Introduction: Why philosophy matters; Introduction; Squaring up to the redundancy thesis; What is a philosophical question?; The human predicament and the social order; Tensions in the social order of the West; Medieval answers to modern questions; Chapter 1 Scholasticism and common sense; Introduction; What counts as a common sense belief?; The problem of universals; Any solutions?; The problem of change; Aristotelian essentialism; Chapter 2 Scholasticism and the sciences; Introduction

Medieval thought and the emergence of the modern sciencesDo the sciences need metaphysics?; The metaphysical background to the sciences; The design of scientific experiments; Conclusion; Chapter 3 The meta-philosophy of scholasticism; Introduction; Who were the scholastics?; Aristotle's aporetic method; Descartes on method; Aristotle versus Descartes; The condemnations of 1277; Chapter 4 Scholasticism on the various kinds of distinction; Introduction; How to resolve contradictions; What philosophers used to know; How does one 'know' if a real distinction obtains between A and B?

Some modern casesChapter 5 The scholastics and arguments for the existence of God; Introduction; Religion or metaphysics?; What standards of evaluation should we employ?; Two naturalisms; The cosmological argument: Aquinas's second way; Scotus's version of the ontological argument; Chapter 6 Scholasticism and Western 'disenchantment'; Introduction; How did we get into this fine mess?; A scholastic ethical theory; A scholastic response to objections; Notes; Introduction; Chapter one; Chapter two; Chapter three; Chapter four; Chapter five; Chapter six; Epilogue

Some useful latin terms and phrases for philosophersAppendix 1 When were the Middle Ages?; Bibliography; Index