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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2016
In the intellectual history of the Latin West, Aristotelianism holds a unique position. From Boethius to Galileo — from the end of the classical civilization to the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century, and in some circles even beyond — the influence of the Philosopher was decisive not only for the development of theology, philosophy, and the natural sciences, but also for the university structure and system of education. The vast amount of scholarly writing published each year on aspects of this history is an obvious measure of its significance. However, a natural division between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance has led to an unfortunate dichotomy in the way historians have dealt with the intellectual history of this era. Students of medieval thought have concentrated on the philosophy of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and have generally regarded as decadent the scholasticism of the following period. Renaissance scholarship, on the other hand, has focused its attention on the humanism and Platonism of that time, and tended to regard Italian Aristotelianism as an unimportant holdover from the medieval period. Furthermore, because the influence of Aristotle was so all-pervading, historians have, of necessity, treated aspects of his thought during this time —his significance in logic and philosophy, the repercussions of his thought in theology and the natural sciences, and so on. Nevertheless, in recent years a tendency in research seems to be developing toward an attempt at understanding philosophy and theology in the way in which they were understood in the medieval and Renaissance period and toward bridging the gap between Aquinas and Descartes. One who undertakes a survey of this research is naturally confronted with a large number of works dealing with different aspects of this history, but to make this brief survey possible I have restricted its scope to a very few recent books which either illuminate the various significant turns that the Aristotelian tradition took or seem to contribute to a sense of continuity within this period.
1 Van Steenberghen, F., ‘Aristotelismus,’ LThK 2 1 (1957) 859–62; id., La Philosophie au XIII e siècle (Louvain-Paris 1966); Randall, J. H. Jr., The Career of Philosophy I (New York 1962); Kristeller, P. O., Renaissance Thought (New York 1961); id., Renaissance Thought II (New York 1965); id., ‘Renaissance Aristotelianism,’ Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 6 (1965) 157–74; Moraux, P., ed., Aristoteles in der neueren Forschung (Darmstadt 1968). The classic treatment of this material is now just over a hundred years old: Renan, E., Averroès et l'averroïsme (2. éd.; Paris 1861). The following notes are not meant to be exhaustive, but simply to indicate the more important works of the last ten years or so.Google Scholar
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