Features of the development of ethical perspectives in medieval social philosophy

The article reflects the understanding of the main ethical categories in the system of medieval religious and philosophical worldview. The author notes that the main specific feature of the moral views of the era was their religious interpretation. At the same time, it cannot be said that the ethical worldview of the Middle Ages remained essentially homogeneous. Thus, if the understanding of moral values in the early Middle Ages occurred exclusively in line with the church doctrine of Catholicism, then subsequently there was a rethinking of the basic moral postulates and their interpretation through the prism of a personalized approach. An exclusively religious understanding of the main value categories is contained in the teachings of Augustine the Blessed, Thomas Aquinas, Nicholas of Cusa and others. The highest good here lies in spiritual formation and development through the fulfillment of religious and moral requirements. At the same time, the ethical views of G. Bruno, M. Montaigne, L. Valla, although they explore the essence of spirituality, are focused more on the possibility of achieving a balance between Christian virtue and secular free-thinking. Gradually, the criterion of morality becomes rationality and expediency, which do not deny, but significantly transform the essence of Christian ethical teaching.