In last weeks lecture we discussed the famous philosopher Al-Farabi. He was the founder of Islamic Neoplatonism and one of the first man during his time to call himself a philosopher. He was very aware of his cultural background while doing and writing about philosophy. By many he is seen as the second master, Aristotle being the first master. Al-Farabi was what we call a polymath. He was an educated man, who mastered multiple science at once. During the middle ages it was quite normal to study multiple sciences and to have a very broad education. For example, if you wanted to become a philosopher, you had study many different subjects ranging from physics to ethics.
Polymaths are not very common in todays society. The syllabi of Universities have changed a lot and become much more specialized. To become a philosopher, you no longer have to master maths or psychics. In fact, it has become pretty much impossible to master all those sciences at the same time. Universiteit no longer offer undergraduate programs covering all those different sciences. The only way to study a range of subjects if by following multiple courses at once. However, this would not only take ages, but it would also cost you an insane amount of money.
This complete change in education is probably caused by the changing goal of going to university. Back in the middle ages, man would go to university and study all these subjects, purely to become a better human-being. Nowadays, man attends a university to study a certain subject and so higher their chances of getting a job in the future. The goal of becoming a better human being through education has not vanished completely, but it is no longer the main goal. In my opinion this is partly caused by the fact that in stead of receiving money for attending university, we now have to pay to follow education.
Medieval philosophy Lecture 1 