Evening star., 1928-03-18
THOMAS AQUINAS AND ROGER
BACON: SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY
AND MEDIEVAL SCIENCE.
The Rise Of Scholasticism.

w YHAT is ScholaSticiSm? Schole
n in Greek meant leisure; 1t
| NN came TO mean also school.
! v because schools were at first
the luxury of leisure class.
Scholasticism is the philosophy OF the
Scholastic. OF those schools whose
origins We have seen IN studying
Abelard. So defined. 1t means very
little to us: and perhaps In no case can
it mean much in this alien age. which
lives by industry and science and not
bv art and faith. Let us remember that
these philosophers and scientists whom
we shall consider now were the distant
offspring of the barbarians who had con-
ouered Rome: let us be surprised not at
their errors and prejudices. but at the
courage with which they fought their
way up through a sea OF dogma ana
sllperstition to the renewal OF reason
and the resurrection OF science. Scho-
lasticism was medieval philosophy at
tempting to reconcile medieval falth
with human reason: 1t was an ef1ort
that deserved to be made. and Its ram
ure was a necessary step toward that
great eighteenth-century enlgntenmene
which is the real beginning OF modern
history.
Abrlard was the rosy dawn OF medle-
val thought. the bright and troublesome
Youth who has Just learned the taS-
cinating game of dialectic and debate
B,t his love of reason was III ms TIME
exceptional: we have seen now bernard
barked all good sheep away from tne
werewolf back into the fold OF falth
and Abelard's Quondam teacher. AnSeim
lO35-ll09. had warned reason against
the vain effort to make itself the paSe
of faith Dante'S stupendous ailegory
gives the medieval mood: Reason ana
wisdom ,Virgin bring him from hell TO
Heavens gate. but only faith tBeatrice)
can lead him in.
Anselm'S life shows this iideStlc view
at its fairest. He was born at AoSta'
in northern Italy, and his earliest
memory was of a dream In which ne
tried to climb the mountains TO Coo
palace-seat From that time on. MS
thoughts hardly turned for moment
from divinity: and when he came OF
age 10 be a monk he placed himself
in the monastery of Bee, in France,
because the fame OF its abbot. Lam
franc, would make II impossible for
AnSelm TO rise there to that fame which
lured him as the last temptation from
humility and devotion. But soon Lam
franc left and Anselm, because he was
loved b. all and had shown himself
All able man, was made prior and
abbot against his will.
In a man OF piety so simple and pro-
found reason could not be reason. 1t
could be only an exposition OF faith
held secure in the heart against any
arguments of the head. He writes
charming essay-Cur Deus Homo-to
explain why God had become man TO
redeem mankind: 1t Is very clear. he
says. that man could have been re-
deemed only by God for man would
have been the bond-Servant of whoever
redeemed him. and 1t would have been
beneath the dignity of man to be oond-
servant of any but God Himself tthere
we're millions of bond-servants in Eu-
rope at that moment. And In the
ProSlogion he gives his famous onto
logical" tmetaphysicaD proof Of the ex-
istence OF God: by definition God mtan
the greatest conceivable being; but the
greatest being would not be merely In
the mind, for then there could be 2
still greater being existing In reality as
well as In thought: therefore-since by
definition God Is the greatest being
He must exist In reality as well as in
the mind. And On this basis AnSelm
proves that God possesses omnipotence.
omniscience and ubiquity.
This Is the infancy of reason. not
nationality but naturalization But
Anselm was honest: he knew that the
chasm between definition and existence
could be bridged only by faith: and he