Medieval Philosophy refers to philosophy in Western Europe during the Middle Ages.[1] During those times, the center of philosophy were the questions about God and religion. The Middle Age refers to the period of European history from the end of the Roman Empire in Italy until the Renaissance, i.e. from the 5th century A.D. until the 15th. Philosophers during those time included Boethius, Anselm, Peter Abelard, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham and many others. During the 12th and 13th centuries, European philosophy was much influenced by the writings of Muslim philosophers including Avicenna (ibn Sina) and Averroes (ibn Rushd). Philosophy in the medieval style continued into the late seventeenth century. Descartes and Leibniz cannot be well understood without some knowledge of medieval thought.[2]
God, Man and Cosmos
God and Religion were the very center of the western philosophy during the medieval ages. The existence of God and the truth possessed by Christianity is greatly questioned. Christians were attacked literally by the pagans through their writings, trying to do everything to disprove Christianity. Christians were also persecuted by the pagans because of their being enemies of the state. That is why the believers of Christianity which are the Christians and the people who believed in God stood/arose and defended Christianity through philosophy. They used philosophy as means to support and prove that God really exists. Medieval philosophers have great contributions in philosophy especially in trying to prove the existence of God. Although they have different philosophies, their philosophies and views add options to us, people, in what view we would choose to look at God. Even though their philosophies may differ from one another, there is still truth-content in whatever view we would look at God. Aside from God as the center of medieval philosophy, the self and the world were also part of the said philosophy, trying to find out what’s their relationship with God.
The Relevance of Medieval Philosophy Today
Medieval Philosophy is important because it is the combination of the philosophies of ancient philosophers most especially that of Plato and Aristotle, combined to the philosophical insights and realizations of the medieval philosophers (e.g. Avicenna, Averroes, Dionysius, Anselm, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus and many others) which proves the existence of God and its relation to man and cosmos. It greatly supported Christianity (every philosopher- unique views). It is still relevant today because aside from theology, church doctrines and dogmas, medieval philosophy made stronger the foundations of Christianity. Because people during the middle ages were really critical and rational, they don’t immediately believe in God and Christianity. For them, believing means “giving up their intellectual freedom.” Their line of thinking goes this way “If I believe, it’s possible that what I believed in is not true, not rational. I would rather choose what’s rational.” Because of this, medieval philosophers tried their best to defend and explain Christianity through reason (faith seeking understanding). During those times, we can really see how reason would support matters about faith.
With all the advancements in the present world, and with the existence of many bodies of knowledge (e.g. Theology, Ecology, Anthropology, Cosmology, etc.), I can say that medieval philosophy is still relevant. Without it, we will just believe without even knowing some reasons behind what we believed in (God, Christianity). Of course not everything in faith can be supported by reason. Sometimes, where reason stops, faith begins, but, there are also matters of faith that can be supported by reason. To cite some examples: “God as Being” and “Thomas’ Five Ways in proving God’s Existence.” Even though we are now in the world wherein language is the focus of philosophy, and where technology is really upgrading to improve the world, we cannot still abandon medieval philosophy for the reason that it had contributed so much in Christianity. Abandoning Medieval Philosophy is abandoning the harmony of reason and faith in especially in explaining God.
[1] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
[2] http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au