Scholasticism

The term Scholasticism – literally 'of the schools', designates a method, and a system of thought, that flourished among the Christian philosophers of the Latin west in the Middle Ages. The goal of scholasticism is the reconciliation (concordia) of the dogmas of Christian faith, with logic and reason. Its method is logical and dialetical. The Scholastic system is a set of doctrines about the nature of man, God, creation, and the relation between these. Scholastic thought dominated European theological and philosophical thought from about the tenth century A.D. to about the sixteenth century, and has an influence well beyond that. The scholastic tradition was the principal means by which the philosophical and theological thought of the ancient world was transmitted to the modern world.

Neo-Scholasticism refers to the revival of scholastic thought and methods that began in the nineteenth century, and still flourishes today. 'Analystical Thomism is a mid-twentieth century branch of neo-scholasticism that seeks to reconcile the broad aims of Scholastic, and particularly Thomistic thought, with more recent developments in logic and analytic philosophy.