Medieval society developed a new way of living and viewing life, known as the medieval synthesis. The medieval synthesis was an outlook on life introduced by Thomas Aquinas that reformed the earlier ideas of logic and reason into a more logical and meaningful view on life, this can be seen in everyday medieval life by education, religion, and law.
Medieval education was the progression of the disciplines and was considered a vital part of medieval society. Medieval education included a five step system of education known as the trivium. The first step, the trivium, consisted of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, which all were considered the base of medieval education. Grammar was the set of structural rules for a correct sentence, logic was the "mechanics" of thought and analysis, and rhetoric included the presentation of all these aspects in comprehension thought. .
The second step of the system was the Quadrivium consisted of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. Arithmetic was simple math such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; Geometry involved the study of math in three dimensions, which was related to music due to the fact that music encompassed the study of the relationship of these proportions to the physical world. The third step was philosophy The third step was philosophy, which applied reason to the material world, and then came up with certain qualities that were beyond the thing itself. The fourth step was Natural theology, which introduced the question of whether or not one could come to knowledge of God through reason alone. The last step was revealed theology, which encompassed the study of knowledge of God, by faith or authority. Overall, the five-part medieval system of education aimed to discover faith through reason rather than keeping faith and reason separate.
Religion was a crucial part to medieval society and development of medieval synthesis.
