A History of Medieval Philosophy

Frederick C. Copleston

Description

In this classic work, Frederick C. Copleston, S.J., outlines the development of philosophical reflection in Christian, Islamic, and Jewish thought from the ancient world to the late medieval period. A History of Medieval Philosophy is an invaluable general introduction that also includes longer treatments of such leading thinkers as Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham.

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie de la religion
• Philosophie médiévale, scolastique
• Philosophie antique
• Surveys
• Islamic
• Jewish
• Medieval
• Religious
• PHILOSOPHY
• Philosophie et théologie
• Colegio Mayor Universitario Santo Tomás de Aquino
• Edad Media
• Jews
• Thomas Aquinas
• Scotus
• Ockham
• Middle Ages
• Christian
• History
• Guillaume d'Ockham

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 30 janvier 1990
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268161057
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A History of Medieval Philosophy
A History of Medieval Philosophy
F. C. COPLESTON
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS
Notre Dame
Copyright 1972 by F. C. Copleston
All Rights Reserved
University of Notre Dame Press edition published in 1990 by Arrangement with the Author
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
Published in the United States of America
Reprinted in 1990, 1992, 1999, 2004, 2007
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Copleston, Frederick Charles.
A history of medieval philosophy / Frederick C. Copleston
p. cm.
Reprint. Originally published: New York: Harper Row, 1972.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 13: 978-0-268-01091-1 (paper: alk. paper)
ISBN 10: 0-268-01091-9 (paper: alk. paper)
I. Philosophy, Medieval. I. Title.
[ B 721. C 565 1990]
189-dc20
89-40756
ISBN 9780268161057
This book is printed on acid-free paper .
This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at [e-mail] .
Contents
Foreword
1 Introduction
2 Christian Thought in the Ancient World [1]
3 Christian Thought in the Ancient World [2]
4 Christian Thought in the Ancient World [3]
5 Early Middle Ages
6 Anselm and Abelard
7 Twelfth Century Schools
8 The Philosophy of Islam
9 Jewish Philosophy
10 Thirteenth Century: Universities and Translations
11 St Bonaventure
12 Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas
13 Aristotelianism and the Faculty of Arts at Paris
14 Duns Scotus
15 The Fourteenth Century [1]: William of Ockham
16 The Fourteenth Century [2]
17 Speculative Mysticism
18 Political Philosophy: Marsilius of Padua
19 Nicholas of Cusa
20 Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
Foreword
T HIS book is a revision and enlargement of my Medieval Philosophy , which was published in 1952 in Methuen s Home Study Books series. The general plan of the previous work has, of course, been retained. But in the present volume a great deal more is said about Christian thought in the ancient world. Again, accounts of Islamic and Jewish philosophy in the Middle Ages have undergone considerable extension. And longer treatments have been provided of leading thinkers such as Aquinas, Scotus and Ockham. Philosophical discussion of issues raised by medieval thinkers has obviously had to be kept to a minimum. But some general lines of thought about medieval philosophy have been expressed in the first and last chapters.
In references P.G . and P.L . refer respectively to the Patrologia Graeca and the Patrologia Latina in the Patrologiae cursus completus edited by J. P. Migne. In footnotes and the Bibliography the series Beitr ge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters has been referred to simply as Beitr ge .
A History of Medieval Philosophy
1
Introduction
1
A T one time there was a widespread impression that the student of the development of philosophy could profitably jump straight from Plato and Aristotle to Francis Bacon and Descartes, omitting consideration both of post-Aristotelian Greek thought and of medieval philosophy. The philosophy of the Middle Ages was thought to be dependent on Christian theology in such a way and to such a degree as to exclude any genuine philosophical reflection. There was also a tendency to think of it as pretty well equivalent to a debased Aristotelianism which lacked the original and creative spirit of Aristotle himself and concentrated on trivial and tiresome questions. Again, it was a common enough idea that no logical developments of any value had taken place in the Middle Ages. If, therefore, one were interested in free metaphysical speculation or in the creation of striking world views, one would be well advised to dismiss medieval speculation as hag-ridden by theology and turn to Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz. If one mistrusted metaphysical speculation and wished to find a tradition of philosophical reflection which was firmly grounded in experience, one had better study the development of British empiricism. If it were logic to which one proposed to devote one s attention, the profitable procedure would be to go straight from the logic of Aristotle (and possibly that of the Stoics) to the logical developments of modern times. In all these areas medieval thought could be profitably passed over as a dark and barren interlude, as far at any rate as philosophy and logic were concerned.
Nowadays we have a better understanding of the continuity between ancient, medieval, Renaissance and modern philosophy. It is unnecessary to dwell here on the connections between ancient and medieval thought, for they will be illustrated in later chapters. It is sufficient to point out that in the Roman empire Christian thought coexisted for some time with non-Christian Greek philosophy, and that a thinker such as St Augustine, who died in 430 and who exercised a great influence in the Middle Ages, belonged to the ancient world. In later chapters we shall see how Greco-Roman philosophy provided material for philosophical reflection in the Middle Ages and for incorporation, in varying degrees, in medieval systems of thought.
If we turn to the other end, so to speak, we can see the difficulty in fixing definite limits to the medieval, Renaissance and modern periods. Let us suppose, for example, that in describing the Renaissance we emphasize both the increased knowledge of classical literature and the increasing literary use of the national vernacular languages, as distinct from Latin. We have to remember that a large number of writings were translated from the Greek (directly or indirectly) into Latin in the last part of the twelfth century and in the early decades of the thirteenth century. We have also to remember that one of the greatest creations of Italian literature, namely Dante s Divine Comedy , was composed in the thirteenth century, while in the following century Petrarch and Boccaccio wrote poems in Italian and Chaucer developed the literary use of English. At the same time the use of Latin was continued, as by Descartes and Spinoza, into the early period of what is generally described as modern philosophy. Again, if we emphasize the scientific achievements of the Renaissance, we have at any rate to consider the claim that there was more in common, so far as their spirit was concerned, between certain embryonic scientists of the late Middle Ages and the great scientists of the Renaissance than there was between some of the Renaissance philosophers of Nature and the great figures of the scientific Renaissance.
In regard to the transition between medieval and modern philosophy, it is easy to be misled by the polemical attitudes adopted by early modern philosophers. Francis Bacon and Descartes may have inveighed against scholastic Aristotelianism; but philosophers continued for many years to use categories of thought and philosophical principles which had been used by medieval thinkers. It would be a mistake to attribute what we might describe as the scholastic elements in philosophies such as those of Descartes, Malebranche and Leibniz to the interest in classical literature which was shown during the Renaissance. Descartes s first philosophical studies were in the scholastic tradition, going back to the Middle Ages. And though his mind came to move in other directions, the influence of his early studies was permanent. Malebranche was deeply influenced by Augustine, while Leibniz had a fairly extensive knowledge of philosophical literature belonging to or stemming from the medieval tradition. Moreover, its influence upon him is apparent in his writings. Again, we can trace a connection between medieval philosophy of law and that of John Locke. For the matter of that, Locke s empiricism is not so completely alien to all aspects of medieval thought as has been sometimes supposed.
The philosophers of the French Enlightenment in the eighteenth century tended to think that with themselves reason had at last come into its own, and that Middle Ages and Dark Ages were synonymous terms. The growth of the sense of historical development in the nineteenth century and serious historical study have obviously changed this outlook. Except for people who have no use for historical studies, nobody would seriously suppose that a coherent and adequate account of the development of European culture and society could be given if the medieval period were simply omitted. And it is commonly recognized, even by those who have little sympathy with the religious beliefs of the Middle Ages, that no adequate account of the development of European thought and philosophy could be given unless medieval philosophy were taken into account. But though an emphasis on the continuity of European philosophy can be and has been of use, this emphasis needs to be counterbalanced by a recognition of discontinuity, of differences.
For example, those historians who emphasized the scholastic elements, deriving from the Middle Ages, in the philosophy of Descartes doubtless performed a useful service. They showed the absurdity of supposing that philosophy, having suffered a demise when the emperor Justinian closed the philosophical schools at Athens in 529, was suddenly reborn with Descartes in France and Francis Bacon in England. At the same time, when Descartes uses a term taken from medieval philosophy, it by no means necessarily follows that he is using it in the same sense in which it was used by his medieval predecessors. Indeed Descartes himself drew attention to this point. Again, when Spinoza employs terms such as substance and cause , we would be seriously mistaken if we blithely assumed that he means precisely the same as was meant by St Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century.
Talk about historical periods has sometimes been attacked. And it is true of course not only that it is very difficult to assign cle