The influence of the Stoicism in Abelard: the Notion of consensus

Abstract

Medieval thinkers have been inspired by different ancient philosophical theses, which they have partially modified and adapted to their Christian belief. Abelard is certainly no exception, since he has been under the most various pagan influences of his time without abandoning his own religious convictions. Abelard's philosophy consists mainly of ancient borrowings, which come more often from indirect sources. The authority of Plato and Aristotle is obvious in almost all philosophical topics developed by Abelard. It is however more less known that Stoicism has also played an important role in his thought; especially in ethics with notions like consensus or actions morally indifferent. Stoic physics has also influenced his moral doctrine with the concept of affinity or preservation, which refers to a certain innate capacity in man to observe the natural law and, before the advent of Jewish and Christian laws, to progress toward his own salvation. Finally the famous precept dear to all Stoics of living in agreement with nature has received a favourable reception in Abelard's ethics, as well as the attitude of serene detachment, which he has encouraged in its Plantus. In the present paper, the objective is to expound the influence of the Stoic’s notion of assent, or its equivalent consent (consensus), on Abelard’s ethics, which serves him as a fundamental component to define moral trespass. More specifically, we first see Abelard's definition of sin, found in his Ethica, which presents a decisive step in clarifying what really constitutes this notion in the history of ideas. We examine after that the main usages made by the Stoics of the term assent. we can then realize that the passage of this Stoic concept from the epistemological sphere to the ethical has been recuperated by some Latin authors like Augustine, who uses the term in both areas, and later by Abelard himself, who restricts its usage to ethics by using instead consensus. We finally arrive at the conclusion that Abelard's ethics has not only been influenced by the most notable religious and philosophical thinkers, like Plato, Aristotle, Jerome and Augustine, but also by some Stoic philosophers, who were relatively unknown at the time and sometimes accessible only by some obscure intermediaries.