Aaron Poelker's Journal: Section 3
1.One paragraph summary of the key idea summarizing the topic of the week. The key idea of the section is the difference between Theology and Philosophy. A simple definition of Theology is, “the exploration of and examination of one’s faith using reason.”(RB p.46). Although theologians are guided by reason this does not mean that they disregard the wonder and awe of religion. Without faith we can completely use theology to its fullest extent, “since faith entails a loving relationship with God, a person cannot theolo-gize about his or her faith unless he or she has faith in the first place.” (RB p.46). Another important idea is that anyone can be a theologian of their own faith, or the faith he or she is studying. To contrast theology we must look to philosophy. Philosophy is quite simply defined as, “love of wisdom.”(From the Greek words philia and sophia meaning “love” and “wisdom”) (RB p.48). Philosophers are not guided by any faith necessarily but rather just simple questions as to why we are here and where we came from. There are many different branches of philosophy including: metaphysics, moral philosophy, political philosophy, etc. It is also important to remember “anyone can be a philosopher who possesses a sense of wonder and curiosity, a rational intellect, and a willingness to use.” (RB p.49).
2. List and explain three of the most important ideas you want to remember from this week. Epistemology- “the study of knowledge itself.”(RB p.48). This word signifies to me that there are many different types of truths and brings me to wonder about what we are supposed to believe or who can we believe? We must search for the truth in everything and must be able to recognize falsehoods which will only happen if we search and search for the truth. Three kinds of knowing. The first way of knowing is very basic and it’s called experience. We gain knowledge by experience by using our five senses. It is the fact that we can gain knowledge by prior experiences. A second type of knowing is authority. Gaining knowledge by an authority is gaining knowledge from someone who claims to know what we personally do not know. It is knowledge based upon others’ past experiences and their ability to reciprocate that knowledge to you. The third type of knowledge is reason. Reason is adding two premisses together to form a conclusion. We all use reason. For example, I like the St. Louis Cardinals and I enjoy baseball, therefore I would enjoy watching the cardinals play. Aristotle’s natural law. Aristotle tells us that three kinds of good: bodily, external, and “goods of the soul. A bodily good would be our health and by using an external good such as water or food we replenish our bodily good. Goods of the soul would be our relationships with other people and our ability to have courage, integrity, prudence, etc.
3. One image of that reminds you of the topic. Attribute, link, your source.
Source: PBS
Source: human mind robert
4. One good question you should keep with you to ponder.
Am I choosing what I need as opposed to what i want?
5. What should you try to do to make you a better person, a more faithful person, from this study.
I think I need to personally examine what I am choosing in my life and is it helping me become a better person. I also need to work various other Aristotelian virtues and work on the “natural law” of my life. By doing all of these previously mentioned things I can be a more faithful person to my values in life and change or improve some maps I have made.
