Spaces of Knowledge

Book excerpt: Medieval thought, traditionally associated with great figures and with the works generated by an intellectual elite, encompasses, however, a much wider variety, and an extraordinary wealth, of texts, if one’s perspective is broadened to include all the individuals that made up the society in which it developed. Delving deep into the thought of an age entails an exercise of interdisciplinarity in which different dimensions and intellectual expressions all have a place. This volume provides a space where the various disciplines that tackle the multifaceted subject of medieval thought unfold. Through an analogy to the different levels of the acquisition of knowledge developed by the epistemology of the time, the volume is divided into four separate, albeit related, ways of approaching medieval thought: the sphere of senses and experience; the domain of opinion and language; speculation and the product of fantasy; and the activity of intellect and reason. This approach allows the conceptualisation of the many different ways in which the intellectual production of the Middle Ages manifests itself, but also demands expanding the meaning of what is understood as the thought, or knowledge, of an era. Next to major philosophical, theological, political and medical works and those related to other scientific areas, we find technical treatises devoted to various arts and disciplines. In short, the thought of an age consists of a rich diversity of elements, and branches into numerous expressions that involve all social strata.