the medieval schoolmen (writers that dealt with the methods of scholasticism). Scholasticism is the system of theological and philosophical teaching predominant in the Middle Ages, based chiefly upon the authority of the church fathers and of Aristotle and his commentators. Hampered by the church's insistence that their results be reconcilable with Christiandoctrine, the schoolmen were often reduced to hair-splitting quibbles over methodology and terminology. —AbilityCongress Approved Glossary