Maurice Marie Charles Joseph De Wulf (April 6, 1867–December 23, 1947), was a Belgian
Thomist
Thomism is the philosophical and theological school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, Aquinas' disputed questions a ...
philosopher, professor of philosophy at the
Catholic University of Leuven
University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to:
* Old University of Leuven (1425–1797)
* State University of Leuven (1817–1835)
* Catholic University of ...
, was one of the pioneers of the
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...
of
medieval philosophy
Medieval philosophy is the philosophy that existed through the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century until after the Renaissance in the 13th and 14th centuries. Medieval philosophy, ...
. His book ''History of Medieval Philosophy'' appeared first in 1900 and was followed by many other editions and translations, one them being available today online.
Life and work
Maurice De Wulf was born at
Poperinghe
Poperinge (; french: Poperinghe, ; vls, Poperienge) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders, Flemish Region, and has a history going back to medieval times. The municipality comprises the town of Poperinge pr ...
, Belgium on 6 April 1867.
He studied at the
Catholic University of Leuven
University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to:
* Old University of Leuven (1425–1797)
* State University of Leuven (1817–1835)
* Catholic University of ...
, where he became a Doctor of Thomistic Theology. He taught the history of medieval philosophy, logic, and criteriology. He was named an honorary president of the 1911 International Congress of Philosophy.
["De Wulf, Maurice Marie Charles Joseph", ''The Catholic Encyclopedia and Its Makers'', New York, the Encyclopedia Press, 1917, p. 43]
/ref>
During the 1920s he taught at Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and his ''Philosophy and Civilization in the Middle Ages'' was published at Princeton in 1922. He was a Knight of the Order of Leopold, and a member of the Imperial and Royal Academy of Brussels The Imperial and Royal Academy (French: ''Académie impériale et royale de Bruxelles''; Dutch: ''Keizerlijke en koninklijke academie van Brussel'') was founded in Brussels by letters patent of the Empress Maria Theresa dated 16 December 1772 , to p ...
, and the Administrative Council of the Royal Library of Belgium. De Wulf contributed articles relative to philosophy to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''.[
Very early it was noted that "In his ''Histoire de la Philosophie Médievale'', Mr. de Wulf departs from the common view which identifies Scholasticism with Mediaeval philosophy, and discovers in the Middle Ages two antithetical currents: Scholasticism proper, represented by ]Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
, Duns Scotus
John Duns Scotus ( – 8 November 1308), commonly called Duns Scotus ( ; ; "Duns the Scot"), was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He is one of the four most important ...
, Albert the Great, etc.; and anti-Scholasticism, of which Scotus Erigena
John Scotus Eriugena, also known as Johannes Scotus Erigena, John the Scot, or John the Irish-born ( – c. 877) was an Irish Neoplatonist philosopher, theologian and poet of the Early Middle Ages. Bertrand Russell dubbed him "the most ...
is the father, and which is continued by the Catharists, the Albigenses and the Pantheistic schools. Mr. de Wulf's view on this point has not met with a ready acceptance. It has been rejected, among others, by Elie Blanc and Picavet. Mr. de Wulf, however, still holds the same opinion, and has defended it again in his Introduction à la Philosophie Neo scolastique."
Maurice De Wulf was a close friend of Cardinal Mercier
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...
. The "De Wulf-Mansion Centre for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy" was founded (1956) at the Institute of Philosophy in Leuven.
De Wulf retired to Poperinghe in late 1947, and died there on 23 December.[
]
Bibliography
* 1892 - ''La Valeur Esthétique de la moralité dans l'Art''
* 1895 - ''Histoire de la Philosophie Scolastique dans les Pays-Bas et la Principauté de Liège, jusqu'à la Révolution française''
* 1896 - ''Études Historiques sur l'Esthétique de Saint Thomas d'Aquin''
* 1900 - ''Histoire de la Philosophie Médiévale''; translated as History of Medieval Philosophy''
* 1901 - ''Le Traité ''De Unitate Formae'' de Gilles de Lessines'' (texte et étude)
* 1904 - ''Un Théologien-Philosophe du XIIIe. Étude sur la Vie, les œuvres et l'Influence de Godefroid de Fontaines''
* 1910 - ''Histoire de la Philosophie en Belgique''
* 1915 - ''Guerre et Philosophie''
* 1920 - ''L'Œuvre d'Art et la Beauté''
* 1922 - ''Philosophy and Civilization in the Middle Ages''
* 1932 - ''Initiation à la Philosophie Thomiste''
Works in English translation
''Scholasticism Old and New,''
M. H. Gill & Son, Ltd., 1907.
** ''An Introduction to Scholastic Philosophy, Medieval and Modern,'' Dover Publications, Inc., 1956.
** ''An Introduction to Scholastic Philosophy, Medieval and Modern,'
Editiones Scholasticae
2012.
''Mediaeval Philosophy: Illustrated from the System of Thomas Aquinas,''
Harvard University Press, 1922.
** ''The System of Thomas Aquinas,'' Dover Publications, Inc., 1959.
** ''The System of Thomas Aquinas,'
Editiones Scholasticae
2013.
''Philosophy and Civilization in the Middle Ages,''
Princeton University Press, 1922.
** ''Philosophy and Civilization in the Middle Ages,'
Editiones Scholasticae
2013.
''History of Mediaeval Philosophy,''
Longmans, Green & Co., 1909.
*
''History of Mediaeval Philosophy,''
Dover Publications, Inc., 1952.[Bierstedt, Robert. "A Medievalist's Medievalist," ''The Saturday Review,'' August 15, 1953.]
* ''Art and Beauty,'' Herder, 1950.
Articles
"Western Philosophy and Theology in the Thirteenth Century,"
''The Harvard Theological Review,'' Vol. XI, 1918.
"The Teaching of Philosophy and the Classification of the Sciences in the Thirteenth Century,"
''The Philosophical Review,'' Vol. 27, No. 4, Jul., 1918.
"The Society of Nations in the Thirteenth Century,"
''International Journal of Ethics,'' Vol. XXIX, 1919.
* "The Autonomy of Mediaeval Philosophy," ''The Harvard Theological Review,'' Vol. 16, No. 2, Apr., 1923.
* "Mystic Life and Mystic Speculation in the Heart of the Middle Ages," ''The Catholic Historical Review,'' Vol. 9, No. 2, Jul., 1923.
Other
"Scholasticism."
In ''Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences,'' Vol. XIII, The Macmillan Company, 1934.
See also
* Neothomism
Neo-scholasticism (also known as neo-scholastic Thomism Accessed 27 March 2013 or neo-Thomism because of the great influence of the writings of Thomas Aquinas on the movement) is a revival and development of medieval scholasticism in Catholic the ...
* Scholasticism
Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translate ...
References
External links
Centre De Wulf-Mansion
*
' (Jacques Maritain Center, University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Wulf, Maurice
1867 births
1947 deaths
Harvard University faculty
Catholic philosophers
Thomists
Academic staff of the Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968)
Contributors to the Catholic Encyclopedia