In the middle ages 61

and destroys in none. Finally, the fundamental

quality of feudalism is reflected in one of the chief

doctrines of their metaphysics: the self-sufficiency

of the individual, whether thing or person, is pro-

clairried in the schools of France and of England;

and the French and the English have never for-

gotten this proud declaration of their ancestors, the

scholastics of the twelfth century.

CHAPTER FOUR

The Great Awakening of Philosophy in the

Thirteenth Century

i. The causes : The acquired momentum, ii. The rise of the

Universities (Paris and Oxford), iii. The establishment of

the mendicant orders (Dominicans and Franciscans), iv. The

acquaintance with new philosophical works ; translations, v.

General result: among the numerous systems the scholastic

philosophy issues as dominant, vi. The comprehensive classi-

fication of knowledge.

It is now generally agreed, that the thirteenth

century marks the climax in the growth of philo-

sophical thought in western Europe during the

Middle Ages. With the decade 1210-1220 begins

a development of extraordinary vitality which ex-

tends over a period of one hundred and fifty years.

Let us examine the causes and the results of this

movement of thought.

What are the causes of this remarkable develop-

ment of philosophical thought? How does it hap-

pen that we see the appearance of so many vigor-

ous systems, as tliough the seed had been thrown

with lavisli liand n])on the fertile soil of western

Europe if

62

In the middle ages 63

The first cause is wliat I shall call the acquired

momentum. The intellectual labours of the twelfth

century gave the initial impulse. We have already

observed some of their achievements; for example,

their contributions in methodology, by which the

limits of each science and discipline were estab- '

lished, and without which no intellectual progress

would have been possible. We have noted also the

deliberate and unanimous declaration, that the indi-

vidual alone can be endowed with actual existence

and substantiality. To the individual man, — lord"^

or vassal, freeman or serf, clergyman or layman,

rich or poor — philosophy spoke these bold words:

"Be yourself; your personality belongs only to

yourself, your substance is an independent value;

keep it ; be self-reliant ; free contract alone can bind

you to another man."

There are many other philosophical theories

which the twelfth century contributed to later gen-

erations. Among them are the distinction between

sense perception and rational knowledge, and the

"abstraction" of the latter from the former; the

many proofs of the existence of God, the studies in

his Infinitude, and the essays in reconciling Provi-

dence and human freedom ; the relation between es-

sence and existence ; the views on the natural equal-

ity of men and the divine origin of authority. But

these doctrines had not been combined into an inte-

gral whole; and therefore the philosophers of the

64s PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

thirteenth century used them as material in the con-

struction of their massive edifice of knowledge.

But not alone in philosophy was the growth ex-

traordinary and the ripening rapid; the same was

true of all domains. The constitution of the

Magna Charta (1215), the granting of privileges

by Philip Augustus to the University of Paris, the

birth of St. Louis and of Thomas Aquinas, the

death of St. Francis, — these are all events closely

coinciding in time; and the height of development

in scholastic philosophy followed closely upon the

height of development in Gothic architecture.

The best proof, however, of the value of the work

already accomplished lies in the very celerity of the

development during the thirteenth century ; for the

succeeding generations of that century took swift

advantage of the favourable conditions which had

already been created for them. Thus, a few years

after these happy conditions obtained, that is about

1226-30, William of Auvergne, bishop of Paris,

and the Franciscan Alexander of Hales conceived

their great systems of thought; and then almost

в– immediately there appeared such men as Roger

Bacon, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, and Ray-

mond Lully. What they did would not have been

possible if their age had not been prepared to ac-

cept their work, — a preparation already assured in

the twelfth century leaven of doctrine, with its

promise of growth and of increase.

But tliere were also external causes which hast-