Roscelin of Compiègne (c. 1050 – c. 1121), better known by hisLatinized nameRoscellinus Compendiensis orRucelinus, was a Frenchphilosopher andtheologian, often regarded as the founder ofnominalism.
Roscellinus was born inCompiègne,France. Little is known of his life, and knowledge of his doctrines is mainly derived fromAnselm andAbelard. He studied atSoissons andReims, was afterwards attached to thecathedral of Chartres and became canon ofCompiègne. As a monk of Compiègne, he was teaching as early as 1087. He had contact withLanfranc, Anselm, andSt. Ivo of Chartres.
Roscellinus's exposition ofNominalist doctrines, and especially his application to thedogma of theTrinity, attracted broad attention. He maintained that the three persons of the Trinity were not referred to as three substances or Gods only by convention, arguing that if they were really one substance thenGod the Father and theHoly Spirit would have become incarnate along withGod the Son. Roscellinus cited Lanfranc and Anselm in support of this doctrine.
In 1092/1093, however, acouncil convoked at Soissons by thearchbishop of Reims condemned his interpretation and accused Roscellinus oftritheism.[n 1] Roscellinus, out of fear ofexcommunication and evenstoning to death by the orthodox populace, recanted his beliefs, but later returned to professing them.
Roscellinus left for England, but having made himself unpopular by an attack on the doctrines of Anselm, he left the country and repaired to Rome, where he was well received and became reconciled to the Catholic Church. He then returned to France, taught atTours andLoc-menach (where he had Abelard as a pupil), and finally became canon ofBesançon. He is heard of as late as 1121, when he came forward to oppose Abelard's views on the Trinity. He was also sent a letter byTheobald of Étampes in response to his criticisms of the sons of priests.
Of his writings there exists only a letter addressed to Abelard on the Trinity, in which Roscellinus "belittles Abélard and makes merry over hiscastration."[2]Hauréau brings forward his name in connection with a text, "Sententia de universalibus secundum magistrum R.",[3] but this is a conjecture. His doctrines are attested by Anselm, Abelard,John of Salisbury, and an anonymous epigram.
According toOtto of Freisingen, Roscellinus "was the first in our times to institute the theory of words",[4] but the chronicler of the "Historia Francia"[5] mentions before him a "magister Johannes", whose personality is much discussed and who has not yet been definitively identified.
The "sententia vocum" was one of theanti-realist solutions of theproblem of universals accepted in the early Middle Ages. In accordance with a dichotomy set out byPorphyry,[6] the first medieval philosophers regardedgenera andspecies either as things or as having no existence. The philosophers described this using terminology drawn fromBoethius, referring to such abstract concepts as eitherres (things) orvoces (words). Nominalists held that:
In Roscellinus's theory, the universal is merely an emission of sound (flatus vocis), in conformity with Boethius' definition.[9] Because Roscellinus did not discuss the philosophical concepts of genus and species, he is sometimes considered a pseudo-nominalist, or amoderate realist. However, because of his position as the first medieval philosopher to challenge medieval Realism, he has also been invoked as a forefather of modernity.[10]
Roscellinus was also taken to task by Anselm and Abelard for the less clear idea which he gave of the whole and of composite substance. According to Anselm, he maintained that colour does not exist independently of the horse which serves as its support and that the wisdom of the soul is not outside of the soul which is wise.[11] Anselm argues that Roscellinus denies to the whole, such as house, man, real existence of its parts, treating the word alone as having parts.[12]
Roscellinus was not without his supporters; among them was his contemporaryRaimbert of Lille, and what the monkHériman relates of his doctrine agrees with the statements of the master of Compiègne. Universal substances, says Hériman, are but a breath.[13] He merely comments on the saying of Anselm characterized by the same jesting tone,[14] and says that to understand the windy loquacity of Raimbert of Lille one has but to breathe into his hand.[15]
Roscelin considered the three Divine Persons as three independent beings, like three angels; if usage permitted, he added, it might truly be said that there are three Gods. Otherwise, he continued, God the Father and God the Holy Ghost would have become incarnate with God the Son. To retain the appearance of dogma he admitted that the three Divine Persons had but one will and power [Audio ... quod Roscelinus clericus dicit in tres personas esse tres res ab invicem separatas, sicut sunt tres angeli, ita tamen ut una sit voluntas et potestas aut Patrem et Spiritum sanctum esse incarnatum; et tres deos vere posse dici si usus admitteret (letter of Anselm to Foulques)].
This characteristictritheism, which Anselm and Abelard agreed in refuting even after its author's conversion, seems an indisputable application of Roscelin's anti-Realism. He even argues that if the three Divine Persons form but one God, all three have become incarnate. There are therefore three Divine substances, three Gods, as there are three angels, because each substance constitutes an individual, which is the fundamental assertion of anti-Realism. The ideas of the theologian are closely linked with those of the philosopher.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: De Wulf, Maurice (1912)."Roscelin". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Roscellinus".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 725.