Beginning Fragments #
Introductory Note to the Beginning Fragments #
foreword · Presocratics 01 Beginning Fragments - Notes · 3 pages · PDF · 01-Beginning_Fragments-Notes.pdf
Covers: Introduction to the earliest philosophical fragments: the Seven Wise Men, the Delphic exhortations ‘Know Thyself’ and ‘Nothing too much’, Heraclitus DK 116, and a preview of the order of topics (The Royal Fragment, what is common, beginnings of philosophy in desire and in reason, the roads and the first statement).
No recorded class was matched to this handout.
Know Thyself #
paper · Other 02 · 9 pages · PDF · 02-Know_Thyself.pdf
Covers: Essay unfolding the Delphic maxim “Know Thyself”: why self-knowledge is difficult (heart and mind), to whom it is addressed (man, especially his soul), and its importance; ends by raising the question of knowledge of what wisdom is in Aristotle.
(The description of what this handout covers was resolved with medium confidence.)
Read from in:
- Logic (2016) — 36. Reason Knowing Itself; The Second and Third Figures of the Syllogism (from 3:23) · p. 8
- Wisdom (2005) — 6. Metaphysics I, Proemium: Liberal Knowledge, Not a Human Possession, the Knowledge of God (from 29:14) · p. 2
- Wisdom (2005) — 34. Metaphysics Book 6, Part 1: Wisdom’s Subject, and How the Making, Doing and Looking Sciences Are Divided (from 56:12) · p. 3
- Prima Pars — 86. Sweet and Right: A Psalm Commentary on God’s Mercy and Justice, and Whether All Things Fall Under Providence (Summa I, Q.22 a.2) (from 1:02:46) · p. 4
- Prima Secundae — 128. Q52 A2–3: Habits Don’t Grow by Addition, the Four Kinds of Order, and Whether Every Act Strengthens a Habit (from 38:08) · p. 7
- Prima Secundae — 274. The Plan of the Summa Contra Gentiles and Divisions of Grace (Summa I-II, Q. 111, aa. 2-3) (from 5:59) · p. 7
Nothing Too Much #
paper · Presocratics 03 · 4 pages · PDF · 03-Nothing_Too_Much.pdf
Covers: Short essay by Berquist on the Delphic maxim ‘Nothing too much’ and its relation to ‘Know thyself’. It argues that self-knowledge is not the end of human knowledge, and it notes that modern thinkers such as Descartes demand too much certitude. It cites Cassirer, Aquinas and Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.
(The description of what this handout covers was resolved with medium confidence.)
Read from in:
- Love & Friendship — 16. Self-Love, Likeness, Time and Rootedness in Friendship: Shakespeare, Johnson and Irving (from 28:15) · p. 2
The Royal Fragment #
paper · Presocratics 04-Royal_Fragment · 27 pages · PDF · 04-Royal_Fragment.pdf
Covers: Berquist’s essay on Heraclitus’ Royal Fragment (DK 112): “Moderation is the greatest virtue and wisdom is to speak the truth and to act, according to nature, giving ear thereto.” He divides it into parts, explains why moderation is mentioned first, and concludes that form is more nature than matter and that reason is a nature, so the chief part of the fragment is true.
Read from in:
- Introduction to Philosophy & Logic (1999) — 23. The Art of Definition II: Substance and Accident, and How to Hunt Down a Definition (from 5:27) · p. 15
- Natural Hearing — 17. Anaxagoras on the Mind: Unlimited, Self-Ruling, and Separate (from 20:35) · p. 18
- Natural Hearing — 26. Contradiction and the Progress of Knowledge: Heraclitus, Aristotle and the Untying of Knots (from 28:16) · p. 20
- Natural Hearing — 27. Contradiction in Science and Theology: Planck, Bohr, Einstein, Augustine and Thomas, plus Q&A (from 16:43) · p. 20
- De Anima — 120. Summa I, Q.79 a.13: Conscience as an Act; Studiousness, Figures of Speech (Antonomasia, Synecdoche, Metonymy), and Emotions Ruled by Reason (from 30:37) · p. 1
- Wisdom (2005) — 2. The First Road in Our Knowledge: From Sensation and Memory to Experience and Art (from 35:09) · p. 16
- Wisdom (2005) — 7. Metaphysics I, Proemium: Wonder Fulfilled, Iris Daughter of Thaumas, and Learning from Predecessors (from 12:00) · p. 13
- Wisdom (2005) — 21. Metaphysics III, Reading 1: Tying and Untying the Knots — Doubting Well and How Discoveries Are Made (from 24:28) · p. 19
- Wisdom (2005) — 22. The Role of Contradiction in Discovery: Heraclitus, Planck, Bohr, Heisenberg, Einstein and Theology (from 26:20) · p. 20
- Wisdom (2005) — 24. Wisdom’s Questions About Substance and the Plan of the Third Reading: Is There a Cause Besides Matter? (from 22:07) · p. 1
- Wisdom (2006, Colorado) — 43. Tocqueville, Democratic Customs, and the Influence of Science on Descartes, Kant and Marx (from 48:04) · p. 1
- Wisdom (2006, Colorado) — 49. Doubting Well Before Understanding Well: Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Anaxagoras’s Nous, and Heraclitus’s Strife (from 9:19) · p. 18
- Prima Secundae — 167. Last Replies on the Twelve Fruits, Fruits vs. Works of the Flesh (Art. 4), and Is All Knowledge Good? (from 23:57) · p. 2
Follow the Common #
paper · Presocratics 05 · 14 pages · PDF · 05-Follow_the_Common.pdf
Covers: Berquist’s essay on Heraclitus’ fragments urging us to follow what is common (DK 73, 55, 89, 2), and how Aristotle follows this in seeking a common basis in Physics I and, failing that, a qualified common basis as in Eudemian Ethics I (1216b27-30).
Read from in:
- De Anima — 49. Phantasms and Understanding: Aristotle on Intellect, Mill on Higher Pleasures, and the Five Intellectual Virtues (from 13:28) · p. 11
- De Anima — 105. Summa Theologiae I, Q.79, Articles 3-4: The Agent Intellect, and Whether It Belongs to the Soul (from 56:58) · p. 6
- Prima Secundae — 265. Grace, Part 1 (ST I-II q.109 a.1): Can We Know Truth Without Grace? God as First Mover, and How Words Like ‘Act’ and ‘Motion’ Carry Over (from 5:13) · p. 6
Beginnings of Philosophy in the Will and Emotions #
reading · Presocratics 06 · 5 pages · PDF · 06-Beginnings_in_Desire.pdf
Covers: Collected Presocratic fragments (Democritus, Heraclitus, Empedocles, DK numbers) arranged under the beginnings of philosophy in desire: love of the beautiful, wonder, hope, fear of mistake, and humility.
(The description of what this handout covers was resolved with medium confidence.)
No recorded class was matched to this handout.
Dispositions of Desire Needed in the Pursuit of Wisdom #
paper · Presocratics 07 · 13 pages · PDF · 07-On_Desire_Beginnings.pdf
Covers: Essay on the dispositions of desire needed for pursuing wisdom, beginning with the remote disposition, love of the beautiful, illustrated with Presocratic fragments (Democritus, Heraclitus, Empedocles) and ending with the good student who gains other things from what he has learned (Aquinas’s earth metaphor).
(The description of what this handout covers was resolved with medium confidence.)
No recorded class was matched to this handout.
Beginnings of Philosophy in the Senses and Reason #
reading · Presocratics 08 · 9 pages · PDF · 08-Beginnings_in_Reason.pdf
Covers: Presocratic fragments (Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Parmenides) on the road from the senses into reason and objections to it; begins with ‘The Roads in Human Knowledge, the First Road: the road from the senses into reason’, then objections to the road from the senses (Parmenides DK 1).
(The description of what this handout covers was resolved with medium confidence.)
Read from in:
- Introduction to Philosophy & Logic (1999) — 6. Coming into Philosophy through Reason: Shakespeare’s Exhortation and the Ability for Discourse (from 5:01) · p. 3
- Natural Hearing — 26. Contradiction and the Progress of Knowledge: Heraclitus, Aristotle and the Untying of Knots (from 34:08) · p. 5
- Wisdom (2005) — 22. The Role of Contradiction in Discovery: Heraclitus, Planck, Bohr, Heisenberg, Einstein and Theology (from 8:32) · p. 5
The First Statement and King of Statements (Commentary on First Statement) #
note · Presocratics 10 · 3 pages · PDF · 10-Commentary_on_First_Statement.pdf
Covers: Berquist’s commentary on Parmenides’ fragments DK 5, DK 6, DK 3 and DK 4: the statement about contradiction as the beginning of Parmenides’ thought, the two roads to avoid, thinking and being as the same, and whether what is can be divided.
Read from in:
- Natural Hearing — 8. The Central Question of Philosophy: Plato, Aristotle, and Whether the Way We Know Is the Way Things Are (from 3:33) · p. 3
- Natural Hearing — 24. Modern Physics, Knowing by Making, and the Closed Circle of Man (from 48:52) · p. 3
- Natural Hearing — 25. Aristotle’s Physics I.11: Why Two Contraries Need a Third Thing · p. 3
- De Anima — 40. The Mind as the Place of Species: Universals, Truth and Understanding vs. Reason (from 8:16) · p. 3
- De Anima — 76. Replies to the Objections, the Central Question of Philosophy, and Thessalonians 5 and Psalm 99: Rejoice, Pray, Give Thanks (from 12:38) · p. 3
- De Anima — 93. Reply to Augustine and Plato: Truth Between Two Extremes, and Must We Know Things the Way They Are? (from 20:14) · p. 3
- De Anima — 119. Summa I, Q.79 a.12: Synderesis as the Natural Habit of Practical First Principles (reason as nature, Heraclitus on listening to reason, habit and power) (from 55:38) · p. 2
- De Anima — 120. Summa I, Q.79 a.13: Conscience as an Act; Studiousness, Figures of Speech (Antonomasia, Synecdoche, Metonymy), and Emotions Ruled by Reason · p. 2
- De Anima — 135. Summa I, q.84 a.1: Does the Soul Know Bodies Through the Understanding? Heraclitus, Plato’s Forms, and the Central Question of Philosophy (from 13:46) · p. 3
- De Anima — 139. Summa I q.84 a.6: Does Our Knowledge Come from the Senses? Democritus, Plato, and Aristotle’s Middle Way (from 45:10) · p. 3
- De Anima — 142. Summa I, Q.85 a.1, Replies: Two Kinds of Abstraction, Plato’s Error, and Common vs. Individual Matter (from 8:51) · p. 3
- Wisdom (2005) — 23. Metaphysics III, Second Reading: Which Causes Wisdom Studies, the Axioms, and Whether the Way We Know Must Be the Way Things Are (from 43:11) · p. 3
- Wisdom (2005) — 42. Metaphysics VIII, Reading 3 (Part 1): Form Compared with Plato’s Separate Species (from 40:47) · p. 3
- Wisdom (2006, Colorado) — 54. Wonder, Curiosity, and the Proemium: Q&A on Providence, Free Will, and the Central Question (from 36:18) · p. 3
- Prima Pars — 24. Summa I, Q.5: Is Good Prior to Being, and Is Every Being Good? (Arts. 2–3): Per Se vs. Per Accidens, Evil as Privation, First Matter and Mathematics (from 42:00) · p. 3
- Prima Pars — 53. Summa I, q.13, aa.10–12: Univocal, Equivocal and Analogous Names; ‘He Who Is’ as God’s Most Proper Name; Affirmative Statements About God (from 45:52) · p. 3
- Prima Pars — 58. Faith, Hope and Charity in Jude; Is God’s Knowledge Discursive? Is It the Cause of Things? (Summa I, q.14, aa.7–8) (from 58:00) · p. 3
- Prima Pars — 63. Summa I, Q.14, aa.14–15: God’s Knowledge of Statements and Why It Never Changes; Does Truth Require We Know Things as They Are? (from 42:52) · p. 3
- Prima Pars — 64. Summa I, Q.14 a.16 and Intro to Q.15: Is God’s Knowledge Looking (Speculative) or Practical? Plato’s Forms and Whether Truth Requires That the Way We Know Be the Way Things Are (from 33:16) · p. 3
- Prima Pars — 66. Summa I q.16 a.1: Is Truth in the Mind or in Things? (Doctors of the Church, Truth vs. Goodness, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth) (from 39:44) · p. 3
- Prima Pars — 113. Aquinas on the Trinity (Summa I, q.30 a.4 and q.31): ‘Person’ Shared by Three, the Word ‘Trinity’ and Saying ’the Father Alone’ (from 15:48) · p. 3
- Prima Secundae — 36. Summa I-II, Question 10, Articles 1–2: Does the Will Will Anything Naturally, and Is It Moved Necessarily by Its Object? (from 4:05) · p. 3
- Tertia Pars — 16. Summa III, Q.4, Arts. 4–6: Not Abstract Human Nature, Not All Individuals, but from Adam’s Stock (with a Digression on Universal Cause vs. Universal Predication) (from 24:01) · p. 3
- Tertia Pars — 110. Abstract and Concrete Names of God, and Why It Was Fitting for Christ to Die (Question 50, Articles 1–2) (from 18:20) · p. 3