West European Studies

Peter Abelard (Pierre Ablard) was a French philosopher, theologian and a dialectician. He was born in April 1079 in a small town of Pallet near Nantes, to a noble family of a lord of a village who later became monasteries. He went against the wishes of his parents by opting to pursue education as opposed to joining military profession. In search of his education he moved from one school to another and eventually ended up in Paris (Atkinson, 1998). Here, he undertook to rival the teachings offered by one of the Parisian masters. The challenges he faced propelled him start his own school at Melun. He later became a renowned teacher of dialect and rhetoric.

At one time when he was a theology teacher at Loan, he is known to have harassed a rhetoric and dialect teacher of dialect in Paris. He is famed for among other things, how he explained the problem of universals. The greatest question has been whether the universal characteristics exist independently of particular things that have them or not Abelard took the conceptualistic view of their existence but only at a mentally level in contrast to nominalists who believe that they do not. He gave an explanation to his position by explaining the idea of mental obstruction. He set to clarify the existence of individual things (King, 2004). By focusing on a common characteristic between different objects, he set a focus on this characteristic as a thing of its own right. He laid stress on the aspects of morality of the intention as a clear way of doing away with the objective differentiating between good and evil.

He argued that, the constituent of sin does not solely entail the physical action, or perceived harm to God, but in actual fact the psychological element in the action which is the intention of sinning as a formal contempt of God. Abelard took the principle of reason being of paramount help in ones faith. This conflicted with the common theologians of his time who stressed in faith as an aid to ones reasoning.    One of the most fascinating things about Abelard life is the secret relationship he developed with one of her students named Hlose. Though he often displayed this lady as a teenager, the lady believed she was in her twenties (King, 2004). He married her in secret as being a member of the church monastery, his marriage would have limited his participation in church activities.  Their love story is termed as one of greatest romances in history due to its reality.

His brilliancy is well described in his book Story of My Calamities where he talks of how students used to come to him from every corner of Europe. He was an enigma in the way he articulated himself. In present day, his work has still continued to attract a lot of attention from scholars. He represents the greatest persons of medieval revival of faith and morals. He used logic and had an unwavering faith in reasoning process. He was a man of immense mental wealth, not forgetting his eloquence, daring, and originality in articulating his beliefs (Mews, 2005). His work exceeded any other person in defining the problems and methods of scholasticism in respect to universal matters.
His contribution in formation of scholasticism and in showing the participation of philosophical thought in action puts him ahead of other thinkers of his time. From him we find a person who had anticipated the modern speculation in modern direction. He thought and acted according to his belief. How can we explain his action in having a relationship and even a secret marriage with Heloise The two even had a child together which brings the ideal of a marriage in the church (Eire, 1999). Abelard correspondences with Heloise and the way he felt bored by monastery at one moment shows his inner feelings. In actual fact, he had a comfort zone outside the convectional church teachings of his time. The later acknowledgement of his work by the church shows that his revolutionary view on the teachings of the day was more based on reforms. The present day church is being faced by internal revolutions where some priests are taking a step of acknowledging marriage as a pre-requisite in the life of a man. The opposition faced by them from the church is understandable (Eire, 1999). However, we cannot put them in the foots of Abelard, rather his actions can, without doubt be seen as a contributor to their view of necessity of a marriage even to those serving in the monasteries.

    Every human being has his strength and shortcomings. At the peak of his career, Abelard was carried away by his pride as he felt as if he had the control of his whole world. He confused the attention he was receiving doe to prowess to his fame and he was totally consumed by pride. This could certainly have contributed to his downfall. It took him some years to regain his former glory as a teacher. At this moment one of his publications drew attention from his adversaries who picked his rationalistic interpretation of the Holy Trinity. This work received an official condemnation from the church and he was forced to burn his book. He was later accused and tried of heresy in 1140. His trial was a mastermind of Banard of Clairvaux who could not stand his spirit and wanted to trim his power and influence. Bernard used his power in the church council to influence the condemnation of Abelard (Gilson, 1960). However, Abelard was determined to argue his case out in Rome as he had placed an appeal for his case. It was on his way to Rome to urge his appeal that he collapsed and died some few months later in 1142.
His bones and those of Heloise lies in a well- known tomb in the cemetery of Pere Lachaise at Paris.

    In modern times, Abelard is known for his connection with Heloise. He set forward than any other scholar before him, the scholastic way of philosophizing. He succeeded in presenting a formal and rational expression to the acquired ecclesiastical doctrine.