The Real Middle Ages...


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If you think the Middles Ages were totally dark think again. Here is very interesting historical summary of what the Middle Ages were -really- like.

http://www.quora.com/Why-did-science-make-little-real-progress-in-Europe-in-the-Middle-Ages

They were nothing like the fiction told by Ayn Rand

Rand did not have the right story.

Ba'al Chatzaf

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What story? I remember a mention or two or three about The Dark Ages, not the Middle Ages.

--Brant

That is my recollection as well. The term "Dark Ages" has traditionally referred to Europe from around the 6th century to around the 10th or maybe the 11th century. The phrase the "Renaissance of the 12th Century" has been current for many years, and the intellectual importance of that century was understood long before the term was coined. Considering Rand's admiration for Aquinas, who lived during the 13th century, it is inconceivable that she considered the later Middle Ages to be part of the "Dark Ages."

The writer of the linked article makes some valid points, but he exaggerates the progress of science during the later Middle Ages. Most of the notable achievements were in technology, not in pure science. (This is what Lynn Thorndike, whom the author mentions, stresses in his multi-volume work.) I think it is fair to say that during the 17th century alone (the period of the "Scientific Revolution") more scientific progress was made than during the entire Middle Ages. The author also underestimates the detrimental influence of the Catholic Church on the development of science. You don't have to burn a lot of people to make the point. When Bruno was burned by the Inquisition in 1600 (partially for his heretical cosmological views, such as his ideas about an infinite universe), other original thinkers got the message. And when Descartes received news that the Inquisition had arrested Galileo, he decided not to publish Traité du monde et de la lumière during his lifetime--a book in which he, like Galileo, defended the heliocentric theory.

Ghs

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