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Medieval Philosophy

An Introduction to Medieval Philosophy

Mark Daniels introduces a whole millenium of ideas.

Let us start by considering three points. First, medieval philosophy came from a period when philosophy was under attack: the proponents of religious faith felt that the claims of the philosophers concerning the superiority of reason were false and this led to medieval philosophers such as Aquinas and Averroes having to defend the purpose and the existence of philosophy from first principles. Second, many of the texts, especially those of Judaeo-Muslim medieval philosophy, have a richness and complexity that texts of other periods simply lack – philosophy written as poetry, philosophical stories which make major points, etc. There are even major philosophical works – such as Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed – which admit of several wholly opposed interpretations. Third, and lastly, the relevance of various medieval projects to modern problems.

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