Individual Imperfection and Community Perfection in Medieval Thought

Chapter III: Sections 11 & 12

11. Fundamental Certainty: Individual Imperfection and Community Perfection

This concept typified medieval consciousness, stemming from profound anthropological convictions.

Three texts from different eras demonstrate this harmony: St. Augustine, bridging the ancient and early medieval periods; Hugo of St. Victor, the Parisian philosopher and theologian; and St. Thomas Aquinas, who systematized thought in the late 13th century.

Hugo of St. Victor's Hierarchia presents a universitas where plurality reduces to unity. Grace, while operating on individuals, finds its essential territory in the universitas. The individual is situated within the ordered unit, with responsibility as an exercise, not an entitlement.

Augustine's text, with Platonic influence, depicts a boundless universe, establishing a continuum between cosmic reality and divine essence. Hugo of St. Victor's Neoplatonic text is theological. Thomas Aquinas' text, while reaching a similar conclusion, reveals a world with substantial autonomy, albeit created and referred to a creator God, discontinuously captured in relation to the metaphysical dimension.

Aquinas emphasizes the cosmos's autonomy and primacy due to its perfection compared to the imperfection of each individual. His discourse sheds the mystical symbolic canopy. While different from Augustine's view, both share the medieval anthropological conviction of the individual as an imperfect creature, reliant on the social and natural order.

The community, in all its forms, is central to this theological-political ideology. It is the sole repository of powers and functions, driving the mechanism of this worldview.