Medieval Philosophy
Philosophy from Augustine (~400 CE) to the Renaissance (~1500). Faith meets reason — Scholasticism, Islamic Golden Age, and Jewish philosophy shaped the synthesis.
Sub-topics
Augustine (354-430 CE). Fused Neoplatonism with Christianity. Original sin, divine grace, the City of God. His Confessions invented autobiography. Dominated Western theology for a millennium.
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). Synthesized Aristotle with Christianity in the Summa Theologiae. Five Ways to prove God's existence. Natural law ethics. Faith and reason are compatible — the crowning achievement of Scholasticism.
The dominant method of medieval universities (11th-15th century). Rigorous dialectical reasoning applied to theological questions. Disputatio, quaestio, and commentary on authorities — especially Aristotle and the Bible.
Avicenna (980-1037 CE). Persian polymath — philosopher, physician, astronomer. His Canon of Medicine and The Cure shaped both Islamic and Latin philosophy. Essence-existence distinction. The Flying Man thought experiment.
Averroes (1126-1198 CE). The great Aristotelian commentator from Cordoba. Defended philosophy against al-Ghazali's attacks. His commentaries on Aristotle dominated European universities for centuries.
Moses Maimonides (1138-1204). Greatest medieval Jewish philosopher. Guide for the Perplexed reconciled Aristotelian philosophy with Jewish theology. Negative theology — God is known by what He is not.
William of Ockham (~1287-1347). Nominalist who denied the reality of universals. Ockham's Razor: 'Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.' His parsimony principle became foundational to modern science.
Meister Eckhart, Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, and others (~12th-15th century). Direct experience of the divine beyond rational theology. Influenced by Neoplatonism and Pseudo-Dionysius.