In the middle ages 83

bers of a family. They themselves call it, in the

manuscripts of the period, the ''sententia com-

munis" the prevalent philosophy. This common

fund of doctrine, to which I was the first to limit

the name of "scholastic philosophy"" presents an

imposing mass of ideas.

To be sure, there were rival and opposing phi-

losophies. Never, at any time in the history of

mankind, has contradiction lost its right. The

thirteenth century is full of clashes of ideas and

conflicts issuing therefrom. For instance, they ex-

perienced the shocks of materialism, of Averroism,

and of Latin Neo-Platonism. Thus, Latin Averro-

ism, which caused so much disturbance at the Uni-

versity of Paris, about 1270, demes the individual-

it^^f^the^act of thinking, by asserting that all men

tliinkthrough the instrumentality of a single soul,

tlif_g mil nf \\\e. race." Again, the Neo-Platonic

philosophies, which appear in the schools of Paris,

deny all real transcendence of God by making crea-

tion an emanation from God, that is to say a part

of God Himself.^^ Very naturally, therefore,

against this common peril a coalition was formed,

both defensive and offensive; and a legion of war-

riors, — such men as Roger Bacon, Bonaventure,

Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus — forgot their quar-

rels and faced the common foe. *

•

10 Cf. my Histoire de la Philosophie Medievale, pp. Ill S.

11 See ch. XIII, iv.

12 See ch. XIIT, v and vi.

84 PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

The scholastic philosophers of the thirteenth

century also exhibits reasoning superior to all the

systems which were trying to batter a breach in their

systems of thought. A celebrated painting of

the beginning of the fourteenth century, which is

preserved at Pisa, furnishes a striking confirmation

of this fact ; for it reveals the recognition in society

at large that the scholastic philosophy was the pre-

dominating philosophy of the time. The painter,

Traini, represents Thomas Aquinas as crowned in

glory and with Averroes at his feet crouching in

the attitude of a defeated warrior. The triumph

of Aquinas is the triumph of scholasticism, and the

defeat of Averroes indicates the defeat of the entire

Oriental and Arabian mentality. This painting of

Traini, celebrating the triumph of Thomism, be-

came a theme of the studio, that is to say a common

opinion, a recognized fact.^^ It is reproduced in a

host of well-known paintings. We find it splen-

didly developed, by an unknown painter of the

Sienna school, in the Capitular Hall built by the

Dominicans in 1350, at Florence (Chapel of the

Spaniards). The subject attracted Gozzoli (in the

Louvre) ; the Spaniard Zurbaran (Museum of

Seville) ; then Filippino Lippi (Church of Mi-

nerva, Rome), who in turn directly inspired Ra-

phael's "Dispute of the Blessed Sacrament,"

13 See below ch. VII, ii, and ch. XIII, iv.

1* Glllet, Ilisloire artistique des ordres mendmnts, Paris, 1912, pp.

139 fF.