v. 1. From the beginnings to the end of the twelfth century.

Peter Abelard (1079–1142 ce) was the most wide‐ranging philosopher of the twelfth century. He quickly established himself as a leading teacher of logic in and near Paris shortly after 1100. After his affair with Heloise, and his subsequent castration, Abelard became a monk, but he returned to teaching in the Paris schools until 1140, when his work was condemned by a Church Council at Sens. His logical writings were based around discussion of the “Old Logic”: Porphyry's Isagoge, aristotle'S Categories and (...) On Interpretation and boethius'S textbook on topical inference. They comprise a freestanding Dialectica (“Logic”; probably c.1116), a set of commentaries (known as the Logica [Ingredientibus], c. 1119) and a later (c. 1125) commentary on the Isagoge (Logica Nostrorum Petititoni Sociorum or Glossulae). In a work Abelard called his Theologia, issued in three main versions (between 1120 and c.1134), he attempted a logical analysis of trinitarian relations and explored the philosophical problems surrounding God's claims to omnipotence and omniscience. The Collationes (“Debates,” also known as “Dialogue between a Christian, a Philosopher and a Jew”; probably c.1130) present a rational investigation into the nature of the highest good, in which the Christian and the Philosopher (who seems to be modeled on a philosopher of pagan antiquity) are remarkably in agreement. The unfinished Scito teipsum (“Know thyself,” also known as the “Ethics”; c.1138) analyses moral action. (shrink)

“The pedagogical aim which we have before us in this little book forces us to limit ourselves to the consideration of the great and central doctrines of Thomism, and to leave aside the innumerable applications of those doctrines which may be found scattered up and down the extensive works of Thomas Aquinas”.

In diesem sehr gründlich verfassten Werk werden alle Positionen der Philosophie des Altertums und der Spätantike behandelt und in ihrer Wirkkraft auf die mittelalterliche Philosophie transparent gemacht. Die Darstellung der mittelalterlichen Philosophie mit ihren scholastischen und nichtscholastischen Schulen, sowie den jüdischen und arabischen Nebenströmungen bilden den Höhepunkt, dieses dem Grundsatz der Kontinuität verpflichteten Werkes. Das Fortwirken dieser Philosophie wird bis ins 17. Jahrhundert hinein verfolgt und bietet somit eine umfassende Darstellung der mittelalterlichen Philosophie, die zeigt, dass „die Scholastik am Mangel (...) an Menschen und nicht am Mangel an Ideen verfiel“. (shrink)

"This work attempts to establish a philosophy of art that is both intellectual and objective. At first sight it may appear that these goals are at variance with contemporary ideas. On closer examination, however, the reader will see that the tendency is in the opposite direction, a closer approach to present-day thought rather than a departure from it. To admit that there exists a world other than that of our subjective states is to subscribe to an interpretation more in keeping (...) with the real, and thus also with artistic reality. The intellectual and objective philosophy to which this book appeals in order to interpret the beauty of art will not be an intrusion, if it guards against all exclusiveness and does not itself compromise that which gives it its value."--Provided by publisher. (shrink)