Peter Abelard (1079–1142), the sharpest logician of his century and its most notorious teacher: master at Paris, lover of Heloise and mutilated for it, condemned at Soissons in 1121 and again at Sens in 1140 at Bernard’s prosecution. His Sic et Non set 158 questions of doctrine against contradictory patristic authorities — not to destroy them but to force the work of reconciling them, which is the scholastic method in embryo.
Works (1)
- Historia Calamitatum — The Story of My Misfortunes, written as a letter of consolation to a friend: Abelard’s account of his own rise as a logician, his rivalry with William of Champeaux and Anselm of Laon, his love for Heloise and its punishment, the burning of his book at Soissons, and his flight from one enmity to the next. (17 notes)