Traditionally, the term “Middle Ages” is usually used to cover the era from the 5th to the 15th centuries. However, in philosophy itself, the beginning of the Middle Ages refers to an earlier period - the 1st century, when the basic tenets of Christianity had just begun to be created. This principle of establishing the origins of medieval philosophy can be explained by the fact that the main problems that philosophy of the Middle Ages concerned were related to the establishment and further dissemination of Christian religious doctrine, which at that time arose in the bosom of philosophical science.
In the philosophical currents of that time, there is a tendency to substantiate the divine essence and solve problems such as the existence of God and the concretization of Christian theory. The philosophy of the Middle Ages in scientific circles is usually periodized according to the main stages in the development of religious teachings of that time.
The first and fundamental stage in the development of the philosophy of the Middle Ages is traditionally considered patristic (I-VI centuries). The main directions at this stage of the development of philosophical thought were the creation and defense of Christian teachings, which were carried out by the "fathers of the church." The definition of “church fathers” refers in particular to thinkers who have contributed to the doctrinal foundation of Christianity. Often the apologists of Christian dogmas were famous philosophers, for example, such as Aurelius Augustine, Tertullian, Gregory of Nyssa and many others.
The second stage in the formation of philosophical views of that time is considered scholasticism - (IX - XV centuries). At this stage, further refinement of Christian theory takes place with the involvement of all the possibilities of philosophical science. Scholastic philosophy is sometimes called "school", because, firstly, this current of philosophy was studied and developed in monastic schools, and secondly, in scholasticism, the exposition of Christianity was brought to a level accessible to almost everyone.
Those problems that worried the minds of medieval philosophers were diverse, but nevertheless they all converged in one thing - an indirect or direct discussion of God. If for the consciousness of a believing person God as a problem simply does not exist, since God is taken by believers for granted, then for a philosopher whose consciousness is free of any kind of faith, God was an urgent problem that the best minds of the Middle Ages tried to solve.
The main problems of medieval philosophy - the questions of the reality of the existence of God caused constant discussions between nominalists and adherents of realism on the nature of universals. Realists tried to prove that universals (general concepts) exist realistically, and therefore - the existence of God is real. Nominalists, in turn, believed that universals to some extent “owe” things to things, since only things really exist, and universals arise when the need arises to give certain things their names. According to the nominalists, God is only a name denoting the totality of the ideals of mankind.
The philosophy of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was marked by the fact that the great thinkers of that time repeatedly put forward all kinds of evidence that God really exists. For example, Thomas Aquinas - the famous philosopher - scholastic cited five evidence that God does exist. All this evidence was based on the fact that any phenomenon in this world must have a root cause.
If the adherents of realism sought to justify the existence of God with the help of proofs of the existence of general concepts (universals), then Thomas Aquinas proved this as the existence of the supreme cause of everything. He seemed to be trying to achieve a certain harmony of faith and reason, where priority is given to faith.
The philosophy of the Middle Ages is inherently theocentric. Here, the desire to comprehend God as the only reality that defines everything that exists is clearly expressed. Such a solution to the problem of the existence of God, which suits religion in all respects, objectively determined the place of philosophy in the spiritual and social life of that time. The philosophy of the Middle Ages was eventually replaced by new views of the Renaissance, which returned to the spiritual life the once forgotten ideals of the ancient desire for free thought.