Philosophy of the Renaissance. A period of rapid and intense cultural development
Sometimes the term “Renaissance” is understood in a broad sense as a period of rapid and intensive cultural development, replacing long periods of spiritual and creative inertia. In this broad sense, we speak of the Carolingian Renaissance of the 8th-9th centuries, the Renaissance of the 12th century, associated with the rise of urban life in Europe, as well as the Georgian, Iranian, Armenian, Arabic, Indian, and Chinese “Renaissances”.
Scholasticism. Seven Liberal Arts. Philosophy is the handmaiden of theology
The Latin word scholastica comes from the Greek σχολαστικός (“school”, “scholarly”) and in modern historical and philosophical science serves as a designation for a set of speculative—philosophical (“dialectical”) and theological—methods of reasoning that became dominant in Western European (Latin) culture in the Middle Ages (11th–14th centuries).
Patristics. The body of teachings of the Christian Church Fathers
In the Western theological (as well as historical and philosophical) tradition , patristics (Greek: rcaxfjp , Latin: pater, father) is usually called a conditional set of teachings of the fathers of the Christian church of the 2nd-8th centuries. Initially, a “father” was called a spiritual mentor who possessed a teaching authority recognized in the church. Subsequently, by the 5th century, four fundamental characteristics of the patristic model were finally established: 1) holiness of life; 2) antiquity; 3) orthodoxy of teaching; 4) official recognition by the church. The last “father” from the point of view of the Western, Catholic, theological tradition was John of Damascus (d. 753), but all other Christian authors who lived after him were called “church writers”. On the contrary, according to the Greek, Orthodox, tradition, sacred tradition, in essence, is not subject to any chronological specification: the Holy Spirit acts through people at all times; The Orthodox Church considers the main criterion in determining the degree of orthodoxy of the views of a particular father not to be antiquity, or even holiness in itself, but the spiritual closeness of the teaching in relation to the canons of the apostolic faith commanded by the church.
Philosophy in the Middle Ages. Defenders of the Faith and the Church
In modern science, the period in the history of philosophical thought in Europe from the end of the Ancient Age to the beginning of the Renaissance is traditionally called the medieval period. At the same time, it should be noted that the expression “medieval philosophy” itself is a controversial, problematic expression and requires numerous clarifications. This is due, firstly, to the actual impossibility of accurately dating the moment of transition of the ancient world to the Middle Ages; secondly, to the extremely unique approach, or, more precisely, approaches, to understanding the purpose of philosophical studies and the problems of philosophy as such within the framework of the medieval (Western European Latin and Byzantine), primarily Christian, culture.