The Influence Of Scholasticism Upon The Mediaeval Universities

Scholastic methods include two: research method and writing method. It is a method of analysis andsynthesis. In the middle ages it is called dialectical method. In the medieval universities it is widely used inall disciplines, speech and debate and becomes the most important teaching method in the university;dispute and discussion between different factions within the scholasticism has promoted the academicfreedom; two basic features of scholasticism:"school" and the "dialectics", determine the legal status ofreason; scholasticism has contributed to the rise and development of universities in the middle ages.The paper starts from the shaping of the university. After talking about the background of thescholastic development of the university, the author of this paper analyzes the influence of thescholasticism on the middle age universities, focusing on the following five aspects: scholasticismcontributes to the rise and development of universities in the middle ages; the academic atmosphere ofmedieval universities created by scholasticism is the highlights of middle age universities; the scholasticdebate between nominalism and realism has contributed to the formation of the university debating culturein the middle ages, greatly promoting the academic research; translation movement of the12th centuryprovides a wealth of teaching materials for the medieval university, and scholasticism, especially thenatural philosophy of the school also benefits from the translation movement; scholasticism has promotedthe legitimacy of reason, forming the spirit of the universities.The emergence and development of the university is a big improvement in the ideological and culturallife of the community. Scholasticism is based on the awakening of reason, while the awakening of reason isthe inner strength of the formation of the academic freedom. The scholastic debate on academic freedompromotes the university development. The establishment of the university autonomy and the academicfreedom at the university provide a good environment and place. Scholastic philosophers’ thought and theirproposals on all sorts of new questions, especially the culture of freedom of academic debates formed in theuniversity is also very beneficial for the rational development of the time.Spirit of freedom, independence and science, all those are shaped in the course of the establishment ofthe university. It is a source of vitality and power of the university. The rise of the university has promotedsecularization and popularization of the western European education. As a matter of fact, both the modern university system and the modern university philosophy all come from universities in the middle ages.Universities in the middle ages are significant to the modern university, so people should not forget therelationship between the spirit of modern university and the university tradition in the middle ages.