5. Four Natural Beginnings of Philosophy

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Four Natural Beginnings of Philosophy #

Philosophy has four natural beginnings that must be understood in order:

Two Beginnings in Desire:

• Wonder (θαυμάζειν/thaumazein): The natural desire to know the cause for its own sake. Expressed through the questions “what?” and “why?” Exemplified by Democritus: “I would rather discover one cause than be master of the kingdom of Persians.”
• Natural desire to live well: The desire not merely to live but to live well. This grounds practical philosophy (ethics, domestic philosophy, political philosophy).

Two Beginnings in Knowledge:

• The natural road (ὁδός/hodos): The order of knowing proceeding from senses into reason, involving a before-and-after in both kinds of knowing and in things as known.
• Natural understanding of axioms: Self-evident statements known naturally by all humans without proof, such as “the whole is greater than the part” and “something cannot both be and not be.”

The Natural Road: Order of Knowing #

Berquist outlines the progression of knowledge from sensation to wisdom:

1. Sensing - Direct perception through the five senses
2. Memory - Retention of what has been sensed
3. Experience - Collection of many memories of the same sort of thing
4. Knowledge of universals - Recognition of what is common to many individual sensations
5. Natural understanding - Grasping of basic axioms and universals
6. Reasoned-out knowledge (ἐπιστήμη/episteme) - Demonstrated knowledge in various sciences (geometry, arithmetic, natural philosophy, ethics, etc.)
7. Wisdom - Knowledge of first causes and immaterial things

The Order in Which Different Things Are Known #

Three ascending levels establish what is known before what:

1. Sensible before Insensible

• Material things are known before immaterial things
• This is why natural philosophy (study of material things) comes before wisdom (study of immaterial things)

2. Effects before Causes

• The senses readily perceive effects but struggle to discern causes
• Example: Day and night are known to all, yet the cause (geocentric vs. heliocentric models) was historically debated
• Example: Alcohol’s effects are experienced, but the chemical reason why it has these effects remains hidden
• Every question “why?” signals that we know the effect but seek the cause
• Newton himself maintained “I don’t know why stones fall to the ground,” yet is popularly credited with discovering gravity

3. Composed before Simple

• Complex things are known before simple things
• God, being the simplest thing, is known last in the order of learning
• In mathematics, simple entities (point, line, surface) are defined by negation of composed things (body)
  • Body: has length, width, and depth
  • Surface: has length and width, but no depth
  • Line: has length, but no width or depth
  • Point: has position but neither length, width, nor depth (defined as “that which has no parts”)

The Same Thing Known in Different Ways #

Singular before Universal

• A thing is singular when sensed; it is universal when understood (Boethius)
• Example: A child first perceives “this chair” and “that chair” before grasping the universal definition of what a chair is
• The sensible properties come before the intelligible nature

Key Arguments #

Why Wisdom Comes Last #

Two interconnected reasons explain wisdom’s position at the end of the natural road:

1. Knowledge of causes comes after knowledge of effects: Since we know effects before causes, and wisdom is knowledge of the first cause, wisdom necessarily comes at the end of our learning. If a cause has a cause, we know the first cause only after knowing all its effects.

2. Knowledge of immaterial things comes after knowledge of material things: Natural philosophy treats material things but defines them without concrete matter (using abstract extension). Wisdom treats immaterial things. If immaterial things did not exist, natural philosophy would itself be wisdom. Since wisdom concerns what transcends material nature, it comes after the study of material things.

The Simplicity Principle #

The cause tends to be simpler than the effect:

• God, the first cause, is the simplest thing that exists
• In physics, the most universal equations are the simplest
• Einstein: “Simple doesn’t mean easy” (complexity in understanding does not reflect simplicity in formulation)
• Yet we define the simple by the composed (a principle running through mathematics and theology)

Important Definitions #

Philosophy (μέθοδος/methodos): Knowledge over a road; ordered knowledge involving both the knowledge of a road to follow and the actual traversal of that road to reach episteme (reasoned-out knowledge).

Wonder (θαυμάζειν/thaumazein): The natural, disinterested desire to know the cause for its own sake, expressed fundamentally through the questions “what?” and “why?” It is a mark of the beginning of philosophical inquiry.

Axioms (ἀξιώματα/axiomata): Self-evident statements known through themselves by all humans without proof. They underlie all reasoned-out knowledge. Examples: “The whole is greater than the part,” “Something cannot both be and not be.” These are distinguished from postulates, which are private to particular sciences (e.g., “all right angles are equal” is a postulate of geometry).

Episteme (ἐπιστήμη/episteme): Reasoned-out knowledge or understanding; knowledge that has reached completion through demonstration and logical order. It is contrasted with inquiry (ζήτησις/zetesis) or investigation (ἱστορία/historia) at the beginning of learning.

The Natural Road (ὁδὸς φυσική/hodos physike): The order of knowing established by nature, proceeding from the senses through memory and experience to universal knowledge and ultimately to wisdom. It involves both a before-and-after in kinds of knowing and a before-and-after in things as known.

Examples & Illustrations #

Learning Universal Concepts #

• A child observes a dog in the yard (sensed singular)
• The next day, another dog appears (another singular)
• Gradually, through memory and experience of multiple dogs, the child forms experience
• One day, the child independently exclaims, “A dog!” recognizing a new individual as falling under the universal concept grasped from many particulars

Effects Known Before Causes #

• Day and night: Universally observed, yet the cause was historically contested between geocentric and heliocentric models
• Alcohol: Its effects on consciousness are directly experienced; the chemical explanation of why it produces these effects remains hidden from ordinary perception
• Tree growth: We observe that trees grow; the cause of growth is concealed from the senses
• Newton and gravity: Newton explicitly stated “I don’t know why stones fall to the ground.” Einstein, lecturing on Newton, admired in Newton his honest acknowledgment of what he did not know, rather than false claims of understanding. Newton himself compared himself to a child playing with seashells while the vast ocean of truth remains undiscovered.

Defining Simple Things #

• In geometry, the definition of a point (that which has no parts) negates the properties of what is composed (body, which has length, width, and depth)
• In theology, when proving God’s simplicity, we show God is not composed in any way—defining the simple through negation of the composed
• Even grammatically affirmative statements (“God is simple”) ultimately rest on negation of composition

Notable Quotes #

“A thing is singular when sensed, but universal when understood.” — Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy (quoted by Berquist)

“I would rather discover one cause than be master of the kingdom of Persians.” — Democritus

“I don’t know why stones fall to the ground.” — Isaac Newton (Newton’s own explicit statement, often misattributed as a discovery rather than an admission of ignorance)

“I seem to myself like a little boy playing with seashells on the seashore, with the whole vast ocean of truth laid out undiscovered.” — Isaac Newton

“Simple doesn’t mean easy.” — Albert Einstein (on the equations of relativity theory)

Questions Addressed #

Why Must One Enter Philosophy from Natural Beginnings? #

Berquist states the principle succinctly: “You should come into philosophy from its natural beginnings through the use of reason.”

Two fundamental reasons justify this principle:

1. Connection between beginning and order: Order is based on some beginning. Military hierarchies flow from a general; historical events are ordered from a beginning point (e.g., the birth of Christ in the Christian calendar). Since philosophy is ordered knowledge (methodos), it must begin from its natural beginnings. Without grasping the natural beginnings, one cannot properly understand the order of philosophical knowledge.

2. The beginning as seed: The beginning contains everything else in potential, like a seed. Although small in size, it is great in what it produces and determines. A wrong turn at the beginning leads to increasing divergence from the correct path—a principle Aristotle emphasizes: “Even a little mistake in the beginning is a great one in the end.”

What Are the Natural Beginnings of Philosophy? #

Two in desire; two in knowledge (as outlined above).

How Do Axioms Function in Knowledge? #

Axioms are statements known through themselves by all humans. They are not proven by other statements but rather underlie all reasoned-out knowledge. If one understood nothing before reasoning, one would have nothing to reason from; therefore, certain statements must be known naturally before reason proceeds. These form the foundation of all demonstration.

Example: In geometry, the postulate “all right angles are equal” presupposes the axiom “the whole is greater than the part.” Without axioms, no science could proceed.