In the Introduction, it was promised that this book would offer, not merely a survey of Abelard's philosophy, but a re-evaluation of it. It is time now to look back over this new picture and ask how it differs from the old one.

Although Part i is mainly devoted to clarifying the individual details of Abelard's life and oeuvre, some important general ideas for the understanding of his thought emerge there. His work can be grouped into two roughly chronological phases, divided at the year 1120 or thereabouts. In the first phase, which therefore stretches from Abelard's earliest teaching until about 1120, shortly after his entry into St Denis, Abelard's interest was predominantly in logic and in the philosophical problems raised by the ancient logical texts. In the second phase, which stretches from when he began to compose the first version of his Theologia up to the end of his working life, his main interest was in an ethically based theology. The distinction is not, it must be stressed, clear-cut. Abelard's theological interests stretch back to 1113 or earlier, whilst he continued to teach logic as late as 1136. He produced important logical work in the mid-1120s and the Theologia Christiana, written c. 1126 to 1127, contains both some of his most developed thinking about the philosophical subjects connected with his logical work, and an early exposition of his ethical ideas. Yet the change in emphasis is hard to deny.