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 as articulated by the medievals.
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 6-7 page papers on assigned
topics, and (b) two 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 and editions of primary sources are
acceptable):
- Plato, Five Dialogues (Hackett) ISBN: 978-0872206335
- Plato, The Republic (Oxford) ISBN: 978-0199535767
- Aristotle, A New Aristotle Reader (Princeton) ISBN: 978-0691020433
- St. Augustine, Confessions (Oxford) ISBN: 978-0192833723
- St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 1: God
(Notre
Dame) ISBN: 978-0268016784
- Pope John Paul II, On the Relationship between Faith and
Reason
(Fides et Ratio) (Pauline Books) ISBN: 978-0819826695
- James N. Jordan, Western Philosophy: From Antiquity to the
Middle
Ages (Macmillan) ISBN: 978-0023614507
Other assigned (and supplemental) readings available at http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/301/handouts.htm
-- referred
to below as "handout"
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 6-7 page papers on assigned topics. These papers will
constitute
50% of your final grade for the course. The papers will be due at 11:59pm on 2/10 and 4/17 and
should be submitted electronically in .doc or docx format as email
attachments to afreddos@gmail.com.
3. Two exams, Midterm on 3/2 at the regularly scheduled class time and Final on 5/4 from 4:15 to 6:15;
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
- 1/13:
The
Pre-Parmenideans: Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus,
Xenophanes, Pythagoras.
Reading: Jordan, 3-25
- 1/18-1/20:
The
Eleatics: Parmenides, Zeno, Melissus. Reading:
Jordan,
25-33
- 1/25:
The
Response to Parmenides: Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the Atomists
(Democritus and Leucippus). Reading:
Jordan, 34-50
B. Socrates
and Plato
(Background reading: Jordan, 51-127)
- 1/27:
The Good
for Human Beings: The Problem. Reading: Republic,
327A-376C
- 2/1:
Justice in
the State and the Individual: The Parts of the Soul. Reading: Republic,
376D-448E & 588B-592B
- 2/3: The
Philosopher as the Paradigm of Human Flourishing. Readings: Republic,
471C-502C; Apology, all; Phaedo 57A-69E
- 2/8:
The
Middle-Dialogue Account of the Forms (or Ideas) and the Ascent to the
Good. Readings: Meno 70A-86C; Phaedo,
70A-95E; Republic,
502D-521B
- 2/10:
Cosmology
and Extrinsic Teleology. Reading: Phaedo,
95E-118A (Paper due)
C. Aristotle
(Background reading: Jordan, 128-152)
- 2/15:
Substance
and Accident. Readings:
Categories, chaps. 1-5; Topics
I, chaps. 5-9
- 2/17 & 2/22:
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
- 2/24:
Nature, the Four Causes, and Intrinsic Teleology. Readings: Physics
II, chaps. 1-3 & 7-9; Physics
III, chaps. 1-3; Metaphysics
V, chap. 4
- 2/29:
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)
A. Faith
and Reason
(Background Reading: Jordan, 275-317 &
376-385)
- 3/14-3/16:
The
Nature of Faith. Readings: Aquinas, De
Veritate,
ques. 14, art. 1 (handout), 1-3; Aquinas, Summa
Contra Gentiles
I, chaps. 3-6; Augustine, Confessions
VI, chaps. 1-5; John Paul
II, Fides et Ratio,
nos. 1-34
- 3/21-3/23-3/30:
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; John
Paul
II, Fides et Ratio,
nos. 36-48
- 4/4:
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)
- 4/6-4/11-4/13:
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. 52-53
(handout)
- 4/18-4/20:
The
Emanation of Creatures from God: Creation, Conservation,
and Concurrence. Readings: Aquinas, Summa
Contra Gentiles II,
chaps.
15-21 (handout); Aquinas, Summa
Contra Gentiles III, chaps.
65-70
(handout); Aquinas, Summa
Theologiae I-II, ques. 93, arts.
1-5
(handout) (Paper due on 4/17 at 11:59pm)
C. God
and Human Nature
(Background Reading: Jordan, 152-171
& 405-418)
- 4/25:
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 (all) handout
- 4/27:
The Good
and the Obligatory: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Teleology in
Morals. Readings: Aquinas Summa
Theologiae I-II, ques. 90-94
(all)
(handout); Suarez, De Legibus
II, chap. 6 (handout)
Wednesday May 4, 4:15-6:15 Final Exam
Ancient
Philosophers
|
Medieval
Philosophers
|
Early
Modern Philosophers
|
Thales 624-548
BC
|
St. Augustine
354-430
|
Francis Bacon
1561-1626
|
Anaximander
611-545 BC
|
John Philoponus 490-570
|
Galileo
Galilei 1564-1642
|
Anaximenes
587-525 BC
|
al-Farabi
875-930 |
Thomas Hobbes
1588-1679
|
Pythagoras
572-? BC
|
Saadia 882-942 |
Pierre
Gassendi 1592-1655
|
Xenophanes
570-475 BC
|
Avicenna
980-1037 |
René
Descartes 1596-1650
|
Heraclitus
544-484 BC
|
St. Anselm
1033-1109 |
Antoine Arnauld 1612-1694 |
Parmenides
515-? BC
|
al-Ghazali
1058-1111 |
Blaise Pascal 1623-1662 |
Anaxagoras
499-428 BC
|
Peter Abelard
1079-1142 |
Robert Boyle
1627-1691 |
Empedocles 495-435 |
Averroes
1126-1198 |
Baruch Spinoza
1632-1677 |
Zeno 490-?
BC
|
St.
Albert the Great 1200-1280
|
John Locke
1632-1704 |
Melissus fl.
445 BC
|
Moses
Maimonides 1135-1204
|
Nicholas Malebranche 1638-1715
|
Philolaus
470-? BC
|
Roger Bacon
1214-1292
|
Isaac Newton
1642-1727 |
Socrates
469-399 BC
|
Henry of Ghent
1217-1293
|
G.W.F. Leibniz
1646-1716 |
Democritus
460-? BC
|
St.
Bonaventure 1221-1274
|
Samuel Clarke
1675-1729 |
Leucippus
459-? BC
|
St. Thomas
Aquinas 1225-1274
|
Christian
Wolff 1679-1754 |
Plato 428-348
BC
|
John Duns
Scotus 1265-1308
|
George
Berkeley 1685-1753 |
Aristotle
384-322 BC
|
Durandus
de Saint-Pourçain 1270-1332
|
Joseph Butler
1692-1752 |
Pyrrho of Elis
360-270 BC
|
William of
Ockham 1285-1347
|
Thomas Reid
1710-1796 |
Epicurus
341-270 BC
|
John Buridan
1295-1358
|
David Hume
1711-1776 |
Zeno of Citium
336-265 BC
|
Peter D'Ailly
1350-1420
|
Immanuel Kant
1724-1804 |
Carneades
214-129 BC
|
Nicholas of
Cusa 1401-1464
|
***** |
Marcus Tullius
Cicero 106-43 BC
|
Dionysius
Carthusiensis 1402-1471
|
*****
|
Aenesidemus
fl. c. 25 BC |
Gabriel Biel
1410-1495
|
*****
|
Epictetus
55-135 |
Domingo
Bañez 1528-1604
|
*****
|
Marcus
Aurelius 121-180 |
Luis de Molina
1535-1600
|
*****
|
Sextus
Empiricus c.160-c.220 |
Francisco
Suarez 1548-1617
|
*****
|
Plotinus
205-270 |
|
*****
|
|