SCHOLASTICISM
=Literature.=--_Fisher_, History of the Reformation; _Lord_, Beacon
Lights; _Thalheimer_, Mediaeval and Modern History; _Schwegler_, History
of Philosophy; _Seebohm_, Era of the Protestant Revolution; _Hegel_,
Philosophy of History; _Azarias_, Philosophy of Literature; _Azarias_,
Essays Philosophical; _Schwickerath_, Jesuit Education, its History and
Principles.
Compayre remarks, "It has been truly said that there were three
Renascences: the first, which owed its beginning to Charlemagne, and
whose brilliancy did not last; the second, that of the twelfth century,
the issue of which was Scholasticism; and the third, the great
Renaissance of the sixteenth century, which still lasts, and which the
French Revolution has completed."[32]
As scholasticism, in a sense, was the rival of monasticism, and as it
covered a large part of the Middle Ages, we shall discuss it at this
point. Scholasticism was a movement having for its object the
harmonizing of ancient philosophy, especially that of Aristotle, with
the doctrines of Christianity. It covered a period reaching from the
ninth to the fifteenth century, and displayed its greatest activity
between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. It is called the
philosophy of the Middle Ages. The term _scholastic_ is also applied
generally to forms of reasoning which abound in subtleties.
Scholasticism was a dissent from the teachings of St. Augustine and the
ascetics. It laid chief stress upon _reason_ instead of _authority_,
thus asserting a vitally different principle, which would tend to
change the whole spirit of education.
The first prominent leader of this movement was Erigena, who lived
during the ninth century, and was the most interesting writer of the
Middle Ages. He was also a great teacher, and was called to give
instruction at the court of Charles the Bald, and afterward at Oxford.
He opposed the prevailing tendencies of the monasteries to base all
teaching on authority, and made its foundation philosophy and reason.
Schwegler[33] denominates Anselm (born about 1033) as "the beginner and
founder of scholasticism." Thus it was not till the eleventh century
"that there was developed anything that might be properly termed a
Christian philosophy. This was the so-called scholasticism."[34]
Greater than either of these was Abelard (born 1079), who by his
eloquence attracted great numbers of students to Paris. It is said that
"few teachers ever held such sway as did Abelard for a time." He made
Paris the center of the scholastic movement, attracting students from
all parts of the world. He did more than any of his predecessors to give
accepted ecclesiastical doctrines a rational expression. Scholasticism
influenced the establishment of institutions of learning in England,
Germany, Italy, and Spain, some of which later developed into great
universities. Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and Occam may also be
mentioned as great schoolmen. Of the first two Schwegler says,[35] "At
the summit of scholasticism we must place the two incontestably greatest
masters of the scholastic art and method, _Thomas Aquinas_ (Dominican,
1225-1274) and _Duns Scotus_ (Franciscan, 1265-1308), the founders of
two schools, into which after them the whole scholastic theology divides
itself,--the former exalting the understanding (_intellectus_), and the
latter the will (_voluntas_), as the highest principle, both being
driven into essentially differing directions by this opposition of the
theoretical and practical. Even with this began the downfall of
scholasticism; its highest point was also the turning point to its
self-destruction. The rationality of the dogmas, the oneness of faith
and knowledge, had been constantly their fundamental premise; but this
premise fell away, and the whole basis of their metaphysics was given up
in principle the moment Duns Scotus placed the problem of theology in
the practical. When the practical and the theoretical became divided,
and still more when thought and being were separated by nominalism,
philosophy broke loose from theology and knowledge from faith. Knowledge
assumed its position above faith and above authority, and the religious
consciousness broke with the traditional dogma."
Toward the end, another thing contributed to the downfall of
scholasticism. The philosophical subtleties of discussion made the
schoolmen lose sight of the main issue, and devote themselves to the
most ridiculous questions.[36] Schwickerath remarks,[37] "It can not and
need not be denied that the education imparted by the mediaeval
scholastics was in many regards defective. It was at once too dogmatic
and disputatious. Literary studies were comparatively neglected;
frequently too much importance was attached to purely dialectical
subtleties.... The defects of scholasticism became especially manifest
in the course of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when much time
and energy were wasted in discussing useless refinements of thought."
That it did a great deal of good will appear from the following
summary:--
=Summary of the Benefits of Scholasticism.=--1. It attempted to
harmonize philosophy with Christianity, and may be called the first
Christian philosophy.
2. It sought to base learning on reason and investigation, rather than
on authority. In this we find the first impulse of that movement which
later led to the founding of science.
3. Many universities were established through the scholastic influence,
notably, Paris, Heidelberg, Bologna, Prague, and Vienna.
4. While it failed to establish them, it at least recognized the
desirableness of a universal language for schools, and a universal
church for man.
5. Although, with the exception of the universities which it founded,
its direct work in education cannot be said to have been permanent, yet
it imparted fresh vigor to educational endeavors.
6. Schwegler says,[38] "It ... introduced to the world another principle
than that of the old Church, the principle of the thinking spirit, the
self-consciousness of the reason, or at least prepared the way for the
victory of this principle. Even the deformities and unfavorable side of
scholasticism, the many absurd questions upon which the scholastics
divided, even their thousandfold unnecessary and accidental
distinctions, their inquisitiveness and subtleties, all sprang from a
rational principle, and grew out of a spirit of investigation, which
could only utter itself in this way under the all-powerful
ecclesiastical spirit of the time."
FOOTNOTES:
[32] "History of Pedagogy," p. 71.
[33] "History of Philosophy," p. 186.
[34] _Ibid._, p. 185.
[35] _Ibid._, p. 186.
[36] See K. Schmidt, "Geschichte der Paedagogik," Vol. II, p. 265, for
subjects of these discussions.
[37] "Jesuit Education," p. 46.
[38] "History of Philosophy," p. 189.