Julie Styer, age 15, of DeKalb, I11. for her question:

WHAT IS SCHOLASTICISM?

Scholasticism was a philosophical system that emphasized the use of reason in exploring questions of philosophy and theology. The Scholastics particularly tried to prove the truth of Christian doctrine and reconcile contradictory viewpoints in Christian theology.

Scholasticism orginated during the 1000s in schools operated by cathedrals and monasteries. The writings on logic by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle had an important early influence on scholasticism. Aristotle had used logic to try to prove the existence of God and his approach attracted many scholastics.

During the 1200s scholasticism reached its high point in western European universities. Many works by Aristotle that had been unknown to medieval philosophers were translated into Latin and for the first time, scholars could study a complete body of philosophy based on experience and reason alone.

Until the translations of Aristotle's works, medieval philosophy had been based largely on the Bible and on writings by early Christian theologians. The scholastics tried to reconcile Aristotle's philosophy with Christianity. They also applied his philosophy to theological problems.

The most important scholastic of the 1200s was Saint Thomas Aquinas. He developed a philosophy that claimed to lead through reason alone to basic truths about God and soul. But Aquinas believed that man needs divine revelation to fill out and expand such knowledge.

In the 1300s, leading scholastics rejected Aquinas' emphasis on reason. They believed that God's actions and purposes are unpredictable and must be learned through revelation.

Beginning in the mid 1600s, scholasticism gradually lost its influence. Today, however, the teachings of some theologians still reflect this influence.

Scholasticism trained its followers to consider every side of a question logically and rationally.

Scholasticism also trained followers to state their arguments briefly and clearly. However, critics claimed that scholasticism relied so much on formal systems that it became artificial and inflexible. Critics also complained that the scholastic method led to the assumption that every problem could be solved by reasoning.

The scholastics developed an extremely formal and sophisticated procedure of investigating philosophical and theological questions. Their method became known as the "disputed question."

The disputed question started with a problem stated by the teacher. Then his students listed the arguments for and against a certain solution to the problem.

Next the students took a position on the problem. And finally, they dealt with the arguments on all sides of the problem, one by one.

Using this method, the teacher and students tried to reach a balanced solution.