The Moyen-âge, which extends from the fall of the Roman Empire with the Renaissance, is also called medieval period.

The well-read men of the Middle Ages posed the intellectual bases of Christendom (the Occident in particular), either by the Latin heritage direct of the authors S, or by exchanges with the Islamic Civilization, which allowed the transmission of works of Aristote. The culpabilisation of Hebrew by medieval Christianity involves a setting with the variation of the thought of the Jewish Philosophie, stigmatized by an anguish with the Cabal. The occident thus develops its own thought.

Characteristics of medieval philosophy

Construction of the intellectual bases of the knowledge

The period of the Moyen-âge (the expression dates from the 19th century) suffers sometimes from an negative image, especially in Western Europe, due to the fact that European civilization, the Xe and 11th centuries (see An millet), showed an important delay compared to others Civilization S (Moslem, Chinese,…). One retains also images of intolerance.

The great invasions of the Ve century and 6th centuries, then to a lesser extent, after the Carolingian period , the invasions Viking, sarrazine and Hungarian woman (from 850 to approximately 920), were for much in the degradation of the countries which inherited the civilization of the old Roman empire of occident.

The appropriation by the Occident of the philosophical great systems of antiquity, initially especially Latin S, then more Greek, helped the Occident to establish the philosophical and intellectual bases knowledge, necessary to the development of civilization, on the plans as well artistic as scientific and technical.

During the the Middle Ages, this appropriation was quasi-exclusivement the fact of monk, humanistic with the clean direction of the term, which worked in Monastère S (scriptoria), then in urban schools and Université S.

One can thus distinguish very schematically two great periods:

The Early middle ages (Life century at the Xe century end)

For this period, the Occident was still very rural. The knowledge developed in the Monastère S, apart from the cities, under the rule of Saint Benoit who imposes the professional work (Benedictines, order of Cluny). The ancient authors were translated and retranscribed in the scriptoria of the Monastère S.

The monastic schools were the high place of the medieval knowledge. The libraries of the monasteries, very reduced for the eyes of our contemporaries (a few hundreds of works maximum), included/understood the principal authors of language Latin E. The Greek Philosophie was however not completely unknown, because one translated and one read already Plato (not yet Aristote), which had been transmitted via Plotin, Saint Augustin, Isidore of Seville,…

Bède Worthy the posed, at the 7th century, the bases of the Liberal arts, and particularly studied the Rhétorique and the Dialectique, starting from the Greek philosophers. At the court of Charlemagne, one read Plato, which was known entourage of the emperor (Alcuin). The top Moyen-âge thus saw opening out philosophers neoplatonician S like Jean Scot Erigène. This school will perdura until in low Moyen-âge (Saint Anselme…), then in the form of the Augustinisme.

The bases of philosophy rested then on systems of answers questions, resulting from the Dialectique, one of the seven Liberal arts. The Greek philosopher presocratic Zénon d' Élée (Eleatic school) is at the origin of the Dialectique, which was transmitted to us by the translations and transcriptions of Plato, by Plotin, and during the top Moyen-âge.

However, after the invasions Viking, the monasteries were disorganized, the rules were not observed any more, and several Liberal arts was not taught any more: the Dialectical precisely, and four disciplines of the quadrivium (algebra, geometry, astronomy, music).

It was the monk Gerbert d' Aurillac who, about years 970, widens the bases of the medieval culture, in particular starting from the philosophy of Aristote. At the time of a two years stay in Catalonia, in a monastery not far from Barcelona, it enriches its culture by learning works from Aristote, and sciences (mathematical, astronomy), thanks to the exchanges with the Moslems then established in most of Spain. Called with Rheims by Adalbéron, Gerbert d' Aurillac introduced the Dialectique and quadrivium at the school cathedral of Rheims: in particular the algebra (Arab numerals). Gerbert had a very clear idea of the classification of the Philosophie. It became Pape under the name of Sylvestre II (the Pape of the An millet was French).

The low Middle Ages (XIe in XVe century)

A new period of translation of works of Aristote started at the 11th century. Then it was necessary to wait the years 1120 to 1190 so that the translations are organized.

XIe century

XIe century is marked by the increased importance of the Dialectique in the studies and the combat between dialecticians and anti-dialecticians. The dialecticians think that by the recourse to the Logique of Aristote, a rational explanation of the Christian mysteries is possible. The anti-dialecticians think on the contrary that the dialectical risk to dissolve the mysteries of the Christian religion and are in favor of the faith and of the absolute authority of the Pères of the Church and the Concile S. the imposing work of Anselme of Canterbury dominates this time of groping over the reports/ratios of the Raison with the Foi.

XIIe century

XIIe century continues and amplifies the development of dialectical and sows the germs which ended in the Scolastique of XIIIe century. The Logical and the speculative Grammaire develop and become the instruments of the Théologie (see Alain of Lille). It is also in XIIe century that structure durably the quarrel of the universals around two antagonistic groups: Realistic S and nominalist. Of all his Masters, one hardly knows today than the names of Roscelin of Compiegne and Guillaume de Champeaux, the Masters of Abélard, the largest dialectician and the principal nominalist of the time.

The passion of logic is not the only mental activity of XIIe century. Two monastic schools divide the ground:

1°) the school of Chartres, resulting from Gerbert d' Aurillac via Fulbert (Bernard of Chartres, Gilbert of Porrée, Thierry of Chartres, Guillaume de Conches, Jean de Salisbury) works out a natural philosophy which accompanies the development by sciences and technology and will end up breaking the traditional framework of the Quadrivium .

2°) the school of Saint-Victor, founded in 1108 by Guillaume de Champeaux (Hugues of Saint-Victor, Richard of Saint-Victor) represents the current of the speculative mystic also represented side Cistercien by Bernard de Clairvaux and Guillaume of Saint-Thierry.

At the end of XIIe century, Henri Aristippe translates of the Greek book IV of Weather of Aristote, whose Gerard de Crémone had translated books I to II of Arabic into Latin. Alfred de Shareshel written of the gloses on this text and adds, by translating them of Arabic, three' chapters' new with this treaty: it is mineralibus of Avicenne. Science aristotelician makes her entry in Occident thus. (VoirJames K. OTTE, Alfred off Suareshel' S Commentary one the Meteora off Aristotle, 1988).

The foundation of its schools opens the way with the foundation of the Université S (Bologna oldest, followed Paris and Oxford) which will open out in XIIIe century.

The first sums of sentences are written and present in manner ordered the various doctrines of the fathers of the Church and of the Concile S. One of them, Pierre Lombard, writes a Liber of Sentencia which will be used as bottom|E with the teaching of theology until the end of the Middle Ages. This concern of organizing the systematic theology of manner is the direct source of the theological sums of the next century.

The moitiée second of XIIe century sees to start a vast movement of translation which starts from Tolède, reconquered by the Christians. From there, then Italy leave the schools of translators who place at the disposal of the Christian world in addition to religious texts (Pierre Worthy the translates the Coran) and scientists (works of geometry and algebra, Almageste of Ptolémée), of many philosophical works: Gerard de Crémone translated Aristote (1140/1142), Alexandre d' Aphrodise, the Liber of Causis (a compilation of Proclus allotted by Arabic to Aristote), of the treaties of Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi. Gondisalvi translated Avicenne, Al-Ghazali and Solomon Ibn Gabirol… His translations which often are not first hand, however introduce in occident the vast one running of the Arab aristotelism reconsidered into a neo-platonist spirit.

XIIIe century

The diffusion of the philosophy of Aristote then gave birth to a new philosophical method: the Scholastic. This one rested on a whole of works of Aristote, gradually gathered, by Thomas d' Aquin and other philosophers of the university of Paris (Albert Large the). Classification included/understood several units: logic ( Organon ), ethics ( ethical in Nicomaque ), metaphysics (regrouping of fourteen books of Aristote), the policy, the poetic one,… However, the assimilation of the integral corpus of Aristote does not go without posing a difficult problem. It is indeed about the first philosophical corpus where it was clearly impossible to find the least reference to the Christian beliefs. However, in the middle of the century, the incorporation of the aristotelism to the Christianity, which seemed an impossible task, is carried out thanks to the gigantic synthesis Thomiste. If the Dominican current adopts it quickly, a fort running francicain the rejete and remains faithful to Augustin (Saint Bonaventure), while others turn to Avicenne or Averroès (Siger of the Brabant). The rough intellectual fights which are followed from there lead to the judgment in 1277 of 219 aristotelicians proposals and averroïstes by the évèque one of Paris. Teaching thomist is suspended until in 1285 while a vigorous opposition to the Thomisme is organized. It is of this opposition that new schools will emerge at the beginning of XIVe century, resulting from the Masters franciscains: Duns Scot and Guillaume d' Ockham.

Assessment of the scholastic
The evolution compared to the former period held with a higher degree of dialog compared to the Liberal arts which remained taught: the Dialectique was enriched by the Logique aristotelician, which brought very advanced bases and concepts of Raisonnement. She allowed positions and philosophical systems competitor or contradictory to start to dialog the ones with the others, for a reconciliation. This method was at the base of logic known as general. It rested on Inférence S, which were not only logical Déduction S (logical mathematics).

This belief is true the gasoline of the philosophical design according to Aristote, which was closely associated with the philosophy scholastic of bottom Moyen-âge.

Thanks to the debates aristotelicians of the XIIe and 13th century, medieval philosophy made it possible the Occident to make up for intellectual lost time which it had accumulated compared to the Islamic Civilization. But especially, it leads to the subordination of the Philosophie which puts at the service theology and the rationalization of the Christian message.

XIVe/XVe centuries

As of the end of XIVe century, the scholastic marks time. The schools (albertists, thomists, scotists, nominalists, averroists…) remain and dispute but do not renew themselves.

In 1438, the Byzantine Gemiste Pléthon pushes Cosme de Médicis with the foundation of a Platonic Académie (1459) and in 1447, the University of Leuwen separates teaching from theology and philosophy. It is the end of medieval philosophy.

Critical of medieval philosophy

The decline was accentuated at the 16th century, and especially at the 17th century, when it became obvious that the method Scolastique placed her protagonists in withdrawal compared to the experimental observations of the Réalité S physics. In particular the business Galileo discredited the Scolastique, so that Descartes did not have of cease to criticize its former Masters and the philosophy of Aristote. Descartes produced its famous Cogito, and proposed a classification of the Connaissance mixing philosophy and sciences in the Principles of philosophy (1644).

Criticism reaches its culminating point at the 19th century, when Auguste Count denied any interest with the Métaphysique. Auguste Count was based on philosophies of the XVIIe and 18th century (Descartes, Hume, Condorcet,…), and limited its analysis of the older periods of the Histoire of philosophy to some critical of the scholastic at the 13th century (Roger Bacon). These contingent positions of the Positivisme comtien themselves were discredited thereafter by epistemological criticism .

These positions flashed back on the philosophy of Aristote, which was rejected on two points:

  • the Géocentrisme (Aristote retained the vision of the world of its time to the 5th century)
  • concept of movement, whose Aristote gave in fact an interpretation primarily to ethical vocation .

The majority of the handbooks of philosophy and Histoire of sciences in France eliminated Aristote until the Second world war approximately.

An always current philosophy?

Beyond some weaknesses on the experimental observation, and certain incomprehensible judgments with our eyes of the 21e century, medieval philosophy bequeathed us the intellectual bases of Western civilization, since it transmitted to us, with Islamic civilization, philosophies of the large thinkers of Antiquity (Plato, Aristote…). But it was not satisfied to introduce the Greek thought into Christian Europe and to acclimatize it to Christianity. By this confrontation, it had to find the solution of the relationship between the Raison and the Foi. This solution, now given up, consisted in subjecting the reason to the verdict of the faith, to subordinate philosophy to theology. This subordination, with the first access, seems a regression. Such was not however the case. While trying and by making a success of the synthesis of two forms of thought of different origin, medieval philosophy pushed the interrogation on the nature of the reason and the limits of rational knowledge well beyond the Greek thought. One could judge the result of this interrogation too verbal, too abstract and that he was unaware of the experimental method. It in less did not lead to the development of a Latin abstract which was one of the principal instrumants of the intellectual unification of Europe under the Christian banner. And if the result of this effort were quickly exceeded in the field of physics, such was not the case with regard to metaphysics and morals. The concepts of creation ex nihilo , of metaphysical and moral freedom, anybody, supernatural destination, unknown of the Greeks, entered revolutionized philosophy and one. Exit of the Middle Ages, they invaded the modern thought and of it let us be always largely tributary we. These ideas, it should be said, come ultimately from Christianity, but are not entirely reducible for him. This is why they fertilized, beyond the Scolastique, the Renaissance and modern times. Although the idea is discussed, medieval philosophy in occident is a Christian Philosophie, and it is that which makes its topicality.

List principal medieval philosophers

This list includes Christian philosophers as well as Moslem and Jewish. One also indicates translators of Greek works , Arabic, or Persan be in mathematics and astronomy.

See too

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