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New page: '''Scholasticism''' was the dominant form of theology and philosophy in the Latin West in the Middle Ages, particularly in the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. It wa...
'''Scholasticism''' was the dominant form of theology and philosophy in the [[Western Europe|Latin West]] in the [[Middle Ages]], particularly in the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. It was both a method and a system which aimed to reconcile the [[Christian theology]] of the [[Church Fathers]] with the [[Greek philosophy]] of [[Aristotle]] and his commentators.

The main figures of scholasticism were [[Peter Abelard]], [[Albertus Magnus]], [[Duns Scotus]], [[William of Ockham]], [[Bonaventure]] and, above all, [[Thomas Aquinas]], whose [[Summa Theologiae]] is an ambitious synthesis of Greek philosophy and Christian doctrine. In the [[Renaissance]], the deductive and ''a priori'' methods of scholasticism were superseded by the [[inductive reasoning]] of modern science, while its theological basis was challenged by [[humanism]].

The word ''Scholasticism'' is derived from the [[Latin]] word ''{{lang|la|scholasticus}}'', the Latinized form of the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{Polytonic|σχολαστικός}} (''{{lang|grc-Latn|scholastikos}}''), an adjective derived from {{Polytonic|σχολή}} '' ({{lang|grc-Latn|scholē}}''), "[[school]]".<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=school Online Etymology Dictionary]; [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%23101960 H.G. Liddell & R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon]</ref>

==History==

===Early scholasticism===

The first significant renewal of learning in the West came with the [[Carolingian Renaissance]] of the [[Early Middle Ages]]. [[Charlemagne]], advised by [[Peter of Pisa]] and [[Alcuin of York]], attracted the scholars of England and Ireland, and by decree in AD 787 established schools in every abbey in his empire. These schools, from which the name ''scholasticism'' is derived, became centres of medieval learning.

The period of early scholasticism coincided with the growth of [[early Islamic philosophy]] (in the works of [[Al-Kindi|Alkindus]], [[Al-Farabi|Alfarabi]], [[Avicenna]], [[Al-Ghazali|Algazel]] and [[Averroes]]) and [[Jewish philosophy]] (especially in the case of [[Maimonides]]). From the 8th Century, the [[Mu'tazili|Mutazilite]] school of [[Islam]], compelled to defend their principles against the more orthodox [[Ash'ari]] school, looked for support in philosophy. They were among the first to pursue a rational theology, Ilm-al-[[Kalam]], which can be seen as a form of scholasticism. Later, the philosophical schools of [[Avicennism]] and [[Averroism]] exerted great influence on scholasticism (see [[Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe]]).

During this period, knowledge of the [[Ancient Greek|Greek language]] had vanished in the west except in Ireland, where it was widely dispersed in the monastic schools.<ref>MacManus, p 215</ref> Irish scholars had a considerable presence in the [[Carolingian Empire|Frankish court]], where they were renowned for their learning.<ref name="StanfordEriugena">{{cite web |title=John Scottus Eriugena |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scottus-eriugena/ |work=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |publisher=[[Stanford University]] |date=2004-10-17 |accessdate=2008-07-21 |}}</ref> Among them was [[Johannes Scotus Eriugena]], one of the founders of scholasticism.<ref name="Gothic">Toman, p 10: "[[Peter Abelard|Abelard]] himself was… together with John Scotus Erigena (9th century), and [[Lanfranc]] and [[Anselm of Canterbury]] (both 11th century), one of the founders of scholasticism."</ref> Eriugena was the most significant Irish intellectual of the early monastic period, and an outstanding philosopher in terms of originality.<ref name="StanfordEriugena"/> He had considerable familiarity with the Greek language, and translated many works into Latin, affording access to the [[Cappadocian Fathers]] and the [[Eastern Orthodox Christian theology|Greek theological tradition]].<ref name="StanfordEriugena"/>

The other three founders of scholasticism were the 11th century scholars [[Peter Abelard]], Archbishop [[Lanfranc of Canterbury]] and Archbishop [[Anselm of Canterbury]].<ref name="Gothic"/> Anselm is sometimes misleadingly called the "Father of scholasticism", owing to the prominence accorded to reason in his theology. Rather than establish a position by appeal to authority, he used argument to demonstrate why what he believed on authority must be so.

The period also saw the beginning of the '[[Transmission of Greek philosophical ideas in the Middle Ages|discovery]]' of many Greek works which had been lost to the Latin West. As early as the 10th century, scholars in Spain had begun to gather translated texts, and in the latter half of that century began transmitting them to the rest of Europe.<ref>Lindberg (1978), p. 60&ndash;61.</ref> After the [[Reconquista]] of the 12th century, however, Spain opened even further for Christian scholars, who were now able to work in 'friendly' religious territory.<ref>Lindberg (1978), p. 62&ndash;65; Palencia, p. 270.<!-- what is the complete title --></ref> As these Europeans encountered Islamic philosophy, they opened a wealth of Arab knowledge of mathematics and astronomy.<ref>Watt <!-- what is the complete title --></ref>{{Fact|date=July 2008}}

At the same time [[Anselm of Laon]] systematised the production of the [[gloss]] on Scripture, followed by the rise to prominence of [[dialectic]] (the middle subject of the medieval [[trivium (education)|trivium]]) in the work of [[Abelard]], and the production by [[Peter Lombard]] of a collection of ''[[Sentences]]'' or opinions of the Church Fathers and other authorities.

===High scholasticism ===
[[Image:St-thomas-aquinas.jpg|right|thumb|100px|[[Aquinas]]]]

The 13th and early 14th centuries are generally seen as the high period of scholasticism. The early 13th century witnessed the culmination of the recovery of Greek philosophy. Schools of translation grew up in Italy and Sicily, and eventually in the rest of Europe. Scholars such as [[Adelard of Bath]] travelled to Sicily and the Arab world, translating works on astronomy and mathematics, including the first complete translation of Euclid’s Elements.<ref>Clagett (1982), p. 356.</ref> Powerful Norman kings gathered men of knowledge from Italy and other areas into their courts as a sign of their prestige.<ref>Lindberg (1978), p. 70-72.</ref> [[William of Moerbeke]]'s translations and editions of Greek philosophical texts in the middle half of the thirteenth century helped in forming a clearer picture of Greek philosophy, and particularly of Aristotle, than was given by the Arabic versions they had previously relied on, and which had distorted or obscured the relation between Platonic and Aristotelian systems of philosophy.<ref>Fryde <!-- what is the complete title --></ref> His work formed the basis of the major commentaries that followed.

The [[university| universities]] developed in the large cities of Europe during this period, and rival clerical orders within the church began to battle for political and intellectual control over these centers of educational life. The two main orders founded in this period were the [[Franciscans]] and the [[Dominican Order| Dominicans]]. The Franciscans were founded by [[Francis of Assisi]] in 1209. Their leader in the middle of the century was [[Bonaventure]], a traditionalist who defended the theology of [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] and the philosophy of [[Plato]], incorporating only a little of Aristotle in with the more neoplatonist elements. Following Anselm, Bonaventure supposed that reason can only discover truth when philosophy is illuminated by religious faith. Other important Franciscan writers were [[Duns Scotus]], [[Peter Auriol]] and [[William of Ockham]].

By contrast, the Dominican order, founded by [[St Dominic]] in 1215 placed more emphasis on the use of reason and made extensive use of the new Aristotelian sources derived from the East, and Moorish Spain. The great representatives of Dominican thinking in this period were [[Albertus Magnus]] and (especially) [[Thomas Aquinas]], whose artful synthesis of Greek rationalism and Christian doctrine eventually came to define Catholic philosophy. Aquinas placed more emphasis on reason and argumentation, and was one of the first to use the new translation of Aristotle's metaphysical and epistemological writing. This was a significant departure from the [[Neoplatonism| Neoplatonic]] and Augustinian thinking that had dominated much of early scholasticism. Aquinas showed how it was possible to incorporate much of the philosophy of Aristotle without falling into the "errors" of the Commentator [[Averroes]].

===Late scholasticism ===
{{main|Second scholasticism}}

===Neo-scholasticism ===
{{main|Neo-scholasticism}}

==Scholastic method==
The scholastics would choose a book (say, the [[Bible]]) by a renowned scholar, ''auctor'' (author), as a subject for investigation. By reading it thoroughly and critically, the disciples learned to appreciate the theories of the author. Other documents related to the book would be referenced, such as Church councils, papal letters and anything else written on the subject, be it ancient or contemporary. The points of disagreement and contention between multiple sources would be written down in individual sentences or snippets of text, known as [[sententiae]].

Once the sources and points of disagreement had been laid out through a series of [[dialectic]]s, the two sides of an argument would be made whole so that they would be found to be in agreement and not contradictory. This was done in two ways.

The first was through [[philology|philological]] analysis. Words were examined and argued to have multiple meanings. It was also considered that the auctor might have intended a certain word to mean something different. Ambiguity could be used to find common ground between two otherwise contradictory statements.

The second was through logical analysis, which relied on the rules of formal [[logic]] to show that contradictions did not exist but were subjective to the reader.

==Scholastic instruction==
Scholastic schools had two methods of teaching. The first was the ''lectio'': a teacher would read a text, expounding on certain words and ideas, but no questions were permitted; it was a simple reading of a text: instructors explained, and students listened in silence.

The second was the ''disputatio'', which goes right to the heart of scholasticism. There were two types of ''disputationes'': the first was the "ordinary" type, whereby the question to be disputed was announced beforehand; the second was the ''quodlibetal'', whereby the students proposed a question to the teacher without prior preparation. The teacher advanced a response, citing authoritative texts such as the Bible to prove his position. Students then rebutted the response, and the ''quodlibetal'' went back and forth. Someone took notes on what was said, allowing the teacher to summarise all arguments and present his final position the following day, riposting all rebuttals.

== Scholasticism in Academia ==
Modern academia is sometimes likened to the Scholastic tradition in the sense that new ideas only arise from the higher reaches of each respective profession. Moreover, these ideas are usually so clad with esoteric words and phrases that, for the layperson, they might as well be written in a foreign language. However, in professions such as economics there exists an effort to strip the academic hierarchs of their power to control the diffusion of ideas to other professions as well as the public. Advocates of this effort favor an approach closer to pietism, where ideas operate under spontaneous competition, ordinary language, and can come from any and all sources. This, they argue, would revive stagnant professions and promote the pursuit of knowledge in general.<ref>Nelson, Rober H., "Scholasticism versus Pietism: The Battle for the Soul of Economics" (December 2004). [http://www.econjournalwatch.org/pdf/NelsonCharacterIssues1December2004.pdf]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Actus primus]]
*[[Aristotelianism]]
*[[Medieval philosophy]]
*[[History of science in the Middle Ages]]
*[[List of scholastic philosophers]]
*[[Neo-Scholasticism]]
*[[Renaissance of the 12th century]]
*[[Scotism]]
*[[Thomism]]

==References==
{{reflist|3}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite journal |last=Clagett |first=Marshall |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1982 |month= |title=William of Moerbeke: Translator of Archimedes |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=126 |issue=5 |pages=356&ndash;366 |doi=10.2307/986212 |url= |accessdate= |quote= }}
*{{cite web |url=http://users.sbuniv.edu/~hgallatin/ht34632e18.html#res |title=Medieval Intellectual Life and Christianity |accessdate= |last=Gallatin |first=Harlie Kay |coauthors= |date=2001 |work= |publisher=}}
*{{cite book |title=A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages |last=Gracia |first=J. G. |authorlink= |coauthors=Noone, T. B. |year=2003 |publisher=Blackwell |location=London |isbn=0631216723 |pages= }}
*{{cite book |title=Philosophy in the Middle Ages |last=Hyman |first=J. |authorlink= |coauthors=Walsh, J. J. |year=1973 |publisher=Hackett Publishing |location=Indianapolis |isbn=0915144050 |pages= }}
*{{cite book |title=The Cambridge Companion to Augustine |last=Kretzmann |first=N. |authorlink= |coauthors=Stump, E. |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0521650186 |pages= }}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%23101956 |title=A Greek-English Lexicon |accessdate= |last=Liddell |first=Henry George |coauthors=Scott, Robert |date= |work=Perseus |publisher=}}
*{{cite book |title=Science in the Middle Ages |last=Lindberg |first=David C. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=0226482324 |pages= }}
*{{cite book |first=Seumas |last=MacManus |title=Tudor Ireland: Crown, Community, and the Conflict of Cultures, 1470-1603 |date=1985 |publisher=Longman |location=Great Britain |id=ISBN 0582493412}}
*{{cite book |title=Medieval Philosophy |last=Maurer |first=Armand A. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1982 |edition=2nd edition |publisher=Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies |location=Toronto |isbn=0888447043 |pages= }}
*{{cite book |title=Chaucer and Dissimilarity: Literary Comparisons in Chaucer and Other Late-Medieval Writing |last=McGavin |first=John J. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2000 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |location=Madison, NJ |isbn=0838638147 |pages= }}
*{{cite book |title=Readings in Medieval Philosophy |last=Schoedinger |first=Andrew B. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0195092937 |pages= }}
*{{cite book |title=The Art of Gothic: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting |last=Toman |first=Rolf |others=photography by Achim Bednorz |date=2007 |publisher=[[Tandem Verlag GmbH]] |isbn=978-3-8331-4676-3 |}}

==External links==
*[http://scholasticon.fr Scholasticon by Jacob Schmutz]
*[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9108672/Scholasticism "Scholasticism"]. In ''[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]'' Online.
*[http://www.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/scholas1.htm Etext of 1908 document about Scholasticism]
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13548a.htm
*[http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Philosophy/Scholasticism/ Yahoo! directory category: Scholasticism]
*[http://web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/scholastics.html The genius of the scholastics and the orbit of Aristotle], article on the influence of scholasticism on later thought
*[http://tcrnews2.com/vonbalthasarfathers.html The Fathers, the Scholastics, and Ourselves by von Balthasar]
*[http://jameshannam.com/medievalscience.htm Medieval Philosophy, Universities and the Church] by James Hannam
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