From the Christian Intellect of the Middle Ages to the Human Intellect of Renaissance: An Investigation of the Relationship between Faith and Wisdom in the Western Thought Based on Saint Augustine Opinions

The philosophy of Middle Ages began with the stances of Saint Augustine. In his teaching “I am guilty, therefore I exist” he defines the truth and existence of the human for the first time based on a human, non-divine action. The examination of the evolution from Saint Augustine’s foregoing statement to that of Descartes (I think, therefore I am) on the one hand shows the long-lasting challenge in solving the relationship between perception and truth, and on the other hand, determines the roots of modernism in some opinions suggested in Middle Ages. This article explains some of the most fundamental opinions of the Middle Ages thinkers such as Abelard’s Skeptism theory as the instrument to attain the truth, Saint Francis’ point that the truth is more a lowly thing within the human rather than a sublime matter, Voluntaryism and individualism of William of Ockham and Nicholas of Autrecourt, etc. This way, it clarifies the way the human intellect is represented in the modern age and the procedure that led to the production of the proposition “I think, therefore I am.” The study was descriptive-analytical in nature and used indicative reasoning for data analysis purposes. The findings revealed that the basis of Descartes’ philosophy (as the father of modern philosophy) is adopted from Saint Augustine’s thoughts. In other words, not only the beginning of the Middle Ages but also the establishment of the modern age should be attributed to Saint Augustine.