68 HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF SCIENCE 



Even scholasticism, the traditional spirit of which was so 

 repellent to that of science, was a sign of the renewal of in- 

 tellectual activity. The story of its development is a revela- 

 tion of how human ability may be perverted and misdirected 

 through limited knowledge. The schoolmen give evidence of 

 great intellectual acumen, although so largely ignorant of the 

 older learning and so mistaken in their concept of authority. 

 Beginning hi the abortive revival of the schools under 

 Charlemagne, scholasticism culminated during the thirteenth 

 century in a broader outlook, but still in conflict with the 

 spirit which soon prevailed. The complete works of Aris- 

 totle became known between 1210 and 1225 and proved a 

 wonderful stimulus. But the schoolmen were mainly con- 

 tent with the authority of Aristotle and the Scriptures in 

 matters of natural knowledge. Only rare individuals among 

 them, like Roger Bacon, recognized the authority of nature. 

 Nevertheless, if their conclusions were false their systems of 

 thought were comprehensive, and often scientific save for 

 their premises. Many of their discussions revolved upon 

 important problems in speculative philosophy which even 

 to-day can be attacked only through speculation. Again, 

 the older universities of Europe were established under the 

 stimulus of scholasticism. When we understand that the 

 great century of the schoolmen (1200-1300) was one of the 

 most intellectual periods in all history, we recognize in 

 scholasticism a prediction and an introduction of the age of 

 new thought which followed. 



The greater social stability, which appeared in western 

 Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the 

 decline of papal authority, incident to the failure of the 

 Crusades, the rise of national states, and the growing politi- 

 cal freedom of the Italian cities were additional factors. 

 When the whole situation is taken into consideration, there 

 is abundant evidence of a changing outlook, during the final 

 century of the Middle Ages. The spirit of other- worldliness 

 was beginning to wane and the bonds of traditional authority 



