Abelard: Sic et Non, the Controversy over Universals and His Condemnation

In Sic et Non (1122) Abelard set side by side 158 questions to which the Bible, the Fathers and other authorities give contradictory answers, without offering his own solution. The aim, according to Lane, was to show that reason can reconcile conflicting authorities; Abelard reversed Anselm's formula: "by doubting we come to questioning, and by questioning we attain wisdom." In the controversy over universals between the realist William of Champeaux and the nominalist Roscelin he took an intermediate position ("conceptualism"): a universal is "the meaning of a name"; it is real but does not exist apart from things. Bernard of Clairvaux accused him of creating a "fifth gospel"; Abelard was condemned at Soissons (1121) and Sens (1140).