Philosophy and Civilization in the Middle Ages by Maurice DeWulf (1924).pdf

PHIL'OSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

�

IN THE MIDDLE A<iES

LoNDON: HuMPHREY MILFORD

Oxford University Press

LOUIS CLARK VANUXEM FOUNDATION

PHILOSOPHY

AND CIVILIZATION IN

THE MIDDLE AGES

MAURICE DEWULF

PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUVAIN

AND IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY

MEMBER OF ACADEMIES OF BRUSSELS AND OF MADRID

PuBLISHED, I 922

REPRINTED, I 924

the Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jerse y, U.S • i

PREFACE

THE material of these lectures, which I had the

honor of delivering at Princeton lJniversity, on the

Vanuxem Foundation, was prepared, during the

War, at the Universities of Harvard, Poitiers, and

Toronto. Certain portions of the work, relatively

few, have already appeared in the form of articles,

viz.: part of Chapter I in the Revue de Metap·hy�

ique et de Morale� July, 1918; C�hapter IV, ii, n

the Philosophical Review� July, 1918; Chapter V,

iii, in the I nternati·onal Journal of Ethics� January,

1919; Chapter III, ii, and Chapter VII, i-v, in the

Harvard Theological Review� October, 1918.

These now take their place as :integral parts of

what may be regarded as a supplement to my His

tory of Mediaeval Philosophy.

The purpose of the study as here presented is to

approach the Middle A g es fro.t a new point of

view, by showing how th e thought of the period,

metaphysics included, is intimately connected with

the whol e round of Western civilization to which it

belongs. My work represents simply an attempt

'to open the way ; it makes no pretense to exhaustive

treatment of any of the innumerable problems in

volved in so vast a subject.

I desire to express my cordial thanks to the

friends who have aided me in translating these lee-