Scholastic

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Scholastic (from Latin "school" itself from Greek which means "work stoppage" or "leisure devoted to the study") is the philosophy developed and taught in universities in the Middle Ages to reconcile the contribution of Greek philosophy (particularly the teaching of Aristotle and Peripatetic ) with the Christian theology inherited from the Fathers of the Church and Anselm. Its precise definition remains problematic.

During the Protestant Reformation in the ^sixteenth century , scholasticism is accused of having ruined the Christian doctrine by establishing a balance of ancient philosophy , giving credence to the categories of ancient thought.

The term "scholastic", derived from the term schola, comes from the Greek choir in the sense of idleness, leisure, inactivity, which led to a period a little later: "keeping school, make progress." The fact is that, in the Middle Ages, the monks only had "the choir", that is to say, the leisure to study, leaving the other (the secular clergy, the lay brothers, lay people ...) devalued the care of dealing with material affairs.

One of the foundations of scholasticism is the study of the Bible Septuagint , translated from Hebrew into Greek in Alexandria. It was then translated from Greek into Latin by St. Jerome , which gave the Vulgate. The Vulgate became the absolute reference text for scholars of Latin Middle Ages. Accessible only to scholars, it is the undisputed foundation studies. Are also subject to the scholastic study the formal education of the Church, particularly the decisions of councils , the writings of saints like St. Augustine , St. Hilaire , Gregory the Great , treaties attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite and especially four books of sentences , where Peter Lombard had ordered, in 1150, all data and problems of the Christian faith as they were identified, discussed and understood by the major thinkers of the Church .

Reconciliation between Aristotle, "the divine doctor" and the Christian faith requires in particular the attempt to resolve the tensions between first philosophy (according to Aristotle ) and theology , in other words between a metaphysical General ( first philosophy later called ontology , or ontosophie ) and a science of being par excellence (later metaphysica specialis, theology ).

This reconciliation with the first philosophy is presented in the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. Central to this work, we find a theology of creation (prima pars: God, Creation). Reconciliation is subject to the hierarchy Augustine: "If you do not believe, you will not understand." It's all about understanding the authentic Christian in the light of ancient philosophy.

Scholasticism has several forms: lectio texts, comments, quaestio, the disputation or disputed question, questions and quodlibtales are.

Lectio is to explain the basic texts of teaching (the Bible, Peter Lombard, Aristotle later, etc..) Almost word for word. The text is divided into its various parts, and commented in detail and finally the problems it poses are discussed. The comments are intended to include works (religious, philosophical, scientific) considered fundamental. It solves a problem according to a strictly regulated, problems of theology or philosophy.

The quaestio appears at the beginning of the ^twelfth century. The technique is fully developed in the ^thirteenth century . The quaestio is that the master himself. When there are other actors involved, it takes the form of disputation, subject to specific university regulations.

The disputation is a competition, a verbal battle between doctors and their students on a topic of theology, philosophy or law. In Paris, it takes place on the Place de la Sorbonne, or any other place circular, in front of spectators who were warned by the verbal jousting "closets", among others posted on the church doors. The conduct of these games is very strict and rigidly codified . A sum is the sum of a systematic body of doctrine, summary can be very long.

This is the aspect of formal disputation that will focus the critical rationalist and modern scholasticism. His method is indeed a pure intellectual speculation, based solely on the text commentary or explanatory comments, refraining from any direct light on reality. The formal logic can not claim any validity in terms of comprehension and extension of a predicate. It is the attitude that Plato has fought in the sophists.

The scholastic view to measuring the penetration of Aristotle

The development of scholasticism was mainly dependent on the penetration of Aristotle in Europe, as well as translations of Jewish and Arab philosophers (including Avicenna , Averroes , Maimonides ) The installation of physics and metaphysics of Aristotle in the West caused a veritable revolution " . The chronology can be decomposed as follows:

- Throughout the Middle Ages, Aristotle is seen as a logician, and no one knows him as the Organon , then Categories and Periermenias, foundations on which we will add some indirect sources, which give a set called old logic. This is the version used had Abelard

- Just when "by Toledo, the Knights of the Reconquista bring to the echoes of troubadour poetry of Islam. It was first discovered in nature Aristotle minds " . It is essentially Gerard of Cremona , from 1134 to Toledo , with its 86 active translations of Arabic (works on mathematics, astrology, Hermeticism) , which will translate "version of analytical Post, Physics, treatises of heaven and the world, generation and corruption, and the first books of meteors " . According Jeauneau, these early translations are still steeped in neo-Platonism and mix of authentic works of Aristotle to works influenced by neo-Platonism, such as the "Liber de cause" ("Book of Causes" or "Book of pure good").

- The exact dates of the various translations in France we are currently unknown, although it is likely that their diffusion was gradual. However, Etienne Gilson gives the following indication: "It seems that something Aristotle's physics has been known since the late twelfth ^century. "

- In 1210, the books of philosophy of nature are prohibited .

- In 1215, several schools together to merge and become the University of Paris , an institution in itself, with its own statutes . The University founds its method, scholasticism which will see its first run, because of the incompatibility of an imported culture with established culture . At the Faculty of Arts at Paris, the logic of Aristotle is tolerated but not the physical and metaphysical

- In 1231, Pope Gregory IX "reiterates the prohibition of the council of 1210, but adds that Aristotle's physics will be subject to a review panel and purged of its errors"

- From 1230 to 1255, the barriers are broken gradually, under the leadership of Albert the Great and Roger Bacon in 1244, then Robert Grosseteste , Chancellor of Oxford University who is completing the translation of the Nicomachean Ethics in 1247, and finally to St. Thomas Aquinas in 1252 , where "St. Thomas has openly chosen to Aristotle .

- This thinning will only be short lived. In 1270, Etienne Tempier , Bishop of Paris, condemned the Aristotelianism after discovering positions contrary to Christian doctrine in some scholastics (such as Boethius of Dacia and Siger of Brabant ), conviction strengthened in 1277, and can be grouped under four headings: eternity, denial of the universal providence of God, oneness of the intellectual soul for all men (monopsychism) determinism.

This date corresponds, according to Duhem , the birth of modern science . Tempier, on behalf of a theological necessity, will open a gaping hole from which to lay the foundations of modern thought: "If modern science was not born in 1277, the date when the birth cosmologies became possible in modern Christian environment "

Four periods

The development of scholasticism is closely linked to universities. Thus the scholastic university is a product, as defined institutional and social time. The influence of scholasticism is divided into four periods, although the influence of it extends beyond.

From the beginning of the ^eleventh century to the end of XII ^century

The first period, which seems to start especially with the figure of Anselm of Canterbury , is marked by the quarrel of universals , pitting realists , led by William of Champeaux , the nominalist , represented by Roscelin , and conceptualist ( Pierre Abelard ). But the form really preparation for the Scholastic will be the school of Chartres who rediscovered Aristotle .

This period also marks the climax of exegeses medieval. They interpreted the Scriptures through the scholastic method which revealed the quadruple meaning: literal , allegorical , tropological and anagogical. Each of the four directions was known and practiced for a long time, but this doctrine of the four senses of Scripture advocated a pluralistic interpretation of the text of the Bible. Hugues de Saint-Victor employment (scripture).

The works of Aristotle were translated (along with Greek scientific treatises and Arab-Muslims) by teams of Christian Philosophers, Jews and Arabs. They are marked by the influence of Plato and Plotinus.

From the late ^twelfth century to the late ^thirteenth century

This second period is considered the pinnacle of scholasticism. It is named for this reason the great scholastic. From 1230, senior representatives of scholasticism: The works of Aristotle were translated from Greek into Latin by Albert the Great , real introducer of the philosopher and by William of Moerbeke , secretary of Thomas Aquinas , and introduced in universities.

This supports the (?): The principle of scholasticism is attacked from all sides .

Several sensitivities were expressed at that time. We note for example that Robert Grosseteste in Lincoln (UK) and Roger Bacon at Oxford , more inclined toward the experience than to pure speculation, had identified some errors committed by Aristotle about natural phenomena, which does not prevent them not to recognize the importance of the philosophy of Aristotle. However in the late thirteenth century, the greatest concern of academics is to deny the universe radically necessary Greeks and Arabs.

The ^fourteenth century

The third period is a phase of decline. The last great representative of Scholastic John Duns Scotus supports the idea of the existence of (??). We see the thinker William of Occam take a stand for nominalist , and found a via moderna that opposes Thomism , distinguishing more than Thomas Aquinas philosophy and theology.

From the ^fifteenth century

From the fifteenth century, scholasticism is questioned by the humanism and the Reformation in the ^sixteenth century. Erasmus criticizes his "barbaric language" and his ignorance of literature and languages. The masters of Scholasticism in effect ignore the Greek translations have only second or third hand. But the masters of Scholasticism John Bessarion (ca. 1402-1472), Pietro Pomponazzi (1462-1525) and the masters of Padua opposed to the ideals of humanism. Theologians also opposed to the translation from Greek to Erasmus's Latin New Testament , translation more faithful to the text . Erasmus's main criticism of "contamination" of scholasticism by pagan philosophy: "What relationship can there be between Christ and Aristotle? " .

The School of Salamanca in Spain is a very important renewal of the major issues being debated during the Renaissance : natural law , economics. Francisco Suarez , Spanish Jesuit School of Salamanca, is considered the greatest after scolasticien Thomas Aquinas. It seems to have fallen into some neglect, though Descartes relied on his metaphysical essays criticizing the first philosophy of scholasticism.

Descartes conceived a project of philosophy of science in response to the condemnation of Galileo. In the famous Discourse on Method ( 1637 ), he states:

" , we can find a practice by which, knowing the strength and the actions of fire, water, the air, stars, skies, and all other bodies that surround us, as distinctly that we know the various trades of our artisans, we could use the same way to all the uses to which they own, and so we make as masters and possessors of nature . "

Contemporary period

Although the term Scholastic has a negative connotation because it seems attached to excessive speculation, the popes have consistently reaffirmed the depth of the thought of Thomas Aquinas :

• Leo XIII in the encyclical Aeterni Patris , the 4 August 1879 , at St. Thomas Aquinas and the Christian philosophy ;

• John Paul II in his encyclical Fides et Ratio :

"A big challenge facing us at the end of this millennium is how do the transition, urgent and necessary, from phenomenon to foundation. It is not possible to stop short at experience alone, even when it expresses and manifests the inner nature of man and his spirituality, speculative thinking must penetrate to the spiritual and the basis on which it rests. A philosophy which refuses any opening metaphysics would be radically inadequate to perform a mediating role in the understanding of Revelation. "

• Benedict XVI said on January 28 2007 :

"With a far-sighted wisdom, St. Thomas Aquinas succeeded in establishing a fruitful confrontation with the Arab and Jewish thought of his time at the point of being considered a master always current dialogue with other cultures and religions. . "

Main scholastic philosophers

• Peter Abelard
• Thomas Aquinas
• John Duns Scotus
• Francisco Suarez

For a more complete list, see: List of scholastic philosophers

References

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