Hildegard of Bingen

Abstract

It is problematic to refer to Hildegard of Bingen as a philosopher, even though she was familiar with the philosophical currents of her time and could animatedly and competently take a stand on them. More appropriately, one could call her a theologian, even though she would be loath to claim such authority for herself, in regard to her writing. Her works, including the letters, function to a large extent as visionary literature, and it is not by chance that she, as a woman, chooses these stylistic means. Within her visionary experience, she comes to a philosophical-theological view of the world which displays original traits and sometimes emphasizes polemical aspects, but, in addition, raises many unanswered questions about the influences affecting a 12th-century Benedictine woman's view of the world and of mankind.