded to him? A very interesting view upon the establishment of the government is presented by John of Salisbury (ca. 1115-76) , another great medieval political philosopher, who believed that the purpose and goals of a just state are not exactly coextensive with those of the church, nor are the goals in conflict; they simply differ. Even if John of Salisbury did have a model for what a good government should be, and that is, an organic, inter-lucrative state, he did realize that the state had the mission to deal with earthly problems, while the spiritual education of the population was assured by the Church. So, even if in Christian religion salvation is a higher goal, the secular state, headed by the prince, had its own goals. An integrated community, like an integrated person, has to work in order to achieve both. So I believe that John of Salisbury would agree to some extent with Machiavelli’s affirmation about the inexistence of perfect republics, as he himself believed that perfection wasn’t a real thing; on the contrary, he thought that people should educate themselves and learn more about the true reality in order to be able to confront the real world, not only based on faith and religious writings. John of Salisbury based his reasoning on the Greek philosophers as well, but he didn’t always approve of them and he certainly didn’t consider them perfect; instead, he extracted from their works only what he considered to be useful and worthy of good interpretation, according to the realities of the medieval world. So, when it comes to matters of perfect government, especially in terms of integration of the state and the Church, John of Salisbury considered that secular authority is conferred on the prince by God, not by the church and the church has not outsourced this function by granting secular authority to the prince; this idea already stands against the idea of perfect religious government. 5. Why did the Catholic Church create the Holy Roman Empire? The Holy Roman Empire represented an ambition, an endeavor to restore the glory and the powerful concept for what the great Roman Empire represented. At that time in history, Europe didn’t find itself in a very tranquil and stable political state. Therefore, the creation of such and Empire promised to bring certain hegemony in the area that would unite the people and organize them, in some way or another. At the same time, the Holy Roman Empire is considered to be the counterpart of the Catholic Church; if the church held the spiritual power on earth, then the Empire represented a secular back-up that would ensure the endurance of the Church. So, The Holy Roman Empire stands as a concerted endeavor by the Catholic Church and Christian kings to restore in their own image the crumbled remains of the secular achievements of the ancient pagan Roman Empire. So, it is traditionally believed that the Holy Roman Empire was established in 800 A.D. by Charlemagne, who was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III and the name of Holy Roman Empire reflected Charlemagne’s claim that his empire was the successor to the Roman Empire and that this temporal power was augmented by his status as God’s principal vicar in the temporal realm (parallel to the pope’s in the spiritual realm) http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1056077/the_rise_and_fall_of_the_holy_roman.html (Sexton). Works Cited The Bible Gateway. 15 May 2010 . Four Texts on Socrates: Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito and Aristophanes’ Clouds. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1984. Guilfoy, Kevin. "John of Salisbury." (2005): 1-8. "Philosophy and Religion in Western Thought - The Early Christian And Medieval Periods." Science Encyclopedia . 15 May 2010 . "Political philosophy." Absolute Astronomy. 15 May 2010 . "Pope St. Gregory VII." New Advent. 15 May 2010 . Sexton, Timothy. "The Rise and Fall of the Holy Roman Empire." 20 October 2008. Associated Content. 15 May 2010 . Streich, Michael. "Gregory VII, Henry IV & the Investiture Conflict." suite101. 15 May 2010 . "Thomas Aquinas: Political Philosophy." Internet Encyclopedia Of Philosophy. 15 May 2010 . Topping, Ryan. "The Idea of Christian Philosophy." 2001. Direction Journal. 14 May 2010 . Read More