Notes on John Scotus and Abelard

(Originally Written December 13, 2006 in Book 11)

Medieval Realism

John Scotus Erigena was a medieval realist in that he believed universals to be real in their own right.
Erigena distinguished between 3 real entities:
1) The independently real universe
2) The sense object
3) The Memory image

Erigena's solution seemed plausible for the 11th and 12th century thinkers like Odo of Tournai, Anselm of Canterbury and William of Champeaux. It helped solve problems like Original Sin in Christian doctrines. But it has a pantheistic element that is incompatible with Christianity.

Nominalism

Extreme nominalism is no solution to the problem of universals. Nominalism has difficulties explaining the doctrine of the Trinity. Either there are three Gods or God is one in nominalism, which is heresy.

Conceptualism

Neither realism (independent universals) nor nominalism (no objective of universals) was adequate.

Aristotle was a compromise between the two and the medieval compromise was strikingly similar to Aristotle.

Abelard

Peter Abelard devised conceptualism, which is the nominalist theory that universals are mental concepts, but have objective value because they are conceived by multiple human minds.

Abelard was born in 1079 in Nantes, France. He was educated in Paris by the realist of William of Champeaux.

Abelard became a rival and set up a rival school of William of Champeaux.

Abelard had an affair with he daughter of the Canon of Notre Dame. The affair led to Abelard's de-nutting and he retired to St. Denis.

But Abelard continued to stir up trouble wherever he went. He was finally condemned in 1142. He never fell out of love with Heloïse, the Canon's daughter.

Abelard was a prototype for the scholastic method.

Abelard would attack and ridicule his rival's views and philosophically beat them into submission or frustration.

A universal is an abstraction and it is real as it is abstracted.

Abelard shifted the emphasis of the problem of universals from metaphysics to logic and psychology.

A universal exists in two ways:
1) It exists in the individual particulars as a common likeness.
2) It exists in the human intellect as a concept formed as a result of the intellect's shaving focused it attention on the likeness.

The Faith-Reason Controversy

At first faith and reason can be supposed to not be in conflict, they yield the same results.

John Scots Erigena held their optimistic view, but the churchmen began to see faith as being threatened by reason.

Final Exam Study!

Augustine
1. Epistemology and philosophy of mind