The place of medieval philosophy in the spiritual culture of society. Philosophers of the Catholic Church. Need help studying a topic?

The Middle Ages is an almost thousand-year period of time in the history of Europe. It begins with the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD, seizes feudalism and ends at the beginning of the fifteenth century, when the Renaissance begins.

Main features of the philosophy of the Middle Ages

Features of medieval philosophy briefly present the Christian faith as a tool for uniting all people, regardless of their financial status, nationality, profession, gender.

Medieval philosophers achieved that every person who was baptized had the opportunity to gain in a future life those benefits that he was deprived of in this one. Faith in, as the main component of the essence of each person, equalizes everyone: the king and the beggar, the publican and the artisan, the sick and the healthy, man and woman. If we briefly imagine the stages of the evolution of medieval philosophy, then this is the establishment of the dogmas of Christianity and the introduction of the Christian worldview in accordance with the requirements of feudalism as the main form of government in most countries of that time.

Problems of Christian philosophy

It is quite difficult to briefly outline the main problems of medieval philosophy. If you try to imagine them in a few words, then this is the establishment of the worldwide dominance of the Christian Church, the substantiation of its doctrine from a scientific point of view, from a position understandable and acceptable to people of all categories. One of the main conflicts of medieval philosophy was the topic of universals. The dichotomy of spirit and matter was expressed in the polemics between nominalists and realists. According to the concept of Thomas Aquinas, universals were manifested in three forms. The first is pre-material, that is, intangible, in the form of the original plan of the Creator. The second is material or material, that is, physical appearance. The third is after-material, in other words, imprinted in the memory and mind of a person. Thomas Aquinas was contradicted by the nominalist Roscelin.

His point of view of extreme rationalism boiled down to the fact that the world can only be known from the position of the primacy of matter, because the essence of universals is only in their names. Only that which is individual is worthy of study. It is not just a vibration of the voice. The Catholic Church condemned Roscelin's theory as incompatible with the tenets of Christianity. The papal throne approved the version of the world order according to Thomas Aquinas. His moderate realism was ultimately accepted by the Catholic Church as the most rational and logically quite easy to justify.

God-seeking is the main task of medieval philosophers

Medieval philosophy can be briefly described as the search for God and the confirmation of the existence of God. The atomism of ancient Greek philosophers was rejected, as well as the consubstantiality of God according to Aristotle, but Platonism, on the contrary, was taken as a basis in the aspect of the trinity of the divine essence.

Briefly described in the catechism. Christianity began to occupy a dominant position in the political life of the states of medieval Europe. The harsh era of the Inquisition briefly and fully used the problems of medieval philosophy as a driving force for the introduction of the Christian way of thinking into everyday relationships that developed in agricultural communities, between merchants, townspeople and among the knightly class.

Three stages of medieval philosophy

The following stages of medieval philosophy are highlighted; their essence is briefly as follows. The generalized characteristic of the first is the establishment of the trinity and the adaptation of early Christian rituals and symbols to the emerging Christian church. The second stage of medieval philosophy set itself the task of establishing the dominance of the Christian Church. Medieval philosophy briefly defined the third stage as a period of rethinking the Christian dogmas legitimized in the previous period. The division of these stages according to time and the personalities of the philosophers themselves is only possible very conditionally, since different sources provide inconsistent information on this matter. apologetics are very closely interrelated and intertwined.

However, apologetics is still considered the time of the birth of the medieval view of philosophical science on the existence and consciousness of man and occupies a period of time from approximately the second to the fifth century. Patristics conventionally begins in the third century and is in an active dominant position until the eighth century, and scholasticism is most clearly represented in the period from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries.

Apologetics

The first stage was defined as apologetic. Its main adherents were Quintus Septimius Florent Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria. The apologetic features of medieval philosophy can be briefly described as a struggle against pagan ideas about the world order. Faith must be higher than reason. What cannot be verified in Christianity should be accepted as truth from God without expressing doubt or disagreement. Faith in God does not have to be rational, but it must be indestructible.

Patristics

The second stage is by definition patristic, since at this time there is no longer a need to prove the existence of God. Now philosophers demand that we accept everything that comes from Him as a blessing, as a wonderful and useful gift. Medieval philosophy briefly and clearly conveys the Good News to the pagans through the organization of crusades. Those who are not with the Christian Church are against it, dissent was burned out with fire and sword. Aurelius, in his Confessions, identifies unbelief in God and the sinful desires of man as the main problems of medieval philosophy. He claims that everything good in the world comes from God, and everything bad comes from the evil will of man. The world was created from nothing, so everything in it was originally conceived as good and useful. A person has his own will and can control his desires. The human soul is immortal and retains memory, even after leaving its earthly abode - the physical body of a person.

According to patristics, the main features of medieval philosophy are, briefly, tireless efforts to spread Christianity throughout the world as the only correct information about the world and man. It was during this period that philosophers established and proved the incarnation of the Lord, His resurrection and ascension. The dogma about the second coming of the Savior, the Last Judgment, the general resurrection and new life in the next hypostasis was also established. Very important, from the point of view of the existence in eternity of the Church of Christ and the priestly succession within it, was the adoption of the dogma of the unity and catholicity of the Church.

Scholasticism

The third stage is scholastic medieval philosophy. A brief description of this period can be described as giving form to the church-Christian dogmas established in the previous period. Educational institutions emerge, philosophy turns to theology. The theocentrism of medieval philosophy, briefly expressed, manifests itself as the creation of schools and universities with a theological orientation. Natural sciences and humanities are taught from the point of view of Christian doctrine. Philosophy becomes the service of theology.

Philosophical quests and Christian thinkers

Medieval philosophy and a brief description of its stages are clearly explained in textbooks on the history of philosophy. There you can also find mention of the works of such outstanding thinkers of the first stage as representatives of apologetics Tatian and Origen. Tatian collected the four Gospels of Mark, Luke, Matthew and John into one. They later became known as the New Testament. Origen created a branch of philology based on biblical tales. He also introduced the concept of the God-man in relation to Jesus Christ. Among the philosophers who left the most significant mark on this science, one cannot fail to mention the patristic work of Boethius Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus. He left behind a wonderful work, “The Consolation of Philosophy.” He briefly summarized medieval philosophy and simplified it for teaching in educational institutions. Universals are the brainchild of Boethius. From his inception, the seven main areas of knowledge were divided into two types of disciplines. The first is the humanities.

The three-way includes rhetoric, grammar and dialectics. The second is natural science. This four-path includes geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy. He also translated and explained the main works of Aristotle, Euclid and Nicomachus. Scholasticism in philosophical teaching is always associated with the name of the monk of the Dominican Order, Thomas Aquinas, who systematized the postulates of the Orthodox Church and cited five indestructible proofs of the existence of God. He united and logically connected the philosophical calculations of Aristotle with the teachings of Christians, showed that natural human existence, reason and logic, as they develop, certainly reach a higher level of consciousness, namely faith in the existence and active participation of the omnipresent, omnipotent and intangible triune God. He discovered and proved the succession that always occurs, when reason ends in faith, nature in grace, and philosophy in revelation.

Philosophers are saints of the Catholic Church

Many medieval philosophers were canonized by the Catholic Church. These are Irenaeus of Lyons, St. Augustine, Clement of Alexandria, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, John of Damascus, Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, Boethius, canonized as St. Severinus, and others.

The Middle Ages were characterized by the strong influence of religion on all aspects of spiritual and social life, including philosophy. This is often called the philosophy of theocentrism. In the Roman Empire, a new Christian religion was born, the main motive of which was the spiritual salvation of a person, which takes place after his death. Christianity is a monotheistic theory, unlike the Greek or Roman one. This circumstance makes it a rather abstract and abstract theory, which leads to the introduction of an intermediate link, the chosen one, “Jesus Christ.” The central problem of medieval philosophy is the problem of divine existence - what is God? It is customary to distinguish two points of view:

God is identified with absolute reason. God once created a perfect world, and the machinations of the devil bring imperfection into it. From this point of view, concepts are objective in nature, they are universal realities that precede things. This direction was called medieval realism, whose representatives were Anselm of Ketnarbury, Thomas Aquinas

God exists absolute will who constantly creates, making him more perfect, and the devil prevents him from doing this. Here God, like a master, increasingly improves his creation. In this case, things are of divine origin, and the concepts about them are simple names. This point of view was called nominalism, the most prominent representatives of which were William Occal and Jean Buridan. They rejected the canons of the then existing church.

Starting from the 11th century, the first universities began to appear in Europe, in which. there were the following faculties: theological (the most prestigious), law and medicine. In these universities, basic scientific knowledge was concentrated and developed, which mainly came down to reading sacred books (scholasticism).

But despite the religious mysticism, the “time of obscurantism,” the philosophy of the Middle Ages was a step forward, because through faith the subjective reality, the spiritual world, the human Self was realized, which later became the central problem of philosophy.

5. Philosophy of the Renaissance and its main features.

Since the 15th century, major socio-economic changes have occurred in European countries. Manufactories appeared that required markets for raw materials and sales. Many discoveries were made that greatly influenced the life of Europe. The idea is becoming more and more realized that it is not God’s grace, but human reason, knowledge, and will that can make a person happy. Man is seen as the embodiment of God and the culture of this period (like philosophy) is defined as a culture of anthropocentrism. This was especially expressed in sculpture and painting. Artists saw divine perfection in man and expressed it in their works. Natural science, mechanics, astronomy, and physics developed rapidly. Thanks to the works of Copernicus, J. Bruno, Kepler, Galileo, Newton and others, modern natural science was created, which is based on experiments and observations.

All this greatly changed the philosophical issues, the center of which became the problems of epistemology. It is customary to distinguish 2 directions:

Empiricism, according to which scientific knowledge can be obtained from experience and observation, followed by inductive generalization of this data. The founders of empiricism were F. Bacon, and his ideas were developed by Locke and T. Hobbes.

Rationalism, according to which scientific knowledge can be obtained through deductive behavior, various consequences from general reliable provisions. The founder was R. Descartes (“I think, therefore I exist”), and it was developed by B. Spinoza and Leibniz.

Thus, the philosophy of modern times is the philosophy of rational anthropocentrism, according to which each person is an independent thinking substance - his actions and behavior are determined only by his desires and motives.

MAIN PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY OF THE MIDDLE AGES

Introduction.

In historical science, the Middle Ages in Western Europe are dated to the 5th–15th centuries. However, in relation to philosophy, such dating is not entirely correct. Medieval European philosophy is Christian philosophy. Christian philosophy began to take shape much earlier. The first Christian philosophers developed their ideas in the 2nd century AD. The philosophy of early Christianity was called apologetics, and its representatives were called apologists, since their writings were aimed at defending and justifying Christian doctrine.

The boundaries between antiquity and the Middle Ages are blurred and unclear. Therefore, paradoxically, medieval philosophy began earlier than ancient philosophy ended. For several centuries, two methods of philosophizing existed in parallel, mutually influencing each other.

If ancient philosophers saw essence and existence in an indissoluble unity, then, according to Christian philosophy, essence can take place without being (without existence). To become an existent (being), an entity must be created by God.

Medieval philosophical thought went through three stages in its development:

1. Patristics(from the Latin pater - father) - works of the church fathers. Initially, the “father of the church” was a spiritual mentor with recognized teaching authority. Later this concept was clarified and began to include four features: 1) holiness of life; 2) antiquity; 3) orthodoxy of teaching; 4) official recognition of the church.

2. Scholasticism- a type of religious philosophy characterized by a fundamental subordination to the primacy of theology, a combination of dogmatic premises with rationalistic methodology and a special interest in formal logical problems.

3. Mystic- a philosophy that comprehends the religious practice of the unity of man with God, the immersion of the contemplating spirit in the ocean of divine light. If the speculative-logical aspect prevailed in scholasticism, then in mysticism the contemplative aspect prevailed. All mystical teachings tend toward irrationalism, intuitionism, and deliberate paradoxicality; they express themselves not so much in the language of concepts as in the language of symbols.

In subsequent chapters we will take a closer look at the two main stages, and try to identify the problems of that time.

Representatives of medieval philosophy

Before moving on to the main problems of medieval philosophy, it is necessary to know the philosophers of that time and their philosophical views.

	Albert the Great	It was through his works that the philosophy and theology of medieval Europe adopted the ideas and methods of Aristotelianism. In addition, Albert's philosophy was greatly influenced by the ideas of Arab philosophers, with many of whom he polemicized in his works. Albert left a gigantic written legacy - his collected works number 38 volumes, most of which are devoted to philosophy and theology. Among the main works are the Summa on Creations, On the Soul, On the Causes and Origin of Everything, Metaphysics, and the Summa of Theology.
	Tertullian	Tertullian had an excellent knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and Greek authors. Thirty-one works of Tertullian have reached us; all of his works are devoted to topics of practical importance: the attitude of Christians to paganism, issues of Christian morality and the refutation of heresies. 14 works known by title have not survived. Initially, Tertullian was engaged in apologetics, writing the Apologeticus and To the Gentiles in 197 and developed a code of Christian morality in the treatises On Spectacles, On Idolatry, On Women's Attire and To the Wife, instructing catechumens in the treatises “On baptism”, “On prayer” and “On repentance”, explained in the treatise “On the recusal of the objections of heretics”. The author of Tertullian’s biography, Blessed Jerome, therefore called him “ardens vir” - “frantic man.”
	William of Ockham	According to Occam, the absolute freedom of the Divine will means that in the act of creation it is not bound by anything, not even by ideas. Ockham denies the existence of universals in God; they do not exist in things either. The so-called ideas are nothing other than the things themselves produced by God. There are no ideas of species, only ideas of individuals, for individuals are the only reality that exists outside the mind, both Divine and human. The starting point for understanding the world is knowledge about individuals.
	Thomas Aquinas	The works of Thomas Aquinas include: · two extensive treatises in the summa genre, covering a wide range of topics - Summa Theologica and Summa against the Gentiles (Summa Philosophy) · discussions on theological and philosophical problems (Debatable Questions and Questions on various topics") · comments on: - several books of the Bible - 12 treatises of Aristotle - "Sentences" of Peter of Lombardy - treatises of Boethius, - treatises of Pseudo-Dionysius - anonymous "Book of Causes" · a number of small works on philosophical and religious topics · several treatises on alchemy · poetic texts for worship, for example the work “Ethics” “Debatable Questions” and “Commentaries” were largely the fruit of his teaching activity, which, according to the tradition of that time, included debates and reading authoritative texts accompanied by commentaries.
	Meister Eckhart	Author of sermons and treatises, which were preserved mainly in the notes of his disciples. The main theme of his thoughts: Divinity is the impersonal absolute standing behind God the Creator. The Deity is incomprehensible and inexpressible, it is " complete purity of the divine essence", where there is no movement. Through its self-knowledge, the Divine becomes God. God is eternal being and eternal life. According to Eckhart's concept, man is able to know God because in the human soul there is " divine spark", a particle of the Divine. A person, having muffled his will, must passively surrender to God. Then the soul, detached from everything, will ascend to the Divine and in mystical ecstasy, breaking with the earthly, will merge with the divine. Bliss depends on the inner activity of a person.
	Peter Abelar	According to Abelard, dialectics should consist of questioning the statements of authorities, the independence of philosophers, and a critical attitude towards theology. Abelard's views were condemned by the church at the Council of Suassois (1121), and according to his verdict, he himself threw his book “Divine Unity and Trinity” into the fire. (In this book, he argued that there is only one God the Father, and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are only manifestations of his power.) In accordance with these beliefs, Abelard believed that the pagans who persecuted Christ did not commit any sinful actions, since these actions were not in conflict with their beliefs. The ancient philosophers were not sinful either, although they were not supporters of Christianity, but acted in accordance with their high moral principles. Abelard questioned the statement about the redemptive mission of Christ, which was not that he removed the sin of Adam and Eve from the human race, but that he was an example of high morality that all humanity should follow. Abelard believed that humanity inherited from Adam and Eve not the ability to sin, but only the ability to repent of it. According to Abelard, a person needs divine grace not to carry out good deeds, but as a reward for their implementation. All this contradicted the then widespread religious dogmatism and was condemned by the Council of Sana (1140) as heresy.
	Duns Scotus	Duns Scotus is considered the most important philosophical theologian of the High Middle Ages. He had a significant influence on ecclesiastical and secular thought. Among the doctrines that made Scotus famous are: “univocity of existence,” where existence is the most abstract concept applicable to everything that exists; formal distinction - a way of distinguishing different aspects of the same thing; the idea of ​​concreteness - a property inherent in each individual person and giving it individuality. Scotus also developed a set of arguments for the existence of God and arguments for the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
	Bonaventure	Bonaventure believed that Plato's ideas existed. However, in his opinion, perfect knowledge of ideas is given only to God. Bonaventure had great respect for Saint Augustine. He also supported Anselm of Canterbury's ontological proof of the existence of God. Attempts to synthesize Christianity with the teachings of Aristotle Bonaventure considered hostile to Christianity. Theology is for Bonaventure the mistress of all secular sciences, which he unites under the general concept of philosophy, and unity with God, to which love leads a person through six stages of knowledge, is the greatest good. He substantiates this in detail in the scholastic work “The Soul’s Guide to God” and in the mystical work “On the Reduction of Sciences to Theology.” The choice of problems in philosophy is determined by theology and there are only three metaphysical problems: creation, exemplarism (individuation) and reunion with God through illumination (illumination). According to the teachings of Bonaventure, a person has three eyes: bodily, mental and contemplative; the latter is developed by self-absorption into the soul as a reflection of God, self-abasement, self-denial and sincere prayer. Just as there were 6 days of creation, so there are 6 degrees of contemplation, followed by the highest good, merging with the Divine.

The main problems discussed in medieval philosophy include the problem of faith and reason, the proof of the existence of God, and the problem of universals.
The problem of the relationship between faith and reason was solved by the authors in different ways. Three options (thesis) of this problem can be formulated:
1. Thesis of Aurelius Augustine: I believe in order to understand. Here the dogma of faith becomes the foundation for rational conclusions.
2. Pierre Abelard's thesis: I understand in order to believe. Here the truths of faith must receive rational justification and philosophical interpretation. This position leads to the absorption of theology by philosophy.
3. Tertullian's thesis: I believe because it is absurd. This option presupposes a divergence between reason and faith and leads to the concept of two truths. This position leads to a gap between philosophy and theology. Tertullian puts forward a position of pure faith, rejects the need for philosophical knowledge, since there is no need for research after Christ. The maxim is attributed to him: “I believe because it is absurd.”
Justin - philosophy is the sister of religion and can, in its best examples, pose the same problems as religious teaching.

Scholasticism

The main problems of scholasticism include:

a) the problem of the relationship between knowledge and faith;

b) the problem of the relationship between essence and existence;

c) the problem of the nature and essence of general concepts (“universals”).

Three approaches to solving one of the main problems of scholasticism - relationship between knowledge and faith.

1. Knowledge and faith are irreconcilable enemies. They are antipodes, incompatible with each other. Philosophy, reason, knowledge are the enemies of religion and faith. Faith does not need any knowledge, no reason. It has its own nature, its own basis - “revelation” and “holy scripture”. Tertullian speaks directly about this: “After Christ, we do not need any curiosity; after the Gospel there is no need for any research.”

Faith is faith because it does not need any reasonable justification or evidence. “The Son of God was crucified; We are not ashamed of it, because it is shameful; the son of god died - we fully believe this, because it is absurd. And the buried one rose again; this is true because it is impossible.” Hence Tertullian’s famous credo: “I believe because it is absurd.” With this approach, philosophers are not only not needed by religion, but on the contrary, “philosophers are the patriarchs of heretics.” Where the philosopher appears, where he poses rational questions, heretics also appear.

This concept was developed by Tertullian (160-240) and Peter Damiani (1007-1072). It is expressed in apophatic theology, which denies the possibility of knowing God and his manifestations in the real world.

2. Union of knowledge and faith. This concept is represented in cataphatic theology. According to it, knowledge of God is possible through the fruits of his creation and the results of intervention in the affairs of the world, therefore, a union of faith and knowledge is possible. However, the union itself was understood differently. Some gave primacy in this union to faith - “I believe in order to understand” (St. Augustine, A. of Canterbury), others - to knowledge, “I understand in order to believe” (P. Abelard).

3. The theory of dual truth. Its most famous representatives are Averroes (1126-1198) and Siger of Brabant (about 1235-1282). Its essence is that philosophy and theology have different objects of study (one is nature, the other is God), different sources of knowledge (philosophy - reason, religion - revelation) and therefore they have different knowledge and different truths. One truth is philosophical, the other truth is theological. These two truths are equivalent and independent of each other.

The concept of the union of knowledge and faith has become most widespread. However, this concept turned out to be internally contradictory and difficult to implement in practice.

The idea of ​​relying on reason in resolving theological issues was expressed in the 9th century by John Scott Erigena. He considered reason as the criterion for the correct interpretation of “sacred scripture” and thereby laid the foundations of religious rationalism. Its essence is that “everything that is reasonable must be provable by reason.” Since God and his activities are rational, they must be demonstrable using reason. Hence the task of religious rationalism is to prove, with the help of reason, the reasonableness of religious dogmas.

However, this thesis in a hidden form contained its continuation - “everything that cannot be proven by reason is unreasonable.” From this it turned out that dogmas that cannot be proven by reason are unreasonable. Therefore, when it became clear that the dogmas of religion cannot be proven with the help of reason, scholasticism faced a dilemma - either admit that religious dogmas are unreasonable, which is impossible, or find some way out. And this solution was found - religious dogmas were recognized as “super-reasonable”, i.e. it was argued that these dogmas were reasonable in their divine nature, but inaccessible to human reason.

Thus, in order to avoid accusations of the unreasonableness of religious dogmas, scholasticism was forced to gradually abandon reliance on reason and move on to justifying their “super-reasonable” nature.

In this regard, the history of scholasticism can be considered as a history of the gradual demarcation of knowledge and faith. And the scholastics themselves carry out this demarcation. Albertus Magnus recognized the impossibility of rational proof of the dogmas about the unity and trinity of God, about the incarnation and resurrection. Thomas Aquinas added to them the dogmas about creation in time, about original sin, about sacrament and purgatory, about the Last Judgment and retribution, Duns Scotus recognized the dogma about “creation from nothing”; and finally, William of Ockham recognized the impossibility of rational proof of the existence of God and the unity of his nature. As a result of all this, the union of reason and faith did not take place.

The problem of the relationship between essence and existence is posed and solved in scholasticism as a theological problem, i.e. as a problem of the existence of God and knowledge of his essence. However, the philosophical essence of this problem remained the same. How do the existing world (the visible, sensory world, the world of phenomena, “the world for us”) relate to the essence of this world, i.e. a world that is not sensually perceived, a world that is comprehended only by the mind (the noumenal world, “the world in itself”), but which alone is the true world, forming the essence, the basis of the visible world.

The scholastics solved the problem posed from the standpoint of religious dogmatics. The existing world (things) is the creation of God. Therefore, the essence of the world (things) is that it (they) is the creation of God.

There was no debate about the fact that God is the cause and essence of the world. The debate was about whether it is possible to know God himself?

Some believed that by cognizing the existing world as the creation of God with the help of feelings and reason, we cognize the essence of this world and thereby cognize God. Therefore, knowing God through reason is quite possible. Others, on the contrary, believed that knowledge of the essence of God by man is impossible and that everything we know about God we receive directly from him, through revelation. This scholastic debate is important in two respects.

Firstly, on its basis, two main ways of proving the existence of God have emerged. The first is proof from “revelation,” when the existence of God is deduced from the authority of “holy scripture” and the works of the “church fathers.” This is holy proof of the existence of God. The second way is natural. The existence of God is inferred and proven based on the characteristics of the existing world. These characteristics supposedly give us evidence for the existence of God. Thomas Aquinas follows this path, proving the existence of God: God as the “prime cause”, as the “prime mover”, God as the absolute goal, as absolute perfection and as absolute necessity.

Secondly, more than a thousand years of scholasticism’s search for the “essence” of things has entered the flesh and blood of European philosophy and philosophical thinking. The search for “essence” has acquired an “innate” character. Clarification of the “essence” and ways of knowing it has become the central task of European philosophy. Hence the “phenomenal and noumenal” world of I. Kant, hence the “Absolute Idea” and “existent being” of Hegel, hence, as a reaction to the endless search for “essence,” phenomenology, hence “essence and existence” in existentialism.

William Ockham proposed a fundamentally new approach to solving the problem of essence and existence. The thesis known as Occam's razor states that “entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.” This means that if science, relying on reason and experience, can explain the essence of a thing, then there is no need to introduce another “speculative” essence to explain it. Thus, if the law of conservation of energy proves that it neither arises nor disappears, then there is no need to assume “first causes” and “prime movers” to explain the nature and essence of the world. For the old dilemma of knowledge or faith, this meant that as the sphere of knowledge expanded, the sphere of faith would shrink. The separation of knowledge and faith became inevitable.

The problem of the nature and essence of general concepts (“universals”) with is presented as a theological problem. How to rationally explain one of the dogmas of Christianity - the dogma of the unity and trinity of God? The scholastics find out how the one God relates to his three separate hypostases (God - God the Son - God the Holy Spirit).

However, the philosophical essence of this problem is old - the relationship between the general and the separate (individual). The problem of the origin and nature of general concepts; the problem of the relationship between the sensory and rational in knowledge; problem: how and why do general concepts give us true knowledge about the world?

In answering this question, two main directions emerged in scholasticism: realism and nominalism. The first direction was based on the ideas of Plato, who believed that the general exists in reality before things in the form of an “idea”, the second - on the ideas of Aristotle, according to whom the general exists in the things themselves.

Nominalists believed that only isolated things really exist. The general either does not exist at all (Roscelin, for whom the general is only a word, a name (nomina), to designate homogeneous individual things), or exists, but only in thought, in the concept. The general exists after things and represents abstract knowledge about individual things. In the words of William Ockham, it is a generality - “the knowledge of something general that can be abstracted from many things.” This abstracted knowledge is fixed in general concepts (concepts). Hence the conceptual theory of universals.

The strength of nominalism is the recognition of the existence of separate material things accessible to our knowledge. Its weakness lies in the fact that it cannot explain the process of formation of general concepts that provide true knowledge about the world and things.

Realists believed that only the general really exists. Everything individual, separate only seems to exist (John Scott Erigena). Extreme realism (Anselm of Canterbury) understood the nature of this generality in the Platonic spirit. The general as the “ideas” existing in the mind of God, before and beyond individual things. These are some ideal “prototypes”, standards according to which God creates individual things. This explains the closeness of realism to idealism. Moderate realism leaned towards Aristotle's concept and believed that the general exists in the things themselves and is known through reason.

An attempt to unify existing views on the nature of universals was made by Thomas Aquinas. He essentially reproduced the point of view of Avicenna (980 - 1037), according to which universals exist in three ways: before things as “ideas”, as ideal prototypes in the divine mind; in the things themselves, since the universal is the essence of the individual thing; after things in the human mind, which abstracts the general from individual things and fixes it in a concept. But this is more of a mechanical combination of different points of view than their synthesis. Currently, the problem of universals has acquired practical significance in connection with the development of artificial intelligence.

Patristics

A characteristic feature of medieval philosophical thinking, characteristic of patristics, will be that thinkers, in order to confirm their ideas turn to the most authoritative and ancient source - the Bible.

One of the main generic features of patristics as a specific way of philosophizing is decisive change of orientation. The ancient sages, Plato or Aristotle (with all due respect to them) could not remain the highest authority for a Christian. The starting point for any theorizing is the text of Holy Scripture (the canon of which was finally formed in the 4th century). The authority of Scripture immeasurably exceeds the significance of any philosophical text. Scripture is the source of truth and at the same time the final explanatory authority. Therefore, Christian philosophizing can be understood as philosophical exegesis of the sacred text, and the method of such philosophizing can be understood as a set of ways of interpreting this text. The results of interpretation, in turn, constitute the real content of the philosophical constructions of patristics. The fundamental thesis of patristics (and any Christian philosophizing) states: the truth is contained in Scripture, and the task of the theologian (“true philosopher”) is to correctly understand and explain it. It was on these paths that Christian theology took shape, first of all, as religious and philosophical hermeneutics.

Patristics will be the direct successor of the apostolic tradition, which has the highest authority after the Old Testament. The philosophy created by the apostolic tradition is the first in Christianity. And due to the traditionalism of thinking of the representatives of patristics, it is considered as a prototype of any future philosophizing and its classic example. Based on this, they construct their works as explanations of individual provisions of the Old and New Testaments.

A special feature of the writings of the church fathers of the patristic period is that, along with knowledge of the texts of the Holy Scriptures, they reflect all the richness and diversity of ancient philosophy. This is explained by the fact that the creators of patristic philosophical literature were the most educated people of their time. Patristics created a tradition that found its continuation in scholasticism. This makes it possible to consider patristics and scholasticism as phenomena of the same order, firstly, due to their common method of philosophizing, and secondly, due to their reliance on the same principles that mediate the content of philosophical works. These principles include:

· theocentrism- recognition of God as the source of all things;

· creationism- recognition that God created everything from nothing;

· providentialism- recognition that God rules over everything;

· personalism- recognition that man is a “person”, created by God in his own likeness and endowed with a conscience;

· revolutionism- recognition that the most reliable way of knowing the most important truths for a person is to comprehend the meaning of the Holy Scriptures.

At the stage of patristics, a great contribution to the development of philosophy was made by such fathers of the Christian church as:

· Tertullian (160 - 220)

· Origen (about 185 - 253/254)

· Cyprian of Carthage (after 200 - 258)

· Eusebius Pamphilus (about 260 - 339)

· Athanasius the Great (295 - 373)

· Gregory the Theologian (Nazianzen) (329/330 - 390)

Don't forget that

· Basil the Great (about 330 - 379)

Ambrose of Milan (333/334 - 397)

· Gregory of Nyssa (335 - after 394)

· Jerome of Stridon (347 - 419/420)

· Augustine the Blessed (354 - 430) and others.

The range of problems that interested representatives of patristics was wide. In fact, all the problems of ancient philosophy were, to one degree or another, comprehended by the fathers of the Christian Church. And yet, the problem of man and his structure in the world remained in the foreground. Moreover, if representatives of Cynicism, Epicureanism and Stoicism placed the responsibility of ordering the world on the individual and saw in his activity a means for this, then Christian philosophers made the organization of man in the world dependent on God. Human activity and freedom were subordinated to the will of the Almighty. The volitional efforts of people and their activities began to be viewed through the prism of their compliance with divine institutions. Responsibility for what happens in the world is transferred outside the world. “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” we read in the Bible. Responsibility to people is mediated by responsibility to God. It is before God that sinners will have to answer.

Solving the basic problem of man's relationship to the outside world, to God and other people required philosophical analysis and other problems. Essential here was the problem of the relationship between knowledge and faith.

It is clear that knowledge is the acceptance of something by virtue of justification and evidence, that is, indirectly and out of necessity, while faith is the acceptance of something apart from any justification and evidence, that is, directly and freely. Believing and knowing are completely different things. Religion is based on faith, philosophy is based on knowledge, and therefore the difference between them is also obvious. Since the Middle Ages was the era of unconditional ideological dominance of Christianity in Europe, the problem was the possibility of applying philosophical knowledge to religious faith. There could be no talk of any priority for philosophy, since the primacy of religion was a given. Therefore, it was only necessary to find out whether philosophy can be at least to some extent compatible with religion and therefore it should be left, making it a support of faith, a “handmaiden of theology” or, on the contrary, it is necessary to discard any philosophizing altogether, as a harmful and ungodly activity.

Priority was given to faith. At the same time, the authority of knowledge was quite high. At the same time, knowledge was often seen as a means to strengthen faith. Another important problem discussed during the patristic period and later was the problem of free will. At the same time, some medieval philosophers denied free will, others allowed it, but limited it to the possible intervention of God, and others defended the idea that people are free in their will, but the world is not free from the will of God. People who do not fully comprehend the world can be mistaken and sin. Free will is seen as the source of sin. Knowledge of the world created by God can save you from sin..

Aurelius Augustine is the largest Christian thinker of the patristic period. In his works, he passionately condemns various heretical teachings - Gnosticism, Manichaeism and others. Augustine made God the center of philosophical thinking. God is primary, hence it follows that the soul is superior to the body, the will is superior to the mind. God is the highest essence, only his existence follows from his own nature, everything else necessarily does not exist. He is the only one whose existence is independent; everything else exists only thanks to the divine will. According to Augustine, the world, as a free act of God, is a rational creation. God created it based on his own idea. Christian Platonism was an Augustinian version of Plato's doctrine of ideas, which was understood in a theological and personalistic spirit. The ideal model of the real world is hidden in God. Both Plato and Augustine had 2 worlds: the ideal in God and the real in the world and space.

1). Time was created by God.
2). God dwells in eternity, which is the absence of time.
3). The past and future, as such, do not exist, and the present has no duration.
4). Three times exist only in our soul: the present of the past is memory; the present of the present is immediate contemplation; the present of the future is its expectation
5). We also measure time only in our soul

Another widely discussed set of issues related to data. It is important to note that one of them was the problem of good and evil in the world. Many Christian philosophers of the patristic period believed that evil in the world has its source in the deeds of people, which are the realization of their free will, affected by errors. Other thinkers saw the source of evil in the machinations of the devil.

It is important to know that Christian philosophers of the patristic period paid great attention to the promotion of the commandments of religious morality. The works devoted to this amaze with the depth of penetration into the spiritual world of man, the knowledge of human passions and desires. It is worth saying that these works are characterized by pervasive humanism.

In their writings, the church fathers sought to give specific recommendations to those who sought to avoid sin and be saved from the wrath of God.

Anthological issues and problems of the theory of knowledge were touched upon in the works of Christian philosophers of the patristic period. Christian thinkers do not doubt the reality of the existence of the world and recognize the usefulness of its knowledge, since in the course of knowledge the greatness of the Creator will awaken.

Mystic

A consideration of medieval philosophy will not be complete if we ignore another direction of Christian thought - mysticism . As already noted, its origins go back to the spiritual quest of the church fathers, who believed that the highest being can be known only on the basis of mystical experience, i.e. direct and immediate contact with God.

A prominent representative of the mystical branch of medieval philosophy was Bernard of Clairvaux (1091 – 1153), who rejected the rational ways of comprehending deity inherent in scholasticism, giving preference to feeling and intuition. Being a well-educated man, familiar with ancient culture and the works of St. Augustine, he nevertheless emphasized his indifference to philosophy, considering the Holy Scripture the main source of his ideas.

Since communication with God requires not reason, but love, humility and attachment of the human soul to the Creator, the abbot of the monastery in Clairvaux elevated asceticism and asceticism to the rank of a way of life. The first step on the path to God is humility and submission, with the help of which a person realizes his imperfection and limitations before the Creator. The second is compassion, the third is contemplation of truth, which leads him to a state of mystical ecstasy, complete self-forgetfulness and likeness to God.

The most significant mystic of the 13th century was Giovanni Fidanza (1217 - 1274), better known as Bonaventure (“Good Coming”) In his most famous work, “The Soul’s Guide to God,” a member of the Franciscan monastic order, a teacher at the University of Paris, who after his death was canonized and declared one of the five greatest teachers of the Catholic Church, wrote that knowledge of God is achieved not through the study of the external world, but by knowledge of one's own soul. As the soul moves towards the goal, it must work, performing repentance, prayers, and merciful deeds. Under this condition, the human spirit, consisting of memory, reason and will, is able to see the “trace of God” in every feature of the universe and approach Him. Thus, for Bonaventure, faith acts as a teacher of reason.

The crisis of scholastic thought in the 14th – 15th centuries was accompanied by the increasing influence of mystical teachings, which, like heresies, expressed a kind of protest against the prevailing orders in society and the church.

The most famous mystic of this period was a Dominican friar who taught in Paris, Strasbourg and Cologne Johann Eckhart (c.1260 – 1327), nicknamed “Meister”, i.e. "master". He asserted the impossibility of knowing God by means of reason, contrasting the latter with the “spark of God” located in the human soul, which is the organ of mystical contemplation. In order for the latter to become possible, a person must renounce the external: “...detachment is the best, for it cleanses the soul, clarifies the conscience, ignites the heart and awakens the spirit, gives speed to desires; it surpasses virtues: for it gives us the knowledge of God; separates from creation and unites the soul with God.”

The goal of the mystical life, Meister believes, is to unite with God, which requires sincere repentance and cleansing from sins. At the same time, evil and sin are interpreted by the thinker in a unique way. God deliberately tempts man, causing those for whom he has destined great deeds to sin. The Fall fosters humility, and forgiveness ties us more closely to God. Thus, according to Eckhart's views, evil does not exist in the absolute sense, for it serves the fulfillment of divine purposes.

Since God is not a person for him, but is dissolved in the world, present at every point of it, there is no need to turn to him in prayer, perform rituals and sacraments. And the church, as a cumbersome structure that has lost its spirituality, becomes superfluous. Such unorthodox views of the mystical philosopher caused a negative reaction from the official authorities, and after the death of Meister Eckhart, his teaching was declared false by a papal decree.

Conclusion

Medieval theological philosophy was distinguished by self-containment, traditionalism, a focus on the past, isolation from the real world, belligerence, dogmatism, edification, and teaching.

The following main features of medieval theological philosophy can be distinguished:

· theocentrism (the main cause of all things, the highest reality, the main subject of philosophical research was God);

· little attention was paid to the study of space itself, nature, and the phenomena of the surrounding world, since they were considered the creation of God;

· dogmas (truths that do not need proof) about creation (of everything by God) and revelation (of God about Himself - in the Bible) dominated;

· the contradiction between materialism and idealism is smoothed out;

· man stood out from nature and was declared a creation of God, standing above nature (the divine essence of man was emphasized);

· the principle of human free will within the framework of divine predestination was proclaimed;

· the idea was put forward about the resurrection of a person from the dead (both soul and body) in the future with godly behavior;

· the dogma was put forward about the salvation of the surrounding world and humanity through the incarnation of God in the human body - Jesus Christ (incarnation) and Jesus Christ taking upon Himself the sins of all humanity;

· the world was considered knowable through the concept of God, which can be realized through faith in God.

The significance of medieval theological philosophy for the subsequent development of philosophy is that it:

· became a link between ancient philosophy and the philosophy of the Renaissance and modern times;

· preserved and developed a number of ancient philosophical ideas, since they arose on the basis of the ancient philosophy of Christian teaching;

· contributed to the division of philosophy into new spheres (in addition to ontology, which completely merged with ancient philosophy, epistemology emerged);

· contributed to the division of idealism into objective and subjective;

· laid the foundation for the emergence in the future of empirical (Bacon, Hobbes, Locke) and rationalistic (Descartes) directions of philosophy as a result of the practice of nominalists, respectively, to rely on experience (empiricism) and increased interest in the problem of self-consciousness (I am a concept, rationalism);

· awakened interest in understanding the historical process;

· put forward the idea of ​​optimism, expressed in faith in the victory of good over evil and in resurrection.

Dictionary

Apologetics- 1) a learned exposition of the proofs of the truth and divine source of the Christian religion, written by Tertullian. 2) science, the task of which is to prove the truth of Christian teaching and its divinity, as well as to protect the Christian faith.

Apophatic theology- theology that seeks to adequately express the transcendence of God by consistently denying all of his attributes and designations, eliminating one after another the ideas and concepts related to him ( For example , O god it is forbidden say Not only That , What his No , But And That , What He There is , for He By that side being ) . Apophatic theology was developed by Pseudo-Dionysius Areo-pagite; V average century complemented by catalytic theology.

Epistemology– Theory of knowledge; engaged in the study of the origin, composition and boundaries of human cognition.

Dogmatism- in a broad sense - the tendency to follow dogmas and the inability to question what you believe in.

Cataphatic theology

Catechumens– In the ancient church, catechumens received instruction in the form of a summary of the doctrine, formulated in a creed, which they learned by heart. The assimilation of the symbol of faith was the final moment in the preparation of catechumens, preceding their acceptance of baptism, after which they were admitted to the sacrament of communion. Usually, the first communion was timed to coincide with the Easter holiday, when the catechumens put on white robes, which they did not take off throughout the entire Easter week. Those who had fallen away from the Christian faith also underwent the announcement; in this case, the catechumens had to prove the sincerity of their repentance in order to return to the bosom of the church.

Cynicism- one of the most significant Socratic philosophical schools.

Mystic– Science that sought the hidden meaning in the Holy Scriptures and rites of faith; taking into account the mysterious, enigmatic, supernatural; a special disposition of the soul to the impressions of the mysterious; a doctrine that recognizes religious objects as accessible to external senses.

Ontology– the doctrine of being as such, a section of philosophy that studies the fundamental principles of being.

Scholasticism– a type of religious philosophy characterized by a fundamental subordination to the primacy of theology, a combination of dogmatic premises with rationalistic methodology and a special interest in formal logical problems; received its most complete development and dominance in Western Europe in the Middle Ages.

Theology- a speculative doctrine about God, based on Revelation, that is, the divine Word, embodied in the sacred texts of theistic religions (in Judaism - the Torah, in Christianity - the Bible, in Islam - the Koran).

Theocentrism- a theological concept according to which God, understood as absolute, perfect being and the highest good, is the source of all being and good. Imitation and assimilation to God are considered as the highest goal and main meaning of human life, and honoring God and serving him is the basis of morality.

Empiricism- one of the most important trends in the philosophy of modern times, which asserts that the source of reliable knowledge is sensory experience alone, and thinking and reason are only capable of combining material supplied by the senses, but do not introduce anything new into it.

Renaissance) – (French Renaissance, Italian Rinascimento), an era in the cultural and ideological development of a number of countries in Western and Central Europe, as well as some countries in Eastern Europe.

Bibliography

1. Bolotov V.V. Lectures on the history of the ancient church / V.V. Bolotov. – St. Petersburg, 1907–1917; Moscow, 1994.

2. Dictionary foreign words , entered V compound Russian language .- Chudinov A . N ., 1910.

3. Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language S.I. Ozhegov and N.Yu. Shvedova.

4. Encyclopedic dictionary . 2009.

5. Mayorov G.G. Formation of medieval philosophy. Latin patristics / G.G. Mayorov. – Moscow, 1979. – 524 pages.

6. B.C. Stepin. Philosophy: textbook. manual for students of higher educational institutions / B.C. Stepin [and others]; under the general editorship of Ya. S. Yaskevich. - Minsk; RIVSH, 2006. - 624 pages.

7. Large encyclopedic dictionary: In 2 volumes / Chief editor A.M. Prokhorov. – Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1991. Volume 2.

8. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.

9. Large encyclopedic dictionary: In 2 volumes / Chief editor A.M. Prokhorov. – Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1991. Volume 1.

10. Stolyarov A.A. Patristics. The concept of patristics and its main features: History of philosophy. West-Russia-East. Book one. Philosophy of antiquity and the Middle Ages / A.A. Stolyarov - Moscow: Greco-Latin Cabinet, 1995 - 452 pages.

11. Philosophy: Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M.: Gardariki. Edited by A.A. Ivina. 2004.

12. « Art . Modern illustrated encyclopedia .» Under edit . prof . Gorkina A . P .; M . : Rosman ; 2007.

13. Philosophical encyclopedic dictionary. - Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. editor: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. 1983.

Philosophical ideas in the Middle Ages were most often dressed in religious garb. Strictly speaking, religion is not philosophy. Religion? this is obedience to God, a supernatural connection between man and God. Religion is characterized by miracles and unbridled faith in dogmas. In philosophy, both are questioned. At the same time, one cannot help but see a certain similarity between religion and philosophy. As we saw in the analysis of the views of Plato and Aristotle, the theme of God is not alien to philosophy. The search for one very often leads to the topic of God. Religious views, as well as any other views, always contain philosophical ideas. It is from these positions that we will consider Christianity.

Medieval theological philosophy is the leading philosophical movement widespread in Europe in the V? 16th century, which recognized God as the highest existing principle, and the entire world around? His creations. Theological philosophy began to emerge in the Roman Empire in I? V centuries AD based on early Christianity, heresies and ancient philosophy and reached its highest peak in the V - XIII centuries. AD (during the period between the collapse of the Western Roman Empire (476) and the beginning of the Renaissance.

The most prominent representatives of medieval theological philosophy were: Tertullian of Carthage (160?220), Augustus the Blessed (354?430), Boethius (480?524), Albertus Magnus (1193?1280); Thomas Aquinas (1225?1274), Anselm of Canterbury (1033?1109), Pierre Abelard (1079?1142), William of Ockham (1285?1349), Nicholas of Hautrecourt (XIV century).

The Middle Ages are called "dark", "gloomy". The attitude towards medieval culture is ambivalent: from recognizing it as rude and inhuman to glorifying it for its religious and mystical impulses. “Could the Middle Ages even be a complete hell in which humanity spent a thousand years and from which the Renaissance extracted this poor humanity?” ? asked Academician N.I. Konrad. And he answered: “To think so? means, first of all, to underestimate man. Gothic architecture, radiant poetry of troubadours, chivalric romance, cheerful folk farces, exciting spectacles? mysteries and miracles... The Middle Ages? one of the great eras in the history of mankind.”

In historical science, the Middle Ages in Western Europe are dated to the 5th–15th centuries. However, in relation to philosophy, such dating is not entirely correct. Medieval European philosophy? this is a Christian philosophy. Christian philosophy began to take shape much earlier. The first Christian philosophers developed their ideas in the 2nd century. n. e. The philosophy of early Christianity was called apologetics, and its representatives? apologists, since their writings were aimed at defending and justifying Christian doctrine.

In medieval philosophy there was an acute dispute between spirit and matter, which led to a dispute between realists and nominalists. The dispute was about the nature of universals, that is, about the nature of general concepts, whether general concepts are secondary, that is, a product of the activity of thinking, or whether they represent the primary, real, exist independently.

The boundaries between antiquity and the Middle Ages are blurred and unclear. Therefore, paradoxically, medieval philosophy began earlier than ancient philosophy ended. For several centuries, two methods of philosophizing existed in parallel, mutually influencing each other.

Features of the style of philosophical thinking of the Middle Ages:

1. If the ancient worldview was cosmocentric, then what about the medieval one? theocentric. For Christianity, the reality that determines everything in the world is not nature, the cosmos, but God. God is a person who exists above this world.

2. The originality of the philosophical thinking of the Middle Ages lay in its close connection with religion. Church dogma was the starting point and basis of philosophical thinking. The content of philosophical thought acquired a religious form.

3. The idea of ​​the real existence of a supernatural principle (God) forces us to look at the world, the meaning of history, human goals and values ​​from a special angle. The medieval worldview is based on the idea of ​​creation (the doctrine of the creation of the world by God out of nothing? creationism).

Christianity brought into the philosophical environment the idea of ​​linear history. History moves forward towards Judgment Day. History is understood as a manifestation of the will of God, as the implementation of a predetermined divine plan for the salvation of man (providentialism).

Does Christian philosophy seek to comprehend the internal personal mechanisms of assessment? conscience, religious motive, self-awareness. Orientation of a person's entire life towards the salvation of the soul? This is a new value preached by Christianity.

4. The philosophical thinking of the Middle Ages was retrospective, looking to the past. For the medieval consciousness, “the more ancient, the more authentic, the more authentic, the truer.”

5. The style of philosophical thinking of the Middle Ages was distinguished by traditionalism. For the medieval philosopher, any form of innovation was considered a sign of pride, therefore, excluding subjectivity as much as possible from the creative process, he had to adhere to the established pattern, canon, tradition. What was valued was not creativity and originality of thought, but erudition and adherence to tradition.

6. The philosophical thinking of the Middle Ages was authoritarian and relied on authorities. Most authoritative source? Bible. The medieval philosopher turns to biblical authority for confirmation of his opinion.

7. Philosophy of the Middle Ages? commentary philosophy. A significant part of medieval works was written in the form of commentary. The commentary was mainly on the Holy Scriptures. The preference given in religion to authority, to statements sanctified by tradition over opinions expressed on one’s own behalf, encouraged similar behavior in the sphere of philosophical creativity. The leading genre of philosophical literature in the Middle Ages was the genre of commentary.

8. As a feature, the exegetical nature of medieval philosophizing should be noted. For a medieval thinker, the starting point for theorizing is the text of Holy Scripture. This text is the source of truth and the final explanatory authority. The thinker’s task is not to analyze and criticize the text, but only to interpret it. The text, sanctified by tradition, in which not a word can be changed, despotically rules the philosopher’s thought, sets its limit and measure. Therefore, Christian philosophizing can be understood as philosophical exegesis (interpretation) of the sacred text. Medievalism? this is the philosophy of the text.

9. The style of philosophical thinking of the Middle Ages is distinguished by the desire for impersonality. Many works of this era have reached us anonymously. The medieval philosopher does not speak on his own behalf, he argues on behalf of “Christian philosophy.”

10. Philosophical thinking of the Middle Ages was characterized by didacticism (teaching, edification). Almost all the famous thinkers of that time were either preachers or teachers of theological schools. Hence, as a rule, the “teacher”, edifying character of philosophical systems.

11. Medieval philosophy, in contrast to ancient philosophy, highlights:

Being (existence)? existence;

Entity? essence.

Existence (being, existence) shows whether a thing exists at all (that is, exists or does not exist). Essence (essence) characterizes a thing.

If ancient philosophers saw essence and existence in an indissoluble unity, then, according to Christian philosophy, essence can take place without being (without existence). To become an existent (being), an entity must be created by God.

Medieval philosophical thought went through three stages in its development:

1. Patristic works of the church fathers.

Initially, the “father of the church” was a spiritual mentor with recognized teaching authority. Later this concept was clarified and began to include four features: 1) holiness of life; 2) antiquity; 3) orthodoxy of teaching; 4) official recognition of the church.

The works written by the church fathers laid the foundations of Christian dogmas. True philosophy, from the point of view of the church fathers, is identical to theology, faith always takes precedence over reason, and truth is the truth of Revelation. Patristics, based on the role it played in society, is divided into apologetic and systematic. According to the linguistic criterion? into Greek and Latin, or (which is somewhat more conventional) into Western and Eastern. In the East, systematics prevailed, in the West, apologetics.

The pinnacle of Latin patristics is the work of Aurelius Augustine, the classics of Greek patristics are represented by Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa.

One of the main issues of patristics was the problem of the relationship between faith and knowledge, religion and philosophy. Is it clear what knowledge? is the acceptance of something by virtue of justification and evidence, that is, indirectly and out of necessity, while faith? this is the acceptance of something beyond any justification and evidence, that is? directly and freely. Believe and know? completely different things. Is religion based on faith, philosophy? on knowledge, and therefore the difference between them is also obvious. Because the Middle Ages? This is the era of unconditional ideological dominance of Christianity in Europe; the problem was the possibility of applying philosophical knowledge to religious faith. There could be no talk of any priority for philosophy, since the primacy of religion was a given. So all you had to do was find out? Can philosophy be at least to some extent compatible with religion and therefore should it be abandoned, making it a support of faith, a “handmaiden of theology” or, on the contrary, it is necessary to completely discard any philosophizing as a harmful and ungodly activity.

2. Scholasticism is a type of religious philosophy, characterized by a fundamental subordination to the primacy of theology, the combination of dogmatic premises with rationalistic methodology and a special interest in formal logical problems.

The greatest scholastic of Western European philosophy was Thomas Aquinas. For example, the debate between Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus in the courtyard of the University of Paris on the topic “Does a mole have eyes” was essentially scholastic? Did this verbal tournament last for several hours? and all to no avail. Everyone stood their ground, earnestly and unshakably. But then a gardener happened to overhear this learned debate and offer his services. “Do you want,” he says, “I will bring you a real live mole this very moment. That will resolve your dispute.” “Under no circumstances. Never! We are arguing in principle: does a principled mole have principled eyes.”

By scholasticism is meant (this is obvious from the example given) also formal knowledge, fruitless reasoning, divorced from life, from practice. This is where the expression “scholastic theorizing” comes from. An example of scholastic thinking can be questions of this kind: can God create a stone that he himself cannot lift? Or: what came first? chicken or egg? How many devils can fit on the tip of one needle? (The last question sounds especially relevant today, during the rampant drug addiction).

3. Mysticism? a philosophy that comprehends the religious practice of the unity of man with God, the immersion of the contemplating spirit in the ocean of divine light. If the speculative-logical aspect prevailed in scholasticism, then in mysticism? contemplative. All mystical teachings tend toward irrationalism, intuitionism, and deliberate paradoxicality; they express themselves not so much in the language of concepts as in the language of symbols. A prominent representative of the mysticism of the late Middle Ages in Western Europe was the German thinker Meister Eckhart.