ffective forces to
keep investigation active, and the schools themselves from
decline.
In Paris, it was the cultivation of Logic, but chiefly the new
method in Theology, ... developed in various ways especially by
Abelard and other teachers, and extended by his contemporaries
and their disciples ... which caused the revolution in the
schools of that city.[16]
(_b_) The new method of Abelard established a new form of exposition,
and consequently a new mode of teaching, in Canon Law and in Theology.
The earliest university text-book in Canon Law--the "Decretum" of
Gratian--adopted this method, with some modifications. It was followed
in portions of the chief text-book in Theology,--the "Sentences" of
Peter Lombard. Variously modified, it became the method used in all
subsequent scholastic philosophy and theology. It was widely used in
connection with other university studies. In general, it was to
mediaeval education what the method of experiment is to the study and
teaching of modern natural science. A good illustration of its recent
use is Thomas Harper's "Metaphysic of the School."
(_c_) The scholastic method became the basis of one of the most
important university exercises,--the disputation or debate, which was
employed in every field of study.[17]
3. THE NEW STUDIES
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the intellectual life of
western Europe was enriched by the addition of a group of books, old and
new, which were destined to influence profoundly the growth of the
universities, as well as the whole course of mediaeval life and thought.
Without some such addition to the stock of learning higher education
could hardly have developed at all, for the materials available for it
previous to the twelfth century were decidedly scanty. The books
presently to be described furnished a body of advanced and solid
instruction, suited to the needs of the times. They formed one of the
permanent influences which both developed and maintained centers of
higher education, for the new learning was not less potent in
attracting students than the fame of individual teachers or the new
method of study.
The greater number of the books which formed the body of university
instruction were recoveries from the mass of ancient and long-disused
Greek and Roman learning, together with a few works of Arabic and Jewish
origin. To this group belong the works of Aristotle, the body of Roman
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