"In the Middle Ages society was far more static and was essentially hierarchical in nature. As a result the causal or genetic attitude was far less important in medieval thought that it is in ours and the concept of evolution had little influence compared with the role of symbolism in the general world-view... Moreover, even the concept of time itself was of less significance to historians... For St Augustine the date of an event was of far less importance than its theological significance. His tendency to see everything in a theological rather than in a historical perspective was a powerful influence in the Middle Ages... It was not until the nineteenth century that the fundamental significance of the historical perspective came to be generally recognized. This was several hundred years after the theory and practice of perspective had been developed by painters and others. In each case a new way of looking at the world resulted."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Gerald James Whitrow, Time in History: Views of Time from Prehistory to the Present Day (1988)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Middle_Ages
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Middle Ages
64 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Middle Ages →
Related Quotes
"Thou sayst: 'I see the air, I see the fire, The water, and the earth, and all their mixtures Come to corruption, and …"
"The existence of God may be proved in five ways. The first and most manifest way is the argument from motion. ...What…"
"We know Chaucer in the only way in which the greater authors generally have cared to be known. ...All we need further…"
"Music historians have learned that the language and approach of musical theory in the Middle Ages were borrowed direc…"
"[...] there are things in the media that can be spoken ill of with impunity: the Middle Ages is one of them. And this…"
"My own case for Christianity is rational; but it is not simple. It is an accumulation of varied facts, like the attit…"
"No two ideals could be more opposite than a Christian saint in a Gothic cathedral and a Buddhist saint in a Chinese t…"
"I do not mean to say... that these love discussions... were without their influence upon the conduct and ideals of co…"
"This volume, it is believed, contains all the most important tales which formed the great body of mediaeval legend or…"
"Thou sayest, 'Well discern I what I hear; But it is hidden from me why God willed For our redemption only this one mo…"