elf several times to be the superior in debate. This shows Abelard's superior intellect at a very early age.This early conflict caused Abelard to leave and start his own school. Unfortunately, he could not maintain it and had to return home.Years later he was teaching in Paris again, he tells us how pupils flocked to him from every country in Europe, a statement which is more than corroborated by the authority of his contemporaries. In the Story of My Calamities, he confesses that at that period of his life he was filled with vanity and pride. "I began to think myself the only philosopher in the world, with nothing to fear from anyone, and so I yielded to the lusts of the flesh." (p.65, ll.13-15). This statement is a window into what made Abelard an individual. Then he tells us in graphic language the tale of how he fell in love with Heloise, niece of Canon Fulbert. In the midst of his exploits he met Heloise, and in the first time writing about her in The Story of My Calamities he describes her individuality. "...in the extent of her learning she stood supreme. A gift for letters is so rare in women that it added greatly to her charm and had won her renown throughout the realm." (p.66 ll.15-17). This shows that Abelard valued individuality highly in others as well as in himself. He arranged an agreement with Heloise's uncle to educate her, and gained access to Heloise. Their relationship encompassed the maximum in personal freedom and experimentation. They had a premarital sexual affair of unparalleled proportion. The whole affair was entirely against the rules of society at the time, and was the culmination of the progressive pattern of freedoms, turned into the abuse of opportunity. Soon after Abelard's individuality and superiority caught up to him. Heloise became pregnant, and Abelard could not successfully sidestep the ethics of society again. To appease her uncle, Abelard offered him "satisfaction in a form he could ...
