What don’t we know about Mediaeval philosophy?

The volume presented here contains my essays devoted to the history of medieval philosophy, published in 2021–2023 in the online magazine Filozofuj. The task of this project was to shed new light on this period in the history of human thought, which – despite the enormous progress in research – still appears in the common consciousness in hardly favorable light. That's why I tried to trace the ancient sources of medieval thought and show how this thought is still alive and relevant to contemporary culture. For this purpose, I tried to move away from the recognized paradigms of practicing philosophical medievalism, i.e. from what we "know" about medieval philosophy, and present it from a slightly different, less standard point of view, giving to the entire volume the title: What we don't know about medieval philosophy. I brought to the fore the most characteristic metaphors present in the authors of the Middle Ages, such as the concept of man as a microcosm. This approach naturally means that I pay more attention to those authors who place themselves within the broadly understood Platonic tradition, thus refuting the cliché about the seeming domination of Aristotelianism in the Middle Ages. I will refer to this issue in further texts, because the essays collected in this volume, although not intended in a chronological order, generally cover thinkers up to and including the 12th century, with occasional references to other authors. The reference to Pierre Hadot's concept of philosophy as a spiritual exercise allows me to approach the rich tradition of thought of the Middle Ages in this key, focusing on those texts and authors that are less known. I would like to convince the reader of the value and beauty of these texts and their constant relevance. In the book, I tried to follow the principles of the scientific workshop of a historian of philosophy, not overburdening the potential reader with various technical issues, but giving him the opportunity and encouragement to reach for the sources on his own.