This is a print on demand ed. Since the Renaissance, historians, philosophers, and others have judged the positive and negative contributions of the Middle Ages (MA) to the development of Western civilization. These writers have assessed the extent to which medieval culture and institutions may have either hindered or fostered scientific and technological progress. Contents of this study: (1) Introduction: The History of the Problem; (2) Liberal and Illiberal Arts: The Classification of Technical Arts in Antiquity; (3) Crafts, Philosophy, and the Liberal Arts in the Early MA; (4) Paradise Restored: Hugh of St. Victor and the Mechanical Arts in the 12th & 13th Cent.; (5) The Mechanical Arts and the Aristotelian Tradition; and (6) Conclusion.