Religious and Philosophical Roots of the Modern World 1

(Cross-listed as MDVL 71.) Major religious and philosophical thinkers and concepts that played roles in the emergence of the modern world: Plato and Aristotle; Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scripture and theologians who merged their religions with the Greek tradition; the Ptolemaic universe and the Great Chain of Being. Medieval Jews, Christians, and Muslims saw themselves as having a privileged and objective place in a divinely-created and -ordered cosmos that was young, small, and centered on the earth.