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Life
The sharpest logician in Paris and the most famous lover. His mind cut through every argument. His heart cost him everything.
He reconciled Aristotle with Christianity and wrote the most systematic theology ever attempted. Then he stopped, saying all he had written was straw.
Connection
Peter Abelard methodological influence Thomas Aquinas — Abelard's Sic et Non method of placing authorities in dialogue became the foundation of the scholastic question format Aquinas used.
Ideas
Words
“The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question, and by seeking we may come upon the truth.”
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
“The things that we love tell us what we are.”
Key Moments
c. 1108 CE
Teaching in Paris
c. 1117 CE
The Affair with Heloise
c. 1120 CE
Writes Sic et Non
1142 CE
Death at Saint-Marcel
1245 CE
Studies in Paris and Cologne
1265 CE
Writes the Summa Theologica
December 1273 CE
The Mystical Experience
1274 CE
Dies on the Road
Works
Sic et Non
Summa Theologica