Peter Abelard

Peter Abelard was a French scholastic philosopher and theologian famous for his conceptualism in the debate over universals, his method of dialectical inquiry in Sic et Non, and his tragic love affair with Héloïse. He sought to apply reason rigorously to theological questions.

Abelard's position on universals — that they are mental concepts formed from experience, neither mere names nor Platonic forms — occupied a middle ground between nominalism and realism. His ethical theory, which grounded moral judgement in intention rather than act alone, was a significant innovation in medieval ethics.