Medieval Philosophy: A New History of Western Philosophy

350 Pages·2005·7.89 MB·English

by  Anthony Kenny

Medieval Philosophy
A NEW HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY
volume 11
Medieval Philosophy
anthony
kenny
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CLARENDON PRESS OXFORD
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SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
List of Contents vii
Map x
Introduction xi
1. Philosophy and Faith: Augustine
to Maimonides 1
2. The Schoolmen: From the Twelfth Century
to the Renaissance 54
3. Logic and Language 115
4. Knowledge 156
5. Physics 176
6. Metaphysics 189
7. Mind and Soul 214
8. Ethics 252
9. God 278
Chronology 313
List of Abbreviations and Conventions 315
Bibliography 319
List of Illustrations 327
Index 330
CONTENTS
Map x
Introduction xi
1. Philosophy and Faith: Augustine to
Maimonides 1
Augustine on History 4
Augustine’s Two Cities 9
The Consolations of Boethius 16
The Greek Philosophy of Late Antiquity 23
Philosophy in the Carolingian Empire 29
Muslim and Jewish Philosophers 33
Avicenna and his Successors 37
Anselm of Canterbury 40
Abelard 44
Averroes 48
Maimonides 50
2. The Schoolmen: From the Twelfth Century
to the Renaissance 54
Robert Grosseteste and Albert the Great 57
St Bonaventure 60
Thomas Aquinas 63
The Afterlife of Aquinas 74
Siger of Brabant and Roger Bacon 79
Duns Scotus 82
William Ockham 89
The Reception of Ockham 95
The Oxford Calculators 97
John Wyclif 99
Beyond Paris and Oxford 102
Renaissance Platonism 105
Renaissance Aristotelianism 111
CONTENTS
3. Logic and Language 115
Augustine on Language 115
The Logic of Boethius 119
Abelard as Logician 123
The Thirteenth-Century Logic of Terms 127
Propositions and Syllogisms 132
Aquinas on Thought and Language 136
Analogy and Univocity 139
Modistic Logic 142
Ockham’s Mental Language 143
Truth and Inference in Ockham 147
Walter Burley and John Wyclif 150
Three-Valued Logic at Louvain 153
4. Knowledge 156
Augustine on Scepticism, Faith, and Knowledge 156
Augustine on Divine Illumination 159
Bonaventure on Illumination 162
Aquinas on Concept-Formation 163
Aquinas on Faith, Knowledge, and Science 166
The Epistemology of Duns Scotus 171
Intuitive and Abstractive Knowledge in Ockham 173
5. Physics 176
Augustine on Time 176
Philoponus, Critic of Aristotle 179
Natural Philosophy in the Thirteenth Century 180
Actual and Potential InWnity 185
6. Metaphysics 189
Avicenna on Being, Essence, and Existence 189
Aquinas on Actuality and Potentiality 195
The Metaphysics of Duns Scotus 201
Ockham’s Reductive Programme 207
Wyclif and Determinism 211
7. Mind and Soul 214
Augustine on the Inner Life 214
viii
CONTENTS
Augustine on the Will 220
The Agent Intellect in Islamic Thought 223
Avicenna on Intellect and Imagination 225
The Psychology of Averroes 230
Aquinas on the Senses and the Intellect 233
Aquinas on the Will 238
Scotus versus Aquinas 242
Ockham versus Scotus 245
Pomponazzi on the Soul 247
8. Ethics 252
Augustine on How to be Happy 252
Augustine on Lying, Murder, and Sex 255
Abelard’s Ethic of Intention 260
Aquinas’ Ethical System 263
Aquinas as Moralist 267
Scotus on Divine Law 272
The Ethics of Ockham 275
9. God 278
The God of Augustine 278
Boethius on Divine Foreknowledge 283
Negative Theology in Eriugena 285
Islamic Arguments for God’s Existence 288
Anselm’s Proof of God 290
Omnipotence in Damiani and Abelard 295
Grosseteste on Omniscience 298
Aquinas on God’s Eternal Knowledge and Power 299
Aquinas’ Proofs of God’s Existence 302
Duns Scotus’ Metaphysical Proof of an InWnite Being 304
Scotus, Ockham, and Valla on Divine Foreknowledge 307
The Informed Ignorance of Nicholas of Cusa 311
Chronology 313
List of Abbreviations and Conventions 315
Bibliography 319
List of Illustrations 327
Index 330
ix
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INTRODUCTION
Mosthistoriesofphilosophy,inthisageofspecialization,arethework
ofmanyhands,byspecialistsworkingindiVerentWeldsandperiods.
In inviting me to write, single-handed, a history of philosophy from the
earliesttimestothepresentday,OxfordUniversityPressgaveexpressionto
the belief that there is still something to be gained by presenting the
development of philosophy from a single viewpoint, linking ancient,
medieval, early modern, and contemporary philosophy into a single nar-
rative concerned with connected themes. This is the second of four
volumes. The Wrst volume covered the early centuries of philosophy in
classical Greece and Rome. This volume takes up the narrative from the
conversion of St Augustine and continues the story up to the humanist
Renaissance.
TherearetwoquitediVerentreasonswhyreadersmaywishtostudythe
history of philosophy. They may be mainly interested in philosophy, or
they may be mainly interested in history. We may study the great dead
philosophers in order to seek illumination upon themes of present-day
philosophical inquiry. Or we may wish to understand the people and
societies of the past, and read their philosophy to grasp the conceptual
climateinwhichtheythoughtandacted.Wemayreadthephilosophersof
otheragestohelptoresolvephilosophicalproblemsofabidingconcern,or
to enter more fully into the intellectual world of a bygone era.
I am by profession a philosopher, not a historian, but I believe that
the history of philosophy is of great importance to the study of philoso-
phy itself. It is an illusion to believe that the current state of philosophy
representsthehighestpointofphilosophicalendeavouryetreached.These
volumesarewrittenwiththepurposeofshowingthatinmanyrespectsthe
philosophyofthegreatdeadphilosophershasnotdated,andthatonemay
gain philosophical illumination today by a careful reading of the great
works that we have been privileged to inherit.
I attempt in these volumes to be both a philosophical historian and a
historical philosopher. Multi-authored histories are sometimes structured
chronologically and sometimes structured thematically. I try to combine