PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES LOUIS CLARK VANUXEM FOUNDATION PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES BY MAURICE DsWULF PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUVAIN AND IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY MEMBER OF ACADEMIES OF BRUSSELS AND OF MADRID PRINCETON Princeton University Press 1922 PREFACE THE material of these lectures, which I had the honor of delivering at Princeton University, on the Vanuxem Foundation, was prepared, during the War, at the Universities of Harvard, Poitiers, and Toronto. Certain portions of the work, relatively few, have already appeared in the form of articles, viz. part of Chapter I in the Revue de Mttaphys ique et de Morale, July, 1918 Chapter IV, ii, in the Philosophical Review, July, 1918 Chapter V, iii, in the International Journal of Ethics, January, 1919 Chapter III, ii, and Chapter VII, i-v, in the Harvard Theological Review, October, 1918. These now take their place as integral parts of what may be regarded as a supplement to my His tory of Mediaeval Philosophy. The purpose of the study as here presented is to approach the Middle Ages from a new point of view, by showing how the thought of the period, metaphysics included, is intimately connected with the whole round of Western civilization to which it belongs. My work represents simply an attempt to open the way it makes no pretense to exhaustive treatment of any of the innumerable problems in volved in so vast a subject. I desire to express my cordial thanks to the friends who have aided me in translating these lee Vi PREFACE tures, in particular to Mr, Daniel Sargent, of Har vard University. And it is a special duty and pleasure to acknowledge my obligations to Profes sorHorace C. Longwell, of Princeton University, who has offered many valuable suggestions while assisting in the revision of the manuscript and in the task of seeing the work through the press. Harvard University January, 1022 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION i. Relational aspects of philosophy in the Middle Ages. ii. Methods, iii. The importance of the twelfth century and of the thirteenth century in mediaeval civilization iv. Sur vey of these centuries. CHAPTER TWO SURVEY OP CIVILIZATION IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY i. Feudal Europe, ii. Catholic influences Cluny, Citeaux, the bishops, the Pope. iii. A new spirit the value and dignity of the individual man. iv. New forms of art. v. The twelfth century one of French influences. CHAPTER THREE THE CIVILIZATION AS REFLECTED IN PHILOSOPHY i. Location of philosophical schools invasion of French schools by foreigners, ii. Delimitation of the several sci ences philosophy distinct from the seven liberal arts and from theology, iii. Harmony of the feudal sense of personal worth with the philosophical doctrine that the individual alone exists, iv. The feudal civilization and the anti-realistic solution of the problem of universals. CHAPTER FOUR THE GREAT AWAKENING OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY i. The causes The acquired momentum, ii. The rise of the Universities Paris and Oxford, iii. The establishment of the mendicant orders Dominicans and Franciscans, iv. The acquaintance with new philosophical works translations, v. General result among the numerous systems the schol astic philosophy issues as dominant, vi. The comprehensive classification of knowledge. Viii CONTENTS CHAPTER FIVE UNIFYING AND COSMOPOLITAN TENDENCIES i.Need of universality the law of parsimony. ii. Excess resulting from the felt need of simplifying without limit the geocentric system and the anthropocentric conception, iii. The society of mankind f university humana in its theoretical and practical forms, iv. Cosmopolitan tenden cies. CHAPTER SIX OPTIMISM AND IMPEBSONALITT i. Optimism in philosophy, in art, in religion, ii. Imperson ality, iii. History of philosophy and literary attribution. iv. Perenniality. CHAPTER SEVEN SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY AND THE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT i...
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这本书的魅力在于其对“连续性”的强调,而非一味强调“断裂性”。长期以来,我们习惯于将文艺复兴或启蒙运动视为对中世纪的彻底否定,但作者在这部著作中巧妙地搭建了一座座桥梁,展示了后世的许多核心观念是如何在中世纪的土壤中悄然萌芽的。这种对历史细微肌理的把握,使得叙事充满了张力。例如,书中对早期自然哲学的关注,清晰地表明了并非所有对自然世界的探索都被教会压制,而是在特定的神学框架下,得到了意想不到的滋养和发展。作者的写作风格非常擅长使用对比手法,他会并置两个看似矛盾的观点,然后引导读者去探究,这种矛盾如何被那个时代的思维方式所调和。这种辩证的视角,极大地提升了本书的思想层次,避免了将历史简化为非黑即白的二元对立。它让读者意识到,任何“伟大转型”都是一个漫长、渐进且充满内部协商的过程。
评分坦白讲,这本书的学术深度是毋庸置疑的,但它的阅读体验是挑剔的。对于习惯了快速信息获取的当代读者来说,开篇的几章可能会构成一定的门槛。作者在构建其论点时,常常会引用大量的拉丁文术语或直接引述特定学者的晦涩论断,虽然有脚注辅助,但仍需要读者具备一定的学术耐心和背景知识储备。然而,一旦跨越了最初的适应期,其回报是巨大的。它强迫我们重新审视知识生产的模式——在缺乏现代出版和传播工具的时代,知识是如何在少数精英圈层中流转、辩论并沉淀下来的。其中关于“知识的物质性”的讨论,即手稿、图书馆、以及教会赞助对思想传播的决定性影响,阐述得极为透彻。这本书的价值在于,它揭示了中世纪思想的“生态系统”,而不仅仅是思想本身。它提醒我们,任何伟大的思想结构,都依赖于其所处的社会、经济和宗教的物质基础。
评分我发现这本书的结构组织方式非常独特,它似乎并非严格按照时间顺序推进,而是围绕几个核心的“概念场域”进行螺旋式上升的论述。这使得阅读过程更像是在解构一个复杂的思想迷宫,每一次进入新的章节,都是对之前所学概念的重新定位和深化理解。特别是关于“普遍性与特殊性”的形而上学争论,作者用近乎文学化的语言,描述了这种抽象思辨在不同领域的投射,从圣餐的教义到世俗法律的制定,无不可见其深刻影响。此书的优点在于,它不满足于描述“是什么”,而致力于探究“为什么如此构建”,即探究中世纪思想家面对世界时的认知工具箱里装了些什么。对于那些对中世纪历史有一定基础的读者来说,这本书无疑是一次深入思想核心的探险,它提供的工具和视角,足以让读者对整个西方思想史产生全新的、更具批判性的理解。
评分阅读此书的过程,与其说是吸收知识,不如说是一场与作者在古老智慧迷宫中的漫步。这本书的叙事节奏把握得极好,它不像教科书那样平铺直叙,反而充满了历史的“温度”和人物的“侧影”。作者似乎更专注于那些被宏大叙事边缘化的个体声音,比如那些在修道院中默默抄写手稿的僧侣,以及他们在面对瘟疫或异端指控时所流露出的不安与坚守。这种关注点,让原本抽象的哲学思辨变得具象化、可感化。书中对具体文本的引用和解读,也显示出作者深厚的古典学功底,他不仅仅是在介绍“他们想了什么”,更是在复现“他们思考的现场感”。我尤其欣赏作者对于“时间观”的探讨,中世纪人如何感知循环往复的礼仪时间与线性救赎时间之间的微妙差异,这对理解他们的世界观至关重要。全书的语言风格是内敛而富有韵味的,它需要读者沉下心来,慢慢咀嚼其中的细微差别,回报给读者的,则是一幅远比想象中更为斑斓复杂的中世纪精神图景。
评分这本关于中世纪文明的著作,从宏大的历史叙事切入,试图勾勒出那个时代知识分子群体在思想与信仰的张力下,如何构建起他们所理解的“世界秩序”。作者的笔触细腻,尤其在梳理不同学派思想演变脉络时,展现出扎实的文献功底。他并没有将中世纪简单地描绘成一个停滞不前的“黑暗时代”,而是着力展现了其内部的活力与复杂性。例如,对于大学的起源与早期发展,书中描绘了学者们如何在松散的行会结构中,逐渐确立起辩论和逻辑推演的权威,这对于理解现代学术传统的萌芽至关重要。我印象最深的是他对“理性与信仰的张力”这一主题的处理,它不是简单地对立,而是贯穿于整个中世纪思想史的主旋律。通过大量的案例分析,比如对亚里士多德思想传入后,神学家们如何将其纳入基督教框架的讨论,读者可以清晰地看到思想冲突如何催生出新的知识形态。行文流畅,逻辑严密,即便是初次接触中世纪思想史的读者,也能被这种深邃的智力探索过程所吸引。它成功地挑战了许多流行的、扁平化的历史认知,展现出一个充满内在矛盾与创造力的黄金时代。
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