THE RISE OF UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOLASTICISM
Modern universities had their origins in the Middle Ages not Antiquity.
- 5th - 11th centuries
- Monastic Schools trained young monks and some laymen. They preserved the knowledge of Antiquity.
- 11th - 12th centuries
- Cathedral, or bishop's school to train uneducated clergy.
The bishop's Chancellor or Scholaticus granted a licentia docendi or license authorizing "masters" to teach. This is the origin of the modern degree.
UNIVERSITAS - GUILD of masters and/or students. Universities were given royal charters (Paris in 1200) exempting students from the authority of city government and courts, or papal charters (Paris in 1231 giving the masters wide autonomy in the government of the university).
Medieval universities were given freedom from government control. Masters and students were considered "clerics" under the control of the Church, however, students paid a fee to the masters who taught them. Students might regulate the time of teaching and what was taught.
- Curriculum:
- Since the 9th century, at least : The 7 Liberal Arts
- TRIVIUM = Verbal Arts = Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic
- QUADRIVIUM = Mathematical Arts = Arithmetic, Astronomy, Geometry, and Music.
- 4 Faculties:
- Liberal Arts, Law, Medicine, and Theology ("QUEEN OF THE SCIENCES")
- Scholasticism:
- The knowledge taught in the "schools", but it especially referred to theology, the "QUEEN OF THE SCIENCES".
DIALECTIC - The art of analyzing the logical relationships between propositions, especially of Faith. Scholastics tried to find logicalconnections between propositions of Faith in a logically-coherent theological system.
- St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) - "Faith seeking Understanding"
- Peter Abelard (1079-1142) - Professor of theology at the University of Paris, the center of Scholasticism.
1122 - Sic et Non - He showed the contradictions of the Church Fathers and the writings of the Church Councils, which were authority. He implied that only by the use of Dialectic could the contradictions be reconciled.
In the 12th century, Arabic scholars in Spain and Sicily introduced Western Christians to hitherto unknown works of Aristotle and Greek and Roman philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists. THE CENTRAL QUESTION FOR PHILOSOPHY IN THE 13TH CENTURY WAS THE ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE ARISTOTLE'S RETIONALISTIC AND NATURALISTIC PHILOSOPHY WITH CHRISTIANITY, OR FAITH AND REASON.
The "masters" and students were Males. Women, like Heloise, did not get a university education. They were educated by the nuns or had a tutor, like Abelard.
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