The Fall of Rome had a profound effect on learning and knowledge. After the fifth century A.D. those who were concerned with philosophy, which at this time included science, scrambled to keep track of the great books of the Greco-Roman past. Most of the philosophers and scientists of the several centuries after the Fall of Rome were commentators, especially on Aristotle, and encyclopedists, preserving the information of the past. A few of these thinkers stand out, especially Boethius, John Scotus Eriugena, and Isidore of Seville. Early Medieval scientists like their forebears (such as Philo Judaeus), approached their scientific and philosophic labors looking into God’s creation with piety.

Early Medieval philosophers, including scientists and theologians, relied heavily on their Greek and Latin predecessors but provided advancements in the understanding of the Greek Logos, the Trivium and the Quadrivium, and Aristotelian thought. Boethius was a Greek philosopher living in the Latin West who was heavily influenced by Christian thinkers such as Augustine and pagan thinkers such as Aristotle. Like most ancient thinkers, Boethius believed that there is an ultimate supernatural cause for all things, which follow an inherent law; nothing is random. He therefore agreed with the Platonic and Aristotelian conception of an ultimate being or logos. He was especially influenced by the thinking of St. Augustine in his understanding of divine foreknowledge and free will, arguing that God is the creator of time, is beyond time, and therefore exists in the singular moment, able to see all events—past, present, and future—simultaneously. Before he was falsely executed for treason by the Gothic king Theodoric, Boetius wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, and planned an extensive commentary on Aristotle, of which he completed part. He studied physics, astronomy, and mathematics.

John Scotus Eriugena was a philosopher, scientist, and theologian who was active in the ninth -century Carolingian Empire. He believed, in such works as On the Division of Nature, that faith in God is insufficient without reason, meaning the philosophy of, especially, Aristotle and Plato. He believed wholly that Christ the Logos fulfilled ancient philosophy and science: the Logos is the Creative Word through which all things come to be, and they can be understood only through faith informed through philosophy and science. Eriugena argued that the Creation is divided into five components: “a nature which creates but is not created; . . . a nature which creates and is created; . . .  a nature which is created and does not create; . . . a nature which neither creates nor is created. . . . The fifth and last division is that of man into masculine and feminine. In him, namely in man, all visible and invisible creatures were constituted.”* He believed in the Chain of Being, that God made all things possible, which never change; humans are midway between the spiritual and corporeal realms, therefore by having a body and soul represent all things.

Isidore of Seville the early seventh-century (Orthodox) Bishop of Seville was a Christian philosopher-scientist who declared that “philosophy is the knowledge of things human and divine.” Isidore put together a massive collection of writing, mostly derived from ancient philosophers and scientists, titled Etymologies, arguing that “a knowledge of etymology is often necessary in interpretation, for, when you see whence a name has come, you grasp its force more quickly. For every consideration of a thing is clearer when its etymology is known.” Believing therefore that proper nomenclature is the basis for identifying, hence coming to understand, all things, he set forth to acquire as much knowledge as he could. He was an encyclopedist at heart, a collector and commentator, especially fueled by Aristotle as well as other encyclopedic minds such as the Roman first century anno domini scientist the Elder Pliny as well as the Roman first century Ante Christos compiler Marcus Terentius Varro.

The work of the polymath Isidore had a lasting impact on human history, even to today, because he was one of the creators and promoters of the Trivium and Quadrivium of the ancient and medieval liberal arts. The Trivium—Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic—and the Quadrivium—Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy—were the bases of ancient and medieval thought, science, and education, as they continue to be the building blocks of modern educational practice. Grammar to Isidore was the study of language—Greek, Latin, Hebrew—because of which the scientist gains a working knowledge on how to proceed with analysis. Rhetoric is the expression of such knowledge so to impart it to others. Logic, or philosophy, focused on Aristotle’s dialectical methods. “Dialectic,” Isidore wrote, “is the discipline elaborated with a view of ascertaining the causes of things.” He proclaimed that “natural philosophy is the name given when the nature of each and every thing is discussed, since nothing arises contrary to nature in life, but each thing is assigned to those uses for which it was purposed by the Creator.” Arithmetic, Isidore believed, “is the science of numbers,” that is, to name and count a thing or things is the beginning of knowledge of said things. Geometry relies upon numbers to provide units of measure in spatial relationships, especially respecting distances on Earth. Music as a philosophy and science according to Isidore derived from the work of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras as understood by Plato, that a harmonic “proportion exists in the universe, being constituted by the revolving circles” of the heavenly bodies. The harmonies of “the microcosm” in life and nature have “such great power than man does not exist without harmony.” Astronomy was Isidore’s catch-all phrase for physical science, the understanding of which relies on Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, and Music. Astronomy encompassed his geocentric understanding of the motions of the planets (the wanderers in Greek) in perfect spherical orbits; the science of geodesy, the shape and divisions of the earth—regions of heat and coolness; and astrology, of which Isidore was suspicious, not because it seemed an imperfect science, rather because he believed it was associated with demonology.

Isidore was also a commentator on medicine, especially the work of the Greek Hippocrates and the Roman Galen, believing fully in the four humours—phlegm, blood, black bile, yellow bile—and how disease and illness result from the humours being out of balance. He connected the four humours with the four elements of the Greeks—earth, air, fire, and water: “each humor imitates its element: blood, air; bile, fire; black bile, earth; phlegm, water.” He also argued in Etymologies that the human “body is made up of the four elements. For earth is in the flesh; air in the breath; moisture in the blood; fire in the vital heat.”^ Physicians, he concluded, must be trained in the Trivium and Quadrivium to practice their art well.

Early Medieval European philosophy as exemplified by Boethius, Eriugena, and Isidore was an important transitional period, a bridge between the great scientific and philosophic discoveries of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews and the early modern age when the Scientific Revolution occurred. Another transitional figure was Thomas Aquinas, who relied heavily on early Medieval philosophers because of their focus on the Logos, Aristotle, and the Trivium and Quadrivium. When we examine the work of Isidore, we realize that much of what he wrote was absurd: yet in its overall scope, the combination of ancient philosophy and science with Christian theology and his realization that scientific practice and thought are pious activities, his work was essential in the future realization that understanding Nature without understanding its Creator is similarly absurd.

* Translated Wolter: Wippel, John, and Allan Wolter, eds. Medieval Philosophy. (New York: Free Press, 1969).

^ Translated Ernest Brehaut, An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages: Isidore of Seville (New York: Columbia University, 1912).

This article first appeared in Catholic Exchange.

For more on piety and science, see my book Science in the Ancient World: From Antiquity through the Middle Ages, now in paperback: Amazon.com: Science in the Ancient World: From Antiquity through the Middle Ages: 9798216445173: Lawson, Russell M.: Books