Scholasticism

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Not to be confused with Scholarism.

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Scholasticism was a

Catholic Christianity.[2]

The Scholastics, also known as Schoolmen,

Latin Catholic theology, these monastic schools became the basis of the earliest European medieval universities, and thus became the bedrock for the development of modern science and philosophy in the Western world. The rise of scholasticism was closely associated with these schools that flourished in Italy, France, Portugal, Spain and England.[5]

Scholasticism is a method of learning more than a philosophy or a theology, since it places a strong emphasis on dialectical reasoning to extend knowledge by

contradictions. Scholastic thought is also known for rigorous conceptual analysis and the careful drawing of distinctions. In the classroom and in writing, it often takes the form of explicit disputation; a topic drawn from the tradition is broached in the form of a question, oppositional responses are given, a counterproposal is argued and oppositional arguments rebutted. Because of its emphasis on rigorous dialectical method, scholasticism was eventually applied to many other fields of study.[6][7]

Scholasticism was initially a program conducted by medieval Christian thinkers attempting to harmonize the various authorities of their own tradition, and to reconcile Christian theology with classical and late antique philosophy, especially that of Aristotle but also of Neoplatonism.[8] Prominent scholastic figures include Anselm of Canterbury ("the father of scholasticism"[9]), Peter Abelard, Alexander of Hales, Albertus Magnus, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, Bonaventure, and Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas's masterwork, Summa Theologica (1265–1274), is considered to be the pinnacle of scholastic, medieval, and Christian philosophy.[10] Important work in the scholastic tradition has been carried on well past Aquinas's time, such as with English scholastics Robert Grosseteste and his student Roger Bacon, by Francisco Suárez and Luis de Molina, and also among Lutheran and Reformed thinkers.

Etymology

The terms "scholastic" and "scholasticism" derive from the Latin word scholasticus, the Latinized form of the Greek σχολαστικός (scholastikos), an adjective derived from σχολή (scholē), "school".[11] Scholasticus means "of or pertaining to schools". The "scholastics", therefore, were roughly "schoolmen".

History

The foundations of Christian scholasticism were laid by

Ilm al-Kalām, meaning "science of discourse",[12] and Jewish philosophy, especially Jewish Kalam.[13]

Early Scholasticism

Anselm of Canterbury
Peter Abelard

The first significant renewal of learning in the West came with the

Alcuin of York, attracted the scholars of England and Ireland, where some Greek works continued to survive in the original. By a 787 decree, he established schools at every abbey in his empire. These schools, from which the name scholasticism derived,[dubious – discuss] became centers of medieval learning.[14]

During this period, knowledge of Ancient Greek had vanished in the West except in Ireland, where its teaching and use was fairly common in its

Canterbury in England and Peter Abelard in France.[17]

This period saw the beginning of the "

rediscovery" of many Greek works which had been lost to the Latin West. As early as the latter half of the 10th century, the Toledo School of Translators in Muslim Spain had begun translating Arabic texts into Latin.[18] After a successful burst of Reconquista in the 12th century, Spain opened even further for Christian scholars and, as these Europeans encountered Judeo-Islamic philosophies, they opened a wealth of Arab and Judaic knowledge of mathematics and astronomy.[19] The Latin translations of the 12th century also included figures like Constantine the African in Italy and James of Venice in Constantinople. Scholars such as Adelard of Bath traveled to Spain and Sicily, translating works on astronomy and mathematics, including the first complete translation of Euclid's Elements into Latin.[20]

At the same time, the

Abelard. Peter Lombard produced a collection of Sentences, or opinions of the Church Fathers and other authorities.[22]

More recently,

Patristic Christianity. This remains, however, a minority viewpoint.[citation needed
]

High Scholasticism

Albertus Magnus
Thomas Aquinas
Duns Scotus
William of Ockham

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. Powerful Norman kings gathered men of knowledge from Italy and other areas into their courts as a sign of their prestige.[25] William of Moerbeke's translations and editions of Greek philosophical texts in the middle half of the thirteenth century helped form a clearer picture of Greek philosophy, particularly of Aristotle, than was given by the Arabic versions on which they had previously relied. Edward Grant writes "Not only was the structure of the Arabic language radically different from that of Latin, but some Arabic versions had been derived from earlier Syriac translations and were thus twice removed from the original Greek text. Word-for-word translations of such Arabic texts could produce tortured readings. By contrast, the structural closeness of Latin to Greek, permitted literal, but intelligible, word-for-word translations."[19]

Peter Auriol and William of Ockham.[27][28]

By contrast, the Dominican order, a teaching order founded by

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's masterwork, Summa Theologica (1265–1274), is considered to be the pinnacle of scholastic, medieval, and Christian philosophy.[10] It began while Aquinas was regent master at the studium provinciale of Santa Sabina in Rome, the forerunner of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas. 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 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.[29]

Post-scholasticism

Philosopher Johann Beukes has suggested that from 1349 to 1464, the era between the deaths of

Catherine of Sienna, Jean Gerson, Gabriel Biel and ended with Nicholas of Cusa.[30]

Spanish Scholasticism

Main article: School of Salamanca

Late Scholasticism

Main article: Second scholasticism

Protestant Scholasticism

Main article:
Protestant Scholasticism

Lutheran Scholasticism

Main article:
Lutheran scholasticism

Reformed Scholasticism

Main article:
Reformed scholasticism

Following the Reformation,

Calvinists largely adopted the scholastic method of theology, while differing regarding sources of authority and content of theology.[31]

Neo-Scholasticism

Main article: Neo-scholasticism

The revival and development from the second half of the 19th century of medieval scholastic philosophy is sometimes called neo-Thomism.[32]

Thomistic Scholasticism

As J. A. Weisheipl

O.P. emphasizes, within the Dominican Order Thomistic scholasticism has been continuous since the time of Aquinas: "Thomism was always alive in the Dominican Order, small as it was after the ravages of the Reformation, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic occupation. Repeated legislation of the General Chapters, beginning after the death of St. Thomas, as well as the Constitutions of the Order, required all Dominicans to teach the doctrine of St. Thomas both in philosophy and in theology."[33]

Thomistic scholasticism or scholastic

Giovanni Ventimiglia (1964– ) among others. Fabro in particular emphasizes Aquinas' originality, especially with respect to the actus essendi or act of existence of finite beings by participating in being itself. Other scholars such as those involved with the "Progetto Tommaso" seek to establish an objective and universal reading of Aquinas' texts.[37]

Thomistic scholasticism in the English speaking world went into decline in the 1970s when the Thomistic revival that had been spearheaded by Jacques Maritain, Étienne Gilson, and others, diminished in influence. Partly, this was because this branch of Thomism had become a quest to understand the historical Aquinas after the Second Vatican Council.

Analytical Scholasticism

A renewed interest in the "scholastic" way of doing philosophy has recently awoken in the confines of the

David Oderberg.[citation needed
]

Scholastic method

Cornelius O'Boyle explained that Scholasticism focuses on how to acquire knowledge and how to communicate effectively so that it may be acquired by others. It was thought that the best way to achieve this was by replicating the discovery process (modus inveniendi).[40]

The scholasticists would choose a book by a renowned scholar,

sententiae. Once the sources and points of disagreement had been laid out through a series of dialectics, the two sides of an argument would be made whole so that they would be found to be in agreement and not contradictory. (Of course, sometimes opinions would be totally rejected, or new positions proposed.) This was done in two ways. The first was through 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 – as they were known at the time – to show that contradictions did not exist but were subjective to the reader.[41]

Scholastic instruction

Scholastic instruction consisted of several elements. The first was the lectio: a teacher would read an authoritative text followed by a commentary, but no questions were permitted. This was followed by the meditatio (meditation or reflection) in which students reflected on and appropriated the text. Finally, in the quaestio students could ask questions (quaestiones) that might have occurred to them during meditatio. Eventually the discussion of questiones became a method of inquiry apart from the lectio and independent of authoritative texts. Disputationes were arranged to resolve controversial quaestiones.[42]

Questions to be disputed were ordinarily announced beforehand, but students could propose a question to the teacher unannounced – disputationes de quodlibet. In this case, the teacher responded and the students rebutted; on the following day the teacher, having used notes taken during the disputation, summarised all arguments and presented his final position, riposting all rebuttals.[41][43]

The quaestio method of reasoning was initially used especially when two authoritative texts seemed to contradict one another. Two contradictory propositions would be considered in the form of an either/or question, and each part of the question would have to be approved (sic) or denied (non). Arguments for the position taken would be presented in turn, followed by arguments against the position, and finally the arguments against would be refuted. This method forced scholars to consider opposing viewpoints and defend their own arguments against them.[44]

See also

References

  1. ^ See Steven P. Marone, "Medieval philosophy in context" in A. S. McGrade, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003). On the difference between scholastic and medieval monastic postures towards learning, see Jean Leclercq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God (New York: Fordham University Press, 1970) esp. 89; 238ff.
  2. ^ Grayling, A. C. (2019). The History of Philosophy. Penguin Press, pp. 146-7.
  3. ^ "Schoolmen". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
  4. ISSN 0026-8232
    . Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  5. ^ Gracia, Jorge JE, and Timothy B. Noone, eds. A companion to philosophy in the middle ages. John Wiley & Sons, 2008, 55–64
  6. ^ a b Patte, Daniel. The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity. Ed. Daniel Patte. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010, 11132-1133
  7. ^ Grant, Edward. God and Reason in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press, 2004, 159
  8. Augustine, and Boethius, and through the influence of Plotinus and Proclus
    on Muslim philosophers. In the case of Aquinas, for instance, see Jan Aertsen, "Aquinas' philosophy in its historical setting" in The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas, ed. Norman Kretzmann and Eleonore Stump (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). Jean Leclerq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God (New York: Fordham University Press, 1970).
  9. ^ Grant, Edward. God and Reason in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press, 2004, 56
  10. ^
    ISBN 978-0-268-01740-8
    .
  11. Perseus Project
    .
  12. ^ Winter, Tim J. "Introduction." Introduction. The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. 4–5. Print.
  13. ISBN 1438109075
  14. ^ Colish, Marcia L. Medieval foundations of the western intellectual tradition, 400–1400. Yale University Press, 1999, 66–67
  15. ^ Sandys, John Edwin (1903). A History of Classical Scholarship. Cambridge University Press. p. 438.
  16. ^ a b c "John Scottus Eriugena". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. 17 October 2004. Retrieved 21 July 2008.
  17. ^ a b Toman 2007, p. 10: "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."
  18. ^ Lindberg 1978, pp. 60–61.
  19. ^ a b Grant, Edward, and Emeritus Edward Grant. The foundations of modern science in the Middle Ages: their religious, institutional and intellectual contexts. Cambridge University Press, 1996, 23–28
  20. ^ Clagett 1982, p. 356.
  21. ISBN 978-0-19-884240-8
    .
  22. ^ Hoffecker, Andrew. "Peter Lombard, Master of the Sentences". Ligonier Ministries.
  23. OCLC 1303318773
    .
  24. S2CID 163903902
    .
  25. ^ Lindberg 1978, pp. 70–72.
  26. ^ Hammond, Jay, Wayne Hellmann, and Jared Goff, eds. A companion to Bonaventure. Brill, 2014, 122
  27. ^ Evans, Gillian Rosemary. Fifty key medieval thinkers. Routledge, 2002, 93–93, 147–149, 164–169
  28. ^ Gracia, Jorge JE, and Timothy B. Noone, eds. A companion to philosophy in the middle ages. John Wiley & Sons, 2008, 353–369, 494–503, 696–712
  29. ^ Hannam, James. The genesis of science: How the Christian Middle Ages launched the scientific revolution. Simon and Schuster, 2011, 90–93
  30. doi:10.4102/hts.v77i4.6270
    .
  31. ^ Douglass, Jane Dempsey, et al. The Cambridge Companion to John Calvin. Cambridge University Press, 2004, 227–228
  32. ^ Edward Feser (15 October 2009). "The Thomistic tradition, Part I (archived copy)". Archived from the original on 29 November 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  33. ^ Weisheipl, James (1962). "The Revival of Thomism: An Historical Survey". Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  34. ^ "Edward Feser: The Thomistic tradition, Part I". edwardfeser.blogspot.com. 15 October 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  35. ^ Vanni Rovighi, Sofia. Treccani Encyclopedia./ Accessed 17 August 2013
  36. ^ GIACON, Carlo. Treccani Encyclopedia./ Accessed 9 April 2013
  37. ^ See Rizzello, Raffaele (1999). "Il Progetto Tommaso". In Giacomo Grasso, O.P.; Stefano Serafini (eds.). Vita quaerens intellectum. Rome: Millennium Romae. pp. 157–161. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  38. ISBN 0754634388
    .
  39. S2CID 244179976
    – via Taylor & Francis Group.
  40. OCLC 39655867
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  41. ^ a b Colish, Marcia L. Medieval foundations of the western intellectual tradition, 400–1400. Yale University Press, 1999, 265–273
  42. ^ van Asselt 2011, p. 59.
  43. ^ van Asselt 2011, p. 60.
  44. ^ van Asselt 2011, pp. 61–62.

Works cited

Further reading

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