| Pierre Abélard |
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Pierre Abélard (in English, '''Peter Abelard''') or '''Abailard''' ( 1079 – April 21 , 1142 ) was a French Scholastic Philosopher . The story of his affair with his student, Héloïse has become legendary. LIFE Youth He was born in the little village of Pallet, about 10 miles east of Nantes , in Brittany , the eldest son of a noble Breton family. The name Abaelardus (also written Abailardus, Abaielardus, and in many other ways) is said to be a corruption of Habélardus, substituted by Abélard himself for a nickname ('Bajolardus') given him when a student. As a boy, he learned quickly, and, choosing an academic life instead of the military career usual for one of his birth, acquired the art of Dialectic , called a branch of Philosophy , which at that time consisted chiefly of the logic of Aristotle transmitted through Latin channels and which was the great subject of liberal study in the Episcopal schools. The nominalist Roscellinus , the famous Canon of Compiegne , claims to have been his teacher; but whether this was in early youth, when he wandered from school to school for instruction and exercise, or some years later, after he had already begun to teach, remains uncertain. Rise to fame Abélard's travels finally brought him to Paris while still in his teens. There, in the great cathedral school of Notre-Dame de Paris,he was taught for a while by William Of Champeaux , the disciple of Anselm of Laon (not to be confused with Saint Anselm ) and most advanced of Realists. He was soon able to defeat the master in argument, resulting in a long duel that ended in the downfall of the philosophic theory of Realism , till then dominant in the early Middle Ages (to be replaced by Abélard's Conceptualism , or by Nominalism , the principal rival of Realism prior to Abélard). First, against opposition from the metropolitan teacher, while yet only twenty-two, Abélard set up a school of his own at Melun , then, for more direct competition, he moved to Corbeil , nearer Paris. The success of his teaching was notable, though for a time he had to give it up, the strain proving too great for his constitution. On his return, after 1108, he found William lecturing in a monastic retreat outside the city, and there they once again became rivals. Abélard was once more victorious, and now stood supreme. William was only temporarily able to prevent him from lecturing in Paris. From Melun, where he had resumed teaching, Abélard went on to the capital, and set up his school on the heights of Montagne Sainte-Geneviève , overlooking Notre-Dame. From his success in dialectic, he next turned to Theology and attended the lectures of Anselm at Laon . His triumph was complete; the pupil was able to give lectures, without previous training or special study, which were acknowledged superior to those of the master. Abélard was now at the height of his fame. He stepped into the chair at Notre-Dame, being also nominated canon, about the year 1115. Distinguished in figure and manners, Abélard was seen surrounded by crowds - it is said thousands of students, drawn from all countries by the fame of his teaching. Enriched by the offerings of his pupils, and entertained with universal admiration, he came, as he says, to think himself the only undefeated philosopher in the world. But a change in his fortunes was at hand. In his devotion to science, he had always lived a very regular life, enlivened only by philosophical debate: now, at the height of his fame, he encountered romance. |
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