Editing Dialectic (section)

== Medieval philosophy ==
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Dialectic was a part of Logic, one of the three liberal arts taught in [[medieval universities]] as part of the [[trivium]]; the other elements were rhetoric and [[grammar]].<ref>Abelson, P. (1965). The seven liberal arts; a study in mediæval culture. New York: Russell & Russell. p. 82.</ref><ref>Hyman, A., & Walsh, J. J. (1983). Philosophy in the Middle Ages: the Christian, Islamic, and Jewish traditions. Indianapolis: Hackett. p. 164.</ref><ref>Adler, Mortimer Jerome (2000). "Dialectic". Routledge. p. 4. {{ISBN|0-415-22550-7}}</ref><ref>Herbermann, C. G. (1913). The Catholic encyclopedia: an international work of reference on the constitution, doctrine, and history of the Catholic church. New York: The Encyclopedia press. pp. 760–764.</ref>

Following [[Boethius]] (480–524), who drew heavily on Aristotle,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/fromtopictotalel0000vanc/page/44 <!-- quote=dialectics in Boethius. --> From topic to tale: logic and narrativity in the Middle Ages], by Eugene Vance, pp.&nbsp;43-45</ref> many scholastic philosophers made use of dialectics in their works, including [[Peter Abelard]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01036b.htm |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |title=Peter Abelard |via=Newadvent.org |date=1 March 1907 |access-date=3 November 2011}}</ref> [[William of Sherwood]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f3uMdwDVvL8C&q=dialectical&pg=PA70 |title=William of Sherwood's Introduction to logic |first=Norman |last=Kretzmann |date=January 1966 |pages=69–102 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-0-8166-0395-4}}</ref> [[Garlandus Compotista]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7mcPcSuUa8EC&dq=Garlandus+Compotista+and+Dialectic+in+the+Eleventh+and+Twelfth+Centuries&pg=RA1-PA198 |title=A History of Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy |first=Peter |last=Dronke |date=9 July 1992 |page=198 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-42907-8}}</ref> [[Walter Burley]], Roger Swyneshed, [[William of Ockham]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UnW7AAAAIAAJ&dq=William+of+Ockham+dialectical+materialism&pg=PA11 |title=Medieval literary politics: shapes of ideology |first=Sheila |last=Delany |date=1990 |page=11 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-3045-1}}</ref> and [[Thomas Aquinas]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14663b.htm |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |title=St. Thomas Aquinas |via=Newadvent.org |date=1 March 1907 |access-date=20 October 2015}}</ref>

This dialectic (a {{lang|la|quaestio disputata}}) was formed as follows:
# The question to be determined ("It is asked whether...");
# A provisory answer to the question ("And it seems that...");
# The principal arguments in favor of the provisory answer;
# An argument against the provisory answer, traditionally a single argument from authority ("On the contrary...");
# The determination of the question after weighing the evidence ("I answer that...");
# The replies to each of the initial objections. ("To the first, to the second etc., I answer that...")