• The period is characterized by a relative
scarcity of historical and other written
BIG QUESTION in MEDIEVAL EPOCH….
WHAT IS FAITH?
WHAT IS RELIGION?
Faith is personal: INTERNAL, Within the
power of the “I”. It is both the cognitive
and the emotive. It is within the context
of it and NOT bound with QUANDARY.
Religion: EXTERNAL: bound with the
choice we made. It can be change. It is
structural and functional.
Medieval Philosophy
• Medieval philosophy is the philosophy in
the era now known as medieval or the
Middle Ages, the period roughly extending
from the fall of the Western Roma Empire
in the fifth century AD to the Renaissance
in the sixteenth century
• Essentially “monotheistic”
• From a state of polytheism to a belief in
a one and only God.
• God here is the center of man’s life ,
Medieval philosophy is not to be
separated from theology
The Dark Ages
• The "Dark Ages" is a historical period
emphasizing the cultural and economic
deterioration that occurred in Europe
following the decline of the Roma Empire.
• The label employs traditional “light-
versus darkness” imagery to contrast the
"darkness" of the period with earlier and
later periods of "light“ (Middle Age).
were combined by the Fathers of the
Church with many of the philosophical
records at least for some areas of Europe,
rendering it obscure to historians.
Challenged Church Authority
• In the 16th century, various humanists
various humanists had begun to ask had
begun to ask dangerous questions.
dangerous questions.
• The Enlightenment allowed people to
believe in progress, to “think outside the
box,” and it led to box,” and it led to the
rise of individualism.
Medieval Philosophy
• The term medieval refers to the Middle
Ages, the time in European history
between classical antiquity and the
Italian Renaissance, from about 500 A.D.
to about 1350 ( 13th )
• Medieval philosophy is theocentric in its
character.
• During the decline of Greco-Roman
civilization, Western philosophers turned
their attention from the scientific
investigation of nature and the search for
happiness in this world, to the problem of
salvation and life in another, better world
• The torch of civilization in Western
Europe was carried mainly by the
Christian Church, where thought were
conducted under the context of Christian
doctrines.
• By the 3rd century AD, Christianity had
spread throughout the Roman Empire. •
The religious teachings of the Gospels
concepts of the Greeks and Roman
schools.
FOCUS: ON RELIGION and FAITH
St. Augustine
(354–430 C.E) : Uses aspects of
Neoplatonism to understand, explain
Christianity
“You are great, O Lord, and man desires
to praise you. You so excite him that to
praise you is his joy. For you have made
us for yourself and our hearts are restless
until they rest in You.”
Conversion
• He regret that once he believed in
Manichaeism means taught an elaborate
dualistic cosmology describing the
struggle between a good, spiritual world
of light, and an evil, material world of
darkness.
• Began to study under Saint Ambrose.
• Became fascinated by intellectual
nature of faith.
• Was not baptized, at first, because he
didn’t want to give up life of sin
His Philosophical Beliefs
• The man with his strength does not
exceed this vicious cycle of not being
able to not want what cannot get
• Only the grace of Christ save us
• History is called original sin Jesus says • He  wrote  many  works  2.All essential knowledge could be
that the Holy Spirit "will convince the over his lifetime. organized coherently
world concerning sin" (Jn 16:8). As I tried •He  attempted  to  dispel  heresy 
to penetrate these words, I was led back and  blasphemous  ideologies. •Wrote  a  series  of  Summas(highest 
to the opening pages of the Book of works) that  employed  careful  logic 
Genesis, to the event known as "original to  counter  any possible  objections 
sin." to  truth  as 
• described the nature of this sin as revealed by reason and faith
follows: amor sui usque ad contemptum Summas
Dei —self-love to the point of contempt for St. Thomas Aquinas •Summa Theologica:  Most well-known
God. •An Italian born monk who taught at the and best work of Aquinas
• It was amor sui which drove our first University of Paris •Intended as a sort of introduction to
parents toward that initial rebellion and •Born:  January 28,1225 in Roccasecca theology
then gave rise to the spread of sin , Sicily and the main theological points of Chu
throughout human history. •Died:  March 7th, 1274 in Fossanova,  rch
Sicily doctrine
INFLUENTIAL BOOK •Taught  that  faith  came  first  and 
1.Confessions (Latin: Confessiones) greatly  expanded the scope of reason Four Cardinal Virtues:
•is the name of an autobiographical wok, • Major figure in scholasticism 1.Prudence
consisting of 13 books 2.Temperance
•The work outlines Augustine's sinful The Nature of God 3.Justice
youth and his conversion to Christianity • Aquinas developed a list of the (5) 4.Fortitude
•Sinful Youth: fleshly desires for women five divine qualities:
1. God is simple
2.The City of God  2. God is perfect Three Theological Virtues:
• Answers profound questions of theology 3. God is infinite 1.Faith
such as the suffering of the righteous,  4. God is immutable 2.Hope
the existence of evil, the conflict betw 5. God is one 3.Charity
een free will and divine omniscience, 
and the doctrine of original sin. Reason Four types of Law
•Aquinas  retained  the  basic  belief  1. Eternal: direct word of God, governs all
His legacy while studying reason Creation
•He believed humans cannot  • He believed that: 2. Natural: human adherence to eternal
experience  true  happiness  until  1.Humans could  –  through  reason  law, discovered by reason
they  find God. alone  3. Human: positive law (natural law
•His  work  centred  around  the  – know much of the natural  applied to human government and
notion  that  everything in the world  order, moral law, and the nature  society)
is basically good. of God 4. Divine: the law as defined in the
scriptures
The Existence of God can be proved in
five ways.
1. Argument from Motion
2. Argument from Efficient Causes
3. Argument from Possibility and
Necessity (Reduction argument)
4. Argument from Gradation of Being
5. Argument from Design

ST. ANSELM
• Anselm's motto is “faith seeking Advanced Philosophy of Education
understanding” (fides quaerens
intellectum)
• St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109
CE) was a Christian philosopher.
• He was Archbishop of Canterbury from
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
the age of 60 until his death
• Anselm is perhaps most famous for
developing the ontological argument for
the existence of God.
1.God is that than which nothing greater
can be conceived.
2.It is greater to exist than to not exist.
3.Therefore, God exists.

To one who has faith, no

explanation is necessary. To one
without faith, no explanation is
possible. Marie Mariz D. Llames
---Thomas Aquinas Reporter
MAED- Administration and Supervision

Dr, Carmelita E. Mirandilla

Professor
Union College of Laguna
Santa Cruz, Laguna