Medievalism

Traditionally, the term "Middle Ages" is used to cover the era from the 5th to the 15th century. However, in the philosophy itself, the beginning of the Middle Ages refers to an earlier period - the I century, when the basic dogmas of Christianity were just beginning to be created. Such a principle of establishing the origins of medieval philosophy can be explained by the fact that the main problems that concerned the philosophy of the Middle Ages were related to the affirmation and further spread of the Christian religious doctrine, which at this time was born in the bosom of philosophical science.

In the philosophical currents of that time, there is a tendency to substantiate the divine essence and to resolve such problems as the existence of God and the concretization of the Christian theory. Philosophy of the Middle Ages in the scientific community is usually periodized according to the main stages of the development of the religious teachings of the time.

The first and fundamental stage in the development of the philosophy of the Middle Ages has traditionally been considered patristics (I-VI centuries). The main directions at this stage in the development of philosophical thought were the creation and protection of the Christian teaching, which were carried out by the "fathers of the church." The definition of "fathers of the church" in particular refers to thinkers who contributed to the doctrinal justification of Christianity. Often, the apologists of Christian dogmas were well-known philosophers, such as Aurelius Augustine, Tertullian, Gregory of Nyssa and many others.

The second stage in the development of philosophical views of the time is scholasticism - (IX - XV century). At this stage, a further concretization of the Christian theory takes place with the involvement of all the possibilities of philosophical science. Scholastic philosophy is sometimes called "school", because, firstly, this current of philosophy was studied and developed in monastic schools, and secondly, in scholasticism the exposition of Christianity was brought to the level accessible to almost everyone.

Those problems that troubled the minds of medieval philosophers were diverse, but they all converged in one - indirect or direct discussion of God. If God as a problem simply does not exist for the consciousness of a believing person, since God is perceived by believers as a given, for a philosopher whose consciousness is free from any kind of faith, God was an actual problem that the best minds of the Middle Ages tried to solve.

The main problems of medieval philosophy - the questions of the reality of the existence of God were caused by constant discussions between nominalists and adherents of realism on the theme of the nature of universals. The realists tried to prove that universals (general concepts) exist realistically, and consequently, the existence of God is real. Nominalists, in turn, believed that universals by their existence to some extent "are obliged" to things, since only things really exist, and universals arise when the need arises to give certain things their names. According to the nominalists, God is only a name that denotes the totality of the ideals of humanity.

The philosophy of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was marked by the fact that the great thinkers of that time repeatedly put forward all kinds of evidence that God really exists. For example, Thomas Aquinas - the famous philosopher - the scholastic, five proofs were cited that God does exist. All these proofs were based on the fact that any phenomenon in this world should have an underlying cause.

If the adherents of realism tried to justify the existence of God with the help of evidence of the existence of general concepts (universals), then Thomas Aquinas proved this as the supreme cause of all things. He seemed to be trying to achieve a kind of harmony of faith and reason, where the priority is given to faith.

The philosophy of the Middle Ages is inherently theocentric. Here the desire to comprehend God as the only reality determining all that exists is clearly expressed. This solution to the problem of the existence of God, which satisfied religion in all respects, objectively determined the place of philosophy in the spiritual and social life of that time. The philosophy of the Middle Ages eventually gave way to new views of the Renaissance, which brought back to the spiritual life the once-forgotten ideals of the ancient aspiration for free thought.