Introduction by CJ Mews

Peter Abelard says: “Some causes of the soul of the parents, moreover, seem to be causes of the souls of sons. For, in the same way that the bodies of those who are created draw their form or qualities from the bodies of parents, so too their souls come from the parents' souls. ”

Original Latin

Parents and Their Children

In his reflection on the creation of man and woman, shaped by the biblical text, Abelard reflects on what children draw from their parents:

For, in the same way that the bodies of those who are created draw their form or qualities from the bodies of parents, so too their souls come from the parents' souls.

In Abelard's thinking, just as the bodies of children may derive from the bodies of their parents, so the incorporeal qualities of their souls may also derive from the souls of their parents.

The most obvious corporeal qualities we share with our parents are things like illness according to Abelard.   But Abelard does not think that every quality we share with our parent is inherited.  Instead, even things such as a pale complexion may be the result of a natural faculty rather than a direct inheritance.