French philosophy French philosophy French philosophy, here taken to mean philosophy in the French language, has been extremely diverse and has influenced Western philosophy as a whole for centuries, from the medieval scholasticism of Peter Abelard, through the founding of modern philosophy by René Descartes, to 20th century philosophy of science, existentialism, phenomenology, structuralism, and postmodernism. Peter Abelard (1079 – April 21, 1142) was a scholastic philosopher, theologian and logician. The story of his affair with and love for Héloïse has become legendary. The "Chambers Biographical Dictionary" describes him as "the keenest thinker and boldest theologian of the 12th Century". The general
On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy Fasl al-Maqal fi ma bayn al-Hikma wa al-Shariah min Ittisal (Arabic: "فصل المقال في ما بين الحكمة و الشريعة من إتصال" often translated as On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy or The Decisive Treatise, Determining the Nature of the Connection between Religion and Philosophy, with the latter often shortened to The Decisive Treatise) is an Islamic philosophical treatise written by Andalusian Muslim polymath and philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes) (1126–1198), in which the author "critically examine[s] the alleged tension between philosophy and religion" and concludes that philosophy (in particular, Aristotelian philosophy) is not