Philosophy during the Middle Ages

   During the Middle Ages, scholars spent much time trying to reconcile Aristotle's ideas with those of the early Church writers. Aristotle emphasized human reason. The early Church writers, however, emphasized faith. The attempt of medieval philosophers to reconcile faith and reason is often called scholasticism. The aim of the scholastic philosophers was to discover how people could improve themselves in this life by reason and ensure salvation in the life to come.
   Peter Abelard, who taught at the University of Paris in the 1100's, was an important scholastic philosopher. In his book Sic et Non (Yes and No), he raised many questions about Church doctrine. After each question he placed opinions gathered from the Bible, decrees of the popes, and the writings of Church philosophers. Many of these opin­ions conflicted with one another. Abelard made his students work out the problems for them­selves. He wanted them to think and to inquire. His motto was: "By doubting we come to inquiry, and by inquiring we perceive the truth."
   Probably the greatest of all medieval philoso­phers was Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican monk. His principal work, written in the late 1200's, is a summary of Christian thought called Summa Theologica. In it Aquinas took up each point of Church doctrine, examined it, and tried to show that it could be arrived at by logic or reason as well as faith. Today the Summa is the basis for all teaching of theology in Roman Catholic schools.