Workbook Documents	High Medieval Culture and Philosophy
	Peter Abelard: Sic et Non, Heloise: First Letter to Abelard, Andreas Capellanus: Art of Courtly Love, Magna Carta, Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologica, Chartres Cathedral, Reliquary of St. Ursula

Peter Abelard: Sic et Non (1120)

There are many seeming contradictions and even obscurities in the innumerable writings of the church fathers. Our respect for their authority should not stand in the way of an effort on our part to come at the truth. The obscurity and contradictions in ancient writings may  be explained upon many grounds, and may be discussed without impugning the good faith and insight of the fathers. A writer may use different terms to mean the same thing, in order to avoid a monotonous repetition of the same word. Common, vague words may be employed in order that the common people may understand; and sometimes a writer sacrifices perfect accuracy in the interest of a clear  general statement. Poetical, figurative language is often obscure and vague.  

Not infrequently apocryphal works are attributed to the saints. Then, even the best authors often introduce the erroneous views of others and leave the reader to distinguish between the true and the false. Sometimes, as Augustine confesses in his own case, the fathers ventured  to rely upon the opinions of others.

Doubtless the fathers might err; even Peter, the prince of the apostles, fell into error: what wonder that the saints do not always show themselves inspired? The fathers did not themselves believe that they, or their companions, were always right. Augustine found himself mistaken in some cases and did not hesitate to retract his errors. He warns his admirers not to look upon his letters as they would upon the  Scriptures, but to accept only those things which, upon examination, they find to be true.  

All writings belonging to this class are to be read with full freedom to criticize, and with no obligation to accept unquestioningly; otherwise they way would be blocked to all discussion, and posterity be deprived of the excellent intellectual exercise of debating difficult questions  of language and presentation. But an explicit exception must be made in the case of the Old and New Testaments. In the Scriptures, when  anything strikes us as absurd, we may not say that the writer erred, but that the scribe made a blunder in copying the manuscripts, or that  there is an error in interpretation, or that the passage is not understood. The fathers make a very careful distinction between the Scriptures and later works. They advocate a discriminating, not to say suspicious, use of the writings of their own contemporaries. 

In view of these considerations, I have ventured to bring together various dicta of the holy fathers, as they came to mind, and to formulate  certain questions which were suggested by the seeming contradictions in the statements. These questions ought to serve to excite tender readers to a zealous inquiry into truth and so sharpen their wits. The master key of knowledge is, indeed, a persistent and frequent  questioning. Aristotle, the most clear-sighted of all the philosophers, was desirous above all things else to arouse this questioning spirit, for  in his Categories he exhorts a student as follows: "It may well be difficult to reach a positive conclusion in these matters unless they be  frequently discussed. It is by no means fruitless to be doubtful on particular points. " By doubting we come to examine, and by examining  we reach the truth.   

Question: Fact: How does Abelard recommend approaching documents? Interpretation: What was revolutionary about Abelard's approach?    

Heloise: First Letter to Abelard
Abelard married Heloise to pacify her uncle, against her will and advice. He then wanted the marriage kept secret to help his career as teacher and future churchman, but the uncle made the marriage known. Abelard then sent Heloise back to her home in Argenteuil, where this letter may have been written. He continued to see her, however, and the uncle ultimately had Abelard castrated to prevent him entering the church.

. . .You are tending the vineyard of another's vine which you did not plant, which is turned to your own bitterness, with admonitions often wasted and holy sermons preached in vain. Think of what you owe to your own, who thus spends your care on another's. You teach and reprove rebels, nor gain anything. In vain before the swine do you scatter the  pearls of divine eloquence. Who gives so much thought to the obstinate, consider what you owe to the obedient. Who bestow so  much on yours enemies, meditate what you owe to thy daughters. And to say nothing of the rest, think by what a debt you are bound to  me, that what you owe to the community of devoted women you may pay more devotedly to her who is yours alone.  

How many grave treatises in the teaching, or in the exhortation, or for the comfort of holy women the holy Fathers composed, and with what diligence they composed them, your excellence knows better than our humility. Wherefore to no little amazement your oblivion moves the tender beginnings of our conversion, that neither by reverence for God, nor by love of us, nor by the examples of the holy  Fathers have you been admonished to attempt to comfort me, as I waver and am already crushed by prolonged grief, either by speech in your  presence or by a letter in your absence. And yet you know yourself to be bound to me by a debt so much greater in that you are tied to me more closely by the pact of the nuptial sacrament; and that you are the more beholden to me in that I ever, as is known to all, embraced  you with an unbounded love. You know, dearest, all men know what I have lost in you, and in how wretched a case that supreme and notorious betrayal took me myself also from me with you, and that my grief is immeasurably greater from the manner in which I lost you than from the loss of you.  

And the greater the cause of grief, the greater the remedies of comfort to be applied. Not, however, by another, but by you yourself, that you who are alone in the cause of my grief may be alone in the grace of my comfort. For it is you alone that can make me sad, can make me joyful or can comfort me. And it is you alone that owe me this great debt, and for this reason above all that I have at once  performed all things that you did order, till that when I could not offend you in anything I had the strength to lose myself at your behest.  And what is more, and strange it is to relate, to such madness did my love turn that what alone it sought it cast from itself without hope of  recovery when, straightway obeying your command, I changed both my habit and my hair, that I might show you to be the one possessor both of my body and of my mind. Nothing have I ever (God knows) required of you save myself, desiring you purely, not what was yours.  Not for the pledge of matrimony, nor for any dowry did I look, not my own passions or wishes but yours (as you yourself know) was I  zealous to gratify. . . .  

Questions:
Fact: What techniques does Heloise use to convince Abelard of her argument?
Interpretation: Why might Heloise have felt this approach was necessary to regain her relationship with Abelard?  

Andreas Capellanus: The Art of Courtly Love (1174-1186)

1. Marriage is no real excuse for not loving.

2. He who is not jealous cannot love.

3. No one can be bound by a double love.

4. It is well known that love is always increasing or decreasing.

5. That which a lover takes against his will of his beloved has no relish.

6. Boys do not love until they arrive at the age of maturity.

7. When one lover dies, a widowhood of two years is required of the survivor.

8. No one should be deprived of love without the very best of reasons.

9. No one can love unless he is impelled by the persuasion of love.

10. Love is always a stranger in the home of avarice.

11. It is not proper to love any woman whom one should be ashamed to seek to marry.

12. A true lover does not desire to embrace in love anyone except his beloved.

13. When made public love rarely endures.

14. The easy attainment of love makes it of little value; difficulty of attainment makes it prized.

15. Every lover regularly turns pale in the presence of his beloved.

16. When a lover suddenly catches sight of his beloved his heart palpitates.

17. A new love puts to flight an old one.

18. Good character alone makes any man worthy of love.

19. If love diminishes, it quickly fails and rarely revives.

20. A man in love is always apprehensive.

21. Real jealousy always increases the feeling of love.

22. Jealousy, and therefore love, are increased when one suspects his beloved.

23. He whom the thought of love vexes, eats and sleeps very little.

24. Every act of a lover ends with in the thought of his beloved.

25. A true lover considers nothing good except what he thinks will please his beloved.

26. Love can deny nothing to love.

27. A lover can never have enough of the solaces of his beloved.

28. A slight presumption causes a lover to suspect his beloved.

29. A man who is vexed by too much passion usually does not love.

30. A true lover is constantly and without intermission possessed by the thought of his beloved.

31. Nothing forbids one woman being loved by two men or one man by two women.

Question: What does the author mean by "love"?

Aquinas: Summa Theologica (c. 1270)

Article 3: Whether God exists.

Thus we proceed to the third point. It seems that God does not exist, for if one of two contrary things were infinite, its opposite would be completely destroyed. By "God," however, we mean some infinite good. Therefore, if God existed evil would not. Evil does exist in the world, however. Therefore God does not exist. 

Furthermore, one should not needlessly multiply elements in an explanation. It seems that we can account for everything we see in this world on the assumption that God does not exist. All natural effects can be traced to natural causes, and all contrived effects can be traced to human reason and will. Thus there is no need to suppose that God exists.

But on the contrary God says, "I am who I am" (Ex. 3:14).

Response: It must be said that God's existence can be proved in five ways. The first and most obvious way is based on the existence of motion. It is certain and in fact evident to our senses that some things in the world are moved. Everything that is moved, however, is moved by something else, for a thing cannot be moved unless that movement is potentially within it. A thing moves something else insofar as it actually exists, for to move something is simply to actualize what is potentially within that thing. Something can be led thus from potentiality to actuality only by something else which is already actualized. For example, a fire, which is actually hot, causes the change or motion whereby wood, which is potentially hot, becomes actually hot. Now it is impossible that something should be potentially and actually the same thing at the same time, although it could be potentially and actually different things. For example, what is actually hot cannot at the same moment be actually cold, although it can be actually hot and potentially cold. Therefore it is impossible that a thing could move itself, for that would involve simultaneously moving and being moved in the same respect. Thus whatever is moved must be moved by something, else, etc. This cannot go on to infinity, however, for if it did there would be no first mover and consequently no other movers, because these other movers are such only insofar as they are moved by a first mover. For example, a stick moves only because it is moved by the hand. Thus it is necessary to proceed back to some prime mover which is moved by nothing else, and this is what everyone means by "God."

The second way is based on the existence of efficient causality. We see in the world around us that there is an order of efficient causes. Nor is it ever found (in fact it is impossible) that something is its own efficient cause. If it were, it would be prior to itself, which is impossible. Nevertheless, the order of efficient causes cannot proceed to infinity, for in any such order the first is cause of the middle (whether one or many) and the middle of the last. Without the cause, the effect does not follow. Thus, if the first cause did not exist, neither would the middle and last causes in the sequence. If, however, there were an infinite regression of efficient causes, there would be no first efficient cause and therefore no middle causes or final effects, which is obviously not the case. Thus it is necessary to posit some first efficient cause, which everyone calls "God."

The third way is based on possibility and necessity. We find that some things can either exist or not exist, for we find them springing up and then disappearing, thus sometimes existing and sometimes not. It is impossible, however, that everything should be such, for what can possibly not exist does not do so at some time. If it is possible for every particular thing not to exist, there must have been a time when nothing at all existed. If this were true, however, then nothing would exist now, for something that does not exist can begin to do so only through something that already exists. If, therefore, there had been a time when nothing existed, then nothing could ever have begun to exist, and thus there would be nothing now, which is clearly false. Therefore all beings cannot be merely possible. There must be one being which is necessary. Any necessary being, however, either has or does not have something else as the cause of its necessity. If the former, then there cannot be an infinite series of such causes, any more than there can be an infinite series of efficient causes, as we have seen. Thus we must to posit the existence of something which is necessary and owes its necessity to no cause outside itself. That is what everyone calls "God."

The fourth way is based on the gradations found in things. We find that things are more or less good, true, noble, etc.; yet when we apply terms like "more" and "less" to things we imply that they are closer to or farther from some maximum. For example, a thing is said to be hotter than something else because it comes closer to that which is hottest. Therefore something exists which is truest, greatest, noblest, and consequently most fully in being; for, as Aristotle says, the truest things are most fully in being. That which is considered greatest in any genus is the cause of everything is that genus, just as fire, the hottest thing, is the cause of all hot things, as Aristotle says. Thus there is something which is the cause of being, goodness, and every other perfection in all things, and we call that something "God."

The fifth way is based on the governance of things. We see that some things lacking cognition, such as natural bodies, work toward an end, as is seen from the fact that they always (or at least usually) act the same way and not accidentally, but by design. Things without knowledge tend toward a goal, however, only if they are guided in that direction by some knowing, understanding being, as is the case with an arrow and archer. Therefore, there is some intelligent being by whom all natural things are ordered to their end, and we call this being "God." 

Questions:

Fact: How does Aquinas prove the existence of God?

Interpretation: Why would this approach to religion be acceptable in the 13th century?

Chartres Cathedral (12th century)

Questions:

Fact: What is striking about this building?

Interpretation: What ideas might this building symbolize?

Reliquary of St. Ursula (Bruges, 14th century?)

Containing the remains of St. Ursula

Question:

What does the design of this reliquary tell you about the role of saints in the Middle Ages?

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