Medieval Philosophy

• The Medieval Period was called the Middle/Dark Ages
• The Fall of Roman Empire was due to the Germanic People
• The use of rationality hindered during the Dark Ages
• The Medieval Period was the Golden Age for the Roman Catholic Church
• St. Anselm of Canterbury entered the Benedictine order, and eventually became archbishop for Canterbury.
• St. Anselm believes that faith is necessary for understanding.
• During the Medieval Period was the age of marriage between faith and reason. With an emphasis of faith as the priority.
• “Credo ut intelligam”; "I believe so that I may understand"
• St. Anselm was famous for his ontological argument in proving God's existence.
• "Ont-"; being, "-logy"; study
• Ontology is the study of being
• Two ways beings can exist: Real existence & Imaginary existence.
• Real existence exists both in our minds and in reality.
• Imaginary existence can exist only in our mind.
• St. Anselms Ontological Arguments for the Existence of God are "Nature of Existence" and "Nature of God's Being"
• St. Anselm says that God is the greatest conceivable being.
• Real existence is greater than imaginary existence.
• If God is only an imaginary existence, it would contradict the definition of God.
• Gaunilon argued St. Anselm's Ontological Argument due to the fact that we can also imagine “the greatest conceivable island,” but there is no way to prove that such an island exists.
• St. Anselm replied to Gaunilon's Rebuttal saying there is no real parallel between inherently finite “islands” and potentially infinite “being.”
• St. Thomas Aquinas proposed the 5 proofs of God's existence with his Cosmological Arguments.
• St. Thomas Aquinas' following proofs of God's existence are: Proof from Motion (The Unmoved Mover), Proof from Efficient Cause (The Uncaused Cause), Proof from Necessary Being (The Necessary Being), Proof from Perfection (The Perfect Being), and Proof from Order (The Intelligent Design).
• St. Aquinas' cosmological argument discussed that the chain of series cannot be an infinite regress, thus, there must be an initiator to the chain of series, which we call God.
• Proof of Motion is where one movement causes another movement. Thus, insinuating that there must be an "Unmoved Mover"/"First Mover"
• Proof from Efficient Cause is where one causes something to exist. Thus, insinuating there must be an "Uncaused Cause"
• Proof from Necessary Being is where possible beings causes other possible beings to exist. Thus, insinuating that there must be a "Necessary Being".


  Necessary Beings: A being who always exists and can’t not exist.

  Possible Beings: any beings that did not exist, exists for a time, and will pass
• Proof from Perfection is where we find that the gradation of characteristics of things exists. Thus, there must be the most "being" of them all that serves as a basis for determining this gradation.
• Proof of Order is where everything about our natural world behaves orderly in a precise manner. Thus, insinuating that there must be an "intelligent being" that exists where all natural things are directed over their behavior despite their lack of intelligence.
• St. Augustine of Hippo adopted Manichaeism and lived a life of debauchery and sin.
• St. Monica is the patron saint of Christian mothers.
• St. Augustine claims in "The Problem of Evil" that evil is not a positive reality.
• To maximize the goodness in the world, God created free beings. Having the free will, this gives us the option to be good or evil.
• The Divine Illumination Theory states that our finite minds can see eternal truths provided that they too are bathed in a certain kind of ‘divine light’ that only God can illuminate.
• The Role of Love states that we inevitably love because we are incomplete, and we expect to achieve a sense of happiness and fulfillment from this love.
• We can only achieve eternal and infinite happiness if we designate our love towards someone that is infinite and eternal by nature.