VI.

THE MIDDLE AGES (500AD-900AD)

The early part of the period was referred to as the Dark Ages due to the halt of scientific
advancement, misgovernment, civil wars, barbarian people, discord, and the dismantling
of the monetary system. There was top heavy bureaucracies, civil wars, and barbarian
peoples in some areas. The uniformity of Roman law gave way to a maze of discordant
local customs. The universal monetary system of the Romans also disappeared.
There were chaotic systems of government and low standards of living. Also, there was
widespread illiteracy. Science and culture suffered during this period. In some areas
religious scholarship survived.
There were no psychological advance made during this period; and very little interest in
Psychology. The works of Aristotle and Plato were even lost.
Islam was developed during this period. Islam means "surrender to God." The followers
were known as Muslims. Sicily and Spain came under the domination of Islam. Hellenic
civilization also merged into Muslim culture.
The birth of Islam and the Muslim faith occurred in the middle part of the Middle Ages.
Muslims assumed positions of leadership in government, the military and religious affairs.
Universities did not come into real prominence until the 13th century. They came into
being with the expansion of knowledge. For example, youth in the 11th century entered
monasteries; youth in the 13th century attended universities.
Universities began to emerge toward the latter part of the Middle Ages -- the University
of Bologna, University of Paris, Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The curricula
included art, natural ethics, philosophy, metaphysics, theology, law and medicine.
During this period, Arabic scholars also had added valuable observations in medicine and
had added a variety of new perspectives to philosophy.
Translations included religious, philosophical, medical, science -- such as optics, geology
and math.
Introduction of these texts and translations divided the middle ages into what can be
known as 2 distinct periods: a) the early middle ages, without the benefits and
knowledge; and, b) the later middle ages, with ancient knowledge and science restored.
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote the "Summa Contra Theologica", an introduction to Christian
theology. He was also author of commentaries on Aristotle and various books of the Bible.
A reawakening of knowledge occurred in the late middle ages.

Saint Augustine he introduced and used the method of introspection (the

description of ones own conscious process)

However, was the human mind really neglected during the Middle Ages? Was this really an age of
superstition, witch-hunts, and demonic possession? In reality, the name Dark Ages is slightly
misleading, even for the Early Middle Ages spanning the 5th to the 10th Centuries. Although war,
famine, and disease restricted scientific endeavor in Europe, many philosophers and theologians
contributed to the body of human knowledge.
Scholars such as St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Roger Bacon made some astute
observations about the inner workings of the human mind, providing a foundation for the
Renaissance. In the East, the Byzantine Empire preserved the knowledge of the Greeks, and
philosophers such as the Jewish Symeon Seth (11th Century) and Niketas Stethatos (c. 10001090CE) studied the nature of dreams and emotions, as well as studying mental disorders and the
brain.
Understanding the work of these scholars requires looking at the history of Europe after the Fall of
Rome, in the 5th Century. At this time, Europe was shattered by political, socio-economic, and
cultural instability, which brought hardship, famine, disease, and war. It also ushered in the
domination of Christianity, so it is little surprise that the first scholars studying the mind were also
theologians holding to Biblical values.
The Psyche and Divinity
The study of the mind was slightly different, largely because thought and soul were inextricably
linked. Psychology was described in theological terms, based upon the idea that thought and
perception; the psyche, were part of religion and connection between deity and soul. The study of
the mind was certainly not neglected during the Middle Ages. In fact, many theologians and
scholars focused upon such studies as part of the quest to understand the link between humanity
and divinity.
Into this Christian belief system arrived St. Augustine, often labeled as the first psychologist,
although he was also a superb philosopher who studied political systems and the idea of morality.
Augustine derived much of his knowledge from his earlier life, where he studied the great Greek
philosophers before converting to Christianity at the age of 33.
Philosophy, Psychology and Theology
This conflict drove his interest in the study of the human mind, because he believed that the mind
was the interface between the divine and earth, something he pointed out in his treatise,
Confessions. Adopting an introspective line, he reasoned that studying the mind would allow him
to understand the divine. In many ways, Augustine was the first philosopher to propose that
humans had an inner self, believing that a healthy person has inner unity, whereas inner
disunity led to inner malady. Trained in rhetoric, Augustine used his Confessions to relate his own
life and struggles, but he cleverly used this to paint a wider picture, that an individual can escape
materialism and find spirituality and salvation.
The Dualism of Memory and Dreams
Augustine believed that memory was the single-most important aspect of the mind, because it
was the root of psychological functioning. He reasoned that all skills and habits derived from
memory, and that even animals must have the power of recall if they are to function. Expanding
upon this, he proposed a dual memory, reasoning that there were distinctions between

recognition and recall. Humans only remember the images of things in sensory memory, but the
mature of these images would be obscured in the affective memory.
This dual memory was based upon the principle that a recalled memory was different from the
original. Augustine looked at the nature of dreams, recognizing that thought and impulses that
are suppressed while awake can be extremely strong in dreams.He argued that there was no sin
in dreams, so they should not affect the conscience of a Christian, but he also pointed out that
past experiences could arise in dreams.Memory could be buried in the unconscious mind, and
resurface in dreams, where they could not be tempered by thought or reason