Scholasticism

Scholasticism (from Greek: σχολή skʰoˈlɛː "leisure, idleness, rest", but later also "study, school"; usually derived from the Middle Latin: scholasticus "schoolmaster") is a scientific way of thinking and method developed in the medieval Latin-speaking scholarly world.

„Scholasticism comes from the Greek "scole", meaning "attention", which has been mistakenly translated into "scuola", school.“ (Lit.:GA 109, p. 73)

Scholasticism was the attempt to rationally substantiate the Christian revelation of faith and to bring it into a theoretical system. Preliminary stages emerged in the High Middle Ages. In the Late Middle Ages, this method was fully developed and dominated the entire higher education system. Even in the early modern period, it was still authoritative at universities and educational institutions.

"Scholasticism" is also used to refer to the epoch in which this method prevailed at universities, or to the totality of medieval philosophy and theology (including early medieval philosophy). Such usage, however, partly does not correspond to historical reality, for scholasticism had not yet been developed before the turn from the first to the second millennium, and in the Late Middle Ages there was already non-scholastic intellectual life, early humanism.

The terms "scholasticism" and "scholastic" are also used in connection with other epochs to refer to ways of thinking at the time that are supposedly or actually similar to late medieval scholasticism. Occasionally, the term is even applied to other cultures, e.g. to the history of Indian philosophy.

Definition

Scholasticism is not limited to a particular philosophical direction or school and its theses. Rather, it is a method (see below) whose application could and did lead to a wide variety of results. The only thing that all scholastics had in common was the application of the scholastic method. At the time, this was the only method accepted as scientific in the university world. It consisted of a further development of ancient dialectics, the doctrine of correct (scientifically correct) discussion. In terms of content, the opinions of the scholastics on the questions discussed differed to some extent. Since the method was influenced by Aristotle's understanding of science and logic and his writings were the most important textbooks, the influence of this philosopher was very great. However, one cannot equate scholasticism with Aristotelianism. There were also Platonists and Aristotelian critics among the scholastics. In principle, a scholastic could hold any point of view, as long as he justified it methodically and cleanly. In practice, one was expected to take into account the teachings or dogmas of the Church, which the majority of scholastics did.

Faith and Knowledge

„In the Middle Ages we would not have had what is called scholasticism, what is called the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus and other scholastics, if this philosophy, this world view and all that it socially entailed had not been inspired by the most important idea of the Church: the idea of Easter. In the view of the descending Christ, who leads a temporary life on earth in man, who then passes through the resurrection, that spiritual impulse was given which led to the establishment of that peculiar relationship between faith and knowledge, between knowledge and revelation, which is precisely the scholastic one. That one can only gain knowledge of the sensual world from within the human being, that everything that relates to the supersensual world must be gained through revelation, that was essentially determined by the Easter thought as it followed the Christmas thought.

And if today's world of scientific ideas is actually entirely the result of scholasticism, as I have often explained here, then it must be said that, without the scientific knowledge of the present day being aware of it, it is essentially a correct imprint of the seal, I would say, of Easter thought as it prevailed in the older times of the Middle Ages, and as it was then paralysed in the development of the human spirit in the later Middle Ages and in more recent times. If we look at how natural science uses in ideas what is popular today and dominates our whole culture, we see how natural science uses its ideas: it applies them to dead nature; it does not believe it can rise above dead nature. This is a result of that inspiration which was stimulated by looking at the laying in the tomb. And as long as the resurrection could be added to the burial as something to look up to, the revelation of the supersensible was also added to the mere outer sense knowledge. When more and more the view arose that the resurrection was an inexplicable and therefore unjustified miracle, the revelation, i.e. the supersensible world, was left out. The natural scientific view of today is, so to speak, merely inspired by the Good Friday view, not by the Easter Sunday view.“ (Lit.:GA 223, p. 42f)

Literature

• Martin Grabmann: Die Geschichte der scholastischen Methode, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-05-000592-0
• Peter Schulthess und Ruedi Imbach: Die Philosophie im lateinischen Mittelalter, Zürich 1996, ISBN 3-7608-1218-X
• Jorge J.E. Gracia und Timothy B. Noone: A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, Malden 2003, ISBN 0-631-21672-3
• P. V. Spade, Medieval Philosophy, 2004. article in Edward N. Zalta (ed.): Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Template:SEP/Wartung/Parameter 1 und weder Parameter 2 noch Parameter 3Template:SEP/Wartung/Parameter 1 und Parameter 2 und nicht Parameter 3Template:SEP/Wartung/Parameter 1 und Parameter 3 und nicht Parameter 2
• Rudolf Steiner: Die Beantwortung von Welt- und Lebensfragen durch Anthroposophie, GA 108 (1986), ISBN 3-7274-1081-7 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Das Prinzip der spirituellen Ökonomie im Zusammenhang mit Wiederverkörperungsfragen, GA 109 (2000), ISBN 3-7274-1090-6 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Der Jahreskreislauf als Atmungsvorgang der Erde und die vier großen Festeszeiten, GA 223 (1990), ISBN 3-7274-2231-9 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

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