It is not easy to write a brief synopsis or brief introduction to medieval philosophy. What is it? When is the medieval period? Some time between antiquity and modernity? Where did it take place? Intellectual centers emerged and were declining again, some were in “pagan” lands, some in the Islamic world, and some in Jewish and Christian lands. Were these different centers all producing one medieval period?

When? “Medieval” comes from the Latin medium aevum, “middle age.” Medieval Philosophy will refer to the philosophies developed from the end of the Roman Empire to the rise of the Renaissance, that is, roughly from the 5th to the 15th centuries.

What? Medieval philosophy is roughly one half Plato and Platonists and the other half Aristotle and Aristotelians. These parts were then intellectually synthesized, necessarily distorting “pure” Platonic and Aristotelian arguments. In addition, they were mixed with esoteric ideas (Hermeticism, Gnosticism, and the philosophical commentary originating from the Chaldaean Oracles) and then shaped into a monotheistic conceptual framework. This foundation yielded a remarkably complex world of thought.

Hermeticism is a religious-philosophical dialogic system attributed to the Egyptian Hermes Trismegistus (1600’s scholarship dates it ca. 200 BCE – 200 CE) and advocates the One as ultimate source in a tripartite system. It entails a mystical doctrine concerning alchemy, astrology, and theurgy.

Gnosticism (gnosis, knowledge), is is a collection of religious ideas and systems which all emphasize personal spiritual knowledge; it coalesces into a mystical movement. Gnosticism is a distributed phenomenon: it can be found in Alexandria, Athens, Rome, and the Empires of India. Gnosticism has affinities to Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. It promises salvation through mystical knowledge via a pantheistic, idealist, and dualistic truth of divine union that liberates us from the entrapments in the physical domain.

Medieval philosophy is primarily religious thought, and by talking about religion, every other subject also gets affected. For instance, one cannot think about religion without considering cosmological and teleological questions. Metaphysical and ontological questions about being and reality, human nature, and about ethical, social, and political questions, are all seen in the light of deeper religious truth and convictions. This also leads to logical and epistemological questions that form medieval philosophy.

Where? The intellectual centers span the whole European world, including its periphery. Athens, Rome, Paris, and Alexandria, but also London, Canterbury, Oxford, Hippo, Carthage, Jerusalem, Constantinople, Chalcedon, Naples, Ravenna, Florence, Louvain, Cologne, and Prague. Location is also intellectual territory: some of these lands are Christian, Jewish, or Islamic, and religious and political wars permeate the medieval period.

Medieval philosophy spans across a whole continent and roughly a thousand years. It includes three monotheistic traditions, and numerous veins of pagan culture, religion, and spirituality.

Medieval Philosophy is also known as the “Dark Ages,” The term “medieval” itself is a derogatory term, indicating something primitive or out of date. This impression was invented in the 15th Century (1469) by the Italian humanist and the Pope’s librarian, Giovanni Andrea. He wanted to differentiate his modernity, with the humanists’ rebirth (renascentia) of the better, illustrious and glowing ancient Greek and Roman culture, from the “middle” or intervening “dark ages,” the gloomy years of barbarism. From then to now, we see the continued rejection of the period and its philosophy. Some dismiss its medieval philosophy by saying it is nothing but theology; some say it is nothing but linguistic obsession (i.e. "Scholasticism"); or others say that it consists mostly of monotonous reinterpretations or misunderstandings of ancient Greek philosophy.

Medieval Philosophy is nevertheless rewarding and very exciting: It takes on the hardest question, the greatest challenge: Is there a God, and how can we have knowledge of God? How can we finite beings know anything about the perfection that comes with the the Absolute? This religious and epistemological question has far-reaching impacts: it affects practical ends, has ethical prerequisites, and lays bare the affective dimension of the exercise of reason. It rattles our reliance on logic, and forces our philosophical content to pay attention to literary forms.