Abstract

This book represents the text of six lectures delivered by Canon Van Steenberghen in the Queen’s University, Belfast in May 1953, under the auspices of the Department of Scholastic Philosophy. As an introduction to the evolution of philosophical thought in the thirteenth century, it could hardly be bettered. It not merely states conclusions; it communicates the excitement of intellectual enquiry and discovery. It is a report of work in progress, with the challenge of work still remaining to be done. It makes the reader participant of an absorbing debate, in which the author joins issue with eminent medieval scholars in elucidating some central problems of the history of scholasticism and their relevance to contemporary Thomism. The debate continues; but on many points the reader will have no doubt that Professor Van Steenberghen’s theses are définitivement acquises.