304 Malloy

E-mail: afreddos@nd.edu 

Home page: http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos

Description  of Course: 

     An introductory survey of western philosophy from the 6th-century B.C. Presocratics to the 16th-century Scholastics. The lectures will focus primarily on Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas, using the twin themes of nature and human nature as an occasion for (i) formulating with some precision the main metaphysical and ethical problematics that emerge from the works of Plato and Aristotle, (ii) investigating the influence of Plato and Aristotle on the Catholic intellectual tradition, and (iii) exploring in some depth the relation between faith and reason. 

      Because the lectures will not try to cover all the important figures (though there will be ample references to them, as well as to key early modern philosophers), the students will be expected to read all of the assigned secondary source, viz., James Jordan's Western Philosophy: From Antiquity to the Middle Ages, as well as the primary sources assigned for the lectures. In addition, the requirements include (a) two 7-page papers on (so rumor has it) rather challenging assigned topics, and (b) two, shall we say, character-building exams. 

     This course is meant primarily to introduce philosophy majors to important figures and issues in the history of philosophy, and so the course will be taught at a higher level of sophistication than ordinary second courses in philosophy.  As long as they understand this, however, non-philosophy majors, as well as the undecided, are welcome. 

Texts (other translations are acceptable): 

Plato, Five Dialogues (Hackett) 

Plato, The Republic (Oxford) 

Aristotle, A New Aristotle Reader (Princeton) 

St. Augustine, Confessions (Oxford) 

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 1: God (Notre Dame) [hereafter: Summa Contra Gentiles I] 

Pope John Paul II, On the Relationship between Faith and Reason (Fides et Ratio) (Pauline Books)

James N. Jordan, Western Philosophy: From Antiquity to the Middle Ages (Macmillan) 

Outlines of course lectures are available on the instructor's website 

Requirements: 

1. Class attendance and a careful perusal of all reading assignments. 

2. Two 7-page papers on assigned topics. These papers will constitute 50% of your final grade for the course. Papers will be due on 9/19 and 11/21.

3. Two exams, Midterm on 10/17 and Final on 12/18; each exam constitutes 25% of your final grade for the course. 
 

Tentative syllabus: 

I.  ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY (In addition to the readings specified below, you are responsible for Jordan, 173-272) 
 

• A. The Pre-Socratic Philosophers

• 8/29: The Pre-Parmenideans: Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Xenophanes, Pythagoras. Reading: Jordan, 3-25
 
• 9/3-9/5: The Eleatics: Parmenides, Zeno, Melissus. Reading: Jordan, 25-33
 
• 9/10: The Response to Parmenides: Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the Atomists (Democritus and Leucippus). Reading: Jordan, 34-50
 

• B. Socrates and Plato (Background reading: Jordan, 51-127)

• 9/12: The Good for Human Beings: The Problem. Reading: Republic, 327A-367E
 
• 9/17: Moral Rectitude in the State and the Individual: The Parts of the Soul. Reading: Republic, 376D-448E & 588B-592B
 
• 9/19: The Philosopher as the Paradigm of Human Flourishing. Readings: Republic, 471C-502C); Apology, all; Phaedo, in Five Dialogues, 57A-69E
 
• 9/24: The Theory of Forms (or Ideas) and the Ascent to the Good. Readings: Meno, 70A-86C; Phaedo, 70A-95E; Republic, 502D-521B
 
• 9/26: Cosmology and Extrinsic Teleology. Reading: Phaedo, 95E-118A
 

• C. Aristotle (Background reading: Jordan, 128-152)

• 10/1: Substance and Accident. Readings: Categories, chaps. 1-5; Topics I, chaps. 5-9
 
• 10/3: The Analysis of Change: Form, Matter, and Privation. Readings: Physics I, chaps. 1-2 & 5-9; On Generation and Corruption I, chaps. 3-4; Metaphysics XII, chaps. 1-5


• 10/8-10/10: Nature, the Four Causes, and Intrinsic Teleology. Readings: Physics II, chaps. 1-3 & 7-9; Physics III, chaps. 1-3; Metaphysics V, chap. 4
 
• 10/15: The Soul. Readings: On the Soul I, chaps. 1 & 4; On the Soul II, chaps. 1-5; On the Soul III, chaps. 4-5

• 10/17 Midterm Exam

II. MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY (In addition to the readings specified below, you are responsible for Jordan, 318-375 & 419-442) 
 

• A. Faith and Reason (Background Reading: Jordan, 275-317 & 376-385)

• 10/29-10/31: The Nature of Faith. Readings: Aquinas, De Veritate, ques. 14, art. 1 (handout page); Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles I, chaps. 3-6; Augustine, Confessions VI, chaps. 1-5
 
• 11/5: Faith and Philosophy: The Specters of Anti-Secularism and Accommodationism. Readings: Aristotle, Metaphysics I, chaps. 1-2; Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles I, chaps. 1-2 & 7-9; Augustine, Confessions III, chaps. 1-7; Augustine, Confessions V, chaps. 1-5; Pope John Paul II the Great, Fides et Ratio, nos. 36-48
  
 
• 11/7: Augustine and Classical Philosophy. Readings: Augustine, Confessions IV, chap. 16; Augustine, Confessions V, chaps. 10-14; Augustine, Confessions VI, chap. 11; Augustine, Confessions VII, chaps. 9-21
 

• B. God and Nature (Background Reading: Jordan, 386-405)

• 11/12-11/14-11/19: Natural Theology: The Existence and Nature of God. Readings: Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles I, chaps. 13-18 & 28-36; Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles II, chaps. 52-54 (handout page)
  
 
• 11/21-11/26-11/28: The Emanation of Creatures from God: Creation, Conservation, and Concurrence. Readings: Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles II, chaps. 15-21 (handout page); Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles III, chaps. 65-70 (handout page); Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, ques. 93, arts. 1-5 (handout page)
 

• C. God and Human Nature (Background, Jordan, 152-171 & 405-418)

• 12/3-12/5: The Good for Human Beings: Greek vs. Christian Perspectives. Readings: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics I-II (all); Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics X, chaps. 6-9; Augustine, Confessions I, chaps. 1-5; Augustine, Confessions II, chaps. 1-10; Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, qq. 1-5 (handout page)
  
 
• 12/10: The Good and the Obligatory: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Teleology in Morals. Readings: Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, ques. 90-94 (all) (handout page); Suarez, De Legibus II, chap. 6 (handout page)
  
 

• 12/18: 8:00-10:00 AM   Final Exam