BSA II
INTRODUCTION TO
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
WHAT IS
MEDIEVAL
PHILOSOPHY?
Medieval Philosophy
• Medieval Philosophy is the philosophy
in the era now known as the medieval
of the MIDDLE AGES, the period
roughly extending from the fall of the
Western Roma Empire in the fifth
century AD to the Renaissance in the
16th century.
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
01 - Essentially Monotheistic
02 - Theocentric in its character
03 - From the state of polytheism to the belief of one
and only God.
04 - God here is the center of man’s life
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
➢ During the decline of Greco-Roman civilization, Western philosophers turned their attention from
the scientific investigation of nature and the search for happiness in this world, to the problem of
salvation and life in another, better world.
➢ The torch of civilization is Western Europe was carried mainly by the Christian Church, where
taught were conducted under the context of Christian Doctrines.
➢ By the 3rd Century AD, Christianity had spread throughout the Roman Empire
➢ The religious teachings of the Gospel were combined by the Fathers of the church with many of the
philosophical concepts of the Greeks and Roman schools.
➢ Often called “Dark Ages”
DARK AGES
➢ It is a historical period emphasizing the cultural and
economic deterioration that occurred in Europe following
the decline of the Roma empire.
➢ The label employs traditional “light versus darkness” imagery
to contrast the “darkness” of the period with earlier and later
periods of “light” (middle Age)
➢ This period is characterized by relative scarcity of historical
and other written records at least for some areas of Europe,
rendering it obscure to historians.
CHALLENGED CHURCH AUTHORITY
• In the 16th century, various humanists begin to
ask dangerous questions
• The enlightenment allowed people to believe in
progress , to “think outside the box” and it led
to the rise of individualism.
MEDIEVAL
PHILOSOPHERS
ST. AUGUSTINE (354 – 430 C.E.)
● Uses aspects of Neoplatonism to understand, explain
Christianity
● He is a renowned theologian and profilia writer, he
was also a skilled preacher and rhetorician. He is one
of the Latin Fathers of the church.
● He regret that once he believed in Manichaeism
means taught an elaborate dualistic cosmology
describing the struggle between a good, spiritual
world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness.
● Began to study under St. Ambrose
● Became fascinated by intellectual nature of faith
● Was not baptized at first, because he didn’t want to
give up life of sin.
HOW DID ST. AUGUSTINE IMPACT THE WORLD?
● St. Augustine perhaps is the most significant Christian
thinker after St. Paul.
● He adopted classical thought to Christian teaching
and created a powerful theological system of lasting
influence.
● He also shaped the practice of biblical exegesis and
helped lay the foundation for much of medieval and
modern Christian thought.
HIS PHILOSOPHICAL BELIEFS
✓ The man with his strength does not exceed this vicious cycle of not being able to not want what cannot get.
✓ Only the Grace of Christ save us
✓ History is called original sin
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit “will convince the world concerning sin” (Jn 16:8) As I tried to
penetrate this words, I was led back to the opening pages of the book of genesis, to the event
known as “original sin”.
✓ Described the nature of this sin as follows – amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei. – self love to the point of
contempt for God.
✓ It was amor sui which drove our first parents toward that initial rebellion and then gave rise to the spread of sin
throughout human history.
✓ The Book of Genesis speaks of this “you will be like God knowing good and evil”, in other words, you yourselves will
decide what is good and what is evil.
✓ Man is not in general self-sufficient, marked by original sin: is called to communion with God in Christ.
✓ This non-self-sufficiency, is also seen in the field of knowledge. It’s Christ truth (as interior teacher, through
illumination).
ST. AUGUSTINE’S LEGACY
➢ He believed humans cannot experience true
happiness until they find God.
➢ His work centered around the notion that
everything in the world is basically good.
➢ He wrote many works over his lifetime
➢ He attempted to dispel heresy and
blasphemous ideologies.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
▪ An Italian-born monk who taught at the
University of Paris
▪ Born January 28, 1225 in Roccasecca, in
Sicily
▪ Died March 7, 1274 in Fassanova Sicily
▪ Taught that faith came first and greatly
expanded the scope of reason
▪ Major figure in scholasticism
AQUINAS DEVELOPED THE LIST OF THE FIVE DIVINE
QUALITIES
1. God is simple, without composition of parts, such as body and soul, or matter and form.
2. God is perfect, lacking nothing. That is, God is distinguished from other beings on account of
God’s compete actuality. Thomas defined God as the “Ipse Actus Essendi subsistens, subsistence of
being.
3. God is infinite. That is, God is not finite in the ways that created beings are physically,
intellectually, and emotionally limited. This infinity is to be distinguished from infinity of size,
and infinity of number.
4. God is immutable, incapable of change on the levels of God’s essence and character.
5. God is one, without diversification within God’s self. The unity of God is such that God’s
essence is the same as God’s existence. In Thomas’ words, in itself the proposition “God exist”
is necessarily true, for in it subject and predicate are the same.
ST. ANSELM
❑ Anselm’s motto is “faith seeking understanding” (fides
quaerens intellectum)
❑ St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033 – 1109 CE) was a
Christian philosopher.
❑ He was archbishop of Canterbury from the age of 60
until his death
THE ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
Anselm perhaps is most famous in developing ontological argument on the existence
of God.
1. God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.
2. It is greater to exist than to not exist
3. Therefore, God exist.
According to him, to one has faith no explanation is necessary. To one without faith no
explanation is possible.
BLAISE PASCAL
➢ Born June 19, 1623, Clermont, Ferrand, France and
died August 19, 1661, Paris
➢ French mathematician, physicist, religious
philosopher, and master of prose.
➢ He laid the foundation for the modern theory of
probabilities, formulated what came to be known as
Pascal’s principle of pressure, and propagated a
religious doctrine that taught the experience of God
through the heart rather than through reason.
BLAISE PASCAL
➢ The establishment of his principle of
intuitionism had an impact on such later
philosophers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and
Henri Bergson and also on the Existentialists.
➢ Blaise Pascal suggested that God is infinite
and eternal.
➢ Pascal applied elements of game theory to show
that belief in the Christian religion is
rational.
THANK YOU!!!
