Perhaps the most complex and extensive development of the discipline of philosophy in the West took place during the medieval period. The modern‐day study of philosophy in the Middle Ages has been relatively rare outside of religious contexts, and even then the development of medieval philosophy is often ignored or left out of the curriculum. While the situation has been changing gradually; overall, most philosophy departments at institutions of higher education do not have specialists in medieval philosophy. In fact, there has yet to be published a book that presents the main facts and viewpoints of the key figures in medieval philosophy. This is the gap that the editors are trying to fill with this volume.
The book is organized into two main sections. The first contains essays that look at the historical context within which philosophy developed during the Middle Ages. The essays cover the ancient philosophical background, the patristic legacy, early medieval philosophy, the School of Chartres, religious orders, scholasticism, and the condemnation of various philosophical viewpoints in Paris in the thirteenth century. The second section comprises alphabetically arranged entries on 138 significant authors in the Middle Ages. European, Arabic, and Jewish philosophers living between the fourth and fifteenth centuries are the major focus. Each essay contains biographical information, summaries of significant arguments and viewpoints within their philosophies and bibliographies of both primary and secondary source materials. This volume also contains a very useful select topical bibliography on subjects such as ethics, logic, time, metaphysics, and general and specific historical information. Separate indices of both names and subjects are also included.
In order to keep the size of this volume to a reasonable level, the editors were constrained by word limits on several major philosophical figures. These included Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus and William of Ockham, as well as Anselm, Averroes, Avicenna, and Maimonides, all of whom have had many major monographs and scholarly studies written about them and their philosophies. The size of the book, the length of the biographical and summary information on each philosopher, as well as the word length, indicate that the audience of the book would be undergraduate students. The essays provide basic introductory material on the history and development of medieval philosophy, while the biographies are concise and informational at best. Having these key figures present in one volume is sorely needed in the field, and this book provides college libraries and undergraduate philosophy programs with a one‐volume reference work to fill the gap. Since medieval personages were often identified by their place of birth or area of influence, it is important to remember that the alphabetical arrangement of philosophers in this book is accomplished through the first name only, as is the names index, even when the philosophers have a last name. For example, Roger Bacon is alphabetically arranged in the table of contents under “R” rather than “B”. This arrangement is rather awkward, but understandable. As part of the Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series, I highly recommend this work.
