Philosopher’s Corner

Prior to the emergence of a significant merchant class in medieval Europe, there was little in the way of material comforts.  The need for security was the overriding concern.  Castles provided security, but they were in no wise pleasant places to dwell.  In any case,...

Underlying great changes in medieval European society were adaptations that increased agricultural production. Few, if any, of these new techniques were of European origin, but the ready adoption, refinement, and improvement of them give evidence of innate abilities...

The more I read and learn about the middle ages, with its seemingly interminable wars and raw struggles for power and advantage, I’m tempted to despair in my attempt to illuminate the hand of a Creator God in the affairs of men.  The transition from barbarism to...

While I was anxious to move past the middle ages and into the Enlightenment, when men rediscovered the value of reflective thought, certain disagreements have arisen regarding my treatment of the Vikings.  Without trying to resolve the issue of whether I have been...

  No contemplation of the Middle Ages should leave out the signature influence of the Vikings.  Viking warriors exhibited in raw form the native attributes of the northern white races – aggressiveness, the desire to dominate, and the intelligence to achieve...

The feudal system of society never worked perfectly, but it worked.  More importantly, it evolved.  Fundamentally it was based on the concept of land ownership.  The right of land ownership has at its core the necessity of establishing...

As dark and dismal as the medieval period appears to have been from a 21st century perspective, it was a time of continual flux.  The northern clans and tribes of Europe were warlike and often aggressively so.  For 500 years, from about 500-1000...

While my intent was to try to follow the development of human philosophy from ancient Greece to where it is today, the so-called European Dark Ages intervenes in a not-so-subtle way from any simple straightforward cause-and-effect understanding of the...