HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

[Aquinas, S. Summa Theologica. Complete English Edition in Five Volumes. Vol. 1. trans.
Fathers of the English Dominican Province (New York: Benziger Bros., 1948); Boethius, A. The
Consolation of Philosophy. trans. Watts, V. (London: Penguin Books.
1999); Reese, W. Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion. Eastern and Western Thought. (New
York: Humanity Books. 1996); Saranyana. History of Medieval Philosophy. (Manila: Sinag-Tala
Publishers, 1991); http://www.wikipedia-en/philosophy.com. 15 May 2012 at 19:15]
II. Introduction: Etymology and Origin of the Study
A. Division of the Medieval Age:
a. Transition Period. This is called the age of the Church Fathers or the Patristic Period
and coincides in the early centuries of the Christian era.
b. First Medieval Period. The reign of Charlemagne, the one who modified Liturgical
book and started formal schooling.
c. Second Medieval Period. Characterized by slow spiritual renewal.
d. Third Medieval Period. Highlights the rise of Scholasticism- the high point of
medieval philosophy- and of universities.
e. Fourth Medieval Period. Termed as the low-middle ages.
B. The term medieval which was first used by John Andrew Bussi in 1469 was associated
with the adjective “media tempestas”; “media aetas” and “media aerum”
C. Basically emphasizes the shift of the subject matter of philosophy, that is, from the
kosmos (world), in search for the Ur stoff, to Theos, God.
D. Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Western Europe and the Middle East during the
Middle Ages, roughly extending from the Christianization of the Roman Empire until the
Renaissance. Medieval philosophy is defined partly by the rediscovery and further
development of classical Greek and Hellenistic philosophy, and partly by the need to
address theological problems and to integrate the then widespread sacred doctrines of
Abrahamic religion (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) with secular learning. Some
problems discussed throughout this period are the relation of faith to reason, the existence
and unity of God, the object of theology and metaphysics, the problems of knowledge, of
universals, and of individuation.
III. Rationale

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 As man continues to seek for the Truth, by way of discursive reason, he arrived to his
speculative and contemplative way that there must be someone who is responsible for everything
that is happening in the world. Someone who is perfect, good and true must govern the universe.
With this, the discussion focuses on the different philosophical thought which evolved from
Patristic Period up to the time man accumulates knowledge by going to formal schooling during
the Scholastic Period.
-This will also deal with how the different philosophers proved the existence of the One who is
infinite and perfect.
IV. Content Proper.
1. From Heresy to Divine Illumination, a defense on the concept of God
a. The Patristic Period.
-This period refers to the Fathers of the Church whose teachings are centred on 1.
Orthodoxy (right doctrine); 2. Sanctity of Life; 3. Recognition or approval of the
Church; and 4. Antiquity.
-This period is very important for it marks the spread of faith while encountering
foreign cultures. They made people aware of the different philosophies in spreading
faith while enriching the concept of Philosophy.
-It begins with Marcianus Aristedes who is a philosopher from Athens who was
amazed of the arrangement of the world and held that all that is in there are moved by
the impulse of another and that which moves is more powerful than that which is
moved.
-He was followed by Justin, the Martyr who coined the term “demiurge”, a divine
craftsman who is responsible for the creation of everything.
-Irenaeus. He used an argument from design (order of the Universe) and universal
consent (belief in a particular creator) in proving God’s existence. Moreover,
according to Him, although the human mind can come to know God, it cannot
comprehend His totality.
b. Latin Apologists.
i. Tertullian. He used inductive argument (that is, from effect to the cause)
to prove that God is behind His work.

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 ii. St. Clement of Alexandria. He fought Gnosticism by using the formula
“Credo ut Intelligam” (believe in order to understand). He rejected any
real positive knowledge of God. We can only know God as what God is
not, known as via negativa.
iii. Origen. God is to be thought of as having a body. He is a simple
intellectual being. It is only through meditation that we can have a glance
of Him because we are bodily being. We can know Him through creation
which is material in nature.
c. St. Augustine of Hippo
i. On the Doctrine of Divine Illumination. God is like the Sun who
illumines and teaches us the Truth. We have knowledge of eternal and
immutable truths but it is hard to achieve them because our mind is
changeable and mutable, the same way as our senses are mutable and
deceivable. Our mind is enabled to perceive such truths under the action of
the Being who alone is necessary, changeless and eternal.
ii. Proofs of God’s Existence.
1. Proof from within. The existence of an eternal truth means the
existence of eternal truth.
2. Proof from external and corporeal world. Creation gives us a hint
of God’s existence.
3. Argument from universal consent. Men who used their reason
agree that there is an author behind the world.
4. Proof from the soul’s search for happiness. Happiness can be
found only in God. “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”
2. How can we know God? A Pseudo-Dionysian Approach (False name).
a. Boethius. To know and love God one must do and know certain things.
i. 2 aspects of knowing and loving God:
1. Theory-speculative
2. Practice-human activities
ii. The question of the universals and particular

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 1. Genera and species as well as other universals exist simultaneously
in the object and in the mind
2. Universal exists concretely or materially in things and abstractly or
immaterially in the mind
3. Universals exist in things and apart from them in the mind.
b. John Duns Scotus of Erigena.
i. The Four-Fold Division of Nature
1. Creat et non creatur (nature which creates and is not created).
Refers to God, the origin of all things.
2. Creatur et creat (nature which is created and creates). Refers to
Divine Ideas.
3. Creatur et non creat (nature which is created but doesn’t create).
Refers to the world of things, as we experience it.
4. Non creatur et non creat. Nature which is not created and does not
create. Refers to God as the goal and end of all things.
ii. This should lead us to the conclusion that God is the origin and end of all
things.
c. St. Anselm of Canterbury.
i. Proof of God Existence
1. There is something absolutely good and superior to all that exist.
2. The perfection of greatness is in Him.
3. Whatever exists, exist either through something or through nothing
and for him the latter is absurd.
4. There must be a perfection of a supreme and infinitive
ii. Proslogium (refer to the reviewer in Theodicy).
3. Islamic and Jewish Philosophy: a transmission of Greek works
a. Islamic Philosophy-became the bridge of Aristotelian Philosophy
i. Eastern Group
1. Alfarabi: 2 Arguments:
a. Things in this world are possibly moved by the First
Mover. They cannot move by their own.

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 b. Things in this world are contingent, so they do not exist by
themselves or in other words, their essence does not
involve their existence.
2. Avicenna
a. Whatever begins to be must have a cause. Things that
require a cause are possible beings. A cause which is also a
possible being must be caused by a prior being. These two
have a prior cause.
ii. Western Group
1. Averroes
a. For him, philosophy is higher than theology, and hence,
denies the doctrine of creation.
b. He rejected the real distinction between essence and
existence. The distinction is only logical and not real. The
logical is only for the purpose of analysis.
b. Jewish Philosophy.
i. Avicebron on the Hierarchy of Beings
1. God
2. Divine will
3. World soul
4. Pure spirits
5. Corporeal things
ii. Moises Maimonides
1. There is no conflict between philosophy and theology because
their range and content are not the same.
2. Doctrine of creation of the world is a religious belief.
3. The conflict between faith and reason is the result of two things:
a. Anthropomorphic language of religion, wherein we used
our own categories in understanding God.
b. Disorderly way which the problem of faith are approached.

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 4. With Avicenna, he accepted the theory of the agent intellect as the
source of the person’s substantive knowledge.
5. He anticipated three proofs of God’s existence of St. Thomas
Aquinas
a. God is the Prime Mover
b. God is a necessary being
c. God is the Primary cause
6. The goal of human life is to achieve his appropriate perfection
a. Perfection of possession
b. Perfection of bodily constitution and shape
c. Perfection Moral Virtues
d. Acquisition of rational virtues (knowledge of
intelligible/divine things).
4. Faith and reason combined in Scholastic Age
a. St. Albert the Great
i. We can reach the notion of the first cause through natural reason. This is
because an infinite chain of principia is impossible. Mind will dictate that
there must be a primum principium (first cause) of everything.
ii. Each man has a rational soul which forms each man. As a form, it must be
multiplied substantially.
b. St. Bonaventure
i. Proof of God’s Existence
1. Proof of a posteriori
a. If there is an ens ab alio, there is also an ens non ab alio (a
being which is from another and a being which is not from
another)
b. If there is an ens possibile, there is an ens necesasrium
(possible being and necessary being)
c. If there is an ens in potential (potential being), there is an
ens in actus (actual being)

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 d. If an ens mutabile exists (mutable), there must exist an
immutabile (change).
2. Proof from within
a. Everyone has a virtual (implicit) knowledge of God
because there can be no desire if there is no some
knowledge of the object.
b. Argument from knowledge of the self that leads to
knowledge of God, since man is a rational being who is
conscious about his self.
c. Argument of Perfection that we could be able to judge
things which are good, beautiful and perfect because there
must be a basis for all of these
d. He utilized the argument of Anselm that God is that than
nothing greater can be conceived of.
ii. St. Thomas Aquinas
1. The philosophy of Being. He followed Avicenna that being is that
which is first conceived by the human mind. Being is
simultaneously what is universal and most individual.
2. The three ways of the knowledge of God:
a. Via negativa
b. Via affirmativa
c. Via analogiae
3. Perfect happiness is God and human acts will be good if it will fit
the beatific vision which is being with God.
iii. John Duns Scotus
1. Intellect has the power to embrace both material and immaterial
things directly.
2. For him being is univocal and analogous. There is no
contradiction in saying that a unicorn is not.
iv. William of Ockham
1. There is no universal. It is just a term.

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2. Rejected all form of realism.