schoolmen
University theological debaters
Schoolmen were medieval European scholars who taught and debated philosophy and theology in cathedral schools and early universities.
The term refers particularly to practitioners of scholasticism—a method of rigorous logical analysis applied to religious doctrine.
Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus are among the most famous schoolmen.
The word now sounds archaic, sometimes used dismissively for those who split hairs over abstract questions.
Properties holding across all
- nominalismUniversals exist as labels only
- realismAccepting things as they are
- disputationFormal argumentative exchange
- commentariesExplanatory notes on texts
Paris · Bologna · Oxford · Latin · monastic · mendicant · Dominican · Franciscan
Formal deductive argument structure
- logicScience of valid reasoning
- metaphysicsPhilosophy of existence's nature
- categoriesGroups of related things
- substancePhysical material with mass
essence · potentiality · actuality · causality · teleology · analytics · Organon · peripatetic
Formal argumentative exchange
- argumentationSystematic reasoning process
- objectionsExpressions of disapproval
- repliesAnswers given back
- thesisAcademic argument requiring defense
antithesis · distinction · definition · division · counterargument · resolution · determination · magister
Effortless beauty of motion
- salvationDeliverance from harm
- dogmaUnchallengeable official beliefs
- doctrineEstablished body of teachings
- transubstantiationChange of underlying substance
sacraments · predestination · ecclesiology · exegesis · apologetics · providence · theodicy · redemption
universals
Properties holding across all
- nominalismUniversals exist as labels only
- realismAccepting things as they are
- disputationFormal argumentative exchange
commentaries · Paris · Bologna · Oxford · Latin · monastic · mendicant · Dominican · Franciscan
syllogism
Formal deductive argument structure
- logicScience of valid reasoning
- metaphysicsPhilosophy of existence's nature
- categoriesGroups of related things
substance · essence · potentiality · actuality · causality · teleology · analytics · Organon · peripatetic · Avicenna
disputation
Formal argumentative exchange
- argumentationSystematic reasoning process
- objectionsExpressions of disapproval
- repliesAnswers given back
thesis · antithesis · distinction · definition · division · counterargument · resolution · determination · magister · opponent
grace
Effortless beauty of motion
- salvationDeliverance from harm
- dogmaUnchallengeable official beliefs
- doctrineEstablished body of teachings
transubstantiation · sacraments · predestination · ecclesiology · exegesis · apologetics · providence · theodicy · redemption · incarnation
schoolmenempiricists
Philosophers favoring sensory knowledge
natural philosophers · experimentalists · scientists · Bacon · Galileo
schoolmenmystics
Spiritual insight seekers
skeptics · heretics · autodidacts · iconoclasts · empiricists