"The Debate on Universals before Peter Abelard" by Augustine Thompson, O.P., in Journal of the History of Philosophy (July 1995), P.O. Box 24580, Los Angeles, Calif. 90024.

In the late 11th and early 12th centuries, early medieval philosophers engaged in a sometimes bitter debate about "universals." Historians have portrayed this as a two-sided argument. "Nominalists" considered universals such as "goodness" and "justice" mere words. One could use a word such as humanity, but that did not mean that such an entity existed. "Realists" regarded universals as real things. Their arguments went on fruitlessly, according to the traditional historical view, until the genius Peter Abelard (1079-1142) hammered out a synthesis.

Recent scholarship has cast doubt on this account. It now appears that Abelard was "a far less pivotal thinker" than most historians once believed, writes Thompson, a professor of religious studies at the University of Oregon.

Between 1080 and 1120, the most influential writers and teachers of Western Christendom were "realists."

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