Abelard /Abailard, Peter

(1079-1142)

   The leading, and most quarrelsome, philosopher and theologian of his time, Abelard was inclined to the nominalistic school of thought concerning universals: the view that universals are mere linguistic items that can be predicated of many individuals. Abelard also wrote on the atonement, claiming that its value lay in the response it evoked from us, and on the compatibility of divine foreknowledge and freedom. He placed high importance on the rational defence of the Christian faith, his high view of reason being evident in his Sic et Non ('Yes and No'), in which he invites the reader to use reason to reconcile apparently contradictory theological authorities. After his love affair with Heloıse went disastrously wrong, Abelard finished his days as a monk and teacher in a variety of monasteries. The monuments in the cemetery of P`ere Lachaise to him and Heloıse are a site of pilgrimage for lovers even today.

   See foreknowledge and freedom, problem of; nominalism; philosophy, medieval; universals

   Further reading: Abelard 1849-59, 1855, 1969-87 and 1977; Brower and Guilfoy 2004; Geyer 1919-33; Marenbon 1997