Abstract

Late medieval thinking is characterized by the emergence of antagonistic schools of thought such as Albertism, Thomism and Scotism. These schools share the explicit appeal to the authority of a school leader and the support of characteristic philosophical doctrines and methods. Initially, in the period between 1277 and 1330, they were rooted in and developed out of the debates between the religious orders . Later, in the fifteenth century, the educational structure of the universities was the decisive factor in their growth, especially the existence of the bursae. This essay explores characteristics of late medieval schools of thought, their emergence, development and significance. It also treats different philosophical approaches in logic and physics apparent in two examination compendia of the University of Cologne, the Promptuarium argumentorum and the Reparationes librorum totius naturalis philosophiae . As these treatises reveal, already in the first years of their university education students had to study and repeat the different arguments of the different schools. This contributed to the consolidation of the schools as they became an active part of the educational system able to dominate the intellectual climate well into the early modern period