Much of Abelard's philosophy, specifically his philosophy of language, rests on an account of cognition and philosophy of mind. Abelard recognized this dependence. His more famous discussions of universals and propositions each include a brief treatment of cognition and mind as essential groundwork. Around 1125 he wrote the Treatise on Understandings (Tractatus de intellectibus) to present his views in a single work and in a more coherent fashion than he had hitherto undertaken to do. The Treatise's stated purpose is to distinguish and explain the operations of the mind “necessary for the doctrine of sermones” (TI 1), and it reflects Abelard's somewhat ambivalent feelings about the philosophical importance of issues in cognition and philosophy of mind. The issues are important enough to warrant discussion in an independent work, but Abelard did not consider their study to be a philosophical end in itself.