Roscelin of Compiègne (), better known by his
Latinized name
Latinisation (or Latinization) of names, also known as onomastic Latinisation, is the practice of rendering a ''non''-Latin name in a Latin style. It is commonly found with historical proper names, including personal names and toponyms, and in ...
Roscellinus Compendiensis or Rucelinus, was a French
philosopher and
theologian
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
, often regarded as the founder of
nominalism
In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels. There are at least two main versions of nominalism. One version denies the existence of universalsthings ...
.
Biography
Roscellinus was born in
Compiègne
Compiègne (; pcd, Compiène) is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. It is located on the river Oise. Its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois''.
Administration
Compiègne is the seat of two cantons:
* Compiègne-1 (with 19 ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. Little is known of his life, and knowledge of his doctrines is mainly derived from
Anselm and
Abelard
Peter Abelard (; french: link=no, Pierre Abélard; la, Petrus Abaelardus or ''Abailardus''; 21 April 1142) was a Middle Ages, medieval French Scholasticism, scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, poet, composer and musician. This ...
.
He studied at
Soissons
Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital o ...
and
Reims, was afterwards attached to the
cathedral of Chartres and became canon of
Compiègne
Compiègne (; pcd, Compiène) is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. It is located on the river Oise. Its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois''.
Administration
Compiègne is the seat of two cantons:
* Compiègne-1 (with 19 ...
. As a monk of Compiègne, he was teaching as early as 1087. He had contact with
Lanfranc,
Anselm and
St. Ivo of Chartres.
It seems most probable that Roscellinus was not strictly the first to promulgate
nominalistic doctrines; but in his exposition they received more definite expression, and being applied to the
dogma
Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Isla ...
of the
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
, attracted universal attention.
Roscellinus maintained that it is merely a habit of speech which prevents our speaking of the three persons as three substances or three Gods. If it were otherwise, and the three persons were really one substance or thing (''una res''), we should be forced to admit that the Father and the
Holy Spirit became incarnate along with the Son. Roscellinus seems to have put forward this doctrine in perfect good faith, and to have claimed for it at first the authority of Lanfranc and Anselm.
In 1092/1093, however, a
council convoked at Soissons by the
archbishop of Reims
The Archdiocese of Reims (traditionally spelt "Rheims" in English) ( la, Archidiœcesis Remensis; French: ''Archidiocèse de Reims'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastic territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. Erected as a diocese a ...
condemned his interpretation, and Roscellinus, who was accused of
tritheism
Tritheism (from Greek τριθεΐα, "three divinity") is a nontrinitarian Christian heresy in which the unity of the Trinity and thus monotheism are denied. It represents more a "possible deviation" than any actual school of thought positing thre ...
, recanted the doctrines attributed to him, but only out of fear of
excommunication
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
and even
stoning
Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times.
The Torah and Ta ...
to death by the orthodox populace, for later he returned to his early theories. He fled to England, but having made himself unpopular by an attack on the doctrines of Anselm, he left the country and repaired to Rome, where he was well received and became reconciled to the Catholic Church. He then returned to France, taught at
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...
and Loc-menach (
Loches
Loches () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department, central France.
It is situated southeast of Tours by road, on the left bank of the river Indre.
History
Loches (the Roman ''Leucae'') grew up around a monastery founded about 500 by St ...
) in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
(where he had Abelard as a pupil), and finally became canon of
Besançon
Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...
. He is heard of as late as 1121, when he came forward to oppose Abelard's views on the Trinity. He was also sent a letter by
Theobald of Étampes for having denigrated wrongfully the sons of priests.
Of his writings there exists only a letter addressed to Abelard on the Trinity, in which Roscellinus "belittles Abélard and makes merry over his
castration
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharma ...
."
Hauréau brings forward his name in connection with a text: "Sententia de universalibus secundum magistrum R." ("Notices et extr. de quelques manuscr. lat.", V, Paris, 1892, 224), but this is a conjecture. We have as evidences of his doctrine texts of Anselm, Abelard,
John of Salisbury
John of Salisbury (late 1110s – 25 October 1180), who described himself as Johannes Parvus ("John the Little"), was an English author, philosopher, educationalist, diplomat and bishop of Chartres.
Early life and education
Born at Salisbury, E ...
, and an anonymous epigram. His share in the history of ideas and especially his nominalism have been exaggerated, his celebrity being far more due to his theological tritheism.
Roscelin's nominalism, or ''Sententia Vocum''
According to
Otto of Freisingen Roscelin ''primus nostris temporibus sententiam vocum instituit'' (''Gesta Friderici imp''. in ''
Monum. German. History: Script.'', XX, 376) (Literally: "was the first in our times to institute the opinion/theory of words"), but the chronicler of the "Historia Francia" (cf.
Bouquet, "''Recueil des hist. des Gaules et de la France''", XII, Paris, 1781, 3, b, c) mentions before him a "magister Johannes", whose personality is much discussed and who has not yet been definitively identified. What constitutes the ''sententia vocum''? To judge of it we have besides the texts mentioned above which bear directly on Roscelin an exposition of the treatise ''De generibus et speciebus'' (thirteenth century), wrongly attributed to Abelard by
Victor Cousin
Victor Cousin (; 28 November 179214 January 1867) was a French philosopher. He was the founder of "eclecticism", a briefly influential school of French philosophy that combined elements of German idealism and Scottish Common Sense Realism. As ...
. The "sententia vocum" was one of the anti-Realist solutions of the
problem of universals
The problem of universals is an ancient question from metaphysics that has inspired a range of philosophical topics and disputes: Should the properties an object has in common with other objects, such as color and shape, be considered to exist be ...
accepted by the early Middle Ages. Resuming
Porphyry's alternative (''mox de generibus et speciebus illud quidem sive subsistent sive in nudis intellectibus posita sint'') the first medieval philosophers regarded genera and species (substance, corporeity, animality, humanity) either as things or as having no existence, and applying to this alternative a terminology of
Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, ''magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the tr ...
, they derived thence either res (things) or voces (words). To the nominalists
universals
In metaphysics, a universal is what particular things have in common, namely characteristics or qualities. In other words, universals are repeatable or recurrent entities that can be instantiated or exemplified by many particular things. For exa ...
were ''voces'' 'voices', which means: (1) above all that universals are not ''res'', that is that only the individual exists: ''nam cum habeat eorum sententia nihil esse praeter individuum ...'' (De gener. et spec., 524). Nominalism was essentially anti-Realist. (2) that universals are merely words, ''flatus vocis'', e.g., the word "homo", divisible into syllables, consonants and vowels. ''Fuit autem, nemini magistri nostri Roscellini tam insana sententia ut nullam rem partibus constare vellet, sed sicut solis vocibus species, ita et partes ascridebat'' (Abelard, ''Liber divisionum'', ed. Cousin, 471); "
..''Illi utique dialectici, qui non nisi flatum vocis putant universalis esse substantias, et qui colorem non aliud queunt intellegere quam corpus, nec sapientiam hominis aliud quam animam, prorsus a spiritualium quaestionum disputatione sunt exsufflandi.''" (Anselm, ''De Incarnatione Verbi'', p. 285. Opera Omnia, vol. 1. Ed. F.S. Schmitt, 1938); "''Alius ergo consistit in vocibus, licet haec opinio cum Roscelino suo fere omnino evanuerit'' (John of Salisbury, ''Metalog.'', II, 17). The universal is reduced to an emission of sound (''flatus vocis''), in conformity with Boethius' definition: ''Nihil enim aliud est prolatio (vocis) quam aeris plectro linguae percussio''. Roscelin's universal corresponds to what is now called the "universale in voce" in opposition to ''universale in re'' and ''universale in intellectu''.
But this theory of Roscelin's had no connection with the abstract concept of genus and species. He did not touch on this question. It is certain that he did not deny the existence or possibility of these concepts, and he was therefore not a nominalist in the fashion of
Taine or in the sense in which nominalism is now understood. That is why, in reference to the modern sense of the word, some call it a pseudo-nominalism. John of Salisbury, speaking of "nominalis secta" (Metalog., II, 10), gives it quite another meaning. So Roscelin's rudimentary, even childish, solution does not compromise the value of universal concepts and may be called a stage in the development of
moderate realism
Moderate realism (also called immanent realism) is a position in the debate on the metaphysics of universals associated with the hylomorphic substance theory of Aristotle. There is no separate realm in which universals exist (in opposition to P ...
. However, because of his position as the first medieval philosopher to challenge medieval Realism, he has been invoked as a forefather of modernity.
[Richard J. Utz, "Medievalism as Modernism: Alfred Andersch's Nominalist ''Littérature engageé''," ''Studies in Medievalism'' 6 (1993), 76–90.]
Roscelin was also taken to task by Anselm and Abelard for the less clear idea which he gave of the whole and of composite substance. According to Anselm he maintained that colour does not exist independently of the horse which serves as its support and that the wisdom of the soul is not outside of the soul which is wise (De fide trinit., 2). He denies to the whole, such as house, man, real existence of its parts. The word alone had parts, ''ita divinam paginam pervertit, ut eo loco quo Dominus partem piscis assi comedisse partem hujus vocis, quae est piscis assi, non partem rei intelligere cogatur'' (Cousin, P. Abaelardi opera, II. 151).
Roscelin was not without his supporters; among them was his contemporary
Raimbert of Lille, and what the monk
Hériman relates of his doctrine agrees with the statements of the master of Compiègne. Universal substances, says Hériman, are but a breath, which means ''eos de sapientium numero merito esse exsufflandos''. He merely comments on the saying of Anselm characterized by the same jesting tone: a spiritualium quaestionum disputatione sunt exsufflandi" (''
P.L.'', 256a), and says that to understand the windy loquacity of Raimbert of Lille one has but to breathe into his hand (''manuque ori admota exsufflans'' "''Mon. Germ. Hist.''", XIV, 275).
Tritheism of Roscelin
Roscelin considered the three Divine Persons as three independent beings, like three angels; if usage permitted, he added, it might truly be said that there are three Gods. Otherwise, he continued, God the Father and God the Holy Ghost would have become incarnate with God the Son. To retain the appearance of dogma he admitted that the three Divine Persons had but one will and power [''Audio ... quod Roscelinus clericus dicit in tres personas esse tres res ab invicem separatas, sicut sunt tres angeli, ita tamen ut una sit voluntas et potestas aut Patrem et Spiritum sanctum esse incarnatum; et tres deos vere posse dici si usus admitteret'' (letter of Anselm to Foulques)].
This characteristic
tritheism
Tritheism (from Greek τριθεΐα, "three divinity") is a nontrinitarian Christian heresy in which the unity of the Trinity and thus monotheism are denied. It represents more a "possible deviation" than any actual school of thought positing thre ...
, which Anselm and Abelard agreed in refuting even after its author's conversion, seems an indisputable application of Roscelin's anti-Realism. He even argues that if the three Divine Persons form but one God, all three have become incarnate. There are therefore three Divine substances, three Gods, as there are three angels, because each substance constitutes an individual, which is the fundamental assertion of anti-Realism. The ideas of the theologian are closely linked with those of the philosopher.
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
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{{Authority control
Philosophers of language
French philosophers
1050s births
1120s deaths
People from Compiègne
French male writers
11th-century French philosophers
11th-century French writers
11th-century Latin writers
12th-century French philosophers