scholasticism: Influences on Scholasticism

The greatest of earlier Christian philosophers had been St. Augustine, who saw in Plato (or in Neoplatonism) a system congenial with Christianity. This influence combined with that of the Pseudo-Dionysius (see Dionysius the Areopagite, Saint) to color the speculations of Western thinkers with Neoplatonic ideas. Much knowledge of ancient philosophy came to the early scholastics through the writings of Boethius. John Scotus Eriugena continued the tradition of Neoplatonism in the 9th cent., adding to it certain mystical notions of his own.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Neoscholasticism
• Continuation of the Scholastic Tradition
• The Golden Age
• Early Scholasticism
• Influences on Scholasticism
• Bibliography

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