Medieval Philosophy

 
 

  al-Farabi   Avicenna  Averroes  Maimonides  Gersonides  Ibn Gabirol  Augustine  Aquinas  Scotus


MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

Detailed Daily Syllabus


PHILOSOPHY 3620

TT 2-3:15 pm

David Straz Hall 550


CAP: Classical Arabic Philosophy, ed. McGinnis & Reisman 2007

CCAP: Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy, ed. Adamson & Taylor 2005 (Available online via Marqcat.)

PMA3: Philosophy in the Middle Ages, ed. Hyman, Walsh and Williams, 2010,

third edition (Available online via Marqcat.)

RCIP: Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy, ed. Taylor & Lopez-Farjeat, 2016 (Available online via Marqcat.)

SEP: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy


#1: 17Jan17 TU  Introduction to Part I: Early Medieval Philosophical Thought in the Christian

West. Background: (1) Greek Background; (2) the Abrahamic Faiths;

(3) Medieval Philosophy.

Required Readings: (1) “Greek Background v4.pdf” sent via email and posted on D2L; (2) “Medieval Philosophy,” by Paul Vincent Spade, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/medieval-philosophy/


Part 1 of 3 Early Medieval Latin Christian Philosophy


#2: 19Jan17 TH  Augustine: Life and Thought.

Required Readings: (1) The Teacher, PMA3; (2) On the Ideas, handout; (3)“Augustine” by Michael Mendelson, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/augustine/

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 18 Jan.

      

#3: 24Jan17 TU  Augustine.

Required Readings: same as 19Jan17.

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 23 Jan.


#4: 26Jan17  TH   Augustine.

Required Readings: (1) On Free Will, PMA3; (2) Retractations, PMA3.

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 25 Jan.


#5: 31Jan17 TU     Augustine.

    Required Readings: On the Trinity, PMA3.

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 30 Jan.


#6: 2Feb17 TH    Boethius: Life and Thought.

Required Readings: (1) Consolation, PMA3; (2) Quomodo Substantiae, D2L;        (3)”Boethius” by John Marenbon, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/boethius/

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 1Feb.


#7: 7Feb17 TU  Dionysius / ps.Dionysius: Life and Thought.

Required Readings: (1) selections from On Divine Names on ARES and The Mystical Theology available at http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeII/MysticalTheology.html; (2) “Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite,” by Kevin Corrigan and Michael Harrington, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pseudo-dionysius-areopagite/

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 6 Feb.


#8: 9Feb17 TH   Eriugena: Life and Thought

            Required Readings: (1) selections from On the Division of Nature, PMA3;

    (2) “John Scottus Eriugena” by Dermot Moran in the Stanford Encyclopedia of

   Philosophy at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scottus-eriugena/

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 8 Feb.


#9: 14Feb17 TU   Anselm : Life and Thought

               Lectures on his argument for the reality of God.

    Required Readings: (1) Proslogion and replies, PMA3; (2) “Saint Anselm” by

    Thomas Williams in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anselm/

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 13 Feb.


#10 16Feb17     Abelard (Abailard): Life and Thought.

   Required Readings: (1) Glosses on Porphyry, PMA3;

  (2) “Abelard [Abailard] by Peter King in the Stanford Encyclopedia of

   Philosophy at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/abelard/

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 15 Feb.


#11: 21 Feb17 TU NO CLASS MEETING.  Prof. Taylor out of town for conference in Hannover, Germany.

Assignment: Watch the entire video online “Islam: Empire of Faith.”                                 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHhbSvOcz4g

Also consider watching some videos recommended in forthcoming classes.

Part 2 of 3 Philosophy in the Lands of Islam


(▷OG)

#12: 23Feb17 Exam #1 on Early Medieval Philosophy

    

#13: 28Feb17 TU    Early Neoplatonic Philosophical Texts in Islam

Required Readings: (1) “Philosophies Islamic” in the New Dictionary of the

History of Ideas online available via the MU Library; (2) selections from the

Plotiniana Arabica and Liber de causis.

Videos:

On the Arabic Plotinus texts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwHS8luVDss&feature=youtu.be

On the Kalam fi mahd al-khair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ih-5lv2OFE&feature=youtu.be

Secondary literature: RCIP articles by Chase and Taylor

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 27 Feb.


#14: 2Mar17 TH    al-Kindi: Life and Thought.

Required Readings: (1) selections from On First Philosophy and On the First

Agent; (2) “Al-Kindi and the Reception of Greek Philosophy” by Peter

Adamson in CCAP; (3) Adamson, “al-Kindi” in SEP

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 1Mar.

                                                                              

#15: 7Mar17 TU    al-Farabi: Life and Thought.

Required Readings: (1) The Principles of Existing Things PMA3;

(2) The Letter on the Intellect. CAP pp. 68-68 available on MU ARES reserves ;

(3) “Al-Farabi’s Psychology and Epistemology,” L. X. López-Farjeat, SEP

Recommended: SEP: Druart,  “al-Farabi”; Germann, “Al-Farabi’s Philosophy of Society and Religion”; Videos: https://streaming.mu.edu/Watch/f9K5LyXm (Note this mistake: At one point I say, ‘the part is greater than the whole’ when I should have said, ‘the whole is greater than the part,’

https://streaming.mu.edu/Watch/Jm7z9Y3A

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 6 Mar.


#16: 9Mar17 TH   Ibn Sina / Avicenna: Life and Thought

          Required Readings: (1) Metaphysics PMA3 pp. 244-255;

(2) https://www.dropbox.com/s/xq0bdf4hi8nljm6/Avicenna%20on%20Creation%202017.pptx%20copy.pdf?dl=0

Recommended: “Avicenna and the Avicennian Tradition,” by Robert

Wisnovsky in CCAP; Janssens, “Metaphysics of God,” RCIP pp. 236 ff.

Videos: Ibn Sina, Metaphysics of the Healing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLpSKSqfNGc&feature=youtu.be

AND https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKxC5af6qZQ.


Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 8 Mar.


Midterm Break: No class 14 & 16 March.


#17 21Mar17 TU     Ibn Sina / Avicenna, Psychology continued; and

  Avicenna, Psychology, PMA3 pp. 256-264;

  Al-Ghazali: Life and Thought.

  Required Readings: (1) Deliverance from Error, PMA3; (2) “Al-Ghazali” by

  Michael Marmura in CCAP.

  But in class I want to explore with you the issue of Divine Will since this allows us to see al-Ghazali as analytic critic of Avicenna in the former’s Incoherence of the Philosophers. We will consider Avicenna on Divine Will, al-Ghazali’s critique and then briefly how Ibn Rushd tried to defend the philosophers from that critique in his Incoherence of the Incoherence.  For this, we will use the presentation I made when I went to Hannover in February. That is available for you via this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8wt8vwex5fl8rih/Taylor%20Hannover%2023Feb17%20B%20copy.rtf?dl=0

We will go through this paper in detail at class.

The needed texts of al-Ghazali and Averroes are available via ARES.

  1. (a)al-Ghazali, Incoherence of the Philosophers, tr. Marmura 1997, pp. 56-61 available on ARES reserves.

  2. (b)Averroes’ Tahafut al-Tahafut (Incoherence of the Incoherence), tr. Van Den Berg (1954; 1978), pp.87-96, available on ARES reserves.

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 20 Mar.


#18 23Mar17 TH   Ibn Rushd / Averroes: Life and Thought, Philosophy and Religion.

Required Readings: (1) The Decisive Treatise…, PMA3; (2) https://www.dropbox.com/s/utyeideldw9jv8m/Averroes%20Fasl%20al-Maqal%202017.pptx%20copy.pdf?dl=0; (3) “Averroes: religious dialectic and Aristotelian philosophical thought,” by Richard C. Taylor in CCAP.

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 22 Mar.


#19: 28Mar17 TU  Our class will meet in AMU Ballroom E at 3:30-4:45 pm for a lecture at the Symposium, Christian-Muslim Relations in America Today.


#20 30Mar17 TH  Ibn Rushd / Averroes, Metaphysics and Psychology, continued.

  Required Readings: (1) selections from The Long Commentary on the

           Metaphysics, tr. by Ch. Genequand; (2) selections from

The Long Commentary on the De Anima of Aristotle, tr. by Richard C. Taylor

Videos: forthcoming

Assignment: Two questions on the assigned readings submitted via Discussions on D2L. Deadline 7:30 pm 29 Mar.


Part 3 Later Medieval Latin Christian Philosophy


#21: 4Apr17 TU    Exam #2 on Philosophy in the Lands of Islam. This exam is timed for 60 min. Since you have the questions in advance, it is expected that you will have prepared your answers in advance and in class will just respond to the questions.

NOTE: In the last 15 min. of class I will discuss course paper and possible topics.


#22 6Apr17 TH  Exam rescheduled for today


#23 11Apr17 TU   Discussion of Course Papers and exams returned.



13-17 April Eastern break


#24: 18Apr17 TU  Thomas Aquinas: Life and Thought.

    The relationship of philosophy and theology. Theology as science.

    Required Readings: (1) selections from the Summa theologiae in PMA3

    pp. 457-466; (2) “Saint Thomas Aquinas” by

    Ralph McInerny and John O’Callaghan, , in the Stanford Encyclopedia of

    Philosophy online at  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/


#25 : 20Apr17 TH    (a) read the texts on theology and philosophy I gave you from the Summa Contra Gentiles

and also the texts from the Summa theologiae on theology and philosophy;

(b) watch this one hour video on Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 1, chapters 1-8:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5k092nNV0s&feature=youtu.be


#26: For Tuesday 25 April the assignment is:

Thomas Aquinas: Metaphysics.

     Required Readings: (1) selections from On Being and Essence in PMA3, pp.

              451-457; 468, (2) Summa theologiae “Does God exist?” The famous Five

               Ways. You have this latter text in the materials I gave you at class Tuesday.

(a) Watch these two videos on metaphysics in Aquinas. They focus on this early

philosophy in the De Ente et Essentia / On Being and Essence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9oa84GbtCw&feature=youtu.be 22 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37aIXjM2Tk8&feature=youtu.be 60 min.

(b) Also watch these two 30 min. videos on Proving God:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YnNhhCL7t0&feature=youtu.be On Proofs of God

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HXJBzhDnUg&feature=youtu.be On the Five Ways to Prove God


#27   27Apr17 TH   Siger of Brabant

              On the impossibility of creation ex nihilo.

              Reading: Question on Creation Ex Nihilo: https://academic.mu.edu/taylorr/Aquinas_in_Context_Fall_2015/Siger_of_Brabant,_Question_on_Creation_Ex_Nihilo.html.

    

#28   2May17 TU   Continued discussion of Siger of Brabant; Also the Parisian Condemnations of 1270 and 1277


#29: 4May17 TH  Discussion of later Medieval Philosophy & student evaluations.



Final Exam:

Phil 3620 => Monday 8 May 10:30-12:30



Additional note on course papers:


Course papers are to be 10-12 pages long. A list of suggested paper topics will be distributed after midterm. Students will be required to consult with the instructor in choosing a topic before April 11 and then must bring a detailed outline of the paper to a meeting with the instructor before April 21.

Course papers are due May 5.