Anthony Kenny on Medieval Philosophy: Section 2

Medieval Philosophy: Thomas Aquinas

This program examines the ideas of the medieval philosophic theologians, particularly St. Thomas Aquinas. Oxford medieval philosopher Anthony Kenny discusses Aristotelian logic as the basis of Aquinas' thought, and disputes charges that medieval philosophy merely reinforced extant Christian views. Logical methods employed by Aquinas are discussed as precursors of the scientific methodology of later philosophers, such as Descartes.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Bryan
• Magee
• Anthony
• Kenny
• Philosophy
• Medieval
• Thomas
• Aquinas
• Aristotelian
• Logic

[Myndir]

Funny how Anthony Kenny is so great as a historian, but his articles on immortality and backwards causation are atrocious. This is definitely an example of Anthony Kenny at his best: perceptive, reasonable and careful.

[theinternetscholar]

8:30, yeah that always happens when you don't do enough background research . . . if you think you though up something original and profound, it's quite possible someone else centuries ago thought up the same thing

[cincinnatijones]

is there a place online where we can chat about this subject?

[patrickesspi]

@miggerino Thanks. I'll check it.

[miggerino]

@patrickesspi Oh probably. You should check with Chapters or Indigo. You may well be able to order it online.

[patrickesspi]

Is this series avaliable on DVD?

[myrealnamehere]

@DickusCopernicus are countless works from such important Christian authors as Origen, St. Justin Martyr, and the Pseudo-Denys I mentioned earlier which do not survive.

[myrealnamehere]

@DickusCopernicus I think the fact that Rome had been dying ever since the time of Commodus did a lot to put a halt to science as well. I don't strictly blame the barbarians, I just think they played the largest part. The Church was already well entrenched by the time they showed up anyway, e.g. St. Ambrose's public chastisement of the emperor, so it wasn't a power play so much as an attempt to save what's important to you when your house burns down. Also, ALL areas of study were affected, there

[DickusCopernicus]

@myrealnamehere I realise that there is much that I do not know. Watson in his History of Ideas makes the case that the simple Barbarian argument is not sufficient to explain the near shutdown of non religious study. Why is it that the Barbarians pillaging only affected those areas of study that coincided with those that the early church rulers considered dangerous to their emerging power and influence? Did the Barbarians get an undeserved bad name. They were not just destructive and uncultured.

[myrealnamehere]

@DickusCopernicus run off and disappear with books they couldn't even read because they considered them to be a form of wealth like gold or silver made anyone interested in scholarship obsessed with preserving what was still there, an attitude which, to the exteme they took it, would make them totally uninterested in the kind of inquiry good science requires.

[myrealnamehere]

@DickusCopernicus That's not entirely true. Even if you accept the idea that knowledge of religion was all they cared for, the Church Fathers were as important as Scripture, and many of the Fathers had absorbed much Greek thought (it's a pity Magee doesn't mention Pseudo-Denys, he was far more important than John Scotus). Also, they weren't anti-science, it's just that ever since the last 2 centuries of the Empire things were too chaotic for scientific inquiry, and since the barbarians would