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A twelfth-centuryScholastic,philosopher, andtheologian, b. at Champeaux, near Melun, in the neighbourhood ofParis, about the year 1070; d. atChâlons-sur-Marne, 1121. After having been a pupil ofAnselm of Laon, he began in 1103 his career as teacher at thecathedralschool ofParis. In 1108, owing chiefly toAbelard's successful attempts to criticize his realisticdoctrine ofuniversals, he retired to the Abbey of St. Victor and there continued to give lessons which, no doubt, influenced the mysticschool known as that of St. Victor. In 1114 he was madeBishop ofChâlons-sur-Marne. Portions of his work "De origine animae" and of a "Liber sententiarum", as well as a dialogue entitled "Dialogus seu altercatio cujusdam Christiani et Judaei", have come down to us. On the problem ofuniversals William held successively a variety of opinions. All of these, however, are on the side of exaggerated Realism and opposed both to theNominalism ofRoscelin and to the modifiedNominalism ofAbelard. In his treatise on the origin of thesoul he definitely rejects the theory known as Traducianism and maintains that each and every humansoul originates from the creative act ofGod. Among his contemporaries he enjoyed a very greatreputation for learning andsanctity. Among his contemporaries he enjoyed a very greatreputation for learning andsanctity. He was, moreover, looked upon by the conservative thinkers of that age as the ablest champion oforthodoxy. His creationistdoctrine is his chief title to distinction as aScholasticphilosopher.
LEFEVRE, Les variations de Guillaume de Champeaux, etc. (Lille, 1898); MICHAUD, G. de Champeaux et les ecoles de Paris au XII Siecle (Paris, 1867); GRABMAN, Gesch. der schol. Methode (Freiburg, 911), 136 sq.; DE WULF, Hist of Medieval Phil., tr. COFFEY (New York, 1909), 179; TURNER, Hist. of Philosophy (Boston, 1903), 279 sq.
APA citation.Turner, W.(1912).William of Champeaux. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15632a.htm
MLA citation.Turner, William."William of Champeaux."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 15.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1912.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15632a.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael T. Barrett.Dedicated to Fr. Francis X. Chun.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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