Medieval Philosophy

Medieval philosophy

Medieval philosophy was greatly concerned with the nature of God, 
and the application of Aristotle's logic and thought to every area 
of life.

If God exists at all, surely He is the most important feature of the 
universe, and therefore worthy of study. One continuing interest in this 
time was to prove the existence of God, through logic alone, if possible.

One early effort was the cosmological argument, conventionally attributed 
to Thomas Aquinas. The argument roughly, is that everything that exists 
has a cause. Therefore, there must be an uncaused first cause, and this is 
God. Aquinas also adapted this argument to prove the goodness of God. 
Everything has some goodness, and the cause of each thing is better than 
the thing caused. Therefore, the first cause is the best possible thing. 
Similar arguments are used to prove God's power and uniqueness.

Another important argument proof of the existence of God was the Ontological 
Argument, advanced by St. Anselm. Basically, it says that God has all 
possible good features. Existence is good, and therefore God has it, and 
therefore exists. This argument has been used in different forms by 
philosophers from Descartes forward.

The application of Aristotelian logic proceeded by having the student 
memorize a rather large set of syllogisms. The memorization proceeded 
from diagrams, or learning a key sentence, with the first letter of each 
word reminding the student of the names of the syllogisms.

Each syllogism had a name, for example "Modus Ponens" had the form of "If 
A is true, then B is true. A is true, therefore B is true."

Most university students of logic memorized Aristotle's 19 syllogisms of 
two subjects, permitting them to validly connect a subject and object. A 
few geniuses developed systems with three subjects, or described a way of 
elaborating the rules of three subjects.

As well as Aquinas, other important names from the medieval period include 
Duns Scotus and Pierre Abélard. 

Bibliography

Introductions and anthologies

    * Classics of Western Philosophy by Steven M. Cahn Available from Amazon.com
    * Philosophic Classics: From Plato to Derrida (4th Edition) by Forrest E. Baird Available from Amazon.com
    * The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers by Will Durant Available from Amazon.com
    * From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest by T. Z. Lavine Available from Amazon.com
    * Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers by S. E. Frost Available from Amazon.com
    * The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell Available from Amazon.com 
    * The Great Philosophers (4 vols.) by Karl Jaspers Available from Amazon.com
    * A History of Philosophy in the Twentieth Century by Christian Delacampagne Available from Amazon.com


Reference

    * A History of Western Philosophy (5 vols.) by W. T. Jones Available from Amazon.com
    * History of Philosophy (9 vols.) by Frederick Copleston Available from Amazon.com
    * History of Philosophy Quarterly (magazine) Available from Amazon.com