Peter Abelard

Lore & Background

Abelard was born c. His father, a knight named Berenger, encouraged his study of the liberal arts, and Abelard excelled at dialectic. Instead of a military career, he became an academic, wandering throughout France to debate and learn. He first studied under the nominalist Roscellinus of Compiègne, and later in Paris under William of Champeaux, a proponent of philosophical realism. Abelard soon proved able to defeat his master in argument, leading to a long duel that ended in the downfall of realism and the rise of Abelard's conceptualism/nominalism. After studying theology under Anselm of Laon, he became master of the cathedral school of Notre Dame around 1115.

Reader's Guide

Abelard's significance lies in his contributions to philosophy, theology, and literature. In philosophy, his logical solution to the problem of universals via nominalism and conceptualism, and his pioneering of intent in ethics, mark him as a forerunner of later thinkers such as Rousseau, Kant, and Spinoza, and as a chief forerunner of modern empiricism. In Catholic theology, he developed the concept of limbo and introduced the moral influence theory of atonement. He is considered (alongside Augustine) the most significant forerunner of the modern self-reflective autobiographer, paving the way for later epistolary novels and celebrity tell-alls with his publicly distributed letter, The History of My Calamities, and public correspondence. His love affair and philosophical exchange with his student and eventual wife, Héloïse d'Argenteuil, remains a central part of his legacy in history and popular culture.

Did You Know?

• Abelard's father, a knight named Berenger, encouraged his study of the liberal arts, but Abelard rejected knighthood to become a philosopher.
• Abelard first studied under the nominalist Roscellinus of Compiègne and later under William of Champeaux, a proponent of philosophical realism.
• Abelard set up his own school at Melun, then Corbeil, and later on the heights of Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in Paris.
• Abelard became master of the cathedral school of Notre Dame around 1115.
• Abelard's autobiographical piece and public letter Historia Calamitatum (c. 1132?) tells the story of his relationship with Héloïse.