<P> The question "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" has been used many times as a dismissal of medieval angelology in particular, and of scholasticism in general . The phrase has been used also to criticize figures such as Duns Scotus and Thomas Aquinas, who explored the intersection between the philosophical aspects of space and the qualities attributed to angels . Another variety of the question is: "How many angels can stand on the point of a pin?" </P> <P> Scholasticism used these kind of questions in dialectical reasoning to extend knowledge by inference, and to resolve contradictions . The need for rationality as complementary to faith was raised as an important point for Catholic theology at the Council of Trent . The question has also been linked to the fall of Constantinople, with the imagery of scholars debating about minutiae while the Turks besieged the city . In modern usage, it therefore has been used as a metaphor for wasting time debating topics of no practical value, or questions whose answers hold no intellectual consequence, while more urgent concerns pile up . </P>

How many angels can stand on the point of a pin