Richard E. Rubenstein
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
The Importance of Aristotle 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
This book presents that the thesis that the Renaissance and eventually the Enlightenment in the Western World was brought out by a rebirth of appreciation for and understanding of Aristotelian philosophy.
In this book you will learn about Thomas Aquinas' intellectual efforts to persuade his contemporaries that reason (i.e., Aristotelian thought) is absolutely essential to discovering both understanding the universe and discovering moral truths. This was a revolutionary idea for the time of Aquinas, which was dominated by men of faith who were vehemently hostile towards reason.
From reading this book, you will also learn about Pelagius and his disputes with Saint Augustine. Pelagius believed that man could gain God's graces by his efforts and therefore *deserve* God's acceptance. Saint Augustine strongly disagreed. You will also learn about the courageously heretical thinking of Peter Abelard who condemned the idea of inherited sin. This too, was antipodal to Saint Augustine's doctrine of Original Sin as well as the idea that all Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. In this book, you will also learn about Thomas Magnus (the great teacher of Thomas Aquinas), the mendicant orders of monks and the extent to which Aristotelian philosophy became so pervasive in European universities during the Renaissance where he was simply referred to as "The Philosopher."
Although I loved this book, I will list a few complaints for the purpose of construction discussion. First, I perceived that this book does not spend enough time discussing the Muslim scholars such as Averroes and Avicenna who, to my understanding, were influential in spreading Aristotelian thought in the near east and preventing his ideas from being lost forever. Second, I strongly disagree with Dr. Rubenstein's assertion that the Renaissance did not come about from the triumph of scientific reasoning and the marginalization of faith. This is precisely what happened. Although there is not enough room to justly argue this thesis here, I recommend examining the book The Closing of the Western Mind by Charles Freeman as an excellent complement to this book. Anyway, although the author ends the book arguing the above claim, this theme is not pervasive enough throughout the book to the extent that it detracts from the book as a whole.
In spite of the two aforementioned shortcomings, this book nevertheless is a must read for anyone interested in the intellectual history of reason in the Western World. I highly recommend it!
Editorial Review:
Europe was in the long slumber of the Middle Ages, the Roman Empire was in tatters, and the Greek language was all but forgotten, until a group of twelfth-century scholars rediscovered and translated the works of Aristotle. His ideas spread like wildfire across Europe, offering the scientific view that the natural world, including the soul of man, was a proper subject of study. The rediscovery of these ancient ideas sparked riots and heresy trials, caused major upheavals in the Catholic Church, and also set the stage for today's rift between reason and religion.
In Aristotle's Children, Richard Rubenstein transports us back in history, rendering the controversies of the Middle Ages lively and accessible-and allowing us to understand the philosophical ideas that are fundamental to modern thought.
