Thinking Medieval

2005-09-27 History

Author : M. Bull
Release : 2005-09-27
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 575/5 ( reviews)

Book Synopsis Thinking Medieval by : M. Bull

Download or read book Thinking Medieval written by M. Bull. This book was released on 2005-09-27. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is aimed at students coming to the study of western European medieval history for the first time, and also graduate students on interdisciplinary medieval studies programmes. It examines the place of the Middle Ages in modern popular culture, exploring the roots of the stereotypes that appear in films, on television and in the press, and asking why they remain so persistent. The book also asks whether 'medieval' is indeed a useful category in terms of historical periodization. It investigates some of the particular challenges posed by medieval sources and the ways in which they have survived. And it concludes with an exploration of the relevance of medieval history in today's world.

Don't Think for Yourself

2022-10-15 Philosophy

Author : Peter Adamson
Release : 2022-10-15
Genre : Philosophy
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 385/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Don't Think for Yourself by : Peter Adamson

Download or read book Don't Think for Yourself written by Peter Adamson. This book was released on 2022-10-15. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do we judge whether we should be willing to follow the views of experts or whether we ought to try to come to our own, independent views? This book seeks the answer in medieval philosophical thought. In this engaging study into the history of philosophy and epistemology, Peter Adamson provides an answer to a question as relevant today as it was in the medieval period: how and when should we turn to the authoritative expertise of other people in forming our own beliefs? He challenges us to reconsider our approach to this question through a constructive recovery of the intellectual and cultural traditions of the Islamic world, the Byzantine Empire, and Latin Christendom. Adamson begins by foregrounding the distinction in Islamic philosophy between taqlīd, or the uncritical acceptance of authority, and ijtihād, or judgment based on independent effort, the latter of which was particularly prized in Islamic law, theology, and philosophy during the medieval period. He then demonstrates how the Islamic tradition paves the way for the development of what he calls a “justified taqlīd,” according to which one develops the skills necessary to critically and selectively follow an authority based on their reliability. The book proceeds to reconfigure our understanding of the relation between authority and independent thought in the medieval world by illuminating how women found spaces to assert their own intellectual authority, how medieval writers evaluated the authoritative status of Plato and Aristotle, and how independent reasoning was deployed to defend one Abrahamic faith against the other. This clear and eloquently written book will interest scholars in and enthusiasts of medieval philosophy, Islamic studies, Byzantine studies, and the history of thought.

Thinking Medieval Romance

2018-11-10 Literary Criticism

Author : Katherine C. Little
Release : 2018-11-10
Genre : Literary Criticism
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 350/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Thinking Medieval Romance by : Katherine C. Little

Download or read book Thinking Medieval Romance written by Katherine C. Little. This book was released on 2018-11-10. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Medieval romances with their magic fountains, brave knights, and beautiful maidens have come to stand for the Middle Ages more generally. This close connection between the medieval and the romance has had consequences for popular conceptions of the Middle Ages, an idealized fantasy of chivalry and hierarchy, and also for our understanding of romances, as always already archaic, part of a half-forgotten past. And yet, romances were one of the most influential and long-lasting innovations of the medieval period. To emphasize their novelty is to see the resources medieval people had for thinking about their contemporary concern and controversies, whether social order, Jewish/ Christian relations, the Crusades, the connectivity of the Mediterranean, women's roles as mothers, and how to write a national past. This volume takes up the challenge to 'think romance', investigating the various ways that romances imagine, reflect, and describe the challenges of the medieval world.

The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought

2000-06-01 History

Author : John Block Friedman
Release : 2000-06-01
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 262/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought by : John Block Friedman

Download or read book The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought written by John Block Friedman. This book was released on 2000-06-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beyond the boundaries of the known Christian world during the Middle Ages, there were alien cultures that intrigued, puzzled, and sometimes frightened the people of Europe. The reports of travelers in Africa and Asia revealed that "monstrous" races of men lived there, whose appearance and customs were quite different from the European norm. This book examines the impact of these races upon Western art, literature, and philosophy, from their earliest mention until the age of exploration. Friedman furnishes a descriptive catalog of the races, most of which were real, geographically remote peoples, some of which were fabled creatures that served as symbols. He traces the evolution of European attitudes toward them, with particular emphasis on the high Middle Ages, when they seem most strongly to have captured the Western imagination. Ranging through literature, the arts, cartography, canon law, and theology, he considers the widely varying ways in which Christians viewed and depicted strange races of men. Finally, he examines transformations in European consciousness brought about by the discoveries of the exotic peoples of the Americas. Whatever their form—pygmy, giant, hirsute cave—dweller, cyclops, or Amazon-the monstrous races clearly challenged the traditional concept of man in the Christian world scheme. It is the medieval thinking about this challenge that Mr. Friedman addresses in this revealing account.

Lines of Thought

2021-04-26 History

Author : Ayelet Even-Ezra
Release : 2021-04-26
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 11X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Lines of Thought by : Ayelet Even-Ezra

Download or read book Lines of Thought written by Ayelet Even-Ezra. This book was released on 2021-04-26. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We think with objects—we conduct our lives surrounded by external devices that help us recall information, calculate, plan, design, make decisions, articulate ideas, and organize the chaos that fills our heads. Medieval scholars learned to think with their pages in a peculiar way: drawing hundreds of tree diagrams. Lines of Thought is the first book to investigate this prevalent but poorly studied notational habit, analyzing the practice from linguistic and cognitive perspectives and studying its application across theology, philosophy, law, and medicine. These diagrams not only allow a glimpse into the thinking practices of the past but also constitute a chapter in the history of how people learned to rely on external devices—from stone to parchment to slide rules to smartphones—for recording, storing, and processing information. Beautifully illustrated throughout with previously unstudied and unedited diagrams, Lines of Thought is a historical overview of an important cognitive habit, providing a new window into the world of medieval scholars and their patterns of thinking.

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Thinking Medieval

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Thinking Medieval Romance

The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought

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