In the middle ages 165

contradiction with this faith, they hit upon an inge-

nious device; this was the astonishing doctrine of

the twofold truth: "What is true in philosophy,"

they said, "may be false in theology, and vice

versa.'"'

Whatever these different attitudes may have

been, — and the religious concern which inspired

them — they had a very important effect on the rela-

tion of philosophy and theology. For, the theolo-

gian was wont to enter into a great number of phi-

losophical questions for the purpose of his apolo-

getics. Since no science bears more than does phi-

losophy the impress of him who treats it, each the-

ologian thus retained and developed his own philo-

sophic attitude. Moreover he might feel again the

attraction of certain philosophic problems, or he

might refresh the memory of his hearers — "prop-

ter imperitos," says Henry of Ghent ; in both cases

he made deep and prolonged incursions into the

ground reserved for philosophy. The result was

that philosophy became employed in both the Fac-

ulty of Arts and the Faculty of Theology, — defi-

nitely disinterested in the former and frankly apol-

ogetic in the latter.

This is the simple explanation of that pedagogi-

cal phenomenon, peculiar to the Middle Ages,

which has perplexed historians so much — the mix-

ture of matters philosophical and theological in the

Summae, the Quodliheta, the Quaestiones Dispu-

15 Cf. ch. XIII, iv.

166 PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

tatae, and in almost all mediaeval works. To con-

sider only the title of Summa Theologica given to

their chief works by Alexander of Hales, Thomas

Aquinas, Henry of Ghent and others, one would

think they are great works in which philosophy has

no place. But let there be no deception. Genuine

philosophical treatises are contained in these vast

productions. It will suffice to refer to a part of

the great Summa of Thomas Aquinas, wherein are

to be found integral treatises on psychology and

ethics and law.^В®

The religious mentality of the time created also

a third class of ties, existing not between philos-

ophy and theology but between the subjective in-

tentions of philosophers and the objective end to

which they subordinated all their studies, — which

was no other than that of obtaining happiness. The

eye of all was fixed on the future life. On the mar-

gin of the Summa Contra Gentiles, in the rough

draft by Thomas himself, we find various pious in-

vocations (ave, ave Matia).^'' As Dante wrote the

Divine Comedy "to snatch the living from the state

of wretchedness and to lead them to the state of

happiness," so also the intellectuals of the thir-

teenth century refer their researches, whatever they

are — astronomy, mathematics, the science of obser-

iRSee Summa Theol, 1", qq. LXXV-XC; laSae, qq. I-XXV; ibid.,

qq. XC-XCVII.

17 Summa contra Gentiles, ad codices manuscriptos praesertim

sancti Doctoris exacta, Romae, 1918, Praefatio, p. VIII.