In Search of the Truth: A History of Disputation Techniques from Antiquity to Early Modern Times

170 Pages·2013·0.7 MB·English

by  Olga Weijers

Studies on the Faculty of Arts
History and Influence
Volume 1
I S T
n earch of the ruth
Editors
Luca Bianchi (Vercelli)
Jacques Verger (Paris)
Olga Weijers (Paris) A History of Disputation Techniques
from Antiquity to Early M odern Times
Editorial Board
Amos Bertolacci (Pisa)
Dragos Calma (Cluj, Paris)
David Lines (Warwick)
Colette Sirat (Paris)
by
Olga Weijers
BREPOLS
Layout
Dragos Calma
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION n
Disputation in context 13
Sources 15
Vocabulary 15
Structure 16
Acknowledgements 21
I. ANTIQUITY 23
Disputation, dialectic and rhetoric 23
Scholastic exercises 2 5
The teaching of philosophy 26
Dialectic and rhetoric in later times 27
Literary genres 28
The role of Aristotle 3°
The role of the Sophistici elenchi 34
The method of the aporiai 3 5
The method of zetemata kai luseis after Aristotle 3 8
The dialectical disputation after Aristotle 40
©2013, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium.
Public disputation in late Antiquity 40
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
II. DISPUTE AND DIALOGUE 45
photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the orior permission of the publisher.
The dialogue in Antiquity 47
D/2013/0095/247
The Patristic dialogue 5°
ISBN 978-2-503-55051-0 The didactic dialogue 52
Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper. The dispute poems 54
6 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 7
Doctrinal controversies 56 The quodlibetical disputation 13 3
Medieval philosophical dialogues 5 8 Examination ceremonies 13 5
The Renaissance dialogue 64 Literary disputations and polemical treatises 136
The relationship between dialogue and disputation 67 Some general features 13 8
The nature of the arguments 142
III. ORIGINS OF THE MEDIEVAL DISPUTATION 71
VI. DISPUTATION IN THE MEDIEVAL
The heritage of Boethius 73
UNIVERSITIES: SOME EXAMPLES 149
The development of the eristic disputation 76
Obligational disputation in the schools of dialecticians 149
The quaestio method 78
Disputation in the arts faculty: first example 151
Public debates 8 2
Disputation in the arts faculty: second example 15 5
The development of the quaestio arising from the reading
Disputation in theology 159
of texts 84
Disputation in the faculty of law 164
The juridical disputation 88
Medical disputation 168
Disputation in science and medicine 94
The disputatio de quolibet 171
Conclusion 9 5
Polemical disputation 175
IV. DISPUTATION BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY ERA 99
VII. RENAISSANCE DISPUTATION 177
Terms and definitions 99
Transition: the fifteenth century 177
Reasons and tools of rational inquiry 105
The Humanist-scholastic debate 184
Disputations in the various disciplines 108
change in character in the Reformation 189
a. Dialectic and philosophy 108
b. Grammar 109 Disputation in Renaissance universities 196
c. Theology no Differences with the Medieval disputation 200
d. Law 112 Quodlibetical disputations in the fifteenth and sixteenth
The role of rhetoric 115 centuries 203
Conclusion 117 Conclusion 206
V. DISPUTATION IN THE MEDIEVAL VIII. DISPUTATION IN EARLY MODERN TIMES 209
UNIVERSITIES: GENERAL ANALYSIS 119 The sixteenth and seventeenth century: the Jesuits and
The various kinds of disputation 121 disputation 209
Disputed questions in commentaries 124 Disputation and logic 215
Disputation as exercise 127 Disputation and dissertation: some general remarks 216
Disputation as a method of teaching and research 128 Oral disputation and written dissertations 218
8 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 9
The “Modern Method” according to the treatises on dis­ Similarity and contrast 302
putation 220 Intellectual freedom and confidence 305
The new disputation in practice 223
BIBLIOGRAPHY 309
The decline of the disputation and the German exception 224
Sources 3°9
Disputation in early modern England, France, Spain and
Secondary Literature 313
Italy 225
Disputation in the German universities 22g
INDICES 329
Disputation in the Low Countries 233 Index of Names (before 1800) 3 30
The nineteenth century and beyond 237 Index of Names (after 1800) 338
IX. DISPUTATION OUTSIDE THE UNIVERSITIES
AND IN THE VERNACULAR 2 3 9
Disputation in non-university schools 239
Disputation outside the schools 242
Disputation in polemical context 243
Parallel genres in Latin and the vernacular 249
Imitation of the disputation in literary texts 250
X. FORMS OF DISPUTATIONS IN OTHER
CULTURES: A COMPARISON 2 5 5
Discussion in Jewish culture 255
The Arabic and Islamic tradition 262
Discussion in distant civilisations 272
CONCLUSION 277
The social context 277
Literary strategies and authority 279
Function and aim of the disputation 2g 1
Open-mindedness and modesty 2gg
The nature of the arguments 292
Criticism 296
Exercise and examination 293
Dissent or critical thinking? 300
INTRODUCTION
Disputation, debate, or public discussion is as old as humanity. The
technique, however, evolved over the centuries, without ever losing
its fundamental character as “debate”. The multiple forms of dis­
putation have always kept their identity as debate between two or
more persons, or of a person with him or herself. From the socially
significant context of the Platonic dialogues, via solitary investiga­
tion by way of interior disputation and the great public debates on
religious matters, to the standardised oral defence of a dissertation,
discussion has always been the central feature.
More specifically, argumentation is one of the characteristics
of Western culture. The habit of questioning and arguing about
questions is perhaps the basic feature of Western philosophy. As
Gadamer has pointed out, what the Socratic dialogues show us is
that asking questions is in fact more difficult than answering them.
Knowledge is obtained by means of the question, that is to say by
presenting a problem in the form of an open question, one where
the answer is not determined from the beginning. The two sides of
the question, the pro and contra, have to be possible and reasonable.
Unlike the pedagogical question, where the answer is predictable,
a real philosophical question remains open and unanswered until
the arguments for the opposite side are examined and shown to be
wrong. Only at this point do we obtain knowledge about the prob­
lem (Gadamer 1965, 345-346).
The story of the disputation begins in Antiquity, where it was
intimately connected with the literary genre of the dialogue and the
dispute poem. It was probably in Greek culture that language was
first used for argumentation and philosophical and scientific debate
developed into a means of finding the truth. The roots of disputa­
tion are to be found here. There is, however, a period in which the
12 IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH INTRODUCTION 13
disputation developed a special meaning, one that was both techni­ developed and specialised, but it was also widely diffused - part of
cal and universal: the central and later Middle Ages. In the early a much larger social context. Dialectic in Medieval times implies a
universities, the disputation took on a central role as a method of method of inquiry, a search for the truth or the right answer to a
teaching and research, transforming the Aristotelian principle of in­ problem. The skill of disputation consists in being able to provide
vestigation and the scholastic method of interrogating texts into a good reasons for both sides of an alternative. To find the correct
complex and ingenious system of discussion. answer to a question, both sides have to be examined and the argu­
This particular form of disputation naturally originated in ments in favour of the opposite viewpoint must be taken into ac­
Paris as the intellectual centre of the time and one of the stages count and assessed (Jacobi 1993, xxiv), as examples provided in the
of the translatio studii, the transfer of learning from Athens via central chapters of this book will make clear.
Rome to the Medieval world. The general conditions for an This method of disputation reached its culmination in the thir­
intellectual revolution were in place. Large numbers of students teenth and fourteenth centuries. It spread to vernacular culture and
and teachers, books and translations were combined in the city. civic debates in the later Middle Ages and during the Renaissance,
The schools flourished and the crowds of students mixed with but it was also much attacked and criticised by the humanists. How­
merchants, officials and ecclesiastics. A new system of copying ever, it remained in use, though not in important scientific debate,
manuscript texts allowed a rapid diffusion of texts and translations, for much later.
made in southern Europe, of the works of Aristotle and his Arabic The origins of the Medieval disputation are complex and some­
commentators revolutionised traditional learning. Interestingly, what obscure. But the story becomes rich and increasingly diverse
like Athens in the fifth century BC, where intellectuals and artists in the central and latter centuries of the Medieval era, especially in
from outside the city strongly contributed to the spectacular the universities. In the Renaissance and Early Modern period, the
developments there (de Romilly 1992, 123, 127), Paris too profited traditional disputation went into decline, but even then there were
from the presence of foreign scholars, who partly determined the interesting developments in the social context and literary strate­
development of learning and culture. Also, the Western world gies. On the whole the picture which emerges is one of scientific de­
of the thirteenth century gave birth to the schematisation of bate, intellectual enquiry and independence, and the development
knowledge, including in visual form, and to special techniques of of a form of argumentation which seems to be specific to Western
transmission, one of which was the disputation. culture. Discussion is, of course, a feature of human intercourse
in any civilisation and more or less organised debate has existed in
Scholastic culture (literally the culture of the schools and imply­
other cultures, as we will see at the end of this study, but the intel­
ing its methods of teaching and research) was compared to Gothic
lectual tradition of the scholastic disputation seems unique to the
architecture in a famous and much-criticised study by Panofsky
West.
(Panofsky 19572). Although the comparison is rather vague, some­
thing in the flamboyance of the Gothic cathedrals seems to corre­
spond not only to scholasticism in general but also to the compli­
Disputation in context
cated structure of the fully developed public debates with their bril­
liant accumulation of arguments leading up to a final, impressive
One of the basic conditions for the study of any particular topic is
conclusion.
to situate it in its wider historical, social and intellectual context.
During the Middle Ages the art of disputation became highly The disputation was essentially a method of teaching and investiga­
H IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH INTRODU CTION 15
tion, and thus it was predominantly found in schools and univer­ bate”, as well as “disputation” in the particular sense of scholastic
sities. My earlier studies on the disputation (Weijers 1995, 2002, debate.
2009; and a number of articles: 2000, 2005, 2008, 2010) focus on In the present book I will aim to distinguish systematically be­
these particular aspects. Many topics treated there are revisited in tween the larger use of “debate” and the narrower idea of “dispu­
Chapters V and VI, although in much less detail. However, there tation”. More importantly, I will aim to define the specific form
existed other centres of learning where intellectuals conducted re­ of debate that has been called disputatio by situating it in a wider
search into a range of problems, so this study is not limited to the context of argumentation.
educational world. Instead I have aimed as well to follow the prac­
tice of disputation outside the schools and even outside the strictly
Sources
intellectual world (see Chapter IX).
Disputation may be considered as a form of controversy. The This book is based on the study of primary sources. These are essen­
notion of controversy has been amply studied over recent decades. tial to understand the past in a way that is not deformed by earlier
It has been combined with and compared to disputation, though interpretations, which may in their turn rely on previous interpre­
not always in a particularly thorough way. For instance, in the tations. In order to understand what has gone before, we can study
2007 issue of the periodical “Mille neuf cent, Revue d’histoire in- only the texts that have come down to us - even if we know that
tellectuelle”, the general title (“Comment on se dispute”), the title these are only a very small part of the totality of what was writ­
of the introduction (“Du bon usage de la dispute”), and the title of ten, itself of course only a very small part of the totality that was
one of the articles (“Disputes, polemiques et controverses dans les thought and said.
mondes intellectuels. Vers une sociologie historique des formes de Throughout this study one important fact should be kept in
debat agonistique)” (Fabiani 2007, 45-60) suggest at least some infor­ mind: while very few texts remain from Antiquity and almost no
mation about the particular form of the disputation and about the new texts have been discovered for a long time, for the Medieval pe­
differences between the various terms used. In fact, no effort to de­ riod many texts survive and many discoveries continue to be made
fine the terms is made and the “academic disputation” (la dispute uni- in the mass of still insufficiently studied manuscripts. At the same
versitaire) is simply listed as one of the forms of controversy, along time, very few manuscripts survive (see, for instance, Sirat 2006, 36)
with religious controversy, juridical litigation, and querelle litteraire in comparison not only to how many were produced at the time,
(Fabiani 54). The French word dispute is clearly taken as a variant but also to the printed books of later periods. This naturally cre­
of the more general term controverse, which covers the large field ates a bias in our conception of the history of disputation (or of
around which the whole volume revolves. any other concept or method). We can only hope that the picture
we recreate on the basis of our documentation does not diverge too
A colloquium held in 2005 in Taipei, organised by the Inter­
radically from the historical reality.
national Committee for the Study of Controversy also attests to
the current interest in this theme. The proceedings, under the title
“Traditions of Controversy”, have appeared in the series “Contro­
Vocabulary
versies” (published by John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia),
which mainly deals with modern theories of argumentation. In this Terminology is a basic tool in any historical research. In studying
volume, the contributions use the words “controversy” and “de­ texts we have to be careful in interpreting the vocabulary used; to
16 IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH INTRODUCTION 17
understand them correctly, we have to know what the words used make clear the essential features of the disputation in that technical
mean. The correct interpretation of terms leads us to the correct sense. This involved the resolution of doubt, the examination of
understanding of the concepts they stand for, and via the concepts to the truth, an open-minded approach to different opinions, but it
the understanding of the reality behind them. Apart from material was also, in the Medieval era, a tool for teaching and research, a test
artefacts, texts are all we have from distant times and it is important of competence and an occasion for public display, all features that
to interpret their contents carefully. were at some time essential to the disputation and which will be
Throughout this study technical terms in Latin and other lan­ addressed in this work.
guages are used. Languages written in non-Roman script are mostly In Chapter I we will see that in Antiquity disputation was part
transliterated (with some exceptions for important Greek words in of daily life in the context of democracy and juridical procedures.
Chapter I). In a general survey this seemed the best solution, al­ Its intellectual dimension in philosophy was intimately related to
though of course it does not do full justice to the nuances of the dialectic and rhetoric. I first consider the relation between disputa­
original terms. When translating from different languages I have tion, dialectic and rhetoric, and the literary genres of ancient phi­
aimed to keep as closely as possible to the original meaning. A full losophy, before addressing the crucial role Aristotle played in the
description of the technical terms used in this study {disputatio, ques- emancipation of the methods of dialectical and philosophical dis­
tio, conclusio etc.) is given at the beginning of Chapter IV, that is to putation. Finally I show how public disputation flourished in Late
say at the beginning of the story of the Medieval Latin disputatio. Antiquity in theological controversies.
As for the word “disputation” used in this study, it covers a Chapter II addresses the relationship between disputation and
range of different meanings: from confidential philosophical dis­
dialogue. Disputation can be seen as a special form of dialogue, tak­
cussion and classroom debate between two opponents to the spec­
ing this term in the larger sense of “conversation” or “discussion”.
tacular public disputations in the Medieval universities. The nature
However, disputation and dialogue mean different things, even if
of the various disputations will be made clear in the different chap­
they have often been confused by historians. In order to describe
ters; however, we do not have enough terms available to give them
these two literary forms, we first have to study the terms by which
individual names. Like the Classical and Medieval disputatio, a pol-
they are defined. I then discuss the various forms of dialogue and
ysemic word as we will see later (Chapter IV, i oo), the term “dispu­
controversy.
tation” will have to do.
In Chapter III I aim to establish the origins of the Medieval
disputation. It might seem that Aristotle, with his aporia method,
Structure laid the basis for the Medieval disputation. However, the treatises in
which he explained and used this method, like the Metaphysics and
As the reader will discover in the following chapters, this book is the Ethics, were not known in the centres of learning in Medieval
not built around an argument; there is no thesis to be demonstrated. Western Europe before the end of the twelfth or the beginning of
It is the story of an intellectual practice, from ancient times to the the thirteenth centuries, a time when a form of disputation was al­
present day. Its focus is on disputation as inquiry into questions ready functioning in the schools. Thus, the line of transmission
and problems, a form of disputation that flourished mainly during that is often suggested-from Antiquity via Cicero, Augustine and
the Middle Ages, but this is set in a wider context of comparable Boethius to Anselm and Abelard-is simplistic. We have to consider
techniques and genres-such as dialogue and polemics-in order to the various disciplines (dialectic, philosophy, theology, law and nat­
18 IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH INTRODU CTION 19
ural science) separately to examine the appearance of a form of dis­ tation from the beginning of the fourteenth century. For the field
putation in each of them, also taking into account the interaction of theology, I have taken an example illustrating the regularly dis­
between, for instance, theology and philosophy on the one hand puted questions and I show at least part of the complex examination
and dialectic on the other, or between Roman law and dialectic. ceremonies. In terms of juridical disputation, I present an example
which shows the link with the practice of the law courts on the one
Chapter IV is concerned with disputation before the Medieval
university era. Several forms of disputation existed in the twelfth hand and the growing influence of logic on the other. For the dis­
century. In this chapter, I take a further look at these early disputa­ putation in the faculty of medicine, I have chosen the redaction of a
question disputed by a famous Italian master. The quodlibetical dis­
tions before addressing the scholastic disputations of the university
putations are illustrated by an example from the faculty of theology
era. I start with the terms and definitions in which they were de­
in Paris.
scribed, examine the reasons and methods of their application, and
give some examples from the various disciplines, as well as of the In Chapter VIII address Renaissance disputation. Although
influence of rhetoric in this field. As the sources for this period are the disputation certainly reached its pinnacle during the Middle
less numerous than those for the following centuries, the chapter is Ages, its methods and practice did not disappear immediately. This
a relatively short one. chapter shows how, after a period of transition during which the
Chapter V, focusing on disputation in the Medieval universi­ disputation continued almost as usual - and notwithstanding the
fierce criticism of it from the humanists - the disputation took on
ties, is a general analysis of this method. During the Middle Ages,
disputation was one of the most important methods of teaching, new forms during the Renaissance and the Reformation. I study
the change of character of the disputation during the Reformation,
training and research in the universities. I first distinguish the vari­
ous kinds of disputation, especially the dialectic (or “eristic”) dispu­ analysing the differences with the Medieval disputation, and then
give examples of disputation in various Renaissance universities,
tation and the scholastic one, which are generally confused. I then
ending with quodlibetical disputations in the fifteenth and sixteenth
concentrate on the practice of the disputation, its various functions
centuries.
(teaching, exercise, examination and inquiry), its essential compo­
nents and its place in the academic world of the day. Chapter VIII follows the disputation into Early Modern times.
After a short description of the disputation in the schools of the Je­
Chapter VI also looks at disputation in the Medieval universi­
ties. In order to make the summary account of the previous chapter suits, this chapter shows that the seventeenth century was marked
more vivid and detailed, I offer some examples, significant passages by a profound change and the beginning of a certain decline in the
of disputations taken from the various faculties. To quote complete disputation. Although disputations continued to be part of aca­
reports of disputations would have taken up too much space, and demic life well into the eighteenth century, their use was largely lim­
ited to a few particular forms: training of students in (theological)
would probably not have enhanced the clarity of my argument (in­
terested readers may, for instance, consult Henry of Harclay’s Ordi­ seminaries and examinations, principally thesis dissertations (even
nary Questions, edited and translated in the series “Auctores Britan- though dissertations also served to establish the truth about difficult
nici Medii Aevi”, as an example of disputed theological questions). problems). I examine the situation in various European countries,
After a short quotation from a manual on the ars obligatoria (the England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the Low Countries, be­
art of obligation), I present, for the faculty of arts, a classroom dis­ fore adding some remarks on the nineteenth century and beyond.
putation of a thirteenth-century master of arts and a public dispu­ Chapter IX focuses on disputation outside the universities and
20 IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH INTRODUCTION 21
in the vernacular. Although the disputation was essentially an aca­ Acknowledgements
demic teaching and research tool, it was also found outside the
universities, first of all in parallel institutions, like non-academic I would like to express my gratitude to the various colleagues and
schools, but also in quite different social structures and as part friends who read parts of this book and gave me their comments
of religious polemic. Moreover, parallel genres in Latin and the and advice. I quote them in alphabetical order: Amos Bertolacci,
vernacular languages flourished for some time and the practice of Dragos Calma, Kevin Chang, Anne-Marie Edde, Cedric Giraud,
the disputation was often echoed in literary texts. Michel Lerner, Jean-Noel Robert, Colette Sirat, Pavel Spunar and
Hans Trapman. Particular gratitude is due to my dear Julie, who
In Chapter X, which is about the forms of disputation in other
has accompanied me during all these years when I have slowly ad­
cultures, I aim to situate the Western disputation in a wider context.
vanced in my investigations and laborious redaction. In fact, it has
Did other cultures have comparable techniques? Was there any in­
been a real pleasure to write this study, for this is a subject I remain
teraction between the Greek, Latin and vernacular disputations on
passionate about, as my friends quickly discover. I hope that I am
the one hand and completely different traditions on the other? I
able to pass some of this enthusiasm onto my readers and they will
examine discussion in Jewish culture, in the Arabic and Islamic tra­
forgive the sometimes lengthy excursions. My hope is that they see
dition, and finally give some examples belonging to more distant
disputation not as pointless dispute or wordplay, but as a means of
civilisations. The general impression we have after examining the
inquiry that opens up knowledge and understanding.
various forms of discussion in other cultures is one of difference
rather than likeness. There are, of course, similar features between
these traditions and the Western disputation, but the latter seems to Paris, October 2012
have had a particular character that we do not see elsewhere.
In the Conclusion, I come back to the essential features of the
disputation: the resolution of doubt in difficult problems (its main
purpose), the search for the truth, the open-mindedness or modesty
of the authors and its role as a tool in examinations. I then address
the question of whether the disputation must be considered as an
“art of dissenting” or even as a kind of “pathology of opposition”,
and I conclude that it is instead a method of critical thinking. I show
some similarities and differences with discussion in other cultures
and argue that the disputation is a sign of intellectual freedom and
confidence. Among the lessons to be drawn from this description
and the fascinating story of the disputation as inquiry, there is one
that stands out: this practice is one of the main factors in the devel­
opment of critical thinking in the West.