International Relations. A self-Study Guide to Theory

science itself can be seen as the key impetus and driving force for Greek phi-
losophy and thus of European philosophy more generally. Science is consid-
ered the “incentive element” for the advancement of philosophy (Al-Jabri 
2011: 421). 
In the next step we will therefore investigate what happened to the idea of 
science and to philosophy in the time following late antiquity, which was the 
last period of the ancient world.
2.2. The European Middle Ages and Renaissance 
After late antiquity in Europe, the progress of science stagnated for a long 
time. Providing a world view based on religion – the triumph of Christendom 
– has usually been perceived as a stumbling block to the further development 
of science. From the early Middle Ages onwards, belief and religious convic-
tion – instead of observation and analysis – came to dominate the idea of 
knowledge. The Church and the Holy Scripture held absolute authority, for-
mulating the ultimate “truth”. Philosophy now was the “servant” of theology, 
not the “provider” of scientific thought. 
Finally, this situation changed in the 13
th
century when Thomas Aquinas 
made one of the greatest contributions to the transformation from medieval 
thought to early modern thought: he revived the idea of science as derived 
from Greek antiquity by attempting to combine Christian theology and Aris-
totelian thought in a kind of synthesis. Thomas Aquinas was one of the main 
representatives of scholasticism, a method of thought based on dialectical 
reasoning. Scholasticism aimed to extend knowledge by way of logical infer-
ence and with the intention of dissolving contradictions. It was taught at Me-
dieval European universities mainly for the purpose of defending orthodoxy 
in an increasingly pluralist context. In addition to Thomas Aquinas, well-
known representatives of scholasticism include Albertus Magnus, Wilhelm of 
Ockham and, later, several Lutheran and Reformed thinkers. In short, scho-
lasticism can be seen as an attempt to reconcile Christian theology with clas-
sical and late antiquity philosophy. The latter basically comprised Aristoteli-
an and Neoplatonic thought – both of which, as you have learned, consider 
logical reasoning as the fundamental means and method of knowing.
The historical background of the revival of Aristotelian philosophy and 
Neoplatonism is a particularly interesting one. Knowledge and ideas of an-

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tiquity had largely been “forgotten” in the early and High Middle Ages but 
had nonetheless been preserved in monastic libraries, in Arab culture and in 
Byzantium. The Greek philosophical writings had been translated into Ara-
bic, allowing Arab scholars to preserve and annotate the intellectual heritage 
of the Greeks. During Reconquista on the Iberian Peninsula (which ended in 
1492), the Christian conquerors captured the writings of these Greek and Ar-
ab scholars. In addition, the demise of the Byzantine Empire was followed by 
the migration of Greek scholars to Italy. They brought with them previously 
lost knowledge of Greek antiquity. Greek philosophy thus subsequently 
found its way back to Christian Europe in a roundabout manner, though Ara-
bic, Spanish and Latin texts. During the Renaissance in the 15
th
and 16
th
cen-
tury, a revival of ancient Greek thought took place. This revival is expressed 
in term Renaissance itself, which originated in the 19
th
century and means 
“rebirth”. It embodies the idea that, after the Middle Ages, European culture 
experienced a reorientation towards Greek and Roman antiquity: a “rebirth” 
of the spirit of antiquity.
This “rebirth” of antique ideas manifested itself in a multifaceted and all-
encompassing way, reflected in sculpture, architecture, writing and philo-
sophical thought. Above all, arts and sciences were held in high esteem in 
the Italian city states, in a manner comparable to that of ancient Greece. For 
example, in the arts, a new tendency to mathematical-scientific clear-cut 
forms appeared which placed the human body at the center (as shown in Le-
onardo da Vinci’s studies of proportions). The Renaissance also marked the 
beginning of a new, anthropocentric world view. The idea of the individual 
as a creative person emerged as well, as expressed by humanism, often 
called the “spirit” of the Renaissance. Humanism was fundamentally shaped 
by Greek antiquity, with the Greek idea of education and intellectual devel-
opment serving as its model of orientation. At the core of humanism lay the 
interests, dignity, creativeness and value of the single human being, the in-
dividual, and the ability to educate and improve oneself. Typical questions 
posed by humanists included “What is the human?” and ”What is ‘true’ hu-
man nature?” Humanism provided a tremendous stimulus to the study of 
language, literature, and philosophy, this time for their own sake, separate