Abelard and Heloise

Peter Abelard (1079-1142) was a French philosopher who devised a solution to the problem of universals known as conceptualism. Conceptualism held that universals are not just words, as nominalists--such as Roscellinus (1050-1125) believed, and not things that exist in the world, as realists such as St. Anselm thought.

Though his contribution to philosophy is important, he is more famous for his love affair with his student, Heloise, for which her uncle punished him with castration. The love letters of Abelard and Heloise provide an inspiring example of romantic, platonic love.