Peter Abelard

Peter Abelard was a French philosopher, logician and theologian, the most famous teacher in early twelfth-century Paris. In logic he argued that universals such as 'human' are not things but words with meaning, a view often called nominalism or conceptualism. In ethics he held that sin lies in consenting to what one believes wrong, not in deeds or desires themselves. His Sic et Non set conflicting authorities side by side to train critical reasoning. His love affair with Heloise, his castration and their later letters made his life as well known as his ideas.

Key ideas

• Universals are not real things; only individuals exist, and general words signify through the understanding they produce.
• The moral worth of an act lies in the agent's intention, and sin is consent to what one believes to be wrong.
• Doubt leads to inquiry and inquiry to truth, so conflicting authorities must be examined rather than simply accepted.
• Reason can and should be applied to Christian doctrine, including the Trinity.

Major works

• Ethics, or Know Yourself (Scito te ipsum) (c. 1138–1140)
• The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (1130s)
• Historia Calamitatum (early 1130s)
• Sic et Non (1120s)
• Dialogue between a Philosopher, a Jew and a Christian (1136–1139)
• Theologia (c. 1120–1140)

In the Book corner

• Ethics, or Know Yourself (Scito te ipsum) c. 1135–1140 · Intermediate
  A short treatise on ethics, written in the late 1130s, whose title means 'know yourself'. Abelard separates four things that ordinary talk…

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