traders did not trouble themselves with Greek classics, any more than English or American traders
in Shanghai troubled themselves with the classics of China. (European knowledge of Chinese
classics was derived mainly from missionaries.)
THE GROWTH OF SCHOLASTICISMScholasticism, in its narrower sense, begins early in the twelfth century. As a philosophic school,
it has certain definite characteristics. First, it is confined within the limits of what appears to the
writer to be orthodoxy; if his views are condemned by a council, he is usually willing to retract.
This is not to be attributed entirely to cowardice; it is analogous to the submission of a judge to
the decision of a Court of Appeal. Second, within the limits of orthodoxy, Aristotle, who
gradually became more fully known during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, is increasingly
accepted as the supreme authority; Plato no longer holds the first place. Third, there is a great
belief in "dialectic" and in syllogistic reasoning; the general temper of the scholastics is minute
and disputatious rather than mystical. Fourth, the question of universals is brought to the fore by
the discovery that Aristotle and Plato do not agree about it; it would be a mistake to suppose,
however, that universals are the main concern of the philosophers of this period.
The twelfth century, in this as in other matters, prepares the way for the thirteenth, to which the
greatest names belong. The earlier men have, however, the interest of pioneers. There is a new
intellectual confidence, and, in spite of the respect for Aristotle, a free and vigorous exercise of
reason wherever dogma has not made speculation too dangerous. The defects of the scholastic
method are those that inevitably result from laying stress on "dialectic." These defects are:
indifference to facts and science, belief in reasoning in matters which only observation can decide,
and an undue emphasis on verbal distinctions and subtleties. These defects we had occasion to
mention in connection with Plato, but in the scholastics they exist in a much more extreme form.
The first philosopher who can be regarded as strictly a scholastic is Roscelin. Not very much is
known about him. He was born at