Maurice Marie Charles Joseph De Wulf (1867–1947), was a Belgian Thomist philosopher, professor of philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven, was one of the pioneers of the

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

of medieval philosophy. His book ''History of Medieval Philosophy'' appeared first in 1900 and was followed by many other editions and translations.

Life and work

Maurice De Wulf was born at Poperinghe, Belgium on 6 April 1867. He studied at the Catholic University of Leuven, where he became a Doctor of Thomistic Theology. He taught the history of medieval philosophy, logic, and criteriology. He was named an honorary president of the 1911 International Congress of Philosophy."De Wulf, Maurice Marie Charles Joseph", ''The Catholic Encyclopedia and Its Makers'', New York, the Encyclopedia Press, 1917, p. 43
/ref> During the 1920s he taught at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

and his ''Philosophy and Civilization in the Middle Ages'' was published at Princeton in 1922. He was a Knight of the Order of Leopold, and a member of the Imperial and Royal Academy of Brussels, and the Administrative Council of the Royal Library of Belgium. De Wulf contributed articles relative to philosophy to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. Very early it was noted that "In his ''Histoire de la Philosophie Médievale'', Mr. de Wulf departs from the common view which identifies Scholasticism with Mediaeval philosophy, and discovers in the Middle Ages two antithetical currents: Scholasticism proper, represented by

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

, Duns Scotus, Albert the Great, etc.; and anti-Scholasticism, of which Scotus Erigena is the father, and which is continued by the Catharists, the Albigenses and the Pantheistic schools. Mr. de Wulf's view on this point has not met with a ready acceptance. It has been rejected, among others, by Elie Blanc and Picavet. Mr. de Wulf, however, still holds the same opinion, and has defended it again in his Introduction à la Philosophie Neo scolastique." Maurice De Wulf was a close friend of Cardinal Mercier. The "De Wulf-Mansion Centre for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy" was founded (1956) at the Institute of Philosophy in Leuven. De Wulf retired to Poperinghe in late 1947, and died there on 23 December.

Bibliography

* 1892 - ''La Valeur Esthétique de la moralité dans l'Art'' * 1895 - ''Histoire de la Philosophie Scolastique dans les Pays-Bas et la Principauté de Liège, jusqu'à la Révolution française'' * 1896 - ''Études Historiques sur l'Esthétique de Saint Thomas d'Aquin'' * 1900 - ''Histoire de la Philosophie Médiévale'' * 1901 - ''Le Traité ''De Unitate Formae'' de Gilles de Lessines'' (texte et étude) * 1904 - ''Un Théologien-Philosophe du XIIIe. Étude sur la Vie, les œuvres et l'Influence de Godefroid de Fontaines'' * 1910 - ''Histoire de la Philosophie en Belgique'' * 1915 - ''Guerre et Philosophie'' * 1920 - ''L'Œuvre d'Art et la Beauté'' * 1922 - ''Philosophy and Civilization in the Middle Ages'' (Princeton University Press) * 1932 - ''Initiation à la Philosophie Thomiste''

Works in English translation

''Scholasticism Old and New,''
translated by Peter Coffey, M. H. Gill & Son, Ltd., 1907. ** ''An Introduction to Scholastic Philosophy, Medieval and Modern,'' Dover Publications, Inc., 1956. ** ''An Introduction to Scholastic Philosophy, Medieval and Modern,'
Editiones Scholasticae
2012.
''Mediaeval Philosophy: Illustrated from the System of Thomas Aquinas,''
Harvard University Press, 1922. ** ''The System of Thomas Aquinas,'' Dover Publications, Inc., 1959. ** ''The System of Thomas Aquinas,'
Editiones Scholasticae
2013.
''Philosophy and Civilization in the Middle Ages,''
Princeton University Press, 1922. ** ''Philosophy and Civilization in the Middle Ages,'
Editiones Scholasticae
2013.
''History of Mediaeval Philosophy,''
Longmans, Green & Co., 1909. *
''History of Mediaeval Philosophy,''
Dover Publications, Inc., 1952.Bierstedt, Robert. "A Medievalist's Medievalist," ''The Saturday Review,'' August 15, 1953. * ''Art and Beauty,'' Herder, 1950.

Articles

"Western Philosophy and Theology in the Thirteenth Century,"
''The Harvard Theological Review,'' Vol. XI, 1918.
"The Teaching of Philosophy and the Classification of the Sciences in the Thirteenth Century,"
''The Philosophical Review,'' Vol. 27, No. 4, Jul., 1918.
"The Society of Nations in the Thirteenth Century,"
''International Journal of Ethics,'' Vol. XXIX, 1919. * "The Autonomy of Mediaeval Philosophy," ''The Harvard Theological Review,'' Vol. 16, No. 2, Apr., 1923. * "Mystic Life and Mystic Speculation in the Heart of the Middle Ages," ''The Catholic Historical Review,'' Vol. 9, No. 2, Jul., 1923.

Other

"Scholasticism."
In ''Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences,'' Vol. XIII, The Macmillan Company, 1934.

References

External links

Centre De Wulf-Mansion
*

' (Jacques Maritain Center,

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

) * {{DEFAULTSORT:De Wulf, Maurice 1867 births 1947 deaths Harvard University Department of Philosophy faculty Catholic philosophers Thomists Academic staff of the Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) Contributors to the Catholic Encyclopedia