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The main idea which distinguishes William of Baskerville's approach to the mysterious events occuring in the monastery from those of the other characters is that William rejects the common idea that the "devil" is at work. Instead he takes an objective approach and looks for evidence and motive. He examines all sides of the issue and all possibilities without allowing himself to except the easy answer. Furthermore, William takes the scientific approach, a sort of Sherlock Holmes method. He stresses the natural over the supernatural.

William believes the best way to find the truth is through research and hard evidence. He believes experiementation and collecting data which translates into evidence is the proper way to determine the truth or falsity of a hypothesis. Whereas the inquisitor's methods involve torture in order to intice a confession out of those he believes or wants others to believe are guilty. He accepts spoken word as hard evidence to prove a persons innocence or guilt. The inquisitor's method is unreliable because often people will confess to crimes they did not commit in order to avoid pain and suffering.

The monks are willing to attribute the events occuring in the monastery to the influence of the devil or witchcraft because it is an easy answer. They are avoiding the possibility that one of their own is committing such terrible crimes and going against everything the church and monastery stands for.

Jorge doesn't destroy Aristotle's manuscript because it is very precious. Aristotle is very important in the ideas integrated into the Catholic religion. Furthermore, it seems as if in a way he is using the book as a sort of test to the monks. Jorge believes that if man laughs he will continously seek pleasure and lose fear. With the continual pursuit of pleasure and happiness, people will turn away from God and the church. Jorge's view is best summed up in this movie plot: "Laughter kills fear, and without fear there can be no faith, because without fear of the Devil there is no more need of God."

A question which could be brought up for discussion could be: What similarities and differences can be seen between the Catholic faith of Medieval times and the faith practices of today?

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: The main idea which distinguishes William of Baskerville's approach to the mysterious events occuring in the monastery from those of the other characters is that William rejects the common idea that the "devil" is at work. Instead he takes an objective approach and looks for evidence and motive. He examines all sides of the issue and all possibilities without allowing himself to except the easy answer. Furthermore, William takes the scientific approach, a sort of Sherlock Holmes method. He stresses the natural over the supernatural. : William believes the best way to find the truth is through research and hard evidence. He believes experiementation and collecting data which translates into evidence is the proper way to determine the truth or falsity of a hypothesis. Whereas the inquisitor's methods involve torture in order to intice a confession out of those he believes or wants others to believe are guilty. He accepts spoken word as hard evidence to prove a persons innocence or guilt. The inquisitor's method is unreliable because often people will confess to crimes they did not commit in order to avoid pain and suffering. : The monks are willing to attribute the events occuring in the monastery to the influence of the devil or witchcraft because it is an easy answer. They are avoiding the possibility that one of their own is committing such terrible crimes and going against everything the church and monastery stands for. : Jorge doesn't destroy Aristotle's manuscript because it is very precious. Aristotle is very important in the ideas integrated into the Catholic religion. Furthermore, it seems as if in a way he is using the book as a sort of test to the monks. Jorge believes that if man laughs he will continously seek pleasure and lose fear. With the continual pursuit of pleasure and happiness, people will turn away from God and the church. Jorge's view is best summed up in this movie plot: "Laughter kills fear, and without fear there can be no faith, because without fear of the Devil there is no more need of God." : A question which could be brought up for discussion could be: What similarities and differences can be seen between the Catholic faith of Medieval times and the faith practices of today?

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