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Re: Are there any important works of philosophy from the Middle Ages?

Torsten — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:59:39 GMT

The areas of philosophy I want to cover are epistemology, metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics. At present my list jumps from Plotinus to Decartes.

The middle ages were the era of scholasticism. So many of the writers in that period were monks. And we just may not the names of it. The universities taught the Trivium, which deals with grammar, logic and rhetoric and the Quadrivium, which is about the numerical arts.
Important names from the middle ages in terms of philosophy would be:

Anselm of Canterbury
Duns Scotus
William of Ockham
Albert of Saxony
Walter Burley
John Wycliffe
Nicholas of Autrecort

You may also be interested in the following:
http://archive.org/details/cu31924029007726 Overview on medieval thought.

Or Political theories of the middle age

I got more in store, but unfortunately hadn't yet the opportunity to read the medieval philosophers thoroughly. But I really get the impression that this era is underappreciated.

Re: Are there any important works of philosophy from the Middle Ages?

Physiocrat — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:23:11 GMT

Kakugo:

The Summa Theologiae is probably one of the most influential books ever written.

Ii is but is it mainly for its theological or philosophical content. I did have the Suma down at some point to read although I considered it more in the theological rather than philosophical category.

Thanks for the other suggestions, I'll check them out.

Re: Are there any important works of philosophy from the Middle Ages?

Kakugo — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:18:58 GMT

Physiocrat:

Are there any particular works by Aquinas you would recommend?

The Summa Theologiae is probably one of the most influential books ever written.

Other important works of philosophy from the Middle Ages are:

Moreh Nevukhim by Moshe ben Maimon

Khitab al-Shifa by Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

Liber Quattuor Sententiarum by Petrus Lombardus

Dialectica by Pierre Abélard (incomplete)

There are more but I should have paid more attention in philosophy class at school...

Re: Are there any important works of philosophy from the Middle Ages?

Physiocrat — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:10:17 GMT

Are there any particular works by Aquinas you would recommend?

Re: Are there any important works of philosophy from the Middle Ages?

Aristophanes — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:57:35 GMT

I mean, Augustine's City of God and Confessions are both important (significant to Christian philosophy), they are not really from the middle ages. And Aquinas (Thomism) is popular in its own right.

The Fable of the Bees?

Francis Hutcheson has the most succinct Scottish Enlightenment (Ethics, Metaphysics, Aesthetics) and Adam Smith has his Theory of Moral Sentiments, but I guess they aren't middle ages either.

Are there any important works of philosophy from the Middle Ages?

Physiocrat — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:44:47 GMT

I've created a reading list for my self of major philosophical works to give me a broad understanding of the field from it's original expositors (except in one case but he agrees with him at all points and van Til was a poor author). The areas of philosophy I want to cover are epistemology, metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics. At present my list jumps from Plotinus to Decartes. Are there any works by Aquinas or Augustine that are important or someone else who has skipped my mind? My list at present reads as follows:

Title	Author
Euthyphro	Plato
Phaedo	Plato
Parmenides	Plato
The Symposium	Plato
Phaedrus	Plato
The Republic	Plato
The Laws	Plato
Metaphyics	Aristotle
Nichomachean Ethics	Aristotle
Rhetoric	Aristotle
Poetics	Aristotle
The Enneads	Plotinus
The Meditations and Discourses	Decartes
Ethics	Spinoza
Principles of Human Knowledge	Berkeley
A Treatise into Human Nature	Hume
Critique of Pure Reason	Kant
The Groundwork of the Metaphysics or Morals	Kant
The Metaphysics of Morals	Kant
Science of Logic	Hegel
Either Or	Kierkegaard
Ego and His Own	Stirner
Beyond Good and Evil	Nietschze
The Genealogy of Morals	Nietschze
Pragamtism	James
Being and Time	Heidegger
Language, Truth and Logic	Ayer
Nature of Thought	Blanshard
The Tractatus	Wittgenstein
Major Works	Wittgenstein
Being and Nothingness	Sartre
A New Critique on Philosophical Thought	Dooyeweerd
Foundations of Morality	Hazlitt
Ontological Relativity and Two Dogmas of Empiricism	Quine
The Archaeology of History	Foucault
After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory	MacIntyre
Van Til's Apologetic	Bahnsen
The Ethics of Liberty	Rothbard