Medieval philosophy of history. Stages of development of philosophy of the Middle Ages

Medieval philosophy

Main characteristic medieval philosophy of Western Europe is relationship between religion and philosophy. Medieval philosophy was Christian in its intentions (goals) and was developed primarily by clergy (clergy). The Christian picture of the world, new ideas about God, man and causality had a decisive influence on medieval thought and set its main themes. This does not mean that in the Middle Ages thinking was dogmatically unified (uniform). The presence of different philosophical trends, the dispute between them, the discussion of their theses by church authorities indicate that thinking moved along paths culturally set by Christianity and independent of the church.

Depending on the tasks facing philosophical thought, as well as the main questions and answers to them, medieval philosophy is divided into two large stages: patristics (around the 2nd - 8th centuries) and scholasticism (8th - 15th centuries).

Despite the fact that the first period of development of medieval philosophy was patristics - chronologically coincides with the era of antiquity, in its themes it no longer belongs to ancient, but to medieval culture. The need to demarcate from ancient tradition, the desire to protect Christian teaching from paganism, and strengthen it with the help of ancient thought set the pathos of philosophizing of this time. The Fathers of the Church, whose works later came to be considered the conceptual basis of Christian teaching, solved the problem of the relationship between Christianity and the ancient philosophical heritage, using the language of the Neoplatonists. The latter led to the fact that in Christian teaching they noticed and brought to the fore ideas such as the dogma of the Trinity, the doctrine of the primacy of the soul over the body and the spiritual over the created.

The most significant and influential representative of Christian philosophy of the patristic era was Augustine Aurelius (354-430 AD). His works, permeated with Neoplatonism, are one of the main sources of medieval thought. In addition, his reflections on experience, consciousness and time already contain approaches that largely set the theme of philosophizing in the New Age and modernity.

Augustine offers his own solution to the question of the relationship between faith and knowledge, which is significant for the entire medieval tradition: in faith a person can develop his cognitive abilities, while knowledge confirms faith. The search for the prerequisites of knowledge leads Augustine to the conviction that knowledge is justified internal self-reliance of consciousness. In search of knowledge one should not go outside. By going deeper into oneself, a person will find supra-individual and timeless truths (for example, the idea of ​​unity, the idea of ​​equality, the principles of logic), the source of which is not sensory experience, but divine radiation (illumination).

Philosophy of the era of scholasticism

Scholasticism (from lat. school- school) arises as a rationalization of Christian doctrine. The goal of scholasticism is to streamline dogmatics and make it easy for “simpletons” (illiterate people) to understand. Philosophy was recognized as the main means of streamlining Christian dogma for the following reasons:

With the help of reason it is easier to penetrate the truths of faith;

By using philosophical arguments one can avoid criticism of sacred truths;

With the help of philosophy, it is possible to give religious truths a systematic form and create a completely demonstrative system of philosophical doctrine.

The ancient sources of scholastic thought are the Neoplatonic tradition, Augustine, Boethius. Later, the “rediscovered”, newly read works of Aristotle became normative.

Early scholasticism is associated with a revival of interest in knowledge. Thinking at this time was characterized by greater independence in posing questions.

Among the main problems of early scholasticism were the following:

Relationship of faith and knowledge;

The problem of universals;

Reconciliation of Aristotelian logic and other forms of knowledge;

Reconciliation of mysticism and religious experience.

The most famous thinker of early scholasticism - Anselm , archbishop Canterbury (1033-1109). According to Anselm, true thinking cannot contradict faith. The truths of faith are justified by natural reason. Faith, however, must precede reason. Anselm has an ontological proof existence of God.

Interest in the works of Boethius sparked controversy about universals. Do universal definitions, i.e. genera and species, correspond to reality in itself or do they exist only in thinking? This dispute led to the spread of the scholastic method and became the main topic of philosophizing for several centuries. Ultimately, three points of view were expressed in the discussion:

extreme realism, who argued (thus continuing Plato's line of philosophizing) that universals, i.e. genera and species, exist before things, as real entities;

extreme nominalism(from lat. nomen- name), who insisted (going back to the Stoic tradition) that the genera and ides exist after things, as common names;

moderate realism, which relied on the Aristotelian tradition - genera and species exist in the things themselves.

The rise of scholasticism (13th century) is associated with the emergence of universities. The creation and development of these higher educational institutions and the existence of qualified teachers led to the appearance of large systematic works.

The image of high scholasticism is formed by the reception (borrowing and adaptation) of Aristotle’s works, which occurred thanks to a new acquaintance with his texts through translations from Arabic, and then directly from Greek. The works of Aristotle, together with Arabic works about the philosopher himself, as well as commentaries on his works, are included in university circulation. The Arab Neoplatonic reception of Aristotle himself and the Neoplatonist provisions of the works attributed to Aristotle led to a pantheistic perception of the scientist. Church authorities opposed this understanding of Aristotle, even to the point of prohibiting reading and commenting on his works. But no thinker could do without the founder of new knowledge, Aristotle. Thus, the development of high scholasticism is marked by the “Aristotle controversy.” In this dispute, members of the Catholic orders opposed each other Franciscans Augustinian-oriented, and Dominicans Aristotelian orientation. In addition, in the scholastic tradition, the development of Neoplatonic, natural science and logical directions should be noted.

Aristotelianism, Neoplatonism and Augustianism merged together became the basis of the teachings of the great taxonomist of the Middle Ages Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), who made an influential attempt to streamline the connection between Aristotelianism and Christian philosophy.

Thomas gave his own answer to the question of the relationship between faith and reason. Faith and reason cannot contradict each other, since both come from God. Theology (theology) and philosophy cannot come to different conclusions. They differ, however, in their approaches: philosophy goes to God from created things, theology from God to the created world. God's revelation tells people only those truths that are necessary for their salvation. Consequently, there remains room for independent exploration of things that are not explained by revelation. Philosophy masters this space, providing and defending the foundations of faith.

The main idea Thomist(from lat. Thomas- Foma) ontologies is complete the order of all existence. Every being is given by God its position and its purpose in the order of being is determined. Everything created is characterized by a difference of being and essence. Only in God does his being coincide with his essence.

era late scholasticism can be described as the era of decline of medieval philosophizing. Nominalism criticized the metaphysical systems of the old schools, but did not provide new ideas. In the debate about the nature of general concepts, the old schools defended the position of moderate realism. They were represented by both the late Thomists (followers of the teachings of Thomas Aquinas) and the school Johann Duns Scotus (c. 1266-1308). Nominalism came to the idea of ​​removing the synthesis of faith and knowledge. English philosopher and ecclesiastical political writer William of Ockham (c. 1285-1349) suggested that the subject of real sciences is not the things themselves, but the terms of propositions as representatives of things.

The development of nominalism was accompanied by the flourishing of natural science, especially in Paris and Oxford. In addition, it should be noted that the development of scholasticism does not stop there. Despite the fact that modern European scholasticism Increasingly losing the continuity of the tradition, it continued to be developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in Spain and Italy, as a reaction to the Reformation and Renaissance. In the 19th century the so-called neoscholasticism.

“The Middle Ages” is usually called the longest period of development of Western Europe: the 5th century. (collapse of the Roman Empire) – XIV – beg. XV centuries

In the development of philosophy of the Middle Ages, several main stages can be distinguished:

1) apologetics- the period of creation of works by apologists (defenders) of Christianity, who set out the foundations of Christian doctrine. During this period, no philosophical systems were created, but a range of questions were outlined that became central in medieval philosophy: about God and the relationship between God and the world, about the creation of the world and the structure of the universe, about the essence of man and his place in the world;

2) patristics(V - IX centuries, the largest representatives - Gregory of Nyssa, A. Aurelius) - the creation of the teachings of the “Church Fathers” (Latin pater - father) - Christian thinkers who laid the foundations of religious philosophy. The main task of philosophy of this period was the systematization and interpretation of Christian doctrine, which was based on ancient philosophy, primarily the ideas of Plato;

3) scholasticism(literally from Latin “school philosophy”) (X - XV centuries, the largest representatives - Pierre Abelard, Albert the Great, F. Aquinas) - the period of dissemination of these teachings in the public consciousness and spiritual culture of society.

Characteristic features of medieval philosophy:

1)theocentrism– a philosophical principle according to which God is recognized as the highest reality - a supernatural and omnipotent force, which is the source and basis of all things;

2)speculative: philosophical thinking is based on abstract logical constructions not related to experimental data;

3) to reactionism– the idea of ​​the creation of the world by God out of nothing, which underlay medieval ontology;

4) idea of ​​revelation, i.e. knowledge of the world through the expression of the divine will through familiarization with the Christian doctrine, the study of Christian literature, which forms the basis of epistemology;

5) didacticism, i.e. edifying, instructive character;

6) exegesis– the art of interpreting religious texts.

3. Patristics. Philosophy of Augustine Aurelius (Blessed).

The most prominent representative of patristics is Augustine Aurelius (Blessed) (354 - 430).

Teaching about God and the world. God is seen by him as the beginning of all things, as the only reason for the emergence of things. God is eternal and unchanging, he is something permanent. The world of things created by God is changeable and remains in time. The world is a ladder where there is a higher (incorporeal and divine) and a lower (corporeal and material). Those. There is a hierarchy in the world - a rigid order established by God.

The doctrine of knowledge. The external, changeable world cannot be a source of truth; only the eternal, i.e., can be such. God. Knowledge of God should constitute the meaning and content of a person’s entire life. The truth can only be achieved through revelation. Thus, Augustine puts forward the thesis about the superiority of faith over reason (“ believe in order to understand" - the essence of Augustine's theory of knowledge). Reason comprehends the phenomena of the visible world, and faith leads to the awareness of the eternal.

The doctrine of the soul. According to Augustine, only man has a soul - this puts him above all living beings. The soul is immortal, it is incorporeal, immaterial and scattered throughout the body. Her most important abilities are reason, will and memory.

The problem of free will. Augustine developed the idea of ​​divine predestination. But there is good and evil in the world, so the question arises about the nature of evil. Augustine argued that God creates only good; evil is the absence of good and arises as a result of human activity, because. From birth, man is given free will.

Views on public life. Augustine views social inequality as a result of the fall of mankind and considers it the basic principle of the existence of society. The state must be theocratic in nature and serve the interests of the Church. Augustine presented the history of mankind as a struggle between two kingdoms - God's and earth's. The kingdom of God includes a smaller part of humanity - these are people who are sincere believers, living “according to the spirit.” The earthly city consists of people living “according to the flesh” (unbelievers, pagans). The representative of the city of God on earth is the church, therefore, its power is higher than secular.

4. Scholasticism. The teachings of Thomas Aquinas.

Scholasticism (“school philosophy”) sought to make Christian doctrine popular and accessible to the general public.

Philosophical thinking discussed here as a means to prove the truth of religious belief.

Thomas Aquinas. His teaching - Thomism - became the official doctrine of the Catholic Church for many years.

F. Aquinas focuses on the question of the relationship between faith and reason. He proposed an original solution to this issue, based on an understanding of the need to recognize the successes of science. According to F. Aquinas, science and religion differ in the method of obtaining truth. Science and its closely related philosophy are based on experience and reason, while religion is based on faith and seeks truth in revelation, in the Holy Scriptures. The task of science is to explain the patterns of the natural world and obtain reliable knowledge about it. But the mind is often mistaken, and the senses are misleading. Faith is more reliable and valuable than reason.

Religious dogmas cannot be proven by the human mind due to the limitations of its capabilities; they must be accepted on faith. However, a number of religious provisions require philosophical justification - not for the sake of confirming their truth, but for the sake of greater clarity. Thus, science and philosophy are needed to strengthen faith (“ know to believe"). An example of this approach is the system of proofs for the existence of God developed by F. Aquinas. He believes that the existence of God can be proven only indirectly - by studying the objects and phenomena created by him:

1) everything that moves has a source of movement, which means there is a primary source of movement - God;

2) every phenomenon has a cause, therefore, there is a root cause of all things and phenomena - God;

3) everything random depends on the necessary, which means that there is a first necessity - God;

4) in everything there are degrees of qualities, therefore, there must be the highest degree of perfection - God;

5) everything in the world has a goal, which means there is something that directs all things to the goal - God.

The significance of the teachings of F. Aquinas lies in the fact that he created a deeply thought-out religious and philosophical system in which an explanation was found for God, nature, and man.

Augustine the Blessed(Aurelius Augustine) (354 – 430). Main works:“About the City of God”, “About the Beautiful and Suitable”, “Against Academicians”, “About Order”.

Key ideas:

· The course of history is a struggle between two kingdoms - the sinful Earthly and the perfect Divine;

· The earthly kingdom is mired in sins and sooner or later will be defeated by the Divine;

· The Church is the only force capable of helping the world;

· The highest bliss is the deepening of a person into himself;

Thomas Aquinas(1225 – 1274). Main works:"Summa Theology", "Summa Philosophy".

Key ideas:

· Evidence of the existence of God;

· Reason and philosophy do not contradict faith, but faith is always higher than reason.

· Classification of forms of government;

· The goal of human life is to achieve heavenly bliss, and only the church can lead a person to this goal.

John Scott Eriugena(810 – 877). Main works:"On the division of nature." Main idea: God is the beginning and end of the development of the world, but he is also one of the types of nature. The doctrine was declared heresy and condemned.

Al Farabi(870-950). Main works:“Gems of Wisdom”, “Treatise on the Views of the Residents of a Virtuous City”, “The Big Book of Music”. Main idea: God is the root cause of the existence of the world (“The First Being”).

Avicenna(Ibn Sina) (980-1037). Main works:“Book of Healing”, “Book of Directions and Instructions”, “Book of Knowledge”, “Canon of Medical Science”. Main idea: God is the active, and matter is the passive principle of the world, but they are equally eternal principles of existence.

Pierre Abelard(1079-1142). Main works:"The Story of My Disasters."

Averroes(Ibn Rushd) (1126-1198). Main works:"Rebuttal of rebuttal." Main idea: The individual soul is mortal, only the universal human mind is immortal. Averroes' works were banned by the Catholic Church.

William of Ockham(1285-1350). Main works:"The Code of All Logic." Main idea: Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily (Occam's razor). Excommunicated from the church, teaching prohibited.

The meaning of medieval philosophy.

· Linked ancient philosophy and Renaissance philosophy;

· Preserved and managed to develop a number of ancient philosophical ideas;

· Contributed to the emergence of new sections in philosophy (epistemology);

· Divided idealism into objective and subjective;

· Aroused interest in understanding the historical process;

· Put forward the idea of ​​optimism (victory of good over evil and resurrection).

Outline of the lecture “Philosophy of the Renaissance and Modern Times.”

1. Philosophy of the Renaissance.

2. Empiricism and rationalism in modern European philosophy.

3. German classical philosophy.

Philosophy of the Renaissance.

Empiricism and rationalism in New European philosophy.

German classical philosophy.

Outline of the lecture “Modern philosophical teachings.”

Outline of the lecture “Being as a philosophical category”

1. Theological philosophy of the V-XV centuries. n. e.

2. Philosophy of Augustine the Blessed.

3. Arabic philosophy of the Middle Ages.

4. Nominalism and realism.

5. Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas.

1. Medieval theological (religious) philosophy is a system of teachings widespread in Europe in the 5th - 15th centuries, which recognized God as the highest principle, and the entire world around us as the creation of God. Religious philosophy began to emerge in the Roman Empire in the I-V centuries. AD based on the ideas of early Christianity, and reached its highest peak in the 5th -8th centuries. Significant contributions to medieval philosophy were made by: Tertullian of Carthage (160-220), Augustine the Blessed (354-430), Boethius (480-524), Albertus Magnus (1193-1280), Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Anselm of Canterbury (1033 -1109), Pierre Abelard (1079-1142), William of Ockham (1285-1349), etc.

Medieval philosophy is theocentric, i.e. the main cause of all things, the highest substance and the main subject of philosophical research was God. Philosophy was dominated by dogmas (truths that do not need proof) about God’s creation of everything and God’s revelation about Himself (in the Bible). Ideas were put forward about the resurrection of man from the dead (both soul and body) in the future with godly behavior, and about the salvation of humanity through the incarnation of God into the human body - Jesus Christ and his taking upon himself the sins of all mankind. The world was considered knowable through the knowledge of God, which is possible only through faith in God.

Medieval religious philosophy was distinguished by self-absorption, traditionalism, a focus on the past, isolation from the real world, belligerence, dogmatism, and edification. This was facilitated by a number of reasons: the destruction and loss of ancient culture and the undivided dominance of religion in the spiritual life of society. Under these conditions, philosophy became the handmaiden of theology; the problems it solved were recognized as serving to substantiate the existence of God and apologetics of the divine truths of the Holy Scriptures.

During the era of the formation and development of feudalism in Europe, Christianity became the main ideology. This period in the history of mankind occupies almost a whole millennium, when philosophers conducted deep research and noted new methods in understanding the world, God, and themselves.

2. The philosophy of Aurelius Augustine (the Blessed) is reflected in his numerous works: “On the Blessed Life”, “On True Religion”, “Confession”, “On the City of God”, “Monologues”, “On the Quantity of the Soul”, “On the Teacher” , “On the Immortality of the Soul”, etc. An outstanding philosopher, politician, preacher of the Catholic Church, he presented the history of the development of human society as a struggle between two hostile kingdoms: earthly (secular) and heavenly (divine). In his works the Catholic Church is identified with the kingdom of God. The Church is the only force capable of helping people overcome sin and unite the world. Kings and emperors, according to Augustine, must express the will of the Christian Church and obey it.

His philosophy promoted acceptance of poverty, injustice and inequality, and belief in a future afterlife as a reward from God for a righteous life on earth. He argued that a person, having learned the truth, will become happy, glorified the godlikeness of man, his strength and perfection. He argued that a person cannot achieve true knowledge only by knowing God. Initially, God laid the embryonic forms of all things in the material world, and subsequently they develop on their own. The Divine is present in everything, the creations of God are matter, space, time, man and his soul, almost the entire world around us.

The truth about God cannot be known by reason, but only by faith, i.e. separated knowledge from faith. Emphasizing the role of feelings, Augustine asserted the unity of faith and knowledge, without elevating reason.

3. The philosophy created by the Arabs and other peoples of the Near and Middle East in the Middle Ages went through two main stages in its development: the first (VII-IX centuries) – the period of the formation of Arab philosophy; the second (IX - XV centuries) - the period of its transformation into Arab-Greek. Especially in the X – XI centuries. In Arab countries there is a significant rise in spiritual life, especially in art, science, and philosophy. The strong influence of Aristotle's ideas on Arabic philosophy leads to the fact that prominent philosophers - encyclopedists develop the cult of reason and knowledge, reflect on the problems of God, soul, immortality, and human capabilities to understand the real world. Among them are outstanding thinkers: Al-Kindi (800-879), Al-Farabi (870-950), Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980-1037), Ibn Rushd (Averroes) (1126-1198) and others.

Al-Kindi was the first of the Eastern scientists to discover ancient Greek philosophy for the Arab peoples. Taking Aristotle's philosophy as a basis, he further developed and expanded the ideas of materialism and defined five categories of existence: matter, form, movement, space and time. In epistemology, this philosopher boldly argued that only the human mind is capable of discovering the truth. To do this, he must go through three stages of scientific knowledge: logical - mathematical, natural - scientific, philosophical. But his teaching was not understood by his contemporaries, he himself was persecuted, and his works were destroyed. But it was Al-Kindi who created the foundations for the further progressive development of Arabic philosophy.

Al-Farabi is a prominent scientist and encyclopedist. He has written more than a hundred scientific works on philosophy, history, and natural sciences. He paid a lot of attention to logic, which allows one to distinguish true knowledge from false knowledge. Philosophy helps to understand the essence of existence. He considered the theory of knowledge to be the theory of finding truth in the unity of feelings and reason. The essence of things is known only by the mind, and the mind relies on logic. Although Al-Farabi recognized the existence of God as the primary cause of existence, his teaching is a great work to clarify the most complex problems of existence and knowledge.

The most outstanding philosopher of Central Asia was a resident of Bukhara, Ibn Sina (Avicenna). He created more than three hundred scientific works. The main ones in philosophy: “The Book of Healing” and “The Book of Knowledge.” A man of an encyclopedic mind, he proposed a classification of sciences by dividing them according to objects of study; based his philosophical conclusions on the achievements of the natural sciences; believed that God exists, but in the world around us many phenomena occur against the will of God; tried to separate philosophy from religion; was convinced that philosophy is a separate science designed to generalize the progressive ideas of humanity.

In epistemology, Avicenna paid a lot of attention to the analysis of such problems as indirect and direct knowledge, the truth of knowledge, the role of intuition in knowledge, the role of logic in scientific creativity. Avicenna's philosophy contributed to the development and prosperity of not only Eastern, but also Western science and culture.

The Arab philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes), famous in Europe during his lifetime, rejected the idea of ​​creation and believed that the world is eternal, uncreated and indestructible by anyone. Although he did not deny the existence of God, he argued that the movement of matter does not depend on God, this movement is an independent property of matter contained in it. He believed that what is true in philosophy may be false in religion, therefore philosophical truths should be considered separately from religious truths.

The materialistic, anti-religious philosophy of Averroes found a wide response in Europe, was taught at universities, and opposed scholasticism.

Medieval philosophy made a significant contribution to the further development of the theory of knowledge, developing and supplementing various logical options for the relationship between rational and empirical, mediated and direct, individual, general and special, which later became the foundation for the formation of the foundations of natural science and philosophical knowledge.

The main stages of medieval philosophy were patristics and scholasticism.

Patristics (from the Latin Pater - father) is a theological and philosophical movement, the largest philosophers of which were the Church Fathers. The period of development of patristics is I – IV centuries. The main dogmas of the Christian religion were developed by: Basil the Great, Augustine the Blessed, Tertullian and others. The main problems of patristics: the essence of God; the relationship of faith and reason, the revelations of Christians and the wisdom of pagans, understanding history as movement towards a specific goal; consideration of human freedom through the possibility of salvation or destruction of his soul; problems of good and evil in this world, why God allows the presence of evil on earth. These philosophers also solved the problems of the existence of God, the substantiation of His triune essence, the relationship of faith and reason, the Divine predestination of human life, the possibility of the afterlife salvation of the soul, etc.

Scholasticism is the main type of medieval religious philosophy, the features of which were isolation from reality, isolation, conservatism, dogmatism, complete subordination to religious ideas, schematicism, and edification. Scholasticism (from the Latin Schola - school) was taught in all schools and universities in Europe and was a frozen university discipline. The scholastics divided knowledge into two types: supernatural (the revelations of God given in the Bible) and natural, found by the human mind (as he understood the ideas of God from the text of the Bible). Philosophers of the Middle Ages conducted numerous debates and wrote thousands of volumes in which they commented on the ideas of God. They paid special attention to the correctness and clarity of concepts and definitions. Prominent thinkers of this type of philosophy of the Middle Ages were Bonaventure (1221–274), Albertus Magnus (1193–1280), Pierre Abelard (1079–1142), and Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109). Philosophers have put forward a number of ideas:

The doctrine of the truth of faith and the truth of knowledge;

The doctrine of free will and its causes;

The doctrine of the correspondence of things and concepts about them, etc.

4. In the 11th century, a discussion arose in religious philosophy between various scientists about the dogma of the Christian religion about the trinitarian essence of God. According to the Bible, God is one, but threefold in persons: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Soon the discussion went beyond this issue and touched upon the dialectic of the one and the general.

Proponents of realism (from the Latin realis - material) considered the general as something ideal, preceding the thing, i.e. developed an idealistic concept of the connection between the general and the individual. According to them, it is not the things themselves that truly exist, but their general concepts - universals. One of the representatives of realism, Anselm of Canterbury (1033 – 1109) argued: “If there is a thought about God, then God exists in reality.” Thought and being are identical. It turns out, in his opinion, general concepts - universals - really exist. Hence the term "realism". The general exists as really as the world around us, and God is the really existing “common.”

They were objected to by supporters of nominalism (from the Latin nomen - names), who considered only the concrete things themselves to really exist, and perceived general concepts (universals) as names of things. The representative of nominalism, the philosopher Roscelin, believed that only single, separate things exist in the world, and the “general” does not really exist as a thing. “Universals” are general concepts, these are the sounds of the voice - the nominal value. This is where the term “nominalism” originated.

Pierre Abelard (1079 – 1142) tried to combine these two directions in his conceptualism. He argued that the general does not really exist outside of things. The general exists in the things themselves and is highlighted by our consciousness when we begin to cognize and study these things. Therefore, the “general” exists only in the human mind (the mind is a concept). Therefore, the general in the mind is (conceptually) real.

5. A prominent philosopher, theologian, author of Thomism (one of the dominant movements of the Catholic Church), Thomas Aquinas, managed to systematize scholasticism. In 1878, his teachings were declared the official ideology of Catholicism. In a number of his works: “Summa Theology”, “Summa Philosophy”, “Summa against the Pagans”, he considers being as possible and as actual.

Being is the existence of the individual, i.e. substance. Also, along with the categories “possibility” and “reality”, he introduces the categories “matter” and “form”. Matter is possibility, and form is reality. Materiality does not exist without form, and form depends on God (the highest form). But God is a spiritual being, and for the corporeal world the unity of form and matter is necessary. But matter itself is passive; activity is given to it by form.

Interesting are Thomas Aquinas’s proofs of the existence of God, which the modern Catholic Church still uses today:

1. Everything that moves is moved by someone. This means that the prime mover is God.

2. Everything that exists has causes. Therefore, the first cause of everything is God.

3. The random depends on the necessary. Therefore, the original necessity is God.

4. Everything that exists has different degrees of quality, therefore, there must be the highest quality - God.

5. Everything in the world has a purpose or meaning. This means that there is a rational principle that directs everything towards the goal - God.

Thus, he was able to prove through accessible reasons for the existence of God; schematize scholasticism; show convincingly that only that knowledge is true that is obtained by reason in accordance with faith; separate philosophy from theology, although philosophy occupies a subordinate position in relation to theology.

The significance of medieval philosophy is that it became a transition period from antiquity to the Renaissance; clearly identified ontology and epistemology, objective and subjective idealism began to be studied more deeply. The idea of ​​optimism arose, which formulated the possibility of the resurrection of man, the victory of good over evil.

The Middle Ages is a period of the dominance of theology, a religious worldview mixed with theology and occupies a long period of time (VII-early XV centuries AD). The philosophy of the Middle Ages is considered the handmaiden of theology, because it was obliged to interpret the Holy Scriptures, formulate the dogmas of the Church correctly from the point of view of theologians and derive evidence for the existence of God. However, along with this, during the Middle Ages, logic developed, the formation of the concept of personality (the debate about the difference between hypostasis and essence), as well as the debate about the priority of the individual or the general, which was waged by realists and nominalists.

Medieval philosophy takes its origins from the philosophy of antiquity, but along with it, its development was also influenced by the religious direction (Christianity). During this period, the systematic development of Christian philosophy took place in the conditions of interruption of the line of ancient tradition and the eradication of dissent, since the process of philosophizing was under constant control by the institution of the church. The philosophers of the Middle Ages were faced with a threefold task - with the help of reason to penetrate the truths of faith and thereby bring their content closer to the thinking spirit of man; to give religious truth a systematic form for its more effective assimilation; and finally, by means of philosophical arguments, to weaken, if not exclude, criticism of sacred truths. Middle Ages Renaissance natural philosophy patristics

The characteristic features of medieval philosophy are:

• · Theocentrism (the principle according to which God is at the center of the universe - a spiritual absolute, timeless and spaceless. God personifies the fullness of both divine and human nature).
• · Creationism (It is based on the concept that God is a creator, he created everything from nothing. At the beginning of creation there was a divine will and a divine word - Logos. Divine creation is initially harmonious. The world was created good, and this is the basis of medieval ethical optimism and philosophical objectivism).
• · Providentialism (According to it, God rules the world, history is the fulfillment of true destiny, the events of earthly life have a higher meaning).
• · The principle of revelation (its essence is that God reveals his will and truth to man through sacred texts. The Bible is a book of books, it contains the keys to all the meanings of the world, to the secrets of salvation).

The philosophy of this period was occupied by formal-logical commentaries on sacred texts, especially during the period of scholasticism. The art of interpretation of sacred texts, called exegesis, is developing. Already the first Christian thinkers turned to a symbolic interpretation of what was written in the Holy Scriptures; the same approach in the Middle Ages extended to all phenomena of the world. In this regard, hermeneutics (the art of interpretation) and semiotics (the study of signs in general and language in particular) began to be developed.

The main ideas of medieval philosophy are:

• 1. The idea of ​​monotheism (monotheism) and the idea of ​​the other world. A measure of reward for life on earth. Man's acquisition of a horizon of hope, the emergence of the past and the future.
• 2. Close connection with the Bible as a source of knowledge about God, the world, man and his past.
• 3. Dualism of spiritual and human, sacred and spiritual.
• 4. Theodicy as justification of God and eschatology as the doctrine of the destinies of the world and man.

The philosophy of the Middle Ages is usually divided into two stages.

• 1. Patristics (from the 2nd century to the 3rd century)
• 2. Scholasticism (from the 9th century to the 15th century)

Patristics is a set of teachings of the “Church Fathers”, philosophical and political-social doctrines of Christian thinkers of the 2nd-3rd centuries. During this period, theologians defended Christian dogmas, forgiving the heresies of Gnosticism and paganism, and asserted the incompatibility of ancient wisdom with the Christian faith. The main themes of patristics were: the origin of evil in the world; justification of God (theodetion); problems of the existence of God, freedom of human will, divine predestination of history, the possibility of saving the soul. The “Fathers of the Church” argued that the unity of faith requires perfect consistency in the postulates of faith, it must make them understandable and general, lead to symbolism, while remaining alien to all arbitrary ideas, all contradictions. In early patristics, in conditions of persecution of Christianity and unsettled dogma, philosophical arguments were put forward in defense of Christianity, defining approaches to its philosophical understanding (Representatives: Origen, Quintus Septimius) During the period of mature patristics (IV-V centuries) when Christianity occupies a leading position in spiritual life, dogma is established, and the foundations of Christian philosophy are created in a tense creative atmosphere (Representatives: Gregory of Nyssa, Aurelius Augustine). In late patristics (VI-VIII centuries), reflections on the philosophical material developed in the previous period and perceived as canonical came to the fore. Representatives: Maximus the Confessor, John of Damascus. The main task of patristic philosophers was the creation and dissemination of Christian philosophical teaching, the establishment of its principles, the transformation of philosophy into the handmaiden of the Holy Scriptures and church orthodoxy. The ancient philosophical heritage, especially Platonism, was processed in the Christian spirit. An ideological struggle was waged around dogmas, ancient cosmocentrism, cultural elitism, and intellectualism were overcome. The philosophical thought of patristics was focused on the task of comprehending how Divine being and human being are united.

The main problems for her were faith and reason; the nature of God, his trinity, Divine attributes; human personality, its freedom, ways to save the soul; theodicies; historical destinies of humanity.

Scholasticism (school philosophy) is the wisdom taught in monastic schools and universities. Scholasticism further develops the problems of patristics and systematizes the Christian worldview. During this period, human knowledge comes into harmony with religion. Philosophy reaches maturity by achieving independence, thanks to which it is freed from the role of the handmaiden of theology. The essence of scholasticism was not to rely on the super-rational contemplation of God, but to search for rational ways of knowing him.

Knowledge of God occurs through the fruits of his creation and the results of his intervention in the affairs of the world. The rational substantiation of theology required the transformation of logic from a tool of proof into a means of substantiating church dogmas. Later, the concept of “scholasticism” will become synonymous with science, divorced from life, sterile, based on uncritical adherence to authorities. Distinctive features of medieval scholasticism:

• 1. Scholasticism consciously views itself as a science placed at the service of theology, as a “handmaiden of theology.”
• 2. Nature ceases to be the most important subject of knowledge. The main thing that needs to be understood is God and the human soul.
• 3. Dual assessment of man: “the likeness of God” and “a rational animal.”
• 4. Interesting understanding of the problem of soul and body. It is based on the Christian dogmas of the “Incarnation” and “Resurrection in the Flesh.” Origen (III century): the spirit is bestowed by God and strives for good, the soul is the beginning of individuality, the body is subordinate to the soul, and the soul is subordinate to the spirit. Evil comes from the abuse of freedom, that is, the body is not yet the beginning of evil.

Sharp criticism of scholasticism (mainly from Protestantism) was directed against the fact that scholasticism tried to use reason to provide a rational justification for the truths of revelation, accessible only to faith.

One of the main problems that medieval philosophy considered was the relationship between faith and reason, their primacy; proof of the existence of God and his involvement in the essence of existence itself; the problem of universals.