Abelard, Peter (1079–1142)

Peter Abelard was a controversial philosopher and theologian and an example of early Scholasticism. Abelard has often been remembered more for his tragic relationship with Heloise, the brilliant and lovely young student with whom he fell in love early in his career, than for his intellectual contributions. (Recent scholarly work on Abelard suggests that Heloise had a significant intellectual influence on him.) But he was an important thinker in his own right and a forerunner of 13th century dialectic. Keywords: Key people or groups