The Historic Development of Medieval Philosophy

The general picture of the medieval period is marked by the development of philosophic, theological, and scientific thought, starting with the identification of fundamental problems arising from the clash between classical philosophy and the Bible (or the Koran for Muslims): the existence of God, His relationship with the world and human nature. In the West the major changes of this theoretical development first occurred in a broad chronological span, that lasted from the 6th to the 10th c. Later, however, starting with the 11th c., and especially after the cultural renaissance of the 12th c., the rate at which doctrinal change took place accelerated, and we find an increased number of important personalities, the creation of proper philosophical systems in the 13th c., and subsequently the opening up and creation of new areas for philosophic reflection. In the Islamic world philosophic research and the creation of original doctrines started earlier, from the 9th c. on, and both these trends continued into the 12th c.; later on the development of Islamic philosophy took other paths, ceasing to interact with western thought, while at the same time the contribution of Jewish philosophy became more relevant. The entire progression of the ten centuries of the so-called Middle Ages can be considered as an enormous struggle for elaborating, mediating and transmitting the classical heritage upon which were then developed original doctrines such as the ontological proof of God’s existence (Anselm of Canterbury); the ethics of intention (Peter Abelard); the doctrine of the suppositio in logic; the distinction between essence and existence (Thomas Aquinas); and the Scholastic theory of the beatific vision.