162. - Scholasticism

Summary

Scholasticism is a tradition of thought that was developed and cultivated at the universities or ‘schools’ of the Middle Ages. Scholastic debates revolved around philosophical and theological questions typically answered by using a widely shared technical vocabulary, considerably refined over the centuries, and by syllogistic arguments, whose premises were often defended by appeal to certain authorities, most notably Aristotle and the Christian Church Fathers. In the wake of the Reformation, scholasticism enjoyed a revival, when Catholics felt forced to corroborate their theological views and Protestants wanted to keep intellectual pace with their opponents. This revived Scholastic tradition – often referred to as ‘late Scholasticism’ – strongly influenced thought and teaching at European universities until the late seventeenth century. It was also part of the curriculum at the Dutch universities, including the University of Leiden, where Spinoza attended classes in the late 1650s, even though Leiden was also (in)famous for many of its members being avowed Cartesians.