The Golden Age Of Medieval Philosophy

The renaissance of the twelfth century was a revival of cultural and intellectual activity from 1050 to 1250. Guibert of Nogent’s autobiography, A Monk’s Confession: The Memoirs of Guibert of Nogent, and the prologue of Peter Abelard’s Sic et Non (“Yes and No”) are both products of this time period, having been written in 1115 and 1122, respectively. While Abelard’s text primarily focuses on applying reason to religious matters—a very renaissance thing to do—Guibert sheds light on a greater variety of affairs. Both documents indicate the strong faith that one would expect to find in people during this era of religious enthusiasm. Together, the documents paint an informative picture of the intellectual activity and culture of their times.

From 500CE until 1500CE was best known as the Medieval Ages. Medieval period began after the fall of the Roman Empire. In many parts of the Middle Ages significantly changed. Types of punishment and determination of guilt and innocence are examples of the continuity and change in the area of law and order.

The shift between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was characterized by great socio-economic, political, and religious changes. Politically, the feudal system of the Middle Ages was exchanged for a more stable centralized republic/monarchy system that gave the people more freedom and input. Religiously, secularism became more important as stability gave people a chance to concern themselves with the “here and now” rather than simply the “hereafter.” Socially, there was a shift from dogma and unshakeable belief to humanism and the ability to interpret things for oneself. The Middle Ages began around 400 CE and lasted until 1400 CE while the Renaissance began around 1200 and continued until 1600. The 200 years that overlap between

The Middle Ages occurred between the fall of Roman Empire and the fall of Constantinople (400-1500 C.E). Historians establish numerous attributes to give reasoning why the Middle Ages is believed to deserve multiple labels. This was a time of darkness that correlates with chaos, unorganization and violence. However, this was also a time when the adaptation of feudalism developed and prospered, and faith within the Catholic Church and other religions bloomed and expanded. The Middle Ages in Europe can be viewed as a Dark Age, an Age of Feudalism, and an Age of Faith.

In William Manchester’s “ A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age” He demonstrates the change in the "Dark Ages" from the dependence on religion to independent thinking. Ancient concepts were questioned and proven wrong after thousands of years, and the power of the what finally surpassed the authority of the Pope. Manchester expresses the transition within Europe from the Medieval Times to the Renaissance that included multiple changes in the intellectual, religious, and political aspects of life.

The Renaissance was an efflorescence of the arts and changes in many different areas such as political, social, economical, and cultural. It was the rebirth of art, literature, and learning in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from an agricultural to an urban society. The Renaissance ideals emphasized ideas of humanism and human achievement. Artists and writers used realistic techniques, such as perspective, and they believed man should be the subject of study, not God.

While Martin Luther reinforces Aquinas' concept of how the state with a virtuous ruler is required to preserve peace, punish the unjust, and restrained the wicked in society, he evolves the concept one step further. His central argument with regard to the concept of the state centers on the idea that there is truly a division between the Church (spiritual power) and secular authority even though both were needed and both complimented each other. More important, he vehemently argues that the Church had no domination over all matters that are temporal or earthly matters. He affirms this idea when says …"es preciso ditnguir claramente los dos regimens y conserver ambos: uno, para producer justicia, el otro, para mantener la paz externa e impeder las obras malas. Ninguno es suficiente en el mundo sin el otro." (Luther, De la Authoridad Secular: Hasta Que Punto Se Le Debe Obediencia (1523)

St. Thomas Aquinas takes many of Aristotle 's ideas from The Politics in order to create his idea of the best regime. He revisits the good and bad forms of each type of government Aristotle introduced, and then makes his decision that the best regime is a type of monarchy that he calls kingship. This decision stems from his definition of a king as "one who rules over the people of a city or province for the common good" (17).

The Middle Ages, often referred to as the Dark Ages, was regarded to be a time of despair, disease, and death. Just as the name the “Dark Ages” suggests, this period of European history seemed to be surrounded by darkness and hopelessness. Unfortunately, the majority of people only see this side of the Middle Ages when, in fact, the Middle Ages was a much more important era. Especially during the late Middle Ages, one can find a change in orthodox social structure, political instability mostly concerned with succession to the throne, and economic changes and how those changes went hand in hand with the change in society. After certain demographical changes and turning points such as the Hundred Years’ War, Europe began to transform

Medieval philosophy deals with the great attempts by Christian, Jewish, and Arab thinkers to synthesize their religious faiths with Greek and Roman philosophy.

The Medieval Ages that descended upon the Europeans following the deconstruction and devolution of the formerly grand institutions of the Roman Empire left a world darkened to the eyes of history. The world lost touch with simple concepts to a modern history student of writing, economy, culture, and government—the mainstay of that which we cannot see ourselves without—civilization. What was left of Europe was a state of chaos. In all other periods of human history I have studied there were similarities among them from which I could draw conclusions upon the condition of the respective times. The Text helped to give order to the progression of European history from the ancient to the modern drawing

The Medieval Era was a time dominated by belief. People lived with such great superstition and fear of God. Many people were focused not on their lives her on earth, but rather their life after death. During the Renaissance people became more humanistic and focused more on their lives in the moment rather than their afterlife. We can see these changes of Ideas by studying the works of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, and Caesarius of Heisterbach from the Medieval Era and compare it to the works of Marsilio Ficino, Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Desiderius Erasmus of the Renaissance period we can see

According to Aquinas the best form of Earthly government is the presence of a monarch within a state. Monarchies have power over everyone yet justice belongs to all equally. Aquinas’s position on the best earthly form of government derives from his strong position on natural law and moral value. Aquinas believes that a monarchy is the best-suited form of government because it is natural for one person to govern over others. He pushes the idea that a monarch should be wise and just within its approach to rule over the people. If power needed to be constrained Aquinas believed that a constitution would be ideal for diffusion of power within the state. A monarch would also be able to allow a separation between the state and church thus creating two different factors that allow for the common good to be constructed. A good monarch would facilitate survival of individuals within a community and make a conscious effort to promote the voice of the individual being. Aquinas justifies that any monarch that does not follow these basic principals is not flawed, but rather a reflection of the people. A bad monarch would be allowed to rule at the hands of Gods will and his disproval would never be recognized because a bad ruler a method of God communicating his disapproval of the people through the head of state. This ideology left the monarch, as a very powerful figure that could essentially rule without fault and no consequences would be held in his account.

Also called the middle ages, the medieval ages were influential in European history. It dates between the 5th and the 15th centuries of european history. The beginning of the period was marked by the collapse of Rome while its end was marked by the end of Renaissance. The Roman Empire’s fall bringing forth an idea of uniting Europe in what was called Christendom, this was based on the beliefs of the church. Features such as migration of people, invasions, population distribution, and deurbanization characterized this period. The medieval ages had three periods, which include the antiquity, the medieval periods, and the modern period, all of which exhibited different characteristics. The end of this period saw various challenges coming

The world’s fastest growing religion that originated in the Middle East may have a lot more in common with a philosopher from Ancient Greece than many may think. Although Islam came many years after Plato, and originated in a completely different part of the world, they have major key similarities. Some of these similarities include both of their views on the soul, Plato’s philosophy and Sharia (Islamic Law), and their view on the concept of moral absolutism. The astounding similarities will be discussed further in the following paragraphs.