AESTHETICS7resemble adoptionism; Christ is human
and divine insofar as Christ functions as
God in the world, revealing to all follow-
ers God the Father. On this view, Jesus’
human person and life is adopted by God
to represent or embody the Father’s love
and character in creation.
ADVAITA VEDANTA. Sanskrit, “non-
duality” + “end of the Vedas.” One of the
main schools of thought within Ortho-
dox Hinduism, Advaita Vedanta claims
that Brahman (God or the life-force) and
atman (the soul) are “not two.” Shankara
(c. 788–c. 820 CE) was its leading pro-
ponent. Hinduism includes substantial
teachings and philosophy other than
Advaita, but the Advaita tradition has
received the most philosophical attention
in the West. See also VEDANTA.
ADVENTITIOUS. An idea or concept is
adventitious when it comes to a person
from an external source. Descartes argued
that his idea of God as a perfect reality
had to have its source in God rather than
for it to have been created by him, an
imperfect, finite being. If Descartes is
correct, then some concepts derive their
meaning and origin from an external
reality. If the concept of God is adventi-
tious, it would be akin to the concept of
sunburn: you cannot have a sunburn
unless the burn was somehow caused by
the sun.
AENESIDEMUS OF CNOSSOS (1st
century BCE). A Greek skeptical philoso-
pher, Aenesidemus is most famous for his
Te n Tr o p e s (tropoi) or Modes of Skepticism.
These ten tropes consist of equally defen-
sible but inconsistent claims about facts.
Aenesidemus broke from the Academy
(while it was under Philo of Larissa) and
defended Pyrrhonism. His Pyrrhonian
Discourses influenced Sextus Empiricus.AESTHETICS. Originally from the
Greek, meaning “sensations,” and coined
first as referring to art in the eighteenth
century by the German philosopher,
Alexander Baumgarten, from “ästhetisch.”
Aesthetics includes philosophy of art, a
study of beauty and ugliness, and reflec-
tion on the emotive features of objects
or events; e.g., the elegant gesture or the
melancholy and wistful storm. Philoso-
phers and theologians have sometimes
argued for the congruence of beauty and
morality (Platonists), but others separate
them (some Kierkegaardians). Religious
experiences have been likened to the aes-
thetics of the sublime. A range of themes
in philosophical aesthetics have a bearing
in philosophy of religion: when does the
meaning of a work of art or a passage in
scripture depend upon the intention of
the artist or writer? Is there a test of time
that can be used in both art and religion
as a mark of authenticity, truth, or value?
What is the imagination? Does the imagi-
nation play a parallel role in creating art
and in religious thought?