Peter Abelard | |
---|---|
Born | 1079 Le Pallet near Nantes |
Died | 21 April 1142 Abbey of Saint-Marcel near Chalon-sur-Saône |
(age 62 or 63)
Era | Medieval philosophy |
Region | Western philosophers |
School |
Scholasticism Conceptualism |
Main interests
|
Metaphysics, logic, philosophy of language, theology |
Notable ideas
|
Conceptualism, scholasticism |
Influenced
|
Peter Abelard (/ˈæb.ə.lɑːrd/; Latin: Petrus Abaelardus or Abailardus; French: Pierre Abélard, pronounced: [a.be.laːʁ]; 1079 – 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician. His love for, and affair with, Héloïse d'Argenteuil have become legendary. The Chambers Biographical Dictionary describes him as "the keenest thinker and boldest theologian of the 12th Century".
Abelard, originally called "Pierre le Pallet", was born c. 1079 in Le Pallet, about 10 miles (16 km) east of Nantes, in Brittany, the eldest son of a minor noble Breton family. As a boy, he learned quickly. His father, a knight called Berengar, encouraged Pierre to study the liberal arts, wherein he excelled at the art of dialectic (a branch of philosophy), which, at that time, consisted chiefly of the logic of Aristotle transmitted through Latin channels. Instead of entering a military career, as his father had done, Abelard became an academic. During his early academic pursuits, Abelard wandered throughout France, debating and learning, so as (in his own words) "he became such an one as the Peripatetics." He first studied in the Loire area, where the nominalist Roscellinus of Compiègne, who had been accused of heresy by Anselm, was his teacher during this period.