Chaucer's "Knight's Tale" and Theories of Scholastic Psychology

Description: Proposes that KnT has a "two-fold focus: one centering on theories of human nature--Franciscan, Dominican, and Chaucerian; the other centering on theories of valid language use, whether literal alone or figurative as well." Allegory is not the right term. In Chaucer, the husk still has meaning; and "of all issues embodied" in KnT, "metaphysical freedom is the most important."; Roney examines psychological, linguistic, and philosophic contrasts between Palamon and Arcite, drawing on the scholastic debate regarding "which is prior ('nobilior') among the faculties of the human soul, the intellect or the will." Chaucer characterizes each "according to the faculty psychology of one side: Arcite according to the intellectualist theories of the Aristotelian Thomists; Palamon according to the voluntarist theories of the Augustinian Franciscans."; The characterization of Theseus constitutes "a third psychological theory, in fact a Chaucerian resolution the whole controversy." KnT puts forth important scholastic truths embodied in pagan "lies," at the same time refuting scholastic poetics by conveying truth figuratively.; To scholastic principles of "faculty structure, thinking process and language use," Chaucer adds his theory that "the human mind is completely free, uses language to think with, and learns from thinking about its own individual experiences." Chaucer tests his own theory throughout CT.