\Clay"more`\,
n. [Gael. claidheamhmor a broadsword; Gael. claidheamh sword + mor
great, large. Cf. Claymore.] A large two-handed sword used formerly
by the Scottish Highlanders.
Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Western Europe from
about ad 400–1400, roughly the period between the fall
of Rome and the Renaissance. Medieval philosophers are the
historical successors of the philosophers of antiquity, but
they are in fact only tenuously connected with them. Until
about 1125, medieval thinkers had access to only a few texts
of ancient Greek philosophy (most importantly a portion of
Aristotle’s logic). This limitation accounts for the
special attention medieval philosophers give to logic and
philosophy of language. They gained some acquaintance with
other Greek philosophical forms (particularly those of later
Platonism) indirectly through the writings of Latin authors
such as Augustine and Boethius. These Christian thinkers left
an enduring legacy of Platonistic metaphysical and theological
speculation. Beginning about 1125, the influx into Western
Europe of the first Latin translations of the remaining works
of Aristotle transformed medieval thought dramatically. The
philosophical discussions and disputes of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries record later medieval thinkers’
sustained efforts to understand the new Aristotelian material
and assimilate it into a unified philosophical system.
The
most significant extra-philosophical influence on medieval
philosophy throughout its thousand-year history is Christianity.
Christian institutions sustain medieval intellectual life,
and Christianity’s texts and ideas provide rich subject
matter for philosophical reflection. Although most of the
greatest thinkers of the period were highly trained theologians,
their work addresses perennial philosophical issues and takes
a genuinely philosophical approach to understanding the world.
Even their discussion of specifically theological issues is
typically philosophical, permeated with philosophical ideas,
rigorous argument and sophisticated logical and conceptual
analysis. The enterprise of philosophical theology is one
of medieval philosophy’s greatest achievements.
The
way in which medieval philosophy develops in dialogue with
the texts of ancient philosophy and the early Christian tradition
(including patristic philosophy) is displayed in its two distinctive
pedagogical and literary forms, the textual commentary and
the disputation. In explicit commentaries on texts such as
the works of Aristotle, Boethius’ theological treatises
and Peter Lombard’s classic theological textbook, the
Sentences, medieval thinkers wrestled anew with the traditions
that had come down to them. By contrast, the disputation –
the form of discourse characteristic of the university environment
of the later Middle Ages – focuses not on particular
texts but on specific philosophical or theological issues.
It thereby allows medieval philosophers to gather together
relevant passages and arguments scattered throughout the authoritative
literature and to adjudicate their competing claims in a systematic
way.
These
dialectical forms of thought and interchange encourage the
development of powerful tools of interpretation, analysis
and argument ideally suited to philosophical inquiry. It is
the highly technical nature of these academic (or scholastic)
modes of thought, however, that provoked the hostilities of
the Renaissance humanists whose attacks brought the period
of medieval philosophy to an end.
The
most significant extra-philosophical influence on medieval
philosophy throughout its thousand-year history is Christianity.
Christian institutions sustain medieval intellectual life,
and Christianity’s texts and ideas provide rich subject
matter for philosophical reflection. Although most of the
greatest thinkers of the period were highly trained theologians,
their work addresses perennial philosophical issues and takes
a genuinely philosophical approach to understanding the world.
Even their discussion of specifically theological issues is
typically philosophical, permeated with philosophical ideas,
rigorous argument and sophisticated logical and conceptual
analysis. The enterprise of philosophical theology is one
of medieval philosophy’s greatest achievements.
The
way in which medieval philosophy develops in dialogue with
the texts of ancient philosophy and the early Christian tradition
(including patristic philosophy) is displayed in its two distinctive
pedagogical and literary forms, the textual commentary and
the disputation. In explicit commentaries on texts such as
the works of Aristotle, Boethius’ theological treatises
and Peter Lombard’s classic theological textbook, the
Sentences, medieval thinkers wrestled anew with the traditions
that had come down to them. By contrast, the disputation –
the form of discourse characteristic of the university environment
of the later Middle Ages – focuses not on particular
texts but on specific philosophical or theological issues.
It thereby allows medieval philosophers to gather together
relevant passages and arguments scattered throughout the authoritative
literature and to adjudicate their competing claims in a systematic
way. 
These
dialectical forms of thought and interchange encourage the
development of powerful tools of interpretation, analysis
and argument ideally suited to philosophical inquiry. It is
the highly technical nature of these academic (or scholastic)
modes of thought, however, that provoked the hostilities of
the Renaissance humanists whose attacks brought the period
of medieval philosophy to an end.