8. Wisdom as Knowledge of God and the Beginning of Wonder

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Wisdom as Divine Knowledge in Two Senses #

• Wisdom is knowledge of God that operates in two distinct ways:
  • Knowledge about God (the object of knowledge: God as first cause)
  • Knowledge had by God (the subject having knowledge: God most of all)
• This parallels how we speak of “human knowledge”: knowledge had by humans and knowledge about human things
• The phrase captures both meanings simultaneously, creating precision in theological language
• Comparison: Just as “definition of reason” is knowledge of reason in both senses (knowledge had by reason about reason), and “De Anima” is knowledge of the soul in both senses, so wisdom is knowledge of God in both senses

The Humility Required for Wisdom #

• Heraclitus’s proportions: “As a child is to a man, so is man to God” and “As an ape is to a man, so is man to God”
  • Illustrate man’s vastly inferior position relative to divine wisdom
  • Show that calling man Homo sapiens (the wise ape) is only wise in comparison to apes, not in comparison to God
• Socratic wisdom: True wisdom consists in knowing that one doesn’t know, not in possessing knowledge
  • The oracle of Delphi proclaimed Socrates wisest because he alone recognized his ignorance
  • Others are “doubly ignorant”—they don’t know and don’t know that they don’t know
  • Socratic humility required admitting mistakes, exemplified by the slave boy in Plato’s Meno
• Aristotelian position: God alone is wise, or God most of all
  • Man cannot claim wisdom in any full sense; at best he is wise imperfectly
  • All great Greek philosophers agreed on this; only modern philosophers lack this humility
  • Pride, according to Thomas Aquinas, is “the mother of error”

Wonder as the Beginning of Philosophy #

• Wonder (θαῦμα, thaumazein) is the fundamental starting point of philosophy, not practical need
  • If philosophy began in hunger, it would have led to agriculture; in thirst, to well-digging
  • Wonder arises specifically when encountering what is contrary to expectation
• Two kinds of wonder (distinguished via analogy with curiosity and admiration):
  • Wonder as ignorance: Desire to know what you don’t know; disappears once you understand the cause (like hunger that disappears after eating)
  • Wonder as awe: Admiration of excellence arising from knowing something’s perfection; exemplified by God’s excellence compelling wonder even after knowledge
• The philomuthos (lover of myths/stories) resembles the philosopher in pursuing knowledge for its own sake, arousing wonder through narratives about universal human conditions
• Wonder eventually leads to seeking first causes, because if a cause has a cause, wonder drives inquiry toward the ultimate first cause

Wonder and Expectation #

• Wonder is aroused most powerfully when something occurs contrary to expectation
• Examples of the unexpected:
  • Einstein recognized this principle: wonder arises when reality contradicts what one expects
  • Euclid’s tangent theorem (Proposition 3, Book 3): A line tangent to a circle touches only at one point, and the angle between tangent and radius is smaller than any rectilineal angle—contrary to the expectation that a straight line could be drawn between them
  • Christ’s incarnation and death: “You wouldn’t expect God to become man and die for us”
  • Christ’s cry on the cross (Matthew 27:46): “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” arouses wonder at why God would allow His own son to suffer this way

The Role of Ambiguous Phrases in Logic #

• Aristotle discusses equivocation and logical fallacy in Sophistical Refutations
• The first two kinds of mistakes from words occur when:
  • A single word has more than one sense
  • A phrase (like “knowledge of God”) has more than one sense
• Error arises when someone conflates these senses without distinguishing them
• Example: “The definition of square is and is not a knowledge of reason”
  • It IS knowledge of reason in the sense that reason has this knowledge
  • It IS NOT knowledge of reason in the sense that it concerns reason itself (unlike the definition of reason, which is knowledge of reason in both senses)
• Proper philosophical discourse requires lifting up (distinguishing) these two senses to avoid contradiction

The Word of God #

• The phrase “Word of God” operates in two senses:
  • The Word of God as the Logos/Christ (what the Gospels are about)
  • God speaking in human language to us (the Bible as God’s communication)
• Vatican II recognizes the Gospels as the greatest books of Scripture because they reveal the Word made flesh
• Everything in Scripture either prepares the way for or builds upon the Gospels

Key Arguments #

The Proportional Structure of Wisdom #

• Wisdom is knowledge of the first cause
• The first cause is God
• Therefore, wisdom is knowledge of God
• What is most divine is most honorable/best
• Therefore, wisdom is the best and most honorable knowledge

Why Philosophy Begins in Wonder, Not Practical Need #

• If philosophical inquiry were motivated by bodily necessity or utility, it would be directed toward practical ends (agriculture, medicine, engineering)
• Instead, philosophy began in wonder—a desire to know for its own sake
• Wonder seeks understanding of causes, not practical application
• Therefore, philosophy is fundamentally contemplative (θεωρία, theoria), not practical

The Path from Wonder to First Cause #

• A man who wonders wants to know the cause
• If the cause has a cause, wonder drives him to seek that cause
• This recursive inquiry must terminate in something that has no cause
• That uncaused cause is the first cause
• The first cause is what all philosophers recognize as God
• Therefore, philosophy begun in wonder must end in wisdom—knowledge of the first cause, which is God

Why Wisdom is Divine Rather Than Human #

• The Greek philosophers (Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates, Aristotle) maintained that God alone is wise or most of all wise
• This reflects not mere rhetoric but genuine humility about human knowledge
• The modern philosophers’ pride that they are wiser than God is contrary to this ancient wisdom
• Ancient humility contributed to genuine progress in understanding; modern pride is “one of the main causes of their downfall”

Important Definitions #

Knowledge of God (τὸ γνῶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ) #

• Two senses of the phrase:
  • Objective genitive: Knowledge of God as the object known (knowledge about God)
  • Subjective genitive: Knowledge of God as the one who knows (knowledge had by God)
• Wisdom encompasses both senses simultaneously

Wonder (θαῦμα, thaumazein) #

• Wonder as ignorance: The desire to escape ignorance by knowing causes; fulfills its purpose upon understanding and disappears
• Wonder as awe: Admiration arising from apprehension of excellence; persists even with knowledge

Humility (Virtue) #

• Exemplified by the slave boy in Plato’s Meno: willingness to admit mistake and learn
• Prerequisite for genuine philosophical inquiry
• Contrasted with pride (superbia), which Thomas identifies as “the mother of error”

Homo sapiens #

• Latin: Homo = human being (or man-like creature); sapiens = wise
• Biologically, Homo can refer to any man-like creature (apes share genus Homo in biological classification)
• The designation “wise ape” is accurate in comparison to actual apes, but absurd in comparison to God

Examples & Illustrations #

Heraclitus’s Proportions #

• “As a child is to a man, so is man to God”
  • A child perceives the father as knowing everything; in reality, the father’s knowledge is limited
  • Similarly, man is like a child before God’s infinite wisdom
• “As an ape is to a man, so is man to God”
  • The ape is ugly and has inferior knowledge in comparison to man
  • Man bears the same relationship to God
• Both proportions serve to “put man in his place” through humility about human wisdom

Socratic Inquiry and the Oracle #

• The oracle at Delphi declared that no one is wiser than Socrates
• Socrates, recognizing his ignorance, investigated those with reputations for wisdom
• He discovered they claimed knowledge they didn’t possess and didn’t even know they were ignorant
• The oracle’s meaning: Socrates is wisest because he knows he doesn’t know; others don’t even know that they don’t know
• This exemplifies wisdom as recognition of one’s own ignorance rather than possession of knowledge

The Slave Boy (Plato’s Meno) #

• A slave boy, initially mistaken about doubling a square, admits his error
• His humility allows Socrates to teach him through further inquiry
• Other interlocutors, proud of their reputations, cannot learn
• The slave boy’s humility is the prerequisite for philosophy, mirroring Christ’s teaching: “Unless you become like a little child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”

The Definition of Square #

• Definition: “An equilateral and right-angled quadrilateral”
• Is this a knowledge of reason?
  • YES, in one sense: it is knowledge had by reason
  • NO, in another sense: it is not knowledge about reason itself
• Unlike the definition of reason (which is knowledge of reason in both senses), the definition of square concerns the square, not reason

Euclid’s Tangent Theorem (Proposition 3, Book 3) #

• A line tangent to a circle touches the circle at exactly one point
• The angle between the tangent and a radius (the “orange angle”) is smaller than any rectilineal angle
• This arouses wonder because:
  • One would expect that by making rectilineal angles smaller and smaller (like scissors closing), one could create an angle smaller than the orange angle
  • There is open space all the way down to the point of tangency, suggesting a straight line could be drawn between the tangent and radius
  • Yet Euclid proves this is impossible
• Berquist’s friend, initially skeptical, experienced wonder upon confronting this counterintuitive result

Christ’s Words on the Cross #

• Matthew 27:46: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
• This cry expresses wonder at an extraordinary divine action
• Explanations include: manifesting the reality of Christ’s suffering, revealing the profundity of the incarnation
• The cry itself arouses wonder: Why should God allow His own son to suffer in this way?

Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing #

• Beatrice, when certain that her cousin Hero is innocent of false accusations, declares: “I am as sure that she’s innocent as I have a soul”
• The phrasing assumes the soul’s existence as more certain than Hero’s innocence
• Yet most moderns don’t even think about what the soul is or understand it
• Shakespeare demonstrates that consciousness of the soul is essential; those who don’t think about the soul cannot understand it

Notable Quotes #

“As a child is to a man, so is man to God.” — Heraclitus

“As an ape is to a man, so is man to God.” — Heraclitus

“I know that I don’t know, but these guys don’t even know that they don’t know. They’re doubly ignorant.” — Socrates (paraphrased)

“God hates pride.” — Thomas Aquinas (Commentary on Matthew)

“Pride is the mother of error.” — Thomas Aquinas (Summa Contra Gentiles)

“It wasn’t a bad genealogy, the man who said that Iris is the offspring of Thalmas.” — Socrates (Plato’s Theaetetus)

“I’m as sure that she’s innocent as I have a soul.” — Beatrice (Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing)

Questions Addressed #

How Does the Phrase “Knowledge of God” Have Two Senses? #

• The genitive construction in Greek and Latin allows for two interpretations
• Objective genitive: Knowledge directed at God as object (knowledge about God)
• Subjective genitive: Knowledge possessed by God as subject (knowledge had by God)
• Wisdom, being the most divine knowledge, operates in both senses: it is knowledge about God and knowledge that God primarily has
• This parallels: “Definition of reason” (knowledge of reason in both senses), “De Anima” (knowledge of the soul in both senses)

Why Does Wonder Require Something Contrary to Expectation? #

• Mere ignorance alone does not arouse wonder; one must encounter something unexpected
• If something happens as expected (glass falling), ignorance of the mechanism doesn’t produce wonder
• But if something happens contrary to expectation (tangent line touching circle at one point), wonder is aroused
• This is why Einstein noted that wonder arises from encountering what contradicts expectation
• Therefore, the depth of wonder in philosophy arises not from complete ignorance but from the tension between expectation and reality

How Do We Avoid Equivocation When Using Ambiguous Phrases? #

• Aristotle identifies this as a chief source of logical error in Sophistical Refutations
• Solution: Lift up (distinguish) the two senses of the phrase
• Example: “Theology is and is not a knowledge of God” is not contradictory if we recognize it’s knowledge of God in one sense (about God) but not the other (had by God)
• Proper philosophical discourse requires explicitly noting when a phrase operates in different senses
• This prevents false contradictions and clarifies meaning

Why Should Philosophers Learn from Predecessors Rather Than Discover Everything Alone? #

• If predecessors have succeeded in finding causes, learning from them is more efficient and reflects greater wisdom
• Trying to discover everything alone from pride means:
  • Less knowledge (covers less ground, rediscovering what is already known)
  • More honor (being recognized as a discoverer)
• A true lover of wisdom (philosopher) prefers knowing more to being honored as an original discoverer
• This attitude reflects the humility essential to genuine philosophical inquiry

What Is the Relationship Between the Iris Genealogy and Philosophical Wonder? #

• Socrates states it’s not a “bad genealogy” to call Iris the offspring of Thalmas (wonder)
• Iris is both the messenger of the gods (uniting gods and men) and the rainbow (uniting heaven and earth)
• The genealogy suggests that wonder unites man with God through reason
• This is because:
  • Wonder drives inquiry toward first causes
  • Seeking first causes leads to seeking the ultimate first cause, which is God
  • Therefore, wonder—beginning in the human soul—unites the human mind with God through the chain of causes
• Plato may have included this passage to test whether students would wonder about it, thus proving themselves philosophers

Connections to Main Themes #

Connection to Ancient vs. Modern Philosophy #

• Ancient Greek philosophers: Maintained humility about human wisdom; recognized God (or the gods) as alone truly wise or most wise
• Modern philosophers: Possess pride that makes them believe they are wiser than God
• Berquist suggests this difference in humility is directly related to whether philosophers make genuine progress or fall into error
• Ancient humility was a prerequisite for discovering truth; modern pride is “one of the main causes of their downfall”

Connection to Theological Virtue #

• Thomas Aquinas’s teaching that “God hates pride” connects to the philosophical requirement of humility
• Pride is not merely a personal defect but actively impedes the pursuit of wisdom
• The example of Peter’s fall illustrates that even apostles must be humbled to learn mercy and recognize their weakness
• Therefore, humility is both a philosophical and theological virtue essential for approaching truth and God