Ruys, Juanita Feros

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https://hwps.de/ecc/1/2Center for the History of Women Philosophers and ScientistsPaderborn University, GermanyEthic of Intention in Héloïse (1090–1164)Juanita Feros RuysUniversity of SydneyModern  scholars  have  associated  the  “ethic  of  intention”  with  the  twelfth-centuryphilosopher  and  theologian  Peter  Abelard  and  his  Ethica  (or  Scito  te  ipsum;  Ilgner).Evidence  would  suggest,  however,  that  Héloïse  had  a  significant  impact  on  the  wayAbelard eventually structured his views. The ethic of intention was a radical departure intwelfth-century theology, since it argued that sin arises not from what is actually said ordone, but only from the intention with which it is said or done. Thus God does not punishouter works and their consequences, but looks rather to the disposition (“affectus”) of theinterior person. This concept appears explicitly in Héloïse’s Eps 2, 4, and 6 to Abelard,which were most likely written prior to Abelard’s Ethica. Here Héloïse argues that “It is notthe outcome of a deed but the disposition of the doer that creates a sin” (“Non enim reieffectus sed efficientis affectus in crimine est”), since “justice takes heed not of the thingsthat were done, but the intention (or state of mind) with which they were done” (“Nec quefiunt  sed  quo  animo  fiunt  equitas  pensat”,  Luscombe  2013:  Ep.  2,  §  13).  She  employsalmost exactly the same wording in her Ep. 6 (§ 25), where she also points out thatwhatever is done exteriorly in the body (“quicquid exterius agatur in corpore”) cannot be asin  unless  the  mind  is  first  corrupted  by  an  evil  will  (“prius  praua  uoluntate  animuscorrumpatur”, Ep. 6, § 24). Héloïse applies this logic to her own history: through hermarriage, the devil made her the instrument of Abelard’s downfall, but although this wasthe outcome (“ex effectu”), it was not her intention (“ex consensu”, Ep. 4, § 11). This ethicof intention articulated by Héloïse and Abelard anticipates Thomas Aquinas’s “Doctrine ofDouble Effect” which is still applied in medical ethics today.Primary Sources:Ilgner, Rainer M. 2001. Petri Abaelardi Opera Theologica, IV: Scito te ipsum. Turnhout:Brepols.Luscombe, David (ed.) 2013. The Letter Collection of Peter Abelard and Heloise. Radice,https://hwps.de/ecc/2/2Betty (trans.), Luscombe, David (rev.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.Secondary Sources:Bergès,  Sandrine 2013.  Rethinking Twelfth Century Virtue Ethics:  The Contribution ofHeloise, in British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 21 (4), 667–687.Findley,  Brooke  Heidenreich  2006.  Does  the  Habit  Make  the  Nun?  A  Case  Study  ofHeloise’s Influence on Abelard’s Ethical Philosophy, in Vivarium, 44 (2–3), 248–275.Ilgner, Rainer M. 2001. Petri Abaelardi Opera Theologica, IV: Scito te ipsum. Turnhout:Brepols.Luscombe, David (ed.) 2013. The Letter Collection of Peter Abelard and Heloise. Radice,Betty (trans.), Luscombe, David (rev.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.Mann, William E. 2004. Ethics, in: Brower, Jeffrey E. & Guilfoy, Kevin (eds.): The CambridgeCompanion to Abelard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 279–304.Marenbon, John 1997. The Philosophy of Peter Abelard. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress.McLeod, Glenda 1993. ‘Wholly Guilty, Wholly Innocent’: Self-Definition in Héloïse’s Lettersto Abélard, in: Cherewatuk, Karen & Wiethaus, Ulrike (eds.): Dear Sister: MedievalWomen and the Epistolary Genre. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,64–86.Mews, Constant J. 2005. Abelard and Heloise. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Nye, Andrea 1992. A Woman’s Thought or a Man’s Discipline? The Letters of Abelard andHeloise, in Hypatia 7 (3), 1–22.van  ’t  Spijker,  Ineke  2009.  Partners  in  Profession:  Inwardness,  Experience,  andUnderstanding in Heloise and Abelard, in: Mulder-Bakker, Anneke B. & McAvoy, LizHerbert (eds.): Women and Experience in Later Medieval Writing: Reading the Bookof Life. New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 47–64.Waithe,  Mary  Ellen  1989.  Heloise,  in:  Waithe,  Mary  Ellen  (ed.):  A History  of  WomenPhilosophers.  Volume  2:  Medieval,  Renaissance  and  Enlightenment  WomenPhilosophers,  A.D.  500–1600.  Dordrecht:  Kluwer  Academic  Publishers,  67–83.Keywords:Peter Abelard, ethics, sin, intention, disposition, will, deed, Thomas Aquinas

Ethic of Intention in Héloïse (1090-1164)

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Ethic of Intention in Héloïse (1090-1164)

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