Great poll thinkers jan 13 1 Todovov biography Bulgarian refugee 2 exemplary story a story that uses examples examples that encapsulate exactly the point you re trying to get across provokes ethical imagination see things thru the eyes of the chacter you re reading about instead of from point A to B gives us passages jumps to connect the dotted lines 3 self other who am I who are you what is our relationship to each other and how should I treat you the way we describe the other helps us describe ourselves Christian sees another Christian as a brother in Christ the biggest challenge deciding that even though someone is different from me he she is still my equal Conquest War against the idols 1 Roman s question can how do we judge 2 What really IS judgment a Organizing sense experience b Developing categories c A poem d By principle murder experience judgment bad good The Conquest of America reading notes pg 1 50 i Inductive judgment Columbus treats the natives like specimens he is a naturalist and Columbus finds the natives to be part of the fauna o A species to which he can transmit religion The human connection Columbus and the natives do not share a common language By losing a shared language we believe that Columbus also loses context intentions emotions etc Sex seems to be one mutual relationship shared by natives and conquistadors Note Columbus does not have the mindset that he is travelling back in time There is a notion that as time progresses development does too o This creates the theory that in order to study humans at their most basic state people could visit the Americas and study the savages o This theory came after Columbus Columbus had a different mindset his continuum did not include progress it only centered around the returning of Christ our language both describes our emotions ideas feelings but also Great Political Thinkers Jan 29 Self other o Mother and child after birth two beings who were once the same are o Two people in love share a very similar world together o Friend groups see the world in the view of what is normal to you and now separate your friends o Self and other both interpret each other Subject and object o To be a subject means to interpret the world around you o Objects do not interpret the world o To objectify SOMEONE who has the ability to interpret the world as well means to not care how they think feel about you and your actions Sameness identity alterity difference o X Y o Columbus says Same equal Different unequal inferior 1 The Ur Question Columbus or Cortes a Communication Cortes WANTS to communicate Columbus does not i Does this mean that Columbus is bad Cortes is good As Cortes was the one who brought down an entire empire ii Not as many people are killed by Cortes as Columbus was responsible for but Cortes destroyed the entire Aztec empire iii Cortes communication iv Columbus no communication 2 Questions en Cortes a How does he communicate b Why does he communicate i Christianity as universalist a means ii Christianity as homelessness God is not an entity that controls you it is a means to your ends would you like your destruction to be Sahagun dialogue of voices wants to learn the language of the Indians Conquest of America Duran hybridization medley of voices Assimilation identity Self other Guerrero Dances with wolves Avatar pocahontas Great Political Thinkers War Against the Idols De Vaca we The birth of we 1 The situation in medieval Europe a Did Jesus carry a change purse If so does the Church get to be wealthy 2 Cultus Divorum worship of the Gods a Mircopolitics things that happen on an every day basis b c d Relics Immanence from within vs transcendence from without One mans religion is another mans idolatry 3 Defense of cultus divorum a The Church says that at the end of the day worship of specific Saints allows illiterate people to develop a relationship with God 4 Erasmus critique of cultus divorum a The Church is corrupt it drains money from poor people who need help b Erasmus i A proto rationalist he believes in the use of reason ii A humanist iii Translated the Bible into vernacular languages French Spanish from the Latin that most people could not read iv neo platonist the difference between the real world and the world of appearances Plato 1 Only people who have higher sense of education can see this realm of intellectualism 2 Real spiritual intellectual 3 Appearances material sensual v Distinguishes between the spiritual material when translating the Bible vi Erasmus wants to return to the purity of Christianity the spirit of the early Church same with Luther and Calvin 1 They want to smash relics like the cross as they are insults to the spiritualism of God c Material vs spiritual d Sensual vs intellectual e You are to have a deeper connection with God War Against the Idols Feb 12 1 The macro political a 4 conceptions of law i God s law we humans cannot know anything about this God is opaque to us according to the Church ii Revealed law through the Bible and through prophets we iii Natural law God endowed us naturally with certain capacities know what God s will is like reason and Free Will 1 The Church says that reason gives us a hierarchy being 1 God 2 The Church 3 King the body of Christ is the body of the Church is the body of Christians iv Positive law MAN MADE LAW criminal law commercial law civil law etc to break the positive law i We are fallen creatures beginning with Adam and Eve casting us out of paradise separating us from what is divine ii Luther wanted to spread his ideas to other places but he was deemed as a trouble maker 1 Approached many kings implying that they did not need to listen to the Catholic Church b Luther s Bargain i Wanted to go back to the very primitive Church at the basis of 2 3 critics of idolatry a Karlstadt Christianity 1 Fundamentalist 2 Revolutionary b Luther c Zwingli illiterate etc At this point most people could not read let alone read Latin o From this relics evolved for the function of giving religion to the At this point the Bible was the ultimate end all be all law o Therefore the Church shapes thinkers of the era the map of Europe o To fight the Church would be to fight the realm of ideas o To fight the Church peasants are your soldiers and they must convince the peasants to fight at the theological level so they started their own churches Karlstadt Luther and Zwingli wanted to appeal to the common people o At this time the printing press was becoming very popular o