Scholasticism
Integration of Aristotelian and
Platonic Greek philosophy and
Christian Learning
Historical Background
• Long before the fall of Rome (410 AD), the influence of
Aristotle had disappeared in Europe.
• However, it was alive in the Middle East (in Arabic and
Hebrew translations).
• By the 5th century, Christianity had become the official
religion of the Roman Empire.
• With the fall of Rome, the Catholic Church became the
dominant cultural force in Europe.
Historical Background
• So, Classical (Greek/Roman) culture was virtually
unknown.
• Religious teachings dominated.
• However, with the Church’s establishment of universities, a
new way of thought, teaching and learning began.
• This is called “Scholasticism”.
Scholasticism
• It is a method of critical thought which dominated
teaching by the academics (“scholastics” or
“schoolmen”) of Medieval universities in Europe from
about 1100 to 1700.
• The term “scholastic” is derived from the Latin
“scholasticus” and the Greek “scholastikos” (meaning
literally “devoting one’s leisure to learning” or “scholar”)
and the Greek “scholeion” (meaning “school”).
• The term “schoolmen” is also commonly used to
describe scholastics.
Scholasticism
• Briefly, it is the system used by medieval intellectuals to
apply reason and logical analysis to the church’s basic
theological doctrines, thereby, articulating and defending
Christian dogma in an increasingly pluralistic context.
• The primary goal was to reconcile faith and reason to
demonstrate that what was accepted on FAITH was in
harmony with what could be learned by REASON.
• Up until the Renaissance, it was the philosophical and
theological instructional (teaching) system of medieval
schools/universities.
Emergence of Scholasticism
• The influx of Aristotle’s works (and also Plato’s) into the
West in the High Middle Ages confronted theologians
with a new challenge:
How to harmonize Christian revelations
with the work of Aristotle
• Aristotle had arrived at his conclusions by rational
thought, not revelation, and some of his doctrines, such
as the mortality of the soul, directly contradicted the
teachings of the church.
• So, how could they reconcile this?
Major Scholastics
• The Berber Saint Augustine of the Roman North African
city, Hippo (now Annaba, Algeria) (354-430 AD/CE)
• The Italian Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas
(1225-1274)
• Augustine and Aquinas adapted Plato and Aristotle to
Christian theology.
Augustine of Hippo
(354-430 AD/CE)
• The goal of life is salvation.
• It is attained by seeking knowledge of God and avoidance
of the material world:
parallel to Plato’s eternal world vs. physical world
of appearances
• The struggle between good and evil is parallel to the
struggle of the spiritual and the material worlds:
dualism: good/bad, mind/body
Thomas Aquinas
(1225-1274)
• He synthesized Aristotle’s works with Catholicism.
• (Aristotle = The Philosopher)
• He reconciled his belief in an immaterial soul with
Aristotle’s natural philosophy by interpreting Aristotle’s
concepts of form and matter in a way that was consistent
with Christian theology.
• Hence, Aristotle’s writings were seen as not challenging
Christian dogma for Middle Ages.
But Aristotle emphasized reason and observation.
Church emphasized faith and revelation.
Aquinas:
Hierarchy of 3 Types of Knowledge
• 1. Revealed truths of Christian theology
(e.g., divinity of Jesus, ten commandments)
• 2. Rational principles of philosophy
(e.g., cause and effect, mathematics)
• 3. Sensory information–realm of human knowledge
(e.g., sun orbits earth, fish swim, dogs bark
Also, dogfish (type of sharks) swim but don’t bark
However, fishdogs neither bark nor swim)
Challenge to Scholasticism
• With the advent and fruition of the Renaissance,
scholastic methods were challenged.
• Humanist thinkers and philosophers and, later,
Protestant educators rejected scholasticism primarily
because it based its study on faith in the supernatural
and divine revelation.
• Humanists rejected religious entanglement in the
educational system in favour of pure human reasoning
and rational thinking as well as human achievement.
