Editing Scholasticism (section)

=== High scholasticism ===

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The 13th and early 14th centuries are generally seen as the high period of scholasticism. The early 13th century witnessed the culmination of the [[recovery of Aristotle|recovery of Greek philosophy]]. Schools of translation grew up in Italy and Sicily, and eventually in the rest of Europe. Powerful Norman kings gathered men of knowledge from Italy and other areas into their courts as a sign of their prestige.{{sfn|Lindberg|1978|pp=70–72}} [[William of Moerbeke]]'s translations and editions of Greek philosophical texts in the middle half of the thirteenth century helped form a clearer picture of Greek philosophy, particularly of Aristotle, than was given by the Arabic versions on which they had previously relied. [[Edward Grant]] writes "Not only was the structure of the Arabic language radically different from that of Latin, but some Arabic versions had been derived from earlier Syriac translations and were thus twice removed from the original Greek text. Word-for-word translations of such Arabic texts could produce tortured readings. By contrast, the structural closeness of Latin to Greek, permitted literal, but intelligible, word-for-word translations."<ref name=institutions />

[[university|Universities]] developed in the large cities of Europe during this period, and rival clerical orders within the church began to battle for political and intellectual control over these centers of educational life. The two main orders founded in this period were the [[Franciscans]] and the [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]]. The Franciscans were founded by [[Francis of Assisi]] in 1209. Their leader in the middle of the century was [[Bonaventure]], a traditionalist who defended the theology of [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] and the philosophy of [[Plato]], incorporating only a little of Aristotle in with the more neoplatonist elements. Following Anselm, Bonaventure supposed that reason can only discover truth when philosophy is illuminated by religious faith.<ref>Hammond, Jay, Wayne Hellmann, and Jared Goff, eds. ''A companion to Bonaventure.'' Brill, 2014, 122</ref> Other important Franciscan scholastics were [[Duns Scotus]], [[Peter Auriol]] and [[William of Ockham]].<ref>Evans, Gillian Rosemary. ''Fifty key medieval thinkers.'' Routledge, 2002, 93–93, 147–149, 164–169</ref><ref>Gracia, Jorge JE, and Timothy B. Noone, eds. A companion to philosophy in the middle ages. John Wiley & Sons, 2008, 353–369, 494–503, 696–712</ref>

By contrast, the Dominican order, a teaching order founded by [[St Dominic]] in 1215, to propagate and defend Christian doctrine, placed more emphasis on the use of reason and made extensive use of the [[recovery of Aristotle|new Aristotelian sources]] derived from the East and Moorish Spain. The great representatives of Dominican thinking in this period were [[Albertus Magnus]] and (especially) [[Thomas Aquinas]], whose artful synthesis of Greek rationalism and Christian doctrine eventually came to define Catholic philosophy. 

Aquinas's masterwork, ''[[Summa Theologica]]'' (1265–1274), is considered to be the pinnacle of scholastic, medieval, and Christian philosophy.<ref name=GilsonP>{{cite book|last=Gilson|first=Etienne|title=The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy (Gifford Lectures 1933–35)|year=1991|publisher=University of Notre Dame Press|location=Notre Dame, IN|isbn=978-0-268-01740-8|pages=490}}</ref> It began while Aquinas was regent master at the ''studium provinciale'' of [[Santa Sabina]] in Rome, the forerunner of the [[Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas]]. Aquinas placed more emphasis on reason and argumentation, and was one of the first to use the new translation of Aristotle's metaphysical and epistemological writing. This was a significant departure from the [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonic]] and Augustinian thinking that had dominated much of early scholasticism. Aquinas showed how it was possible to incorporate much of the philosophy of Aristotle without falling into the "errors" of the Commentator, [[Averroes]].<ref>Hannam, James. The genesis of science: How the Christian Middle Ages launched the scientific revolution. Simon and Schuster, 2011, 90–93</ref>