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date: 20 January 2021

Abstract and Keywords

This article notes that the period 1200–1350 is a watershed in the history of Western philosophy. To see this, one has only to consider that the three giants of later medieval philosophy, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham, lived their lives in this time span. The first part of the article describes the cultural and institutional developments that conditioned in one way or another nearly all of the philosophical thought produced in the period: the translation into Latin of Aristotle's works, along with further Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew philosophical texts; the universities; the mendicant orders and their educational system; and the major genres of philosophical writing. The second part is a short, highly selective sketch of the major trends, figures, and lines of influence in the period.

Keywords: philosophical writing, Aristotle's works, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, Western philosophy

Russell L. Friedman

Russell L. Friedman is professor at the Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. His major publication is Medieval Trinitarian Thought from Aquinas to Ockham (2010). His main academic interests are medieval Trinitarian theology and philosophical psychology, and genres of medieval philosophical discourse.

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