Category: Medieval Philosophy
Medieval Philosophy developed between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance. It focuses on the relationship between faith and reason, theological questions, and the interpretation of classical philosophy within religious traditions. Important figures include Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and William of Ockham.
John Scotus Eriugena Philosophy — Nature, God Beyond Being, Theophany, and the Limits of Christian Neoplatonism
These notes cover John Scotus Eriugena (c. 810–877) — the only original philosopher in the 600-year gap between Augustine and Anselm. The founding claim: true religion = true philosophy. Reality = things that are + things that are not. Four modes of non-being table: sinful persons (integral nature absent; guitar analogy); changing objects (flux; Heraclitus);…
Boethius — The Consolation of Philosophy: Fortune, Happiness, Free Will, Modal Logic, and the Three Transcendentals
These notes cover Boethius (c. 476–524 AD) — his life, the charges, and his death. The Consolation of Philosophy: Lady Philosophy (height, P→TH ladder on dress; poetry dismissed; philosophy as medicine). Five books table. Book I: Philosopher’s fate; Socrates and Seneca; reason over emotion. Book II: Fortune’s wheel; cosmic scale and mouse analogy; bad fortune…
The Dark Ages — Church, Feudalism, Gothic Architecture, Giotto, Dante, and the Rediscovery of Aristotle
These notes cover the 800-year period between Augustine and Thomas Aquinas: the four periods of medieval philosophy (Patristic, Dark Ages, Formative, Culmination); the fall of the Western Roman Empire and what knowledge was lost and preserved; the Church’s transformation from the episcopal to the papal system with the Petrine doctrine and the Gregory VII/Henry IV…
Augustine and Other Philosophers — A Synthesis: Relevance, Faith, Disordered Love, and Three Questions
These notes form the closing synthesis of the Augustine series: Why study Augustine (modern paradox — more information; more depression/division/addiction; smartphone addiction as symptom not cause). The manipulation economy (self-help industry; YouTube thumbnails; ancient tantrik to modern algorithm). The Freud-Bernays-Netflix desire chain: Freud (unconscious desires shape behaviour); Bernays (linked cigarettes to women’s freedom desire in…
Augustine on Natural Science — Curiosity, Teleology, Anomaly, and an Unexpected Foundation for Medieval Science
These notes cover Augustine’s views on natural science and why they matter: the framework argument (science grows within intellectual contexts; Augustine shaped the medieval framework). Two prerequisites for scientific progress: (1) CURIOSITY — Aristotle: ‘All men by nature desire to know’ (curiosity = noble virtue); Augustine: curiosity → intellectual pride → sin → dangerous; (2)…
Augustine — The City of God and the Philosophy of History: Two Cities, Truth vs Power, and the Shape of Western Thought
These notes cover Augustine’s City of God and philosophy of history in full: Greek views of history (Plato — history unimportant; Atomists — history random; cyclical view generally; Herodotus and Thucydides); Augustine’s innovation — history is linear, purposive, and meaningful; the alphabet analogy (letters → words → story; meaning emerges from the whole); the chess…
Augustine’s Ethics — Self-Control, Duty, Authority, and the Historical Transformation of Western Moral Thought
These notes cover Augustine’s ethics in full: the foundational shift from Greek self-development ethics (confidence in human reason and virtue) to Augustinian self-control ethics (human nature fundamentally weakened by sin; we cannot improve, only contain further deterioration). Comprehensive Greek vs Augustine comparison table (9 rows: human nature, confidence in reason, goal, virtues, enjoyment, social/political life,…
Augustine on Sin, Salvation, and the Human Condition — Love, Will, and the Right Order of Desire
These notes cover Augustine’s account of sin, salvation, and human condition: the lecture begins with the universal paradox — we know what is right; we cannot consistently do it — and the fact that both helplessness and responsibility are simultaneously true. Augustine’s three non-negotiable positions: God is not the source of evil; humans are genuinely…
Augustine on Free Will and Evil — Providence, Four Theories of Evil, and Divine Foreknowledge
These notes cover Augustine on free will and evil: Providence — God as active caring Father; how providence differs from Greek gods (Unmoved Mover / Demiurge / Logos); why providence makes the problem of evil urgent. Two types of evil: natural (death, disaster — secondary/result) vs moral/sin (pride, will’s misdirection — primary/cause). Four answers to…
Augustine’s Concept of God — Immutability, Ex Nihilo Creation, Time, and the Great Chain of Being
These notes cover Augustine’s concept of God across four properties: (1) God as ultimate reality — the same question all Greek philosophers asked, just with religious vocabulary (Plato’s Forms, Parmenides’s Being, Heraclitus’s Flux = Augustine’s God); how unseen realities (Forms, God, electrons) are all known through their effects — the cloud chamber / Invisible Man…