Scholasticism as a Way of Doing Philosophy

Scholasticism is seen as a way of doing philosophy through commentary on a set curriculum of texts. This approach has ancient roots, where scholars would work on the texts in schools and teachers would write commentaries on them. In the 12th century, scholasticism began to be regarded as the primary way of doing philosophy, especially with the establishment of universities and a set curriculum that included the texts of Aristotle. The method involved lecturing on the texts, commenting on them, and looking for particular questions suggested by the text. Scholasticism continued into the 17th and even 18th centuries, and its influence can still be seen today, as many teachers use texts and commentaries in their teaching.