Problem of Identification of Antique Philosophy Ideas in Narrative Sources of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Abstract

The problem of identification of the philosophical ideas of antiquity in the medieval and Renaissance sources of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is discussed in this article. In the Middle Ages the ancient philosophical heritage was assimilated through the translated literature in which the ideas of philosophers of antiquity received religious meaning. These ideas were often simplified and dissolved in a theological context that did not allow differentiating between them. Ancient philosophical doctrines were perceived in the philosophy of the GDL as a single complex with the teachings of the Orthodox Church priests, and the names of the Greek and Roman philosophers were often suppressed. During the Renaissance, the fundamental philosophical trends of antiquity (e.g. Aristotelianism, Platonism, Stoicism, Epicureanism, Ciceronianism) revived again. These movements were eclectically connected to each other in the work of the Renaissance and Reformation figures, they were mixed with religious teachings and determined the nature and content of theological and philosophical reflection.