A History of Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy

This is the first comprehensive study of the philosophical achievements of twelfth-century Western Europe. It is the collaboration of fifteen scholars whose detailed survey makes accessible the intellectual preoccupations of the period, with all texts cited, in English translation throughout.

This is the first comprehensive study of the philosophical achievements of twelfth-century Western Europe. It is the collaboration of fifteen scholars whose detailed survey makes accessible the intellectual preoccupations of the period, with all texts cited, in English translation, throughout. After a discussion of the cultural context of twelfth-century speculation, and some of the main streams of thought--Platonic, Stoic, and Arabic--that quickened it, comes a characterisation of the new problems and perspectives of the period, in scientific inquiry, speculative grammar, and logic. This is followed by a closer examination of the distinctive features of some of the most innovative thinkers of the time, from Anselm and Abelard to the School of Chartres. A final section shows the impact of newly recovered works of Aristotle in the twelfth-century West.