Category: Western Philosophy
Western Philosophy explores the development of philosophical thought in Europe and the Western intellectual tradition. This section covers major philosophers, ideas, and debates from Ancient Greek philosophy to contemporary philosophy, including metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and political philosophy.
Augustine on Sin, Salvation, and the Human Condition — Love, Will, and the Right Order of Desire
These notes cover Augustine’s account of sin, salvation, and human condition: the lecture begins with the universal paradox — we know what is right; we cannot consistently do it — and the fact that both helplessness and responsibility are simultaneously true. Augustine’s three non-negotiable positions: God is not the source of evil; humans are genuinely…
Augustine on Free Will and Evil — Providence, Four Theories of Evil, and Divine Foreknowledge
Augustine on Free Will and Evil presents four theories of evil and answers Cicero’s challenge that divine foreknowledge destroys human moral freedom itself.
Augustine’s Concept of God — Immutability, Ex Nihilo Creation, Time, and the Great Chain of Being
Augustine’s concept of God is immutable, eternal, and creates ex nihilo — reframing Plato’s ultimate reality as a deeply personal, loving Creator instead.
Augustine’s Epistemology — Divine Illumination, the Cogito, and Why Reason Is Not Neutral
Augustine’s epistemology refutes scepticism with the Cogito, then grounds all certain knowledge in Divine Illumination — 1,200 years before Descartes.
Saint Augustine — Life, Works, and the Journey from Manichaeism to Medieval Philosophy
Saint Augustine’s seven-stage journey — from Cicero through Manichaeism to a garden conversion — shaped Christian philosophy for a thousand years after.
Heresy and Orthodoxy Explained — The Four Heresies That Founded Medieval Philosophy
Heresy and Orthodoxy explains the four controversies — Gnostic, Arian, Pelagian, Manichean — that forced medieval philosophy to confront free will and evil.
The Formation of Christianity — Saint Paul, Saint John, Logos, and the Movement to Institution
The Formation of Christianity traces Paul’s theology of grace, John’s Logos Christology, and the shift from Jesus’s movement into a fixed institution.
The Teachings of Jesus Explained — Intention, Compassion, Humility, and Comparison with Greek Philosophy
The Teachings of Jesus shift ethics from action to intention, replacing Greek self-control with compassion — and pride with humility as the highest virtue.
Jesus and Jewish History Explained — Studying Religious Philosophy, Abraham to the Messianic Expectation
The Evolution of Judaism from Abraham through Moses to the messianic hope explains the historical world Jesus was born into and later reformed from within.
Neoplatonism Explained — Plotinus, the One, Emanation, Mystery Cults, and the Classical to Medieval Shift
Neoplatonism and Plotinus explain reality as emanation from the One through Nous and Soul — a mystical bridge from Greek philosophy to Christianity itself.