224. Division of the Second Period. -- Scholasticism did not win without a struggle; it had to wage an intellectual crusade against powerful rival theories. Two chapters will deal respectively with: The Scholasticism of the Thirteenth Century (Ch. III.); The Anti-scholastic Philosophies of the Thirteenth Century (Ch. IV.).

Then there were secondary philosophical currents, such as the experimental, the Neo-Platonic, the theosophical. These were represented by some striking, though isolated personalities. It will be convenient to place these in a class apart (Ch. V.). For, on the one hand, they introduce elements foreign to scholasticism into their conception of the universe, while they retain many of the leading scholastic principles; and on the other hand, their systems can hardly be described as anti-scholastic, for whenever they joined in the struggle between scholasticism and Averroïsm their attitude towards the latter philosophy was consistently aggressive. Their systems had a well-marked individuality of their own, and they did much to foster the intense intellectual activity of the thirteenth century. Before taking up these divisions in detail we must sketch briefly, in general outline, the scientific and philosophical renaissance of the thirteenth century (Ch. II.).