C.S. Lewis, The Discarded Image, part 1
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- Опубликовано: 5 ноя 2024
- This is the first of three lectures on C.S. Lewis's final academic work, the 1964 Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature he titled 'The Discarded Image'. The 'image' to which it refers is the matrix of cultural assumptions of the Medieval period that form not only Western culture, but all the social relations of human nature.
The title is to a extent misleading. These cultural assumptions don't actually end in the Renaissance, they still undergird Western thinking up until the French Revolution.
So while the title might suggest a sudden loss, the image that is 'discarded' very much lingers until the mid-nineteenth century, at which point the scientific agenda of the 'conditioners' are applied to man in a fashion that rejects all sense of continuity. From that point onward, we are cultural orphans.
I “liked” this video right after you mentioned Jordan Peterson. He, and Lewis (mostly CSL) are my two great intellectual heroes.
Good heroes to have, however different they are.
I've read G.K. Chesterton argue that he thought the Protestant reformation could be understood as an Augustinian/Platonist rejection of Thomas Aquinas/Aristotilianism/scholasticism. (I'm thinking of his book on Thomas Aquinas.) Given Dr. Masson's comment on the protestant reformation understood as a pushback against neo-platonism, I'm curious A) if he's read and has a thought or response on Chesterton's idea, and B) in what particular ways did the Protestant Reformation push back against neo-platonism? Feedback welcome.
Dr. Masson's comment was made around the 34:00 mark.
I think that there is certainly a neo-Platonist movement in sixteenth-century England, especially in Cambridge, but I don't see the influence on Luther, Calvin, or the magisterial reformers. To reject Thomas and Aristotle (a common feature of humanism in general, not just Protestants) doesn't entail embracing neo-Platonism. The Reformation is a theological movement, not a philosophical movement.
But they certainly do favour Augustine among the Church Fathers.
In other words, I wonder if Chesterton even read the Reformers.
@@LitProf Thanks for taking the time to reply! I appreciate it!
Thank you for uploading this for public viewing. Keep up the fine work!
Thanks for your teaching!
I’m korean and progressing M.Div
C.S.Lewis is Romantic rationalist.
I want to know more and more his Logic and sensibility.
Thanks. Hope you find the videos helpful.
Regarding Chapter 1 the lecture does not cite the reason that CSL selected Aristotle's concept of earth, sky, and aether. The fact that CSL chose this concept is to relate the connection between it and various other concepts previously held by other writers, esp. Classical period authors.
Aristotle didn't invent this concept. He articulated the prevailing view of the ancient world.
@@LitProf Yes that is CSL's point. Thanks Dr. Masson for taking the time to respond to a novice in medieval lit. Your lectures may presume your audience has a certain foundation in medieval literature that I do not possess. Your patience will be appreciated as I work my way through my second reading of "The Discarded Image".
Not at all. Glad you are interested in the topic. It's a fascinating and important book.
What do I need to read to even begin to understand the backdrop of this book? I'm interested, but feel remarkably ignorant.
The book is the background to reading Medieval and Renaissance literature. My contention is that it also helps us read Lewis’s own work and understand his cast of mind.
If you want to speak with relevance to your own culture, you need to understand the past.
@@LitProf You have really opened the doors to what (and how much) we need to understand in order to understand the past. I'd be interested in your views on how modern "scientific" worldviews bias even scientific investigation, let alone understanding of philosophical and theological issues.
As an introduction to the I was expecting al least a statement of the purpose of the book. Based on the lecture one would think that his purpose was to discredit various theories of human development held by thinkers from antiquity to medieval times. The lecture is peppered with Dr. Masson's own theories of education. What is the "discarded image". I stopped lecture 1 at 47:55 and CSL's concept of the Model of the Universe is never mentioned. Perhaps I've misunderstood the purpose of the lecture.
If I recall correctly, I get to the model of the universe in the second lecture. There is a lot more more to The Discarded Image than cosmology.
If you have read The Discarded Image, the model of the universe comes half-way through the book. I deal with it in lecture 2 of 3.
1:15 Many people pointed out that in "Paradise Lost", which is peculiar poem to say the least, there is a scene when after fall of man, angels rearrange Solar system from geocentric to heliocentric (science latter question and nuance both of this models), which is very important thing when we ask about Milton and medieval world system. Also I think three times in Milton's work we here in similes about "Tuscan artist watching heaven" meaning Galileo, who he once met.
To be honest, "Paradise Lost" is one of the most bonkers works that I ever read. Building canons and throwing mountains at the end of war in heaven is the moment when it lost me totally.
It is the most brilliant poem in the English, and arguably of all.
@@LitProf In English, maybe. I will only argue that it is bonker (I can't find a better world).
3:00 I read it and from what I remember it is in fact quite short and easy to read book. But I understand that summarize it would take a time.
is this professor a Protestant?
Yes
Lewis died in 1963
Same day as JFK. Didn’t I say that?
@@LitProf at 0.22 you said Lewis died in 1964. It's not a big deal. It was a good lecture
When it comes to Christian and pagan this lecturer seems then in competition and assumes the Christian’s must always be right, not contrasting ideas but personalities . Thus makes nonsense of any rationality there might be here alas
It was not my intention to demonstrate the rectitude of Christian belief because I am summarizing Lewis’s book.
I am perfectly happy to give that demonstration, but it was not appropriate for this lecture.
But I make no apology for approaching the subject matter as a Christian and not feigning some sort of neutral perspective, in part because I don’t know what that is.
But I am very happy to argue that the world is rational and that our moral sensibilities are more or less objective, as Lewis himself does in The Abolition of Man.