7. Natural Beginnings of Philosophy and Following What Is Common

Subscribe in Podcast App | Download Transcript

Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Why Philosophy Must Begin from Natural Beginnings #

• Separating True from False: One goes back to the senses to verify true from false statements
• Verification Through Axioms: In geometry, when disputes arise over ’evil spots’ (places where parallel postulates fail), one returns to axioms: “The whole is more than the part,” “Something cannot both be and not be equal”
• Natural Beginning as Foundation: All judgment and separation of truth from falsity ultimately traces back to natural beginnings
• Four Reasons Emphasizing Nature’s Priority:
  1. Nature is wiser than human invention; human art imitates nature
  2. Nature is before artificial things both in time and being
  3. We acquire what is not natural through what is natural (e.g., tools through hands and reason)
  4. We must know what the end of philosophy is (determined by nature) to understand its order

The Natural Road and the End of Philosophy #

• Natural Road: Proceeds from effects toward causes, from sensing to memory to experience to art/science
• Direction Toward Wisdom: The natural road is inherently directed toward wisdom
• Wonder as Connection to God: Wonder unites man with God because it makes us seek causes, ultimately leading to the first cause (God)
• Order to the End: The order of parts to their end (e.g., chair parts ordered to sitting) explains all other order in things; philosophy’s end (knowledge of first causes) explains all philosophical order
• Chaos from Bad Beginnings: Without starting from natural beginnings, “the whole thing is cast into chaos”

Heraclitus on the Common World #

Fragment: “We should not act and speak like those asleep”

• The Asleep vs. The Waking: Those asleep are cut off from senses and follow imagination instead
• Private vs. Common Worlds:
  • For the waking: one world that is common
  • For the sleeping: each enters into his own private world (dreams)
  • Many private views can all be false; two plus two has one true answer but many false ones
• The Many and Private Wisdom: “Although reason is common to all, the many live as if having a private wisdom”
• Following the Common: “We ought to follow what is common”
• The Common and Law: As the city is strong in its law, so the life of the mind is impossible without common basis
• Natural Law as Divine Law: All human laws are fed by one divine law (natural law), which is “more than sufficient for all”

Why the Common Is Essential for Progress #

Teacher-Student Relationship:

• A good teacher takes things the student already knows and helps him put them together to see something new
• The teacher cannot fully lead the student forward without knowing those same things
• Teacher and student must have things common to both
• Example: Socrates and the slave boy—both shared knowledge of geometry; Socrates proceeded from what the slave boy knew
• Euclid leads students to new theorems through axioms, postulates, definitions, and previously learned theorems

Discussion Between Equals:

• Two people can say “you’re mistaken” based on private thinking indefinitely
• The only way forward is to find something both know and agree about
• From common ground, disagreement can be resolved by determining which position is true and which false
• Aristotle, disagreeing with Plato, returned to common understanding they both shared and reasoned from there

Scientific Method:

• Schrodinger’s principle: “The first and indispensable condition we demand of an experiment is that it be repeatable with the same results”
• If one scientist cannot duplicate another’s experiment, it is not considered valid science
• Repeatability makes the experiment common to all scientists
• Example: When Louis de Broglie proposed wave mechanics (initially mocked as “Comédie Francaise”), Einstein supported testing it; experiments were performed in laboratories and confirmed the theory
• Two scientists with different hypotheses resolve disagreement by finding an experiment both can perform, where each hypothesis predicts different results

The Natural Is Most Common #

• Nature vs. Non-Natural Things: The natural, customary, fashionable, chance events, and choice are all different
• Nothing More Common Than Natural: Nothing is more common than the natural
• Following Natural = Following Common: If you follow what is common, you must follow what is natural
• Private Philosophy as Idiocy: Those who do not follow the common have a “private philosophy” (ἴδιος = private, root of “idiot”); an idiot lives in his own private world, not the true world
• Modern Philosophy’s Problem: Modern philosophers give the impression philosophy could begin anywhere and end anywhere, as if nothing can be said about it

Dispositions Necessary for the Philosopher #

Natural Desires:

• Wonder: Natural desire to know causes for their own sake (beginning of philosophy)
• Desire to Live Well: Underlying natural desire for practical philosophy

Additional Dispositions of Will and Emotion:

• Love of Wisdom: Distinct from mere wonder (difference discussed but not detailed here)
• Humility: Essential because man naturally sees only a part of truth before the whole; pride causes boasting about seeing the whole when only a part is seen
  • Example: Karl Marx explaining everything by mode of production; undoubtedly some things are explained this way, but not everything
  • Boasting about partial truth as whole truth is source of disagreement
• Hope and Perseverance: Necessary to persist through difficulty in investigation (example: difficult discussion on soul’s immortality in Plato’s Phaedo)
• Fear of Being Mistaken: Fear essential for rigor; one’s principal passion should be fear (reference to Berquist’s teacher at Monsignor’s)
  • Fear ensures careful examination; can make one cautious to point of discouragement when young
  • Must be balanced with encouragement to read widely
• Mildness: Anger clouds vision and prevents genuine dialogue; anger often clouds understanding; next day, when calm, one sees the other person’s point

Why These Matter: By beginning philosophy from natural beginnings (especially natural desires), one is introduced to the whole question of what dispositions of will and emotion are necessary to be a good philosopher.

The Question of Other Natural Beginnings #

• Beyond Natural Desires: Are there other roads besides the natural road? Other dispositions beyond wonder and desire to live well?
• Statements Known to Themselves: Are there other statements known to themselves beyond axioms known by all men?
  • Example: “Is a perfect number a composite number?”
    • A perfect number is one equal to the sum of all its divisors
    • First perfect number: 6 (divisors: 1, 2, 3; sum = 6)
    • Four is not perfect (divisors: 1, 2; sum ≠ 4)
    • If you know what a perfect number is, it’s obvious it must be composite
    • This is per se notum (known to itself) by those learned in arithmetic, not by all men
  • Contrasts with axioms like “The whole is greater than the part,” known to all men
• Foundation of All Reason: Studying these natural beginnings introduces the general consideration of statements known to themselves as foundation of all reason and knowledge

Key Arguments #

The Central Argument for Natural Beginnings #

1. One separates true from false by returning to natural beginnings (senses, axioms)
2. These natural beginnings determine philosophy’s end (knowledge of first causes)
3. The end determines all other order in philosophy
4. Therefore, without natural beginnings, philosophy falls into chaos and one cannot distinguish true from false

The Argument for Following the Common #

1. Teacher cannot lead student without common ground: If teacher knows X and student doesn’t, teacher can only lead student from what both know to what teacher knows
2. Equals cannot resolve disagreement without common ground: Two people saying “you’re wrong, I’m right” indefinitely makes no progress; only finding common ground allows resolution
3. Science requires repeatable (common) experiments: Valid science requires experiments repeatable by all; private experiments are not science
4. Therefore: In teacher-student relationships, equal discussion, and scientific inquiry, progress requires following what is common
5. Corollary: Those departing from common ground have private philosophy, like men asleep in private dreams; disagreement is inevitable result

The Hierarchy of Knowledge #

1. Natural things precede artificial things in time and being
2. Artificial things are acquired through natural things (tools through hands)
3. What is not natural is acquired through what is natural
4. Therefore, one must acquire the rest of philosophy through what is natural
5. Even postulates are acquired through axioms
6. All knowledge follows the natural road

Important Definitions #

Natural (τὸ φύσει / per naturam) #

• What is by nature, not by custom, fashion, chance, or choice
• Prior to artificial things both in time and in being
• Wiser than human invention; nature is divine art put into things
• Source from which artificial things are acquired
• Everything commonly followed traces back to natural law as its source

The Common (τὸ κοινόν) #

• What is shared between multiple minds/people
• What can be known and agreed upon by multiple minds
• Basis for all genuine progress in knowledge (teaching, discussion, science)
• Opposed to the private (ἴδιος = idios, private; root of “idiot”)
• “Nothing is more common than the natural”

Natural Law (lex naturalis) #

• Divine law put into nature’s operations
• Source from which all human/civil laws are fed
• Governs “as far as it wishes” and is “more than sufficient for all”
• Examples: “Don’t murder,” “Don’t kill innocent life”
• Precedes and gives rise to artificial laws (e.g., speed limits)

Perfect Number (numerus perfectus) #

• A number equal to the sum of all its divisors (excluding the number itself)
• First perfect number: 6 (1 + 2 + 3 = 6)
• Not perfect: 4 (since 1 + 2 ≠ 4)
• Necessarily composite (measured by numbers other than itself)
• Known to itself by those learned in arithmetic, not by all men

Per Se Notum (Known to Itself) #

• By all men: Statements like “The whole is greater than the part” (cannot live without experiencing them)
• By the wise/learned in a science: Statements like “A perfect number is composite” (known by those learned in arithmetic)
• Both types are foundations of reason and knowledge, but differ in whose natural knowledge they are

Examples & Illustrations #

Sensing vs. Reason in Distinguishing Truth #

• Question: “Am I sitting or standing?”
• Sensing: Go back to senses to verify whether statement is true or false
• Geometry: When disputes arise about parallel postulates, return to axioms (“The whole is more than the part,” “Something cannot both be and not be equal/greater/not greater”)

Natural Things Precede Artificial #

• Tools: Man began by using a rock as hammer or implement, then gradually perfected tools, all through use of hands (natural)
• Language: Acquired by imitating mother, father, uncles, older brothers, teachers (all through natural imitative capacity)
• Custom and Fashion: Arise because man is by nature the most imitative of animals
• Imitation in Learning: Children imitate cat sounds, bird sounds, dog sounds, farm animals; man delights in imitations and learns through them

The Chair and Order to the End #

• Parts of Chair: Seat, legs, back
• Order Among Parts: The back joins the seat at a particular angle (neither acute nor obtuse)
• Order to the End: All parts are ordered to sitting (the end)
• Why This Angle?:
  • Acute angle → more back problems
  • Obtuse angle → person falls asleep
  • Slightly obtuse → comfort for extended sitting
• Principle: Order of parts among themselves is explained by order of all parts to their end
• Analogy: Basketball team’s order → winning the game; Army’s order → victory over enemy

Heraclitus’s Fragment on the Common #

• For the Waking: All awake at a table see they’re at the table (one common world)
• For the Sleeping: If all fell asleep, each might dream they’re in chapel, at home, etc. (many private worlds)
• Truth and Falsity: “Two plus two equals four” has one true answer but infinitely many false answers
• Implication: Following private understanding = following dreams/imagination, not reality

Socrates and the Slave Boy (Plato’s Meno) #

• Initial Mistake: Slave boy thinks doubling a square means doubling its sides
• Correction: Doubling sides gives square four times as big, not twice as big
• True Answer: The diagonal of the original square becomes the side of the doubled square
• Socratic Method: Socrates showed the boy was mistaken, then led him to truth
• Common Ground: Both Socrates and slave boy knew geometry basics; Socrates proceeded from slave boy’s own answers (what was common to both)
• Knowledge: Slave boy came to know through things he already knew (with Socrates’s guidance)

Euclid’s Geometry #

• New Theorem: Student doesn’t know some theorem Euclid knows
• Leading Forward: Euclid leads student through axioms, postulates, definitions, and previously proven theorems (all common to both)
• Coming to Know: Student comes to know the new theorem through things already known
• Example from Lecture: Berquist helped students see that a director had to bisect a circle (by connecting things they already knew)

Experimental Confirmation in Physics #

• Louis de Broglie’s Wave Mechanics:
  • Proposed radical new idea (wave-particle duality)
  • Initial reaction: mockery (“Comédie Francaise”)
  • Einstein’s Support: Had prestige to suggest it might have merit
  • Experimental Prediction: De Broglie’s theory predicted specific experimental outcomes
  • Laboratories: Experiments performed in full laboratories in New York
  • Result: Experiments confirmed the theory
• Repeatability Principle: Schrodinger emphasizes experiments must be repeatable with same results to be scientifically valid
• Two Disagreeing Scientists:
  • Scientist A has hypothesis predicting outcome X
  • Scientist B has hypothesis predicting outcome Y
  • Resolution: Conduct experiment both can observe
  • If results match X, A is right; if Y, B is right
  • Cannot simply assert “I’m right, you’re wrong” based on private thinking

Modern Philosophy’s Problem #

• Appearance: Reading different modern philosophers gives impression that philosophy could begin anywhere, go anywhere, end anywhere
• Reality: “You can’t say anything about it. It’s nothing, right?”
• Cause: Philosophers not following natural beginnings, hence not following common ground
• Result: Endless disagreement without resolution

Humility and Partial Truth #

• Karl Marx: Explained everything by the economic mode of production
• Partial Truth: Some things are explained by economic mode, some by sexual drive, etc.
• The Problem: Having seen a part of truth, Marx boasted he’d seen the whole
• Source of Disagreement: Pride causes philosophers to assert partial truths as complete truths
• Natural Fact: It’s natural for man to see a part of truth before seeing the whole

Questions Addressed #

How does one separate true from false in philosophy? #

Answer: One returns to natural beginnings—either to the senses (for sensible matters) or to axioms (for abstract matters). All verification traces back to natural starting points.

Why must philosophy follow natural beginnings? #

Answer: (1) Nature is wiser than human invention. (2) Philosophy’s end is determined by nature (knowledge of first causes). (3) The end determines all other order in philosophy. Without natural beginnings, philosophy falls into chaos.

What is the difference between following the common and the private? #

Answer: Those following the common world (like the waking) share one reality and can come to agreement through shared understanding. Those following the private (like dreamers) each have their own world, and disagreement is inevitable. Only the common allows resolution of disagreement.

How can a teacher lead a student to knowledge? #

Answer: By proceeding from things common to both (what the student already knows) and helping the student put them together to see something new. The teacher cannot demand blind belief; he must show the student through things the student already knows.

How do two people of equal knowledge resolve disagreement? #

Answer: They must find something they both know and agree about, then use it to decide which opinion is true and which false. Without common ground, assertions of “I’m right, you’re wrong” make no progress.

How do scientists validate competing hypotheses? #

Answer: Through repeatable experiments that both scientists can observe. Each hypothesis predicts different outcomes; the experiment that matches one prediction validates that hypothesis. Experiments must be repeatable by all scientists to count as valid science.

Why is humility necessary for philosophy? #

Answer: Man naturally sees only a part of truth before the whole. Pride causes him to boast he has seen the whole when he’s seen only a part. This boasting is the chief cause of disagreement among philosophers. Humility allows one to acknowledge what one does not yet understand.

What dispositions of will and emotion are necessary for philosophy? #

Answer: Wonder (natural desire to know causes), desire to live well, love of wisdom, humility, hope and perseverance, fear of being mistaken, and mildness. These are not mere additions to reason but necessary conditions for the philosopher to proceed rightly.

Are there statements known to themselves other than those known by all men? #

Answer: Yes. Statements like “A perfect number is composite” are known to themselves by those learned in arithmetic but not by all men. However, statements like “The whole is greater than the part” are known to all men and are the foundation on which scientific knowledge is built.