Phil 30301: Ancient and Medieval
Philosophy
Freddoso
304 Malloy
E-mail: afreddos@gmail.com
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 9/17 and
11/24.
3. Two exams, Midterm on 10/15 and Final on 12/19; 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)
- 8/27: The Pre-Parmenideans: Thales, Anaximander,
Anaximenes,
Heraclitus,
Xenophanes, Pythagoras. Reading: Jordan, 3-25
- 9/1-9/3: The Eleatics: Parmenides, Zeno, Melissus. Reading:
Jordan,
25-33
- 9/8: The Response to Parmenides: Empedocles, Anaxagoras,
the Atomists
(Democritus
and Leucippus). Reading: Jordan, 34-50
- 9/10: The Good for Human Beings: The Problem. Reading: Republic,
327A-367E
- 9/15: Moral Rectitude in the State and the Individual:
The Parts of the
Soul. Reading: Republic, 376D-448E & 588B-592B
- 9/17: The Philosopher as the Paradigm of Human
Flourishing. Readings: Republic,
471C-502C); Apology, all; Phaedo, in Five Dialogues,
57A-69E
- 9/22: The Theory of Forms (or Ideas) and the Ascent to
the Good.
Readings: Meno, 70A-86C; Phaedo, 70A-95E; Republic,
502D-521B
- 9/24: Cosmology and Extrinsic Teleology. Reading: Phaedo,
95E-118A
- C. Aristotle
(Background reading: Jordan, 128-152)
- 9/29: Substance and Accident. Readings: Categories,
chaps. 1-5; Topics
I, chaps. 5-9
- 10/1: 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
- 10/6-10/8: Nature, the Four Causes, and Intrinsic
Teleology. Readings: Physics II, chaps. 1-3 & 7-9; Physics
III, chaps. 1-3; Metaphysics V, chap. 4
- 10/13: The Soul. Readings: On the Soul I, chaps.
1 & 4; On
the Soul II, chaps. 1-5; On the Soul III, chaps.
4-5
II. MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY (In addition to the
readings specified
below, you are responsible for Jordan, 318-375 & 419-442)
- 10/27-10/29: 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
- 11/3-11/5: 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
- 11/10: 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
- 11/12-11/17-11/19: 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)
- 11/24-12/1: 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)
- 12/3-12/8: 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)
- 12/19: 8:00-10:00 AM Final Exam
|