The Sociology of Philosophies

auxiliary studies. Formal argument was studied as a preparation for legal

practice, and disputations in the madrasas resembled the disputations which

undergirded the scholastic method of textual argument in the universities. The

madrasas never became creative centers either in logic or in philosophy more

broadly. They lacked the internal structure of the universities, where the

separation of the preliminary arts from theology and law allowed networks of

innovating intellectuals to build up in the most insulated areas of the organi-

zation. As elsewhere in Islam, there were institutional elements which were

similar to Christianity, but they were combined in different proportions; the

balance was different, the outcome intellectually more conservative and tradi-

tional.

The Sequence of External Changes in the Bases of Intellectual Life

Recall our sociological conception of intellectual change. There is a two-step

flow of causality. External conditions change the material bases in which

intellectuals work; their networks then adjust to the new competitive space,

rearranging the cultural capital they have carried over from the previous

period. Creativity is especially prominent at each institutional turning point.

Schematically, then, we expect the following in medieval Christendom:

1. The takeoff of the reformed monasteries. This is a period of intense
   competition over religious status and expansion of religious participation
   throughout the society. It is the period of the wandering dialecticians, culmi-
   nating in the creativity of Anselm and Abelard.


2. The growth of the bureaucratic papacy, shifting the center of intellectual
   life to the universities. This is the time of high scholasticism, the building of
   formal systems, the search for additional cultural capital by imports from the
   old Mediterranean sources. Philosophical creativity results from the synthesis
   of these materials. Another institutional factor emerges in this period. The mo-
   nastic sector, which is now taking a back seat to the new church organizations,
   puts forth another set of movements. These are the friars, orders of monks
   outside the monasteries, active in doctrinal disputes and in the life of the cities.
   The Franciscans and Dominicans move to where the intellectual action is, and
   soon their rivalry dominates theology and philosophy at the universities.


3. The last phase of medieval intellectual life, following from the crisis of
   the papacy which sets in around 1300. The bid for theocratic power crests and
   fails. The very organizational resources that were built up by the church are
   turned against it. The dynamic monasteries had built a wealthy economy,
   which now spills over into the non-church sector. Kingdoms consolidate,
   especially in England and France; the city-states of northern Italy prosper under
   rival patronage of emperor and pope. There are now positions for lawyers and

462 •^ Intellectual Communities: Western Paths