Medieval Europe · 1079–1142
Peter Abelard
Paris logician famed for his dialectic and his love for Héloïse
Universals are neither things nor mere sounds but words insofar as they signify; in ethics, what makes an act sinful is the intention behind it.
Life and thought
Peter Abelard was born in 1079 at Le Pallet in Brittany, the eldest son of a knight, and gave up his inheritance for logic. He studied with Roscelin and with William of Champeaux in Paris, then defeated his teachers in debate and drew crowds of students. His affair with his pupil Héloïse ended with his castration by her uncle’s men; both entered religious life, and their later letters are famous. His theology was condemned at Soissons in 1121 and, under pressure from Bernard of Clairvaux, at Sens in 1141. He died in 1142.
On universals he took a middle road: “man” is neither a thing shared by all men nor a mere sound, but a word that signifies, grounded in a real likeness between individuals. Sic et Non set contradictory authorities side by side so that students would learn to resolve them by reason, the method of later scholastic teaching. In ethics he argued that sin lies in consenting to what one knows is wrong, in intention, not in the outward deed.