A History of Western Philosophy

During the Dark Ages (c. 500-1000), the papacy was pushed and pulled in many different directions. It was subject to power struggles with the Western emperor, the eastern emperor, the eastern patriarch, and the Roman aristocracy. The popes were also threatened at times by the Germanic barbarians. Nevertheless, the papacy survived and, after the Dark Ages were over, thrived.

The year 1000 was a turning point. It was both the beginning of the second Christian millennium and also marked the end of the Dark Ages, ushering in a revival of Western civilization that would affect the world of philosophy. One of the forces that contributed to this revival was the founding of the Holy Roman Empire in 800 by the emperor Charlemagne, predicated on returning to the centralized political and cultural order that characterized the ancient Roman Empire. 

John the Scot, or Johannes Scotus Erigena (810-c.877) was an Irish-born philosopher and theologian who was forward-looking in many respects, anticipating later developments in Western thought. According to Russell, he was a pantheist and a Pelagian who “placed reason above faith” (400), yet escaped persecution by the church.