Peter Abelard
General concepts are words we use for things that resemble each other – and an act is good or bad by the intention behind it.
Placement
Logician and dialectician; in the dispute over universals he argued that universals are words (sermones), not things, and he developed an ethics of intention.
Key ideas
- Sic et non
- Ethics of intention
- Universals as words (sermones)
Students: Héloïse
Influence
Influenced by 4
Aristotle
influenced by
Knowing only Aristotle’s Categories and On Interpretation in Boethius’ Latin, Abelard built on them his logic and his view that universals are words, not things. Abelard, Logica ‘Ingredientibus’; Dialectica; SEP “Peter Abelard”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Aristotle › 384–322 BCE
Porphyry
influenced by
Abelard wrote his main logic as glosses on Porphyry’s Isagoge, answering its three questions about genera and species with his theory of universals as meaningful words. Abelard, Logica ‘Ingredientibus’ (Glosses on Porphyry); SEP “Peter Abelard”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Porphyry › c. 234–305
Augustine
influenced by
Abelard’s Sic et non set conflicting patristic texts, many from Augustine, side by side, and his ethics of intention built on Augustine’s view of sin as consent. Abelard, Sic et non; Scito te ipsum (Ethics); SEP “Peter Abelard”
Evidence: AI draft
Augustine › 354–430
Boethius
influenced by
Abelard wrote his logic largely as glosses on Boethius’ translations and commentaries and took the problem of universals from Boethius’ commentary on Porphyry. Abelard, Logica ‘Ingredientibus’; Boethius, In Isagogen Porphyrii, editio secunda; SEP “Peter Abelard”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Boethius › c. 477–524
Influenced 1
Héloïse taught
taught
Attested by both: Abelard’s Historia calamitatum (c. 1132) tells how Fulbert engaged him as Héloïse’s tutor, and her letters to him recall it. Abelard, Historia calamitatum; Héloïse, letters to Abelard (ed. D. Luscombe, The Letter Collection of Peter Abelard and Heloise, 2013)
Evidence: AI draft
Héloïse › c. 1100–1164
Works
- c. 1121Sic et non
Contradictory authorities side by side – a model for the scholastic method.
Position
Abelard brought the edge of logic into theology. In the dispute over universals he argued that general terms such as “human” are neither things in the world nor empty sounds, but words that signify a shared status of individuals – a position later called conceptualism. His Sic et non set contradictory authorities side by side so that readers learned to resolve conflicts by careful questioning, a method that shaped scholastic teaching. In ethics he held that sin lies not in the deed but in the consent of the will: what counts morally is intention. Héloïse’s letters to him argue for an equally strict ethics of intention. This turn inward made him a forerunner of modern ethics of conscience.
Life & context
Born in Brittany in 1079, Abelard studied under Roscelin and William of Champeaux and became a celebrated and combative teacher in Paris. His love affair with his pupil Héloïse, already famous for her learning, ended in scandal, his castration and a monastic life. His teaching was condemned at the councils of Soissons (1121) and Sens (1141), the latter driven by Bernard of Clairvaux; he died at a Cluniac priory in 1142.
Further main works
- Logica ingredientibus (c. 1120)
- Historia calamitatum (c. 1132)
- Ethics, or Know Yourself (c. 1138)
- Dialogue between a Philosopher, a Jew and a Christian (c. 1140)
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