The
Life of Peter Abelard
Peter
Abelard was born in 1076 to noble and religious parents in Le Pallet, near
Nantes in Brittany. He studied logic
under Roscelin of Compeigne, and later William of Champeaux. Although he was a brilliant and competitive
logician, he often got himself into trouble when his drive to win overcame
whatever common sense he may have had.
His first major difficulty of this kind occurred while studying under
William of Champeaux, a well-regarded teacher in Paris. Abelard disagreed with William’s theory of
universals, so he not only humiliated his teacher in public debate, but also
founded his own school in Corbeil (and later Melun) and stole most of his
teacher's pupils.
Once he became established and
respected as a logician, Abelard traveled to Laon, where he studied under
Anselm of Laon and repeated his tried-and-true method of “challenge teacher,
steal students.” By 1114, he was back
in Paris, teaching logic again.
However, for the rest of his life he would be as interested in theology
and ethics as in logic.
Abelard's
most permanent trouble occurred while he was teaching in Paris. He lived next door to a cathedral official
named Fulbert who had a conveniently attractive niece named Heloise. Abelard arranged to tutor the
seventeen-year-old, and the two soon became lovers. Unfortunately, Heloise became pregnant. Abelard spirited her away to his home in Brittany where she gave
birth to Astrolabe, but was unable to keep it a secret since he had neglected
to obtain parental consent to the field trip.
He attempted to reconcile with Heloise’s outraged uncle by marrying her,
although he asked that Fulbert keep the marriage a secret in order to preserve
his career and standing within the church.
Fulbert publicized the wedding anyway.
In response, the lovers denied their marriage, prompting Fulbert to hire
thugs to castrate Abelard. Abelard and
Heloise ended up separated in a monastery and a convent, but continued writing
love letters until their deaths.
After this
unfortunate episode, Abelard was exceptionally productive. While at the abbey of St Denis, he taught
and produced many works including his first version of Theologia, which
was then condemned due to what the church saw as theological “errors.” Among other things, Abelard was implying
that it was impossible to sin in ignorance, and that original sin was a
punishment or liability- not contempt for God, and not something human beings
were culpable for. Although Abelard
revised it several times during his life, it continued to be a source of
controversy due to the efforts of Bernard of Clairvaux, a powerful churchman of
the time. Bernard’s chief difficulties
with Abelard’s position seem to be that Abelard was not only teaching that
logic and dialectic could be a way to understand God, but that he was using
“new ideas” not found in scripture (and therefore not relevant to spiritual
matters). Both Abelard and Bernard made
appeals to the pope, but it was many years before the matter was reconciled.
To continue
the ongoing theme of controversy, Abelard was appointed in 1127 as abbot of a
Brittany monastery famous for its lack of discipline. When he attempted to institute reforms, he managed to anger all
of the residents and received several death threats. He was eventually relieved of his duties at the monastery and
returned to Paris to work and teach at the school on Mont Ste-Genevieve.
Peter Abelard died in Cluny on
the 21st of April, 1142. He
is buried next to Heloise.
Sources:
The Columbia History of
Western Philosophy. Ed. Richard H. Popkin. New York: Columbia U,
1999.
Kaufmann, Walter. Medieval Philosophy. Ed. Baird, Forrest E. Upper Saddle River:
Prentice Hall, 2000.
Tweedale,
Martin M., “Abelard, Peter.” Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed.
Edward Craig. 13 vols.
New York: Prentice Hall, 1998.
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Last Modified: 12-12-00
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