Roscelin

Johannes Roscelin of Compiègne (* around 1050 in Compiègne ; † around 1124), Latin Roscellinus Compendiensis , was a French cathedral canon , the teacher of Peter Abelard and like him a philosopher and theologian . He represented an extreme nominalism .

Life

Little is known about Roscelin's life. He is said to have been born in Compiègne in northern France and studied in Soissons and Reims .

As a canon and member of the cathedral chapters of Tours and Besançon , he was the author of a doctrine on the basis of which he was accused of denying the Trinity of God .

Because of this tritheistic doctrine, he had to answer at a synod in Soissons in 1092 (or 1093) - whether he was formally condemned is not known - and then left France for England. In the following year he was also expelled from England after he had made a moralizing disapproval of the way of life of the priests there. Anselm , formerly Abbot of Le Bec Abbey and now Archbishop of Canterbury , wrote against him.

He found no place to stay in Chartres , although Bishop Ivo was well disposed to him , because there he was threatened with stoning by the angry people.

Apparently after 1095 he was able to continue his apprenticeship in Tours and Loches , where Peter Abelard became his pupil. This later attacked his former teacher in a non-preserved letter to the cathedral chapter of Tours and addressed in another letter to Bishop Galon and the clergy of Paris to take action against "this old enemy of the Catholic faith" because of his doctrine of the Trinity.

In 1098 Roscelin personally brought a revised version of his doctrine of the Trinity to Pope Urban II , with a request for assessment, and found his approval.

After this time nothing has come down to us that would have brought him close to heresy.

effect

According to Otto von Freising , Roscelin is one of the founders of extreme nominalism . In his view, there are only objects that can be perceived with the sense organs. On the other hand, terms - which the realists in the universality controversy regard as actually existing - are merely designations ( flatus vocis = breath of air produced by the voice) and as such only sound and smoke. One conclusion was that the Trinity was just such a term and actually an aggregate of three (different?) Substances - a clearly heretical view ( tritheism ), which he probably had to revoke in Soissons.

However, the sources are very sparse not only about his life, but also about his teaching: there is only a letter invective from his hand, addressed to his former student Abelard, from which this extreme nominalism cannot be read. Otherwise we only know about him from the writings of his opponents, especially Anselm of Canterbury . It remains debatable whether Roscelin was actually an early proponent of extreme nominalism.

literature

• Klaus Kienzler :  Roscelin. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 8, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-053-0 , Sp. 660-661.
• Gereon Wolters (philosopher) : Roscelin von Compiègne , in: Jürgen Mittelstraß (Hrsg.): Encyclopedia Philosophy and Philosophy of Science. 2nd Edition. Volume 7. Stuttgart, Metzler 2018, ISBN 978-3-476-02106-9 , p. 173 (with detailed bibliography)

Web links

• Literature by and about Roscelin in the catalog of the German National Library
• Descriptive letter from Roscelin to Peter Abelard , Latin-German
• Public letter from Peter Abelard to Bishop Galon and the clergy of Paris, directed against Roscelin and his teaching , Latin-German