Interesting points, insights, and examples presented. However, I think that Brown misses the reason for the Middle Ages being referred to as the Dark Ages. Not that technology was not advanced, but for lack of cultural and philosophical advancement.
While Ayn Rand explicitly rejected religious and medieval philosophy, her Objectivism shares structural affinities with thinkers like Thomas Aquinas through their common Aristotelian roots, especially in affirming objective reality, the primacy of reason, and ethics grounded in human nature. And Aristotle might not have had so prominant a role in Western thought were it not for Aquinas' contribution.
Yup, but Aquinas and the schoolmen were a 13th century development -- the Late Middle Ages. The Early Middle Ages, or Dark Ages, were 500 - 1000, or thereabouts.
Interesting points, insights, and examples presented. However, I think that Brown misses the reason for the Middle Ages being referred to as the Dark Ages. Not that technology was not advanced, but for lack of cultural and philosophical advancement.
While Ayn Rand explicitly rejected religious and medieval philosophy, her Objectivism shares structural affinities with thinkers like Thomas Aquinas through their common Aristotelian roots, especially in affirming objective reality, the primacy of reason, and ethics grounded in human nature. And Aristotle might not have had so prominant a role in Western thought were it not for Aquinas' contribution.
Yup, but Aquinas and the schoolmen were a 13th century development -- the Late Middle Ages. The Early Middle Ages, or Dark Ages, were 500 - 1000, or thereabouts.