Medieval, Modern, and Contemporary Philosophy: A Timeline
Medieval Philosophy
Medieval philosophy, until the end of the fourteenth century, developed in medieval Christian thought in Europe following the fall of the Roman Empire and the consolidation of the Catholic Church as the only cultural element that would unify and impose its own worldview. The main feature of this period will be its theocentrism; God as the center of the universe shifts to man and nature as the philosophical interest, so that everything that exists is born and depends on it. Therefore, questions about the principles governing the cosmos find their answer in the idea of God. The merger of church and political issues would also mark the political arena and, of course, the moral realm in which Christian doctrine is imposed as the sole criterion for resolving ethical-moral issues.
Modern Philosophy
This period begins with the Renaissance and the series of changes occurring in the fifteenth century in the areas of history, culture, and science. Modern thought arises in open opposition to medieval thought. The first criticism of the medieval world comes from the Renaissance and its anthropocentric and naturalistic worldview. The human being is again the center of philosophical and scientific concerns, and always from a naturalistic perspective. This naturalistic cause marked the independence of reason with respect to any external authority, such as faith or tradition. The second major breakdown occurs with the development of science and the scientific method, which radically change the image that had been held of the world. This new philosophy and science seek to formulate laws governing the universe according to mathematical models, conferring universality and necessity on scientific discoveries. The development of the new science would rethink the problems concerning the boundaries of knowledge, and for the first time, begin to question the role of philosophy as a discipline and its place in all the sciences.
Contemporary Philosophy
The philosophy that developed from the nineteenth century onward will be characterized by diverse currents and trends, some of them against each other, but primarily by its critical and suspicious attitude. The dialogue with science and its technical implications for society and the individual will be a benchmark of contemporary philosophy. Science, like philosophy, is also seeking rational explanations; however, philosophy is not a science or a similar type of knowledge, nor does it add to science. Why then speak of a relationship between science and philosophy? From modernity, the world is seen as reality as illustrated by science, through the image offered by scientific knowledge. Therefore, any reflection on the world is going to be a reflection on the discourse of science.
Keep in mind that the relationship between science and philosophy is a conflict. This is evident when considering that:
- Science is not free of budgets, which in many cases are far from scientific.
- There is no single body of knowledge that can be called science. What we call science, as a scientific endeavor, is to work on problems using methods likewise reviewable. The term “science” includes a variety of ways of doing science, and only by taking into account such diversity will we try to place meaning on the philosophy of science.
According to Ferrater Mora, there is only one way to understand the relationship between science and philosophy, and this is to assume that philosophy is somehow what scientists do. Philosophy operates scientifically when it takes the study of science itself as its object. Homework must be done from three perspectives:
- First, Linguistic Analysis. Philosophy clarifies the meaning and the logical connection between the terms of science.