Tarnas, R. (1991). The passion of the western mind: Understanding the ideas that have shaped our world view. New York: Ballantine Books.

I know that I should be working on my research project right now, but I am excited to tackle the Middle Ages. While it has been dubbed the “Dark Ages,” there were still some great thinkers working within the Christian system. In the Early Middle Ages, the church has two loci: one in the west and one in the east. The Greek Church located in Byzantium spawned the Greek Orthodox tradition, while the Roman Church led the European tradition. After Rome crumbled under the pressure of the “barbarians,” the Church held the culture together. As a result, some philosophical and technological development could continue. (I am curious about where Ethiopia fit into this scenario. I will cover that in the history of Africa.)

The Early Middle Ages

The few scholars of the Early Middle Ages found a dearth of available classical texts, but there were some. The Latin language remained the lingua franca of the day and thereby promoted some cultural continuity throughout Europe. Manuscripts were copies painstakingly in the monasteries aiding the survival of a few ancient texts.

The Mid-Middle Ages

At approximately 1000 A.D., cultural development appears to take a sharp increase. Tarnas notes that Europe becomes politically stable and experiences a reduction in barbarian incursions. Around this time, population, trade, contact with external cultures, and literacy (of the upper class) increase. The previous dominance of nobles over vassals and peons reduces, and more egalitarian, democratic social structures arise—such as guilds, communes, and fraternities (p. 173). Some of the major technological advances include the development of the “windmill, water-wheel, horse collar, stirrup, [and] heavy plough” (p. 173). Human intelligence becomes more apparent and valued.

The significance of increased trade and contact with the Byzantine and Islamic cultures cannot be underestimated. Through contact with these groups, medieval Christians are reintroduced to classical texts that disappeared from European Christendom long ago. In approximately 1100 A.D., scholars encourage study of liberal arts comprised of seven field. The trivium includes grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic, while the qadrivium includes arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy (p. 175). “The Greek paideia was again springing forth in a new incarnation” (p. 175). The universities also begin to function more independently of the Church, reigning in a new era of increased “rationalism” (p. 177). Yet, faith remained primary and rationalism secondary.

St. Thomas Aquinas

For his time, Aquinas was definitely one of the great thinkers. His ideas changed the direction of Western Philosophy. He argued that to study and understand the workings of the world would not diminish God’s omniscience and power; instead, discovery of the laws of nature would bring man into a closer relationship and awe of God. According to scripture, man was created in God’s image; therefore, understanding God’s creation would help man to “be as God intended” and to “fully realize his humanity” (p. 181). Human freedom was important; otherwise, man could not love God freely.

In contrast with the beliefs of Augustine, Aquinas’ followed in the path of Aristotle more so than that of Plato.  While Augustine and Plato felt that understanding Ideas or Forms led to understanding of specific, material entities; Aquinas and Aristotle felt that understanding of material entities of this world led to an understanding of the “transcendent ideas” (p. 185). “And epistemologically he denied the human intellect’s capacity to know the Ideas directly, asserting the intellect’s need for sensory experience to activate an imperfect but meaningful understanding of things in terms of those eternal archetypes” (p. 185).  This is an argument that would rage among Western philosophers for years to come. Aquinas, himself, was an ardent student who read and studied everything he could. A few years after his death, the Church put some of his work on the no-read list. A half a century later, Church scholars re-evaluated his work and cannonized him.