The Recovery and Assimilation of Greek and Islamic Science

Flashcards covering the recovery of Greek and Islamic science, focusing on the roles of Aristotle, Roger Bacon, Albert the Great, and Thomas Aquinas in reconciling faith and reason during the High Middle Ages.

Aristotle

A Greek philosopher whose writings on cosmology, physics, metaphysics, epistemology, and psychology challenged the existing blend of Platonic philosophy and Christian theology.

Euclid’s Elements

One of the 'lost' Greek texts brought to the attention of Western Europe via outreach to the Islamic world.

al-Khwārizmī’s Algebra

A mathematical work from the Islamic world that was translated and welcomed into the Western canon during the High Middle Ages.

Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine

An Islamic medical text that fulfilled a previously empty intellectual niche in Western Europe.

Eternity of the Cosmos

Aristotle's claim that the cosmos had always existed and was never created, which conflicted with Christian views of creation and eschatology.

Determinism

Aristotle’s notion of the cosmos as a machine initiating cause-and-effect sequences, raising questions about the existence of free will.

Nature of the Soul (Aristotelian)

The belief that the soul was an organizing principle of the body with no independent existence, contradicting ideas of the immortality of the soul.

Natural Philosophy

A field of study that encouraged human observation and reason without regard for biblical revelation or church tradition.

Mendicant Orders

Religious groups, specifically the Franciscans and the Dominicans founded in the early thirteenth century, that led the effort in delineating the paths of theology and philosophy.

Roger Bacon ($c.1220$ to $c.1292$)

A Franciscan friar and Oxford-educated scholar who wrote the Opus Majus and advocated for the university curriculum to incorporate natural philosophy.

Robert Grosseteste ($c.1168$ to $1253$)

A commentator of Aristotle at Oxford University who exposed Roger Bacon to Aristotelian natural philosophy.

Opus Majus ($1267$)

Roger Bacon's main work intended to encourage university reform and incorporate optics, astronomy, alchemy, and agriculture.

Albert the Great ($c.1200$ to $1280$)

A Dominican scholar who offered a comprehensive interpretation of Aristotle's philosophy and taught Thomas Aquinas at the University of Paris.

Thomas Aquinas ($1225$ to $1274$)

A noble Italian Dominican friar who 'Christianized' Aristotle and authored the masterpiece Summa Theologiae.

Summa Theologiae

The masterpiece of Thomas Aquinas that used logic to justify faith and appealed to a society starting to embrace scientific methodology.

Averroes (Abū l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Ibn Rushd)

An Islamic scholar ($1126$-$1198$) known in the West as 'the Commentator' for his extensive commentaries on Aristotle.

Monopsychism

The idea that humans possess the same intellect, a concept advocated by Averroes but attacked by Thomas Aquinas.

De unitate intellectus contra Averroistas

The work written by Thomas Aquinas to attack Averroes' doctrine of monopsychism.

Scholasticism

A form of reasoning emphasizing dialectical argumentation to extend knowledge by inference and resolve contradictions.

Condemnations of $1270$ and $1277$

Decrees issued by the Bishop of Paris against certain Aristotelian views, including the eternity of the cosmos, monopsychism, and determinism.