In the middle ages

81

worthy of being engraved on tablets of bronze, —

Raymond of Toledo and Rodriguez Ximenes.

The actual acquisition of so much new knowledge

was made by the masters of Paris in comparatively

rapid stages. Its elaboration, however, took longer.

The first who came in touch with it were dazed.

In addition to the Greek thought, which took time

to master, there was that further world swimming

into ken, so new and enchanting, the Oriental phi-

losophy of the Ai'abian people; born of Neo-

Platonism, with its mystical, misleading concep-

tions, and its profound idealism, this philosophy

was very different from the colcj, clear speculation

of the Neo-Latins and Anglo-Celts.

It was not until 1270, or thereabouts, that the

West completed its elaboration of these foreign

treasures, and the initial chaos gave place to order

and equilibrium ; it was then that Thomas Aquinas,

the great systematizer among the intellectual giants

of that age, laid hold of his opportunity and won

his secure place in the history of thought.

V

We are now ready to enumerate the general re-

sults of the great network of causes which func-

tioned in the philosophical development of the thir-

teenth century. Among these general results we

shall confine our attention to two outstanding facts

which dominate the entire thought of the thirteenth

century, — like two high peaks towering above the

82 PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

rest in a mountain range. On the one hand, there

is the predominance, in western Europe, of a great

system of philosophy, — the scholastic philosophy;

on the other hand, there is the impressive classifica-

tion of human knowledge. It is important now to

note carefully the significance of these facts; we

shall seek to analyze them in the chapters that fol-

low.

First, then, the scholastic philosophy. Numer-

ous philosophical systems rose up on every side as if,

as I said at the outset, a great variety of seed had

been scattered on fertile soil by some generous

hand. The thirteenth century is rich in personali-

ties. But, among the numerous philosophical sys-

tems to which the century gave birth, there is one

which overshadows and surpasses all others in its

influence. It is the scholastic philosophy. This is

the system of doctrines which attains the height of

its perfection in the thirteenth century, and to

which the maj orit}^ of the ablest minds subscribe, —

such as William of Auvergne, Alexander of Hales,

Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, and Duns Scotus,

to mention no others. There is a great fund of

common doctrines, which each interprets in his own

way, following his individual genius; just as there

is also a common Gothic architecture, which appears

in a great many cathedrals, each of which expresses

its own individuality. This system of doctrines

constitutes the })inding tie in an important school

of masters, who are thereby united like the mem-