Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Divine Presence In Bonaventure's The Journey of the Mind to God - College Paper

Divine Presence In Bonaventure's The Journey of the Mind to God

Bonaventure proposes that only through divine presence is the human mind capable of understanding the world. His argument, contained within Chapter Three of The Journey of the Mind to God, rests on two fundamental yet fallible presumptions: one, that God exists, and two, that the human mind is dependent on spiritual presence for knowledge, intellect, and understanding. Bonaventure also suggests that it is necessary to define all things as extensions of the divine; every substance or thought arises from a perfect, divine source. Moreover, Bonaventure polarizes the world into the perfect and the imperfect, with God at one end of the spectrum and material reality at the other. This indicates ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

broken down into its constituent elements; even human consciousness can be reduced to synaptic functioning if one's view is essentially materialistic. Even if divinity underlies all concrete and abstract matters, human knowledge can still progress independently of it. Therefore, while the human intellect is utterly dependent on an increasing generalization of terms, it is not dependent on any real or imaginary spiritual reality.
Correct in asserting that definition is a function of relationship, rather than on absolute truth, Bonaventure proceeds to contradict himself. On the one hand he acknowledges that understanding arises from the ability to arrive at more and more general terms to describe something. Yet on the other hand, the philosopher claims that no definition is possible without arriving at a specific definition of Being. Although "being" can be considered a general state, Bonaventure's notion of "being" is ultimately narrow and specific in nature because it implies the ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.


Already a member? Login


CITE THIS PAGE:

Divine Presence In Bonaventure's The Journey of the Mind to God. (2016, February 13). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Divine-Presence-Bonaventures-Journey-Mind-God/105429
"Divine Presence In Bonaventure's The Journey of the Mind to God." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 13 Feb. 2016. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Divine-Presence-Bonaventures-Journey-Mind-God/105429>
"Divine Presence In Bonaventure's The Journey of the Mind to God." Essayworld.com. February 13, 2016. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Divine-Presence-Bonaventures-Journey-Mind-God/105429.
"Divine Presence In Bonaventure's The Journey of the Mind to God." Essayworld.com. February 13, 2016. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Divine-Presence-Bonaventures-Journey-Mind-God/105429.
JOIN NOW
Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays


PAPER DETAILS
Added: 2/13/2016 06:52:40 AM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1231
Pages: 5

Save | Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS
Save and find your favorite essays easier

SIMILAR ESSAYS
» How Later School Start Times Ma...
» Oedipus Rex: Tragedy Of Fate
» Police Corruption
» A Comparison Of Early Civiliza
» Grapes Of Wrath And Of Mice And...
» The Crucible
» Nuclear Weapon Disarmament
» Dating: Bars, Clubs, And Person...
» Conrad Jarrett
» Tuesdays With Morrie
Copyright | Cancel | Contact Us

Copyright © 2024 Essayworld. All rights reserved