Scholastic (Noun)
Meaning 1
A Scholastic philosopher or theologian.
Classification
Nouns denoting people.
Examples
- Thomas Aquinas was renowned as a scholastic, synthesizing Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology.
- During the medieval period, the scholastics sought to reconcile faith with reason through systematic inquiry.
- Duns Scotus emerged as a prominent scholastic, asserting the primacy of will over intellect in human nature.
- As a respected scholastic, Peter Abelard emphasized the use of dialectical reasoning in understanding theological concepts.
- William of Ockham's influence as a scholastic has endured due to his advocacy for nominalism and a critical approach to authority.
Related Words
Meaning 2
A person who pays more attention to formal rules and book learning than they merit.
Classification
Nouns denoting people.
Examples
- His criticisms of her actions seemed overly scholastic, more focused on theoretical propriety than real-world outcomes.
- More than a few members of the committee were scholastics, so prepared for regulation loopholes they often forgot the greater goal.
- Her academic style sometimes came off as overly scholastic, far too entangled in minutiae for anyone outside the ivory tower.
- In conversations he could come across as a scholastic, his emphasis on protocol and approved methodology off-putting.
- Historians sometimes describe the 17th-century Jesuit as a scholastic for his attempt to reconcile some Christian figures with Greek philosophers.