Abstract

The central theme which unites the essays is the fundamental shift, occurring at the end of the twelfth and throughout the thirteenth century, in how knowledge and education were understood. Up to this time human knowledge was classified primarily under the rubric of artes and philosophy was conceived and taught within the schema of the seven artes liberales. During these pivotal decades, however, under the influence of Aristotle's Posterior Analytics, the concept of scientia becomes dominant, and the rules and methods productive of scientific knowledge become an ever more prominent theme. Knowledge is now rigorously divided into a plurality of scientiae with the divisions among the individual sciences receiving sophisticated philosophical justifications. This new conception of knowledge finds expression in the rise of the universities as well as in the formation of a separate Arts faculty. Precisely this understanding of science, moreover, with its rigorous method as well as divisions according to the objects studied, represents an enduring contribution of the Middle Ages to succeeding centuries.