39 



thought must make some declaration on the nature 

 and place of universals ; the problem was no hair 

 splitting 1 , it dealt with the very nature and origin 

 of being ; it agitated the minds of thinking men 

 at a time of the most fervid and widespread en- 

 thusiasm for knowledge which the Western world 

 has ever known, at a time when Oxford counted 

 its students by thousands, and when in Paris a 

 throng athirst for knowledge would stretch from 



theology. "II a cherche a reconcilier des morts (i.e. Plato 

 and Aristotle) qui, toute leur vie, se sont contredits." But 

 even sceptics contradict themselves ; and it is fair to add 

 that St Thomas pushed universals back to immanence in the 

 Divine mind. For Plato the ideas are thoughts of universal 

 mind ; for Aristotle God, or Nature by its thoughts or plans 

 determines the lines of phenomena : thus Plato and Aristotle 

 were more alike than Thomas knew, or Haureau admits. 

 There was no such thing of course as The Scholastic Philo- 

 sophy, of which I read again but the other day in a modern 

 work. Scholasticism is the very various teaching of the schools 

 of the xi xvth centuries; though its general tendency was 

 to search rather into the origin and nature than into the 

 functions of being. The philosophy of the thirteenth century 

 on the whole was eclectic ; though perhaps eclectic by con- 

 fusion rather than by reconciliation. The rule of authority 

 prevented an appreciation of the relative values of opinions; 

 the recognised authorities were equally true, and had to be 

 dovetailed together somehow. Critical interpretation had not 

 begun. 



1 The objection should not lie against hair splitting, for 

 thought cannot be too penetrating ; but against the splitting 

 of imaginary hairs. 



