Copleston, Frederick - A History of Philosophy (vol.2 - Medieval Philosophy) [1 eBook - PDF]

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Anyone acquainted with the history of philosophy knows there is a tendency to treat Medieval philosophy as a low point

between the grandeur of Greece and the radiant glow of Descartes, who salvaged philosophy from the dim ruminations of

Christian theology. This theme is given notable currency in popular histories like Russell's _History of Western

Philosophy_, Durant's _The Story of Philosophy_, and Gottlieb's more recent _Dream of Reason_. While these books might

pay homage to Aquinas as a synthesizer of Aristotle and Catholicism, his eminent contemporaries hardly merit a sentence.

Supposedly, real philosophy did not begin in earnest until it was reawakened by the "kiss of Descartes." Here

Frederick Copleston, a great Jesuit scholar, seeks to remedy the damage by recreating the rich philosophical tapestry of

Medievalism, a time in which philosophy hardly slept, but was full of energy and acerbic controversy.


While Christianity was definitely the philosophical template that all Medievalists began with, there was still an

enormous range of conflict and disputation. Just as there is not a single issue that ensnares modern philosophy, the

Medievalists were engrossed with a whole range of issues -- epistemology, politics, rationalism, and so on. A prickly

controversy that the Medievalists dwelt on was the "problem of universals", an enigma that dates back to Plato

and Aristotle, who each took opposing sides to the problem. On the surface the problem of universals might not seem like

a problem at all, and indeed most people do not recognize it as such until they encounter it in Philosophy 101. While

different formulations can be given to the problem the most succint way of presenting it is as follows: what, if

anything, in extramental reality corresponds to the universal concept in the human mind? In other words, our minds (or

brains) can only produce thoughts and conepts, but the world (extramental reality) is made up of particular, individual

things. So what is the relationship between our thoughts and individual things, between between the intramental concept

and the extramental reality? For instance, when the scientist expresses his knowledge of things he does so in abstract

and universal terms, he does not make a statement about a particular atom, but atoms in general, and if the universal

term has no foundation in extramental reality, his science is a social construction. This is one of the vexing issues

the Medievalists tried to confront and resolve and fortunately progress was made in the area.

The crude, "exaggerated" realism of Christian Platonists, like Saint Anslem, eventually gave way to the more

moderate realism of Aquinas. The extreme realists were under the impression that class-names for genera and species --

things like trees, elms, felines, cats, dogs, etc -- had a real existence -- the mental concept was indentical to

extramental reality. There is a unitary nature between our minds and the world, terms had a real existence, and were not

just a useful means of mental economy. Of course the brilliant dialectician Abelard exposed the nonsense behind this

crude realism and paved the way for the moderate realism of Aquinas.

The existence of God, the immortality of the individual soul, the Trinity, the Resurrection and all the other facets of

Christianity were accepted as self-evident by almost all Medieval philosophers. However, such theological unanimity did

not guarantee philosphical unanimity. In fact, there is a great controversy throughout the Middle Ages on the proper

role of reason, what role it plays in servicing theology, and what its ultimate limits are. The debate between St.

Bonaventure and St. Aquinas over the existence of God and the possibility of an eternal universe highlights this

admirably. While Aquinas surely thought the universe had a beginning in time, he thought reason was impotent in proving

it does. Bonaventure dissents, and unleashes a series of ingenious arguments that expose the absurdity of an eternal

universe. For instance, he notes that the idea of an eternal universe (one with no beginning) leads to obvious

antinomies: for every solar revolution there are twelve lunar revolutions, so if the universe was infinite how could

there be twelve times more lunar revolutions than solar revolutions? There can not be twelve times infinity. Also, how

could we ever have arrived at this point, since that would mean we would need to pass through infinity, an

impossibility. So clearly reason can establish the finite nature of the universe, and hence a contingent world requiring

an infinite Creator.

This is just a sample of the issues that Copleston illuminates in this thorough, scholarly, and higly academic work.

Other writers of philosophy hardly measure up to his exactness and comprehensiveness. He shows no hesitation in making

short work of the often careless and erroneous pontificating of other writers, like Bertrand Russell. One gets to enjoy

the subtle sparring matches that Copleston participates in, skewering Russell's simplistic understanding of Aquinas, his

pretentious denunciation of Aristotle's logic, and the backward tendency of Medieval philosophy. Finally, Copleston

reminds us that the Middle Ages were not a dark period where learning and progress were stagnant, but a time when

Europeans immersed themselves in knowledge and learning, an age that saw the founding and spreading of the university

system, a phenomenon that directly lead to the rise of science throughout the West




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