Sigerus of Brabant

Sigerus of Brabant or Siger of Brabant (1240 - 1284) was one of the major proponents and inventors of averroism, active at the University of Sorbonne in Paris. He was a contemporary of Thomas Aquinas and considered a "radical" by the conservative members of the Church. It is said he played as an important role as Thomas in the shapeing of Western attitudes towards faith and reason.

Averroism was controversial because it taught Aristotle in its original form with no reconciliation with Christain belief. Siger was accused of teaching "double truth". That is, saying one thing could be true through reason, and that the exact opposite could be true through faith. Because Siger was a scholastic he probably did not teach double truths but tried to find reconciliations between faith and reason, but the charges stuck and Siger was eventually forced out of the University.

Sometime between 1281 and 1284 Sigerus was murdered in Orvieto, Italy, allegedly by his own secretary who went mad and stabbed him with a pen. His critics, the conservatives, claimed since he had done so much damage with his pen, he deserved what was coming. His fellow radicals were laying low in the face of the Condemnations of 1277 and there was no investigation into his murder.

His students, known as "Sigerists", include Boëthius of Dacia, Goswin of la Chapelle and Bernier of Nivelles .

See Also

• Averroes
• University of Paris (Condemnations)