Marquette Detailed Syllabus

SYLLABUS PART 2 OF 2

Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’: Five Major Issues

Fall 2016

Class: Raynor Library room 320a Thursdays 9-11:40 am

Office hours:

Prof. Taylor, MU students:

Tuesdays 10:30-12 noon; Wednesdays 1-2:30, & by appointment

Email: richard.taylor@marquette.edu

Prof. Taylor, KUL students:

Fridays 14h-16h CET via Skype (“misterteaatmac”)

Note: before connecting, you must send a connection request via Skype.

email: richard.taylor@kuleven.be

Prof. Robiglio: Wednesday 9-11 am CET

For MU students via Skype by email appointment

email: andrea.robiglio@kuleuven.be

Marquette class meetings: Thursdays 9-11:40 am (with 10 min. break)

This seminar on high medieval philosophy considers five (5) topics on issues of major importance in the thought of Aquinas in connection with the Arabic philosophical tradition: (1) metaphysics of creation & being, (2) philosophy & religion, (3) human knowledge, (4) human soul, and (5) ultimate human happiness. Each of these moments of engagement with sources from the Arabic tradition plays a key role in the formation of the thought of Aquinas.

For eight (8) class meetings we will meet on live video for one hour of international discussion with “Aquinas in Context” graduate course students at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium with Prof. Andrea Robiglio. We will be studying the same texts at those times. The primary focus of these common meetings will be on the topic of knowledge and the human internal bodily senses.

29 September 10-11 am

6 October 9-10 am

13 October 9-10 am

20 October 9-10 am

Time Changes: Central Europe back one hour 30 Oct.; US 6 Nov 2016

KUL & MU meeting times unaffected.

10 November 9-10 am

17 November 9-10 am

1 December 9-10 am

8 December 9-10 am

Detailed Syllabus

Class: Raynor Library room 320a Thursdays 9-11:40 am

MU classes begin 29 August, while KUL classes begin 29 Sept.

Note: At KUL-MU meetings there will be three (3) MU student presentations and three (3) KUL student presentations each followed by discussion.

All times below are for Milwaukee.

(For most of the semester, Leuven is 7 hours ahead.)

Marquette class time: 9:00 - 10:15, 10:25-11:40 am

Note this exception:

For the first meeting of MU & KUL on 29 Sept we will meet 10-11 am.

After that, the remaining seven (7) live online MU & KUL meetings will be 9-10 am.

CAP: Classical Arabic Philosophy: an Anthology of Sources, J. McGinnis & D. Reisman, eds. (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2007) The MU library has four (4) copies of this. Click HERE. One is on ARES Reserves.

CCA = The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas, Kretzmann and Stump, eds. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) Available Cambridge Collections Online via Marqcat.

CCAP: Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy, P. Adamson & R. Taylor, eds. (Cambridge: CUP. 2005). Available in the Cambridge Companions On Line collection via the MU library. Click HERE and follow the links to this work.

CHMP = The Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy, R. Pasnau, ed. (New York & Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010)

DHSP: Website collection of texts and translations of Aquinas at the Dominican House of Study Priory. Click HERE.

EMP = Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy 500 -1500, H. Lagerlund, ed. (Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York: Springer, 2011) Available in the Reference area at the MU library.

OHMP = Oxford Handbook of Medieval Philosophy, John Marenbon, ed. (Oxford: OUP, 2012)

RCIP: Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, R. Taylor & L. López-Farjeat, eds. (Routledge, 2015). Marquette has a e-book version available. Click HERE.

SEP: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online http://plato.stanford.edu)

Some other works of value for our studies:

Herbert A. Davidson, Alfarabi, Avicenna, & Averroes, on Intellect (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Dimitri Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition (Leiden: Brill, 1988)

James A. Weisheipl, Thomas D’Aquino (Washington, D.C.: CUA Press 1974)

J.-P. Torrell, Saint Thomas Aquinas, v. 1, The Person and His Work (Washington, D.C.: CUA Press, 1996)

Pasquale Porro, Thomas Aquinas: a historical and philosophical profile (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press,2016)

Color coding:

Mocha: Marquette

Green: Marquette and KU Leuven

Blue: Marquette responsibility in meeting with KUL

Red: KU Leuven responsibility in meeting with MU

Class #1 1Sept16 MU only

Overview and introduction to the course and its sources & tools:

1.1 Introductions

1.2 An introductory lecture on Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’

1.3 An explanation of our connection with the graduate course, Aquinas in Context, at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium
1.4 Detailed tour through the course syllabus with explanations of class expectations, procedures for student presentations, grading, and more.

Assignments recommended in preparation for this class:

(a)SEP:

Dag Hasse, SEP “Influence of Arabic and Islamic Philosophy on the Latin West” (2014)

John O’Callaghan, SEP “Thomas Aquinas” (2014)

Cristina D’Ancona, SEP “Greek Sources in Arabic and Islamic Philosophy” (2013)

(b)Cristina D’Ancona, “The Origins of Islamic Philosophy,” in The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity, L. Gerson, ed. (Cambridge, 2010), v. 2 869-893, 1170-1178. (Available on MU Ares Reserves: https://www.marquette.edu/library/find/resstud.php

((password for access to reserves for this course: mistertea)).)

(c)Before 29 September, complete a full reading of Pasquale Porro, Thomas Aquinas: a historical and philosophical profile (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press,2016) which is available as an e-book at the Marquette library. Click HERE.
(d)For a partial preview of some of the topics of this course, see this video lecture from a Rome 2016 conference. Click HERE.

Class #2 8Sept16 MU only Topic: being & creation

Part 1 of 2 9:00-10:15 am

2.1: Lecture on being and creation in Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus; creation in the Abrahamic traditions; review and interpretations of texts in the handout on the Plotiniana Arabica, Kalam fi mahd al-khair and the works of al-Kindi.

We will work through this HANDOUT called “Handout on Pre-Avicennian . . . .”

Assignments in preparation for this class:

Creation and Being in the Pre-Avicennian Arabic tradition:

• Selected readings from the Plotiniana Arabica, Kalam fi mahd al-khair and the works of al-Kindi are available in HANDOUT indicated just above.

• Video 6a (2011) is on the Arabic Plotiniana Arabica which presents a transformation of the Neoplatonic thought of Plotinus into a new doctrine of being in which the One, the First, God, is presented as Pure Being and the Creator of all things.

• Video 6b (2011) is on the Arabic Kalām fī maḥḍ al-khair (“Discourse on the Pure Good,” known in the Latin tradition as the Liber de causis, “Book of Causes”) which is a treatise on creation and primary causality concerning higher entities such as celestial intellects, souls and bodies. The doctrine of the Kalām fī maḥḍ al-khair is derivative on that of the Plotiniana Arabica but with emphasis on the way in which God can be the only true Creator and somehow intimitely present to each and every being created by him even through a causality is comes about through intermediary beings. While the Plotiniana Arabica was not available to Aquinas, the Kalām fī maḥḍ al-khair in Latin translation was carefully studied and often cited by Aquinas in his discussions of the metaphysics of God and creatures. Also the mature Aquinas found the Kalām fī maḥḍ al-khair important enough to write a detailed commentary on it in 1272 CE just two years before the end of his life (1274 CE).

Two important secondary sources:

• Adamson, Peter, “The Theology of Aristotle” SEP 2012 link HERE.

•Michael Chase, “Creation in Islam from the Qur’an to al-Farabi” RCIP, chapter 20. Click HERE

Selected additional valuable secondary sources:

• Peter Adamson, The Arabic Plotinus: a Philosophical Study of the “Theology of Aristotle”, London: Duckworth, 2002

•C. D’Ancona, “The Liber de causis,” in Interpreting Proclus - From Antiquity to the Renaissance, S. Gersh, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014) pp. 137-161. Available on MU Ares Reserves: https://www.marquette.edu/library/find/resstud.php

((password for access to reserves for this course: mistertea)).

•C. D’Ancona and R.C. Taylor, “Le Liber de causis” Dictionnaire de Philosophes Antiques. Supplément ed. Richard Goulet et alii, eds., pp.599-647 (Paris: CNRS Edition, 2003).
•Endress, Gerhard, “The Circle of al-Kindi,” in G. Endress and R. Kruk (eds.), The Ancient Tradition in Christian and Islamic Hellenism, Leiden: Research School CNWS. 1997.

Part 2 of 2 10:25-11:40 am.

2.2. The establishment of the Necessary Being in Avicenna and on creation in Avicenna, with questions and discussion.

We will work through this HANDOUT called “Ibn Sina - Avcenna on Creation Handout.pdf”

The metaphysics of Aquinas is developed from his study of Avicenna. As Joseph Owens indicates in a 1980 article (“Existence and the Subject of Metaphysics,” Science et Esprit 23, 255-260) and in “Aristotle and Aquinas,” CCA, pp. 38-59, the metaphysics of Aquinas is very different from that of Aristotle even if a superficial reading has convinced many scholars that their teachings are the same. Aquinas develops his metaphysical thought on the basis of his study of Avicenna (which develops its principle dialectically) through a unique dialectical approach set forth in his De ente et essentia / On being and essence which we will study later. This class is focused on the metaphysics of Avicenna with important readings and some four lectures. Only three of those lectures on Avicenna are required. The lecture on Avicenna Metaphysics Book 6 is optional but strongly recommended.

At class we will work through a handout on Avicenna’s texts on creation. For the handout, see the link just above.

Video lectures: Avicenna is very important for Aquinas. For a 2011 course on Creation, I prepared detailed video lectures on the metaphysics of Avicenna. We will use those lectures here but only three are required though all are recommended. Video 7a is on Book 1 of Avicenna’s Metaphysics; Video 7b is on Metaphysics 6; Video 7c is on Metaphysics 8; and Video 7d is on Metaphysics 9.

Assignments:

Primary Sources:

Avicenna: The Metaphysics of the Healing, Book 1, ch. 4-7; Book 8, ch. 5-7; Book 9, ch. 1-3. The text used is Avicenna, The Metaphysics of the Healing (Arabic & English), M. E. Marmura, tr. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2005. Book available on ARES reserves

Secondary Sources:

Adamson, Peter, “From the necessary existent to God,” in Interpreting Avicenna. Critical Essays, Peter Adamson, ed. (Cambridge: CUP, 2013) 170-189. ARES Reserves

Acar, Rahim, “Avicenna's Position Concerning the Basis of the Divine Creative Action” Muslim World 94 (2004). ARES Reserves

Gutas, Dimitri, “Avicenna,” in the SEP will be available soon. It is extremely valuable even in its relative brevity. I provide the link HERE but as of 31 August 2016 the final version has not been uploaded. It should appear there shortly.

Jules Janssens, “Metaphysics of God,” RCIP, chapter 18. Marquette has a e-book version available. Click HERE.

Also recommended:

Acar, Rahim, Talking About God and Talking About Creation. Avicenna’s and Thomas Aquinas’s Position. Leiden: Brill, 2005.

Class #3 15Sept16 MU only

Topic: being & creation in Aquinas

Part 1 of 2: 9-10:15 am

3.1 Prof. Taylor on being and creation in the early Aquinas

3.1.1. Aquinas in On Being and Essence & the Commentary on the Sentences

Assignment:

View videos: Video 8a (ca. 22 min.) on interpretations of the De ente and on De ente ch. 1; Video 8b on De ente ch. 2-5. Note: Video 8b is ca. 65 min. long. I suggest students view the first 52 min. Also view Aquinas, Commentary on the Sentences, Book 2, Distinction 1, Question 1, Article 2 see Lecture 9a ; Lecture 9b.

Prepare Readings:

Primary Sources

Aquinas, On Being and Essence Chapters 3 & 4

Aquinas, Commentary on the Sentences, Book 2, Distinction 1, Question 1, Article 2, “Whether anything can go forth from <God> by creation. Click HERE.

Secondary Sources

A. Maurer, “Dialectic in the De Ente Et Essentia of St. Thomas Aquinas,” in Roma, magistra mundi. Itineraria culturae medievalis. Mélanges offerts au Père Boyle à l’occasion de son 75e anniversaire, J. Hamesse, ed. (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1998) 573-583.

R.E. Houser, “The Real Distinction and the Principles of Metaphysics: Avicenna and Aquinas,” in Laudemus viros gloriosos: Essays in Honor of Armand Maurer CSB, R.E. Houser, ed. (Notre Dame University Press: Notre Dame, IN, 2007), 75-108. Available on MU ARES.

Part 2 of 2: 10:25-11:40 am

3.2. Student presentations of discussions by Aquinas in the Summa Contra Gentiles and the Summa Theologiae.

3.2.1. (10 min. only; provide a one-page outline of your presentation) Mark and Esther: presentation of the account of Aquinas in Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 2, chapters 15-18

3.2.2. (10 min. only; provide a one-page outline of your presentation) Nathaniel and Kiesha: presentation of the account of Aquinas in Summa Theologiae, Prima Pars, Q.44, articles 1 & 4.

3.2.3. (10 min. only; provide a one-page outline of your presentation) Jacob & Matthew: presentation of the account of Aquinas in Summa Theologiae, Prima Pars, Q.45, articles 1 & 5.

Assignment

Primary Sources:

Aquinas, Creation in the Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 2, Chapters 15-18. Click HERE.

Aquinas, Creation in the Summa Theologiae, Prima Pars, Q. 44, articles 1 & 4. Click HERE.

Aquinas, Creation in the Summa Theologiae, Prima Pars, Q. 45, articles 1 & 5. Click HERE.

Secondary Sources:

R.E. Houser, “Avicenna, Aliqui, and Thomas Aquinas’s Doctrine of Creation,”

Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie médiévale 80 (2013) 17-55. ARES reserves

Recommended:

L.X. López-Farjeat, “Avicenna’s Influence on Aquinas’ Early Doctrine of Creation in In II Sent., D. 1, Q. 1, A. 2,” Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie médiévale 79 (2012) 307-337. ARES reserves

#4 22Sept16 MU only Topic #2 philosophy & religion

Part 1 of 2 9:00-10:15 am

4.1 Prof. Taylor on the Arabic tradition on philosophy & religion

4.1.1 Overview of al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Avicenna & Averroes on philosophy & religion

4.1.1.1. al-Kindi. On philosophy and religion in On First Philosophy

4.1.1.2. al-Farabi, The Book of Religion

4.1.1.3. Ibn Sina / Avicenna, Selections from Metaphysics, Books 9 & 10

4.1.1.4. Ibn Rushd / Averroes, Faṣl al-maqāl

Assignments: (On MU ARES Reserves)

al-Kindi: Preface of On First Philosophy in this HANDOUT which we used earlier in the course.

al-Farabi: "Book of Religion," in Alfarabi. The Political Writings, Volume I. Ch. Butterworth, tr. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001), pp. 91-113. Available on MU ARES reserves via the library website.

Ibn Sina / Avicenna: Metaphysics 9.7; 10.1-3; 10.5 in The Metaphysics of the Healing, M. E. Marmura, tr. (Provo, Utah: Brigham University Press, 2005).

Ibn Rushd/Averroes: Decisive Treatise on ARES reserves or at http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ir/fasl.htm..

and

https://academic.mu.edu/taylorr/Philosophy_in_the_Lands_of_Islam/Ibn_Rushd_Method_in_Matters_of_Religion.html

Two video lectures on Ibn Rushd:

lecture 1 (introduction to Ibn Rushd) lecture 2 (Fasl al-maqal)

Part 2 of 2 10:25-11:40 am. Aquinas on philosophy and religion

For Aquinas there are two sources of knowledge for human beings, natural human powers (sensation, intellection) and God who provides knowledge to human beings in a supernatural way. This supernatural way is either through revelation or through an efficient causality by which God shares knowledge directly with human beings and other creatures. For Aquinas all reality is through and through rational although not all reality is accessible by humans since human powers of sensory perception and intellection are weak and fallible even regarding the proper objects of human knowing (sensibles, the sensible world, and by abstraction universals based on sensory experience). Still, humans can reason to some knowledge of God and his way by demonstration quia or hoti. Yet God and immaterial entities (intelligences / angels / separate intellects) are not the proper objects of human knowing and can only be reasoned to in quite fallible ways. Nevertheless, God has chosen to share knowledge with human beings through revelation. Now, note that Aquinas is quite clear that this involves faith on the part of humans. And note that for Aquinas philosophy does not always yield to the pronouncements of theologians. Aquinas himself often uses philosophical reasoning in refutation of incorrect theological teachings of predecessors and contemporaries, for example, on the nature of the human soul, on the issue of whether it can be proven by reason that the world originated in time, and many more issues. But for Aquinas true and right theology does trump philosophy in the sense that true theological teachings cannot be refuted by philosophical argumentation, even argumentation purporting to be demonstrative.

Assignments:

(i)View video 4a click HERE.

(ii) Readings:

(a) Summa contra gentiles, Book 1, ch. 1-8; English translation available at http://dhspriory.org/thomas/ContraGentiles1.htm.

(b) Summa theologiae, prima pars, Q. 1; English translation available at http://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/summa-translation/Part%201/st1-ques01.pdf.

#5 29Sept16 9-10 am MU only: Philosophy & Religion: the Quaestio de attributis

Part 1 of 3 9:00-10:00 am

5.1.2 Divine attributes in the Classical Arabic philosophical tradition

5.1.2.1. al-Farabi, Avicenna & Averroes

5.1.2.2. Maimonides

Assignments:

Primary Sources

al-Farabi, The Perfect State, R.Walzer, ed. & tr., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985, Chapters 1 & 2, 57-101 (odd number pages only). Available on ARES reserves.

Ibn Sina, Book 8 of his Metaphysics of the Healing is titled, “On Knowing the First Principle of all existence and on knowing His attributes.”

See the texts cited in the 2013 article by Adamson indicated below.

Ibn Rushd / Averroes, Book Lam, text and comment 39, in his Long Commentary on the Metaphysics of Aristotle, tr. Ch. Genequand in Ibn Rushd’s Metaphysics, Leiden: Brill, 1986, pp. 157-161.

Summa theologiae, prima pars, Q.13, articles 1-5. For text, click HERE.

Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, Book 1, ch. 58, pp. 134-137. ARES reserves.

Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, prima pars, Q.13, articles 1-5. Click HERE.

Secondary Sources

Adamson, Peter, “From the necessary existent to God,” in Interpreting Avicenna. Critical Essays, Peter Adamson, ed. (Cambridge: CUP, 2013) 170-189. ARES Reserves.

Rosheger, John P. , “A Note on Avicenna and the Divine Attributes,” The Modern Schoolman 77 (2000), pp. 169-77. ARES Reserves.

Seeskin, K., “Maimonides,” SEP, especially section 4. ‘God and the Via Negativa.’ Click HERE.

Wolfson, H. A., “Avicenna, Algazali, and Averroes on Divine Attributes” in Isadore Twersky and George H. Williams (eds), Studies in the History of Philosophy and Religion, Volume 1, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973), pp. 143-58. ARES Reserves.

Other Recommended Sources

Adamson, Peter, “Al-Kindi and the Mu’tazila: Divine Attributes, Creation and Freedom,” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 13 (2003) 45-77. Click HERE.

Belo, Catarina , “Mu’tazilites, al-Ash‘ārī and Maimonides on Divine Attributes,” Veritass: Revista de Filosofia da PUCRS 52.3(2007), 117-131. Click HERE.

De Smet, D., & Sebti, M., “Avicenna’s Philosophical Approach to the Qurán in the Light of His Tafsir Surat al-Ikhlas,” Journal of Quránic Studies 11.2 (2009) 134-148. ARES Reserves.

Corrigan, Kevien, & Harrington, L. Michael, “Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite,” SEP. Click HERE.

Mayer, Toby, “Human Reason in Islamic Theology,” RCIP, ch.4.

Vallicella, William F., “Divine Simplicity,” SEP. Click HERE.

Wolfson, H. A., “Philosophical Implications of the Problem of Divine Attributes in the Kalam,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 79 (1959) 73-80. Available on ARES reserves.

Part 2 of 3 10-11 am: CONNECTION WITH KU LEUVEN

5.2. MU & KUL 10-11 am: Topic #3 Human Knowledge.

Class introductions, then:

Prof. Robiglio: An overview of the Greek and earlier Latin traditions in relation to Aquinas.

Prof. Taylor: An overview of the Greek and Arabic traditions: all knowledge comes through the senses: Aristotle, Alexander, Themistius, al-Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes. Handout, click HERE.

Part 3 of 3 11-11:40 am MU only

After 11:00-11:10 am break:

5.3 Prof. Taylor: Brief presentation of key parts of Summa theologiae, prima pars, Q.13, articles 1-4.

Presentation by Jared and Tyson of Summa theologiae, prima pars, Q.13, article 5.

#6 6Oct16 MU 9-10 am: Topic #3 Human Knowledge, continued. A Close Look at Albert the Great in preparation for study of his student Thomas Aquinas in relation to the Arabic tradition.

Assignment:

While Aquinas studied for years with Albert at Paris and then at Cologne, it has often been difficult to determine what teachings of Aquinas are to be traced substantially to the influence of Albert. Recent investigations have revealed that the basic epistemology of Aquinas deployed in his early Commentary on the Sentences and retained by him for his career (though with modifications) is in fact spelled out by Albert in his De homine written ca. 1240, just before Aquinas began his studies with Albert. Albert’s epistemology in the De homine is explicitly derived from his study of Avicenna and Averroes whom he cites repeatedly. However, Albert’s epistemology is also founded on his systematic but critical use of those thinkers and his own explicit misinterpretation of Averroes’s doctrine on human intellectual understanding.

Required Videos: In order to understand the teachings of Albert and his student Thomas, students need to have a basic understanding of the theory of human knowledge. Both thinkers drew heavily on the thought of Ibn Sina / Avicenna and Ibn Rushd / Averroes. Here are four short required videos outlining the basics of their teachings to which both Albert and Thomas refer:

Avicenna, 2 videos of 25 and 22 minutes:

https://streaming.mu.edu/Watch/Yr2m5H4L & https://streaming.mu.edu/Watch/e3YPo5t6;

Averroes 2 videos of 18 and 26 minutes:

https://streaming.mu.edu/Watch/Gy49Nxr7 & https://streaming.mu.edu/Watch/Lg49Aqd8

For our class this video on Albert is required:

video 6b: Albert the Great in his De homine. 32 minutes: https://streaming.mu.edu/Watch/Eq79Lyo8.

But if you would like more on the context for Albert and Thomas, watch this video 32 minute video first:

Not Required: video 6a: First and Second Averroism, 34 minutes: https://streaming.mu.edu/Watch/Qz39Wct7.

First and Second Averroism and Albert in the De homine.

((Two typographical errors occur in video 6a. On the page discussing “Ambiguous doctrinal expressions.” The Arabic following ṣurah la-nā should be صورة . The Greek in the last line about Aristotle, DA 3.5 should be ἐν τῇ ψθχῇ.))

Required Readings:

R. Taylor, “The Key Roles of Avicenna and Averroes in the Development of the Natural Epistemology of Albertus Magnus” https://academic.mu.edu/taylorr/Research_&_Teaching/Draft__Aquinas_%26_Albert_Hannover_Feb_2012.html

MU student team presentation (#1 Jacob, Jared & Matthew) of 10 min.: draft of presentation with outline (5 pp. maximum) distributed Tuesday 4 October for 6 October discussion 9-10 am: Arabic tradition, Albert’s De Homine.

Some Remarks on Avicenna and Averroes

Avicenna drew much from al-Farabi but his theory of human soul intellect is very distinctively under the influence of the late Greek tradition at Alexandria and other sources. For Avicenna the human being is first and foremost an imperishable rational soul using a body. Further, while he speaks of abstraction, intellectual knowledge of intelligibles comes about by a conjoining with or by the receiving of an emanation from the Agent Intellect where the intelligibles in act primarily exist. Abstractive consideration of sensory experiences only prepares the rational soul for conjoining with or receiving emanation from the Agent Intellect. That is, the content of intellectual understanding is not derived from the world but from the connection with the Agent Intellect. Aquinas took much from Avicenna but remolded it to fit his own understanding of soul and intellect.

Averroes held at least three or perhaps even four distinct doctrines on the nature of human intellect. But Aquinas was only familiar with his mature position in the Long Commentary on the De Anima. There he held that the human soul is, as Aristotle says in De Anima 2, the first actuality of a naturally organized body. And when Aristotle raises the question of whether intellect is a different sort of soul, Averroes seizes upon this view. So the human soul is perishable entity that shares in rationality through connection with two separate intellects, the Material (i.e., receptive) Intellect and the Agent Intellect which are eternal. Averroes posed the most difficult challenges to the teachings of Aquinas. Aquinas refuted Averroes’s teaching on separate intellect repeatedly but he also repeatedly found himself grappling with Averroes’s interpretation of Aristotle’s teachings. While clearly novel in the tradition, Averroes’s interpretation is perhaps closer to what we find in Aristotle himself than is the interpretation of Aquinas.

break 10-10:10

MU only 10:10-11:40:

Religion, Philosophy and Divine Attributes in Aquinas: Continued discussion of the issue of Divine Attributes or Names with focus on the famous, Quaestio de attributis.

Readings:

Aquinas, In1Sent. D.2, Q.1. A.1-3.

For draft translation of A. 1-2, click HERE.

Translation of article 3 by Rubio available on ARES Reserves as

AQUINAS AND MAIMONIDES ON THE POSSIBILITY OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. AN EXAMINATION OF THE QUAESTIO DE ATTRIBUTIS

Appendix II

#7 13Oct16 MU 9-10 am Human Knowledge: Aquinas in the Commentary on the Sentences: In 2 Sent. D.17, Q.2, A.1

Readings: The translation of In 2 Sent. D.17, Q.2, A.1 (pp. 279-296 ) in

Richard C. Taylor, “Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’: Aquinas’s First Critical encounter with the Doctrines of Avicenna and Averroes on the Intellect, In 2 Sent. D.17, Q.2, A.1”, Philosophical Psychology in Arabic Thought and the Aristotelianism of the 13th Century, L.X. López-Farjeat & J. Tellkamp, ed. (Paris: Vrin, 2014), 142-183 & 279-296, and also the article by Taylor.

Available on ARES Reserves at Marquette and on Toledo at KULeuven.

MU student team presentation (#2 Mark, Esther, Tyson) of 10 min.: draft of presentation with outline (5 pp. maximum) distributed Tuesday 11 October for 13 October discussion 9-10 am.

After the presentation by the Marquette team, we will take a quick look at the teaching of the mature Aquinas in his Summa theologiae, prima pars, Q.79, article 6, where he spells out his position on the nature of memory against that of Avicenna. Here we will see that the distinction of two kinds of memory spelled out by Albert in his 1240 De homine is still literally retained by Aquinas some 15-17 years later in his theological opus magnus, the Summa theologiae. For the text, click HERE for Latin and English. For English only, click HERE.

10:00-10:10 break

Continued discussion of the issue of Divine Attributes or Names with focus on the famous, Quaestio de attributis.

#8 20Oct16 9-10 am KUL student team presentation (#1) of 10 min.: draft of presentation with outline (5 pp. maximum) distributed Tuesday 18 Oct for 20 October discussion.

De Sensu et Sensato/ the five senses and their sensible objects/olfaction and flavors

R-Reading : Thomas’s commentary : Chapters 8-13

Available via this link

http://dhspriory.org/thomas/english/SensuSensato.htm

10:00-10:10 break

MU only 10-11:40: Give special focus to items marks with an asterisk*.

8. MU only Topic #4: Aquinas’s Conception of the Human Soul.

8.1. Importance of Avicenna

Prof. Taylor leads discussion.

Primary Sources:

*Avicenna, On the Soul, selections, CAP, pp. 175-209

*Aquinas, In 1 Sent D. 8, Q. 5, A. 2, “Whether the soul is simple.” For English translation, click HERE.

Secondary Sources:

D. L. Black, “Soul and Intellect in Arabic Philosophy, CCAP, 308-326.

*Dimitri Gutas, “Avicenna,” in the SEP. I provide the link HERE.

*R. Taylor, “Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’: Aquinas’s First Critical encounter with the Doctrines of Avicenna and Averroes on the Intellect, In 2 Sent. D.17, Q.2, A.1” full reference above at class #7 13 October 2016.

8.2 Aquinas’s Conception of the Human Soul: The Importance of Averroes

Prof. Taylor leads discussion.

8.2.1. Averroes in brief, drawing on our previous studies of Averroes.

*8.2.2. Aquinas in the Commentary on the Sentences: In 2 Sent. D. 3, Q.1, A.6; and In 3 Sent. D.5, Q.3, A.2, Response. (Links to translations below.)

Aquinas, In 2 Sent. D. 3, Q.1, A.6. For the translation, click HERE.

Aquinas, In 3 Sent. D.5, Q.3, A.2, Response. Click HERE.

#9 27Oct16 9-10 am (Optional and open to KUL students):

9.1 Prof. Taylor. How to prepare professional philosophy papers. A detailed explanation of the preparation and publication of a professional article. I placed on ARES reserves a copy of my 2013 article, “Averroes on Providence.” Download this and bring a physical copy of it to class. We will go through this in detail.

break 10:00-10:10.

MU only 10:10-11:40: Aquinas’s Conception of the Human Soul, continued.

9.2 Prof. Taylor: completion of the discussion of Commentary on the Sentences: In 2 Sent. D. 3, Q.1, A.6; and In 3 Sent. D.5, Q.3, A.2, Response.

9.3 Student Work: (Nathaniel Q 1; Esther Q 2; Tyson Q 12; Jacob Q 14): 4 outline presentations of no more than 5 min. each) on the human soul in the Disputed Questions on the Soul, Questions 1, 2, 12, 14. For a translation, see http://dhspriory.org/thomas/english/QDdeAnima.htm#3.

A more recent translation by James Robb is available in the Past Masters database available through Marqcat. Neither of these translations is based on the critical edition by B. Carlos Bazan in the Leonine Latin edition.

9.4 Students Work (Kiesha Q. 75, Articles 2 & 6; Jared Q. 77, Articles 1 & 6; Mark Q. 78, Article 4): 3 outline presentations of no more than 5 min. each) on the human soul in the Summa Theologiae, prima pars, Q. 75, Articles 2 & 6; Q. 77, Articles 1 & 6; Q. 78, Article 4. An English translation of these can be found via

http://dhspriory.org/thomas/english/summa/FP.html#TOC05.

#10 3Nov16 MU only Topic #5: Ultimate Human Happiness in Knowing God

9:00-10:15

10.1. Prof. Taylor

10.1.1 Human happiness in Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics 10.7.

10.1.2 Human happiness in al-Farabi and Avicenna

Al-Farabi was the initiator of the Classical Rationalist philosophical tradition in the Islamic milieu and influenced Avicenna. Both hold intellectualist and elitist views distinguishing accomplished philosophers from the masses. Philosophy holds greatest truth in its fullest, while religion is a subdivision of the Aristotelian practical science of Politics. Religion aims at right conduct and uses similitudes and images of philosophy at a lower level to move humans to right action.

Videos: 7a al-Farabi and 7b Avicenna rev.
Primary sources:

al-Farabi, “Attainment of Happiness,” in Alfarabi: Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, M. Mahdi, tr. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001. ARES Reserves.
Avicenna, Metaphysics 10.1-3, 10.5 in The Metaphysics of the Healing, M. E. Marmura, tr. Provo, Utah: Brigham University Press, 2005. ARES Reserves. (Note this was already assigned for class on 22 September.)
Recommended Secondary Sources:

Adamson Podcasts:

al-Farabi: State of Mind: al-Farabi on Religion and Politics
Avicenna: The Self-Made Man: Avicenna’s Life and Works
and Into Thin Air: Avicenna on Soul.

S. Elhajibrahim, “Alfarabi's Concept of Happiness Sa'ada: Eudaimonia, The Good andJihad Al-Nafs”. Click here. (Link fixed.)

10.1.3. Human happiness in Averroes and some remarks on Augustine’s Letter 147 On Seeing God (De videndo deum).

See: Video 8b (Augustine with addendum on Averroes and Latin Averroism)

Letter 147 is available in English translation in the Past Masters database via Marqcat.

break 10:15-10:25

10:25-11:40

Continued discussion of the Arabic tradition and also Augustine’s On Seeing God.

10.2 Prof. Taylor

On Ultimate Human Happiness in Knowing God in the Commentary on the Sentences.

In his earliest consideration of the nature of ultimate human happiness, Aquinas draws deeply on the Long Commentary on the De Anima of Aristotle by Averroes for conceptions of knowing separate substances in Theophrastus, Alexander, Themistius, al-Farabi, Avicenna and Averroes. Of course, for Aquinas it is an issue of knowing the greatest of all separate substances, God. But he starts his analysis of this central element of Christian theology with these philosophers. He carefully considers but dismisses the views of all these philosophers except Alexander and Averroes. The interpretation he has of Alexander comes from the Long Commentary on the De Anima of Aristotle. In the end, Aquinas adopts from Averroes’s noetics a model for understanding how humans in the afterlife can come to see God face-to-face, that is, per essentiam or in His essence.

Primary Source:
Thomas Aquinas, In 4 Sent D.49 Q.2, A.1. Latin: click HERE. English: click HERE.
Secondary sources:

See: video 9a Preliminaries and video 9b (Aquinas In4Sentd49q23a1).
R. C. Taylor, “Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’: Arabic / Islamic Philosophy in Thomas Aquinas's Conception of the Beatific Vision in his Commentary on the Sentences IV, 49, 2, 1" The Thomist 76 (2012) 509-550. Download this through Marqcat.

Suggested additional secondary sources:

Katja Krause, “Albert and Aquinas on the Ultimate End of Humans: Philosophy, Theology, and Beatitude,” Proceedings of the ACPA, v. 86 (2013) 213-229. Download this through Marqcat.

J.-B. Brenet, "Vision beatifique et separation de l'intellect au debut du XIVe siecle: Pour Averroes or contre Thomas d'Aquin?" in Les sectatores Averrois: Noetique et cosmologie aux XIIIe - XlVe siecles,ed. Dragos Calma and Emanuele Coccia, Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie 53 [2006]: 310-42.

#11 10Nov16 KUL 9-10 am Human Knowledge: Internal Senses. KUL student team presentation (#2) of 10 min.: draft of presentation with outline (5 pp. maximum) distributed Tuesday 8 November for 10 November discussion.

De memoria et reminiscentia/ the structure of memory

Reading: Aquinas’s Commentary on ‘On memory and reminiscence’: Lessons 1-2. available at: http://dhspriory.org/thomas/MemoriaReminiscentia.htm

break 10:00-10:10

MU only 10:10-11:40.

11.1 Prof. Taylor

On Ultimate Human Happiness in Knowing God in the Commentary on the Sentences.

Primary Source:
Thomas Aquinas, In 4 Sent D.49 Q.2, A.1. Latin: click HERE. English: click HERE.
Secondary sources:

Suggested additional secondary sources:

Katja Krause, “Albert and Aquinas on the Ultimate End of Humans: Philosophy, Theology, and Beatitude,” Proceedings of the ACPA, v. 86 (2013) 213-229.

#12 17Nov16 MU & KUL 9-10 am Human Knowledge: Internal Senses

KUL student team presentation (#3) of 10 min.: draft of presentation with outline (5 pp. maximum) distributed Tuesday 15 November for 17 November discussion.

De memoria et reminiscentia/ the processor of remembering

Reading: Aquinas’s Commentary: Lessons 3-5

available at:

http://dhspriory.org/thomas/MemoriaReminiscentia.htm

break 10:00-10:10

MU only 10:10-11:40. Ultimate Human Happiness in Knowing God

12.2 Discussion with Dr Katja Krause, University of Durham, UK.

(Wednesday 23 November: Prof. Taylor available 1-5 pm for discussion of course paper topics.)

24 Nov16: Thanksgiving Holiday. No MU class.

#13 1Dec16 MU & KUL 9-10 am. Rethinking the ideals of knowledge through the particular external and internal senses.

9-10 am MU student team presentation (#3 Nathaniel, Kiesha) of 10 min.: draft of presentation with outline (5 pp. maximum) distributed Tuesday 29 November for 1 December discussion.

MU only 10:10-11:40

After the connection with KULeuven we will continue discussion of the issues and texts discussed by Nathaniel and Kiesha.

In preparation for that discussion I am assigning for your reading three articles from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and one other article. They are:

Klima, The Medieval Problem of Universals

Pasnau, Divine Illumination

Lagerlund, Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy

Taylor, “The Epistemology of Abstraction,” Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, Richard C. Taylor & Luis X. López-Farjeat, eds. (London & New York: Routledge, 2015) pp. 273-284. This is available as an ebook in Marqcat.

At class we will also discuss course paper preparation and final paper requirements.

#14 8Dec16 MU & KUL 9-10 am. The embodied human soul.

Class discussion of J. L. Austin’s Sense and Sensibilia (1962)

MU only 10:10-11:40 Closing discussions

Philosophy in the Abrahamic Traditions website