The Medieval World
Faith and reason in conversation: Augustine and the Christian synthesis, Aquinas and scholasticism, the Islamic Golden Age (Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes), and Maimonides bridging traditions.
Part of Philosophy
15 moments in this segment.
- — Nagarjuna and the philosophy of emptiness (Madhyamaka). A deeper look — part of the history of philosophy.
- — Plotinus, Neoplatonism & the Great Chain of Being. A deeper look — part of the history of philosophy.
- — Plotinus — the mystic of the One. A deeper look — part of the history of philosophy.
- — Augustine of Hippo (354–430). The Confessions and the City of God — fusing Platonism with Christianity at the close of antiquity.
- — Augustine (The School of Life). The Confessions and the turn inward.
- — Augustine — City of God. The two cities and Christian political philosophy.
- — Adi Shankara (c. 700–750). Advaita Vedanta: the non-dual reality of Brahman behind the world of appearances.
- — Al-Farabi (c. 872–950). "The Second Teacher" after Aristotle — logic, the virtuous city, and the synthesis of Greek and Islamic thought.
- — The Islamic Golden Age — philosophy & humanities (Kings and Generals). Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes and the flowering of reason.
- — Avicenna / Ibn Sina (980–1037). The "Flying Man" and the necessary being — the towering metaphysician of the Islamic Golden Age.
- — Averroes / Ibn Rushd (1126–1198). The great commentator on Aristotle whose work reignited reason in medieval Europe.
- — Maimonides (1138–1204). The Guide for the Perplexed — reconciling Aristotle with Jewish scripture.
- — Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274). The Summa Theologica — the grand scholastic synthesis of faith and Aristotelian reason.
- — Thomas Aquinas (The School of Life). The scholastic synthesis of faith and Aristotle.
- — William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347). Ockham's Razor: do not multiply entities beyond necessity — the edge of medieval thought.
