SCHOLASTICA: HISTORY, CHARACTERISTICS, IMPORTANCE, REPRESENTATIVES - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

Scholastic philosophy is a form of thought that developed in the Middle Ages, when the first centers of study emerged in large Western cities. Scholasticism is the philosophy practiced during the Middle Ages in a Christian and European context, especially during the 11th and 14th centuries.

According to various researchers, medieval philosophy was characterized by being the result of the union of different dogmas of monotheistic beliefs (such as Christianity, Islam or Judaism) with the main concepts of pagan philosophy, especially that with a rationalist approach that was exploited by thinkers like Plato and Aristotle.

Anselm of Canterbury is one of the most prominent representatives of scholasticism. Source: See page for author

Some authors even affirm that Plato and Aristotle enjoyed greater recognition in medieval times than in their own period, since Greco-Roman culture preferred the inclination of the Epicurean and Stoic schools.

Scholasticism as a discipline developed in a strong theological setting, as medieval thinkers considered themselves theologians rather than philosophers. This resulted in a split in the treatment mode and content; the intention of assimilating the monotheistic tradition with the pagan one involved conflicts.

For example, pagan philosophy claimed that matter and the world were eternal, so they could not have a beginning in time. This was in contradiction with Christian and monotheistic beliefs, since these religions claimed that God had created the world and matter at a particular point in time.

Some authors like Aristotle denied the immortality of the soul, which is radically different from medieval religions, whose eschatological and moral regiment is based on awards and punishment after death in this earthly world.

For this reason, medieval philosophy had to face this basic problem through multiple concrete questions, trying to reconcile reason with faith. The main focus of scholasticism consists in its search to make Christian dogmas compatible with the rational knowledge of its Greco-Latin ancestors.

Origin and history

Scholastics

Origin and historical context

The first stage - regarding the adaptation of pagan philosophy to monotheism - was carried out by Judaism and Christianity during the 1st and 5th centuries AD. C.

In the 1st century, Rabbi Philo of Alexandria decided to produce a doctrine of a philosophical nature that was responsible for interpreting the contents of Judaism through Stoic and Platonic concepts. This current was known by the name of Judeo-Alexandrianism.

For its part, Christianity carried out this adaptation a few decades later, in the period known as patristic, during the second and fifth centuries AD. This union between pagan and Christian thought led to the origin of the doctrine that was the basis of all later theology of Western Europe.

School closings

Saint Augustine of Hippo was one of the first to interpret Christian dogmas with the foundations of Plato; After this, Christianity being the official religion of the ancient Roman Empire, philosophy was not practiced for a period of time in the West.

This was due to the fact that the Emperor Justinian prohibited the teaching of any doctrine that was not the Christian one, which brought about the closure of all the philosophical schools that were in Athens, such as the Lyceum and the Academy.

The teachers who were in those schools moved to Syria and Persia, regions that were later conquered by the Islamic religion during the 7th century.

This event was not entirely negative: the Islamists were able to make contact with the pagan philosophical tradition, which led to the beginning of the false philosophical current, which sought a more rational interpretation of the Koran.

Recovery of the philosophical tradition through dialectics

The recovery of the philosophical tradition began to occur in the Christian territories thanks to the foundation of cathedral schools and universities, which were closely linked to the growth of cities, the bourgeoisie and urban culture.

The universities were divided into four main faculties: Law, Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Theology.

Studies related to theology were considered the most important; However, the Faculty of Arts was increasing its popularity due to its prestige in dialectics, a discipline that dealt with reasoning and logic.

The definitive impulse for the new emergence of philosophy arose when theologians absorbed the approaches of dialectics to apply them to rational theology.

In this way the scholasticism arose, whose term refers to the academic philosophy that was studied in the universities, both in the Faculty of Arts and in Theology. "Scholastica" means "philosophy of the schoolchildren"; in other words, the philosophy of university professors.

characteristics

Scholastic philosophy was characterized mainly by the reconciliation and ordering of universal questions made by the Greco-Roman culture, together with the search for a rational understanding of the precepts raised by the sacred scriptures and by the Orthodox Christian Church.

Consequently, Aristotelian methods were applied to the religious imaginary that was growing rapidly throughout the western territory.

Scholasticism devoted itself to cultivating the Aristotelian syllogism, as well as empiricism and the exploration of reality; however, these last two aspects were not very favored within medieval philosophy.

Likewise, scholasticism is well known for its teaching model, which characterized this philosophical doctrine. As a learning method, scholasticism proposed three steps:

Reading or

This step consisted of the construction of literal comments from authoritative texts, such as a biblical fragment or a philosophical treatise. This step consisted of teaching to read the Christian precepts.

Question or

To carry out this step, the student readers had to question the texts read; However, this questioning was not critical, but rather focused on the comparison of different versions in order to resolve doubts or interpretative contradictions.

Discussion or

This last step consisted of a dialectical method where the students had to expose the analyzed and compared ideas while reading the works. This had to be done in front of the academics, who were in the power to make arguments against.

Importance

The importance of scholasticism lies in the fact that this current implied a recovery of the rational and philosophical way of thinking, giving way to other philosophies that were developed later and that would shape the essence of the West.

In addition, scholasticism was a key doctrine within modern academic training, since its teaching method is still used today; of course, with its modern and contemporary variants.

Similarly, scholasticism allowed the separation of reason (philosophy) and faith (theology), which later influenced the thought of the Renaissance. This also affected the subsequent separation that would occur between the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the State, as they became differentiated organizations.

Representatives and their ideas

Anselm of Canterbury

Canterbury was born in 1033 and from a very young age he showed a genuine interest in religious concerns. He did some studies on Latin and rhetoric, which led him to join the Benedictine order. In 1060 he entered the monastery, where he gained fame in a dizzying way.

Anselmo of Canterbury is one of the most important representatives of scholasticism since, according to authors such as the historian Justo Gonzales, Anselmo was the first, after centuries of darkness, to reintroduce reason into religious questions in a systematic way.

Pedro Abelardo

He was born in Brittany, in a region called Le Pallet. He left his home to study philosophy in Paris with William de Champeaux, known for his realistic approach.

Following the scholastic line, Abelard published a work titled Treatise on the Trinity, in 1121. This work was condemned and burned during the realization of a Catholic council held in Soissons.

Abelard supported the ideas of conceptualism, closely linked to the precepts of Plato. His vision against scholastic natural realism was also very controversial, since Abelardo even questioned his own current.

In his book Sic et Non (Yes and No) he argued that religious faith should be kept limited to rational principles. Some of these statements were classified as heretical.

Thomas Aquinas

He is one of the medieval thinkers who has had the most influence not only in his time, but also in contemporary Catholic theology.

He was born in Roccasecca, in Italy. He studied at the Montecassino monastery and at the University of Naples. He was canonized by Pope John XXII in 1323, and he was also proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pius V in 1567.

Aquino was characterized by affirming that nothing can exist in the understanding if it has not previously passed through the senses. He also argued that human knowledge begins first with the particular and then enters the universal, as well as first with the concrete and then moves to the abstract.

Consequently, after the senses capture the sensible object, the imagination saves or registers the image of said object to later be abstracted by the understanding, which seeks to understand everything that is particular and concrete.

References

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5. Ortuño, M. (sf) The scholastic. Retrieved on April 15, 2019 from UCR: ucr.ac.cr
6. Ospina, J. (2010) The Augustinian influence on Pedro Abelardo. Retrieved on April 15, 2019 from Dialnet: dialnet.unirioja.es
7. Vázquez, H. (2008) Scholastic theology and its influence on contemporary thought. Retrieved on April 15, 2019 from IESDI: iesdi.org