the spirit of their creed. Its general resemblance to the
oriental heresy is plain, but it has long been acknowledged
that, however probable the relationship may be, there is
no necessity to explain its origin in this way; *it might
have sprung up by itself, as the result of a rational specula
tion, tinctured with mysticism : and even if the first
impetus was given from abroad, it remains likely that its
dissemination at Orleans was assisted by the reviving spirit
of enquiry which was already becoming powerful in France.
On the other hand, it would undoubtedly be improper
to class these extravagancies with the other manifestations
of opinion divergent from the general tenour of catholic
belief which we meet with in the eleventh century. They
indicate at most a link between the profession of an heresy
which seemed to the world repulsive, and the assertion
of individual views which might be startling, perhaps on
that very account attractive, but which excited the anger of
rivals rather than of enemies. To the latter order belong
the opinions of Berengar of Tours and of Koscelin, who
less by the issues to which they pointed than by the intel
lectual activity which they roused, are counted among
the heralds of the scholastic philosophy. Through their
resistance the medieval realism grew into the matured
form which it retained until the introduction of the com
plete works of Aristotle in the thirteenth century. The
debate, it is well known, rests upon the problem of the
nature of being, a question no doubt insoluble because to
all time each man will answer it, spite of argument, accord
ing to the special constitution of his own understanding.
Existence might be held to reside more truly in the highest
and broadest conceptions of which the mind is capable,
in truth, in goodness, in every abstraction furthest removed
from ocular observation; according to the technical
terminology, in the universals. To the realist the ideal
was the only true existence ; n every conception of the
mind had necessarily a corresponding reality.[1] The
- ↑ I have purposely described the theory by an illustration of its practical issue, since for our present purpose we are hardly at all concerned with its technical definition.
