Medieval Philosophy: Peter Abelard

Abstract or Introduction

Peter Abelard (or Abailard) was born in Nantes in 1079, a pupil of William of Champeux in Paris. Abelard would later combat William’s views and compelled him to modify them. Abelard studied theology under Anselm of Laon, and then later returned to Paris in 1113. He became lover of Heloise, niece of Canon Fulbert who had him castrated and he and Heloise had to retire from the world.

Abelard’s most famous books, composed in 1121-22 is Sic et Non, ‘Yes and No’ in which he gives dialectical arguments for and against a great variety of theses often without attempting to arrive at a conclusion. We must note here that Abelard likes disputation itself, considers it useful as sharpening the wits. According to Russell, B, Abelard’s view is that (apart from Scripture) dialectic is the sole road to truth. To Abelard, nothing outside the Scriptures is infallible: even Apostles and Fathers may err . This view was considered heretical in his days.

Before considering his influence on medieval philosophy, we must note here that Abelard considered logic ‘the Christian science’ and made play with its derivation from ‘logos’. ‘In the beginning was the Logos’ from St. John’s Gospel, this, he thought proves the dignity of logic . Abelard’s chief importance is in logic, the theory of knowledge, and metaphysics . Under metaphysics, Abelard addressed the problem of Universals which we will look at briefly.