SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY 



through the universal ; but when he sought beyond 

 the individual for the universal, which is the foun- 

 dation of all definition, he could find it nowhere but in 

 the human understanding." 



Upon these distinctions arose the conflicting doc- 

 trines of the Realists and of the Nominalists. The one 

 holding that the quiddity or the abstract nature of 

 the substance existed really only in the Form ; i.e., in 

 the idea or thought of the Creative Spirit. The other, 

 that the substances i. e.,the combination of the form 

 with matter was the only quiddity ; the individual 

 thing was the only reality, all else existing only 

 potentially. These different views have descended to 

 our times, and have given rise to endless discussion 

 among metaphysicians. 



The philosophy of the Middle Ages, the learning, 

 thought and writings of Gerbert, of John Scott Eri- 

 gena, of Roscelin, of Abelard, of Duns Scotus, and 

 largely even of Albertus Magnus, were little else than 

 the discussions from varied points of view of these 

 theories and of the nature of the Universal in regard 

 to the three questions of Porphyry. 



Albertus Magnus states that the nature of the Uni- 

 versals might be considered in three ways : First, 

 "Universale ante rem" is single and unchangeable, 

 the nature, which was the name and cause of exis- 

 tence ; second, " Universale post rem," as existing in 



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