Ralph McInerny
FALL SEMESTER - 2006
MW 15.00-16.15
Fitzgerald Hall of Engineering 356
Course Assistant: Patrick Gardner
Email: pgardner@nd.edu
Office Hours: TH 15.00-16.00, Hesburgh 715 (Medieval Institute)
Executive assistant: Alice Osberger 1-5825
Texts: Dante, The Divine Comedy, translated by Dorothy Sayers (London: Penguin, 1949), 3 vols.
Thomas Aquinas, Selected Writings, edited by Ralph McInerny (London: Penguin, 1998).
Website: http://www.nd.edu/~rmcinern, on which will be posted: lecture notes, at the end of each week; links to supplementary readings, some required; and updates to this syllabus. Notification of updates to the website will be given by email.
Requirements: For most weeks of the semester, there will be a short essay assignment (2-3 pages) on the reading for that week, offering a choice of questions, due by the beginning of class on Wednesday. The midterm and final exams will be constructed on the basis of these essay questions; the midterm will be take-home and open-book. Graduate students will substitute a longer research paper (15-20 pages) for the exams.
Grades: Weekly Essays, 34%; Midterm, 33%; Final, 33%. Regular attendance is expected.
WEEK I - August 23: Introductory: Two Medieval Italians
WEEK II - August 28 & 30: General remarks about Aquinas, his life and works
Reading: McInerny, "Introduction", in Thomas Aquinas, Selected Writings, pp. ix-xxxiv.
WEEK III - Sept. 4 & 6: The Structure of the Summa theologiae
Reading: McInerny, "The Summa theologiae of Thomas Aquinas", on course website; "Proemia of the Summa", on course website.
WEEK IV - Sept. 11 & 13: General remarks about Dante; before the Comedy: La vita nuova and Il Convivio; Beatrice and Dame Philosophy; The Letter to Can Grande della Scala
Reading: Sayers, "Introduction", in Dante, The Divine Comedy, vol. 1: Hell, pp. 9-66; Dante, "Epistola XIII", on the Princeton Dante Project.
WEEK V - Sept. 18 & 20: The Structure of the Inferno
Reading: Dante, The Divine Comedy, vol. 1: Hell.
WEEK VI - Sept. 25 & 27: The Structure of the Purgatorio
Reading: Dante, The Divine Comedy, vol. 2: Purgatory.
WEEK VII - Oct 2 & 4: The structure of the Paradiso
Reading: Dante, The Divine Comedy, vol. 3: Paradiso.
WEEK VII - Oct 9 & 11: Review of the Comedy, Midterm
Reading: Review.
MIDSEMESTER BREAK
WEEK IX - Oct 25: Poetry and philosophy; Dante as philosophical poet
Reading: Background Essay.
WEEK X - Oct. 30 & Nov. 1: The Way to Wisdom: Hylomorphism; The Soul; Intellection; Thought Thinking Itself
Reading: Aquinas, Selected Writings, Chapter 2, "On the Principles of Nature", pp. 18-29; Chapter 17, "Definitions of Soul", pp. 410-428.WEEK XI - Nov. 6 & 8: The Names of God: Analogy and Metaphor; Theological and Poetic Allegory
Reading: Aquinas, Selected Writings, Chapter 13, "On the Divine Simplicity", pp. 290-342; Chapter 18, "Platonism and Neoplatonism", pp. 429-431.
WEEK XII - Nov. 13 & 15: Angels in Dante and Thomas
Reading: Aquinas, Selected Writings, Chapter 16, "On Angelic Knowledge", pp. 368-410.
WEEK XIII - Nov. 20 & 22: The State of the Souls after Death
Reading: [review] Aquinas, Selected Writings, Chapter 17; Dante, Inferno X, Purgatorio III & XXV, Paradiso XIV.
WEEK XIV - Nov. 27 & 29: Dante and the Blessed Virgin
Reading: Aquinas, Selected Writings, Chatper 33, "Exposition of the Angelic Salutation (Ave Maria)", pp. 822-27.
WEEK XV - Dec. 4 & 6: Review for Final Exam.
Reading: Review.