ABSTRACT
The story of Peter Abelard is well known by millions whose acquaintance with philosophy is of the slightest, and who are totally unaware of the part played by purely philosophical controversies in his stormy career. Born about 1080 in Pallet, near Nantes in Brittany, Abelard came of noble stock. His father and mother seem to have been persons of culture and refinement, and to Peter, their eldest son, they gave the best education they could afford. Roscellinus, who declared that Universals were simply empty names, was promptly accused of heresy for denying the central dogmas of the Faith. William of Champeaux, on the other hand, was a stout defender of the Realist view that Universals enjoyed a reality of their own. Abelard had hoped that the Council of Soissons would become the scene of his triumph. He would show the world that his spirit, unlike his body, was far from being maimed. The event turned out differently.
