This work is known for its strict adherence to scholastic practices, such as fully developing arguments, and defining one's terms. Abelard addresses the philosophical questions pertaining to God, human nature, and the meaning of human life. As a Catholic he also discusses the church, and the theology of Christian tradition.
He discusses Aristotle in relationship to the church, because there was serious controversy when the Greek philosophers were reintroduced to Europe by the Muslims. Many thought the Greek philosophers were heretics, and that Christianity was incompatible with those thinkers, but Abelard offers compelling arguments for Aristotle's adherence to syllogism and logic, arguing that the superb logic of the Greeks would be a safe foundation for theology.
Like Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Abelard argues that in addition to the moral aspect of human behaviors, choices, actions, there is also human intention. By intention, he means that humans have intents in every one of their actions, and that by judging what they were intending to achieve, a more full diagnosis can be made about the quality of their soul. In other words, what people actually want is as important as how they get what they want.
Then, he responds to issue of whether babies go to hell when they die before their infant baptism. He explains that in his opinion, all that happens to such babies is that they aren't allowed to be in communion with God in the afterlife, but that doesn't mean they go to hell necessarily, the might go to limbo instead. This argument became very popular in the Catholic church for hundreds of years.
