PHILIP THE CHANCELLOR. - Theologian, born in Paris ca. 1160-85, died there on 23 Dec. 1236. He is not to be identified, as was long done, with the poet Philip de Grève. From ca. 1206 he was magister theologiae and from 1218 until his death chancellor of the University of Paris. He was involved in the academic crisis of 1220-31, which ended with a statute of Gregory IX that is the true magna charta of the University of Paris. Alongside William of Auxerre, William of Poitiers, and William of Auvergne, he is to be regarded as the most important exponent of the transitional period from early to mature scholasticism.
He is the author of a Summa de bono (unpublished), primarily oriented toward an Augustinianism of Neoplatonic tendency, yet already showing a notable acquaintance with the new Aristotle; in it the entire theological doctrine is developed from the viewpoint of the good, both natural good (creation of the angels, the corporeal world, man) and the good of grace (theological and cardinal virtues, gifts of the Holy Spirit, grace). This Summa exercised great influence especially on the doctrine of the virtues and of sin, particularly within the early Franciscan school, and earned Philip the reputation of one of the greatest precursors of high scholasticism. Among other things, he is considered the creator of the treatise De synedrechi. Recent studies (Glorieux, V. BIBLICA.), however, have shown that Philip transcribed his Summa almost verbatim from another, the so-called Summa Duacensis, which is older and survives only in fragments (in ms. Douai 434). Hence the importance of this thinker cannot yet be securely assessed. Syntheses of his doctrine do not yet exist.
M. De Wulf, Histoire de la philosophie médicale, II, 6; ed. Louvain and Paris 1936, pp. 72-74; Italian trans. by V. Milano, Florence 1945, pp. 65-68; O. Engelhardt, s.V. in L'Itinéraire catholique, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (Bologna: M. Grabmann, Storia della teologia cattolica, 2nd ed., Milan 1939, pp. 85-435 (with bibl.) – Anneliese Meier).