The Context of Scholasticism

Abstract

If ‘scepticism’ is one fundamental ingredient of White’s intellectual context, another is ‘scholasticism’. Another concept which defies easy definition, scholasticism had for centuries provided acceptable principles and parameters in terms of which philosophy could be formulated and truth pursued. But challenged both by scepticism and by that other developing complex of ideas labelled ‘the new philosophy’, scholasticism during White’s own lifetime was in crisis. It was his attempt to fuse that traditional thought, in which he had been brought up, with many of the new ideas with which he later came in contact, that makes White’s Blackloist philosophy of particular interest and historical significance; for in furtherance of his anti-sceptical goal, he succeeded in formulating a synthesis of seeming incompatibilities. It is facets of this synthesis that we shall be examining in Chapters 10–13, but it is first necessary to consider more closely scholasticism itself.