The Great Philosophers EP03 ⟩ “Anthony Kenny on Medieval Philosophy”
Details
Are you ready to explore the underworld of medieval philosophy beyond the cursory mentions of Anselm, Scotus, Augustine, Aquinas, and Ockham? Then you’ll be ecstatic this Thursday as you finally imbibe the best synoptic overview of the period ever recorded. In fact the working subtitle for this event was going to be “Finally, a great positive treatment of medieval philosophy that I can remember because it was so lucid and nourishingly interesting that I actually enjoyed it.”
Our upcoming event is not just another history lesson, but a mind-meld with the very heart of medieval thought, connecting its philosophical discourses with the socio-political background of that period forebodingly known as the Dark Ages.
It’s time to move beyond the stereotype that medieval philosophers were mere logic-chasers and universals-fondlers slumbering in their comfortable beds made of Aristotle and the Bible. Instead, we will uncover the positive zeitgeist of the era and reveal the intellectual vibrancy that is missed by modern philosophical histories and omitted from university programs, which typically do not include medieval philosophy as a requisite. (For reference, the “area requisites” of my own program only included Ancient, Modern, Analytic, Continental, Metalogic, and Ethics.)
Our journey will start with an overview of Ancient philosophy, predominantly shaped by Plato and Aristotle; their profound influence sets the backdrop against which the Medieval era unfolds. We will then delve into Medieval philosophy proper.
The Medieval era spans from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. Its key figures—St Augustine and Thomas Aquinas—will be our primary focus:
- We will examine Augustine’s works The Confessions and The City of God; and Aquinas’s Summa Contra Gentiles and Summa Theologiae in some detail.
- We will take a sympathetic look at the socio-institutional challenges faced by scholars of that era and appreciating their awesome and novel efforts in preserving knowledge.
- We will also cover significant philosophers like Anselm, Abelard, Roger Bacon, and others who emerged during this time.
Our guide is Oxford philosopher and former Roman Catholic priest Sir Anthony Kenny, known for his extensive work on medieval philosophy, for being Boris Johnson’s tutor at Oxford, and for being arrested for hooliganism due to his lectures on Aristotle. Kenny’s insights are thrilling and will finally give us the unified synopsis that we’ve always craved but could never find—one that is clear, interesting, thorough, and that integrates the era’s philosophical developments with its cultural thematics.
If you have a completion compulsion regarding your grasp of Western philosophical history, this will be the most valuable lecture in the series since it deals with a subject that is commonly disparaged, ignored, and consequently totally misunderstood.
As always, Magee will enrich the talk with his peerless recaps, clarifications, focus guidance, and by asking the best of all possible questions.
METHOD
Please watch the episode before the event. We will then replay a few short clips during the event to refresh our memories for debate and discussion. A new high-def version of this episode with vastly improved audio can be found here:
Study materials for all events, past and present, including amazingly insightful tables, lists, summaries, articles, and tons of downloadable resources … such as the book version of this series (hint: purple icon in the “THORR Media Vault”) can be found here:
OUR CURRENT SERIES
Bryan Magee’s The Great Philosophers (1987) is a series of unparalleled philosophical dialogues. In them, the world’s greatest philosophical interlocutor interrogates the greatest philosophers of his day about the greatest philosophers of all time … in chronological order:
- Myles Burnyeat on Plato
- Martha Nussbaum on Aristotle
- Anthony Kenny on Medieval Philosophy
- Bernard Williams on Descartes
- Anthony Quinton on Spinoza and Leibniz
- Michael R. Ayers on Locke and Berkeley
- John Passmore on Hume
- Geoffrey Warnock on Kant
- Peter Singer on Hegel and Marx
- Frederick Copleston on Schopenhauer
- J. P. Stern on Nietzsche
- Hubert Dreyfus on Husserl, Heidegger and Modern Existentialism
- Sidney Morgenbesser on The American Pragmatists
- A. J. Ayer on Frege, Russell and Modern Logic
- John Searle on Wittgenstein