12191 - History of Medieval Philosophy (1)

Learning outcomes

The course introduces to a rich and remarkable period in the history of philosophy, conventionally known as medieval thought.Striking feature is the continous coverage (through the analysis of the notion of translatio studii) of Islamic, Jewish and Christian material and texts.Starting in the late eight century, with renewal of learning, a sequence of themes will takes the students until the end of twelve century through the development in many varied fields of medieval thought including logic and language, natural philosophy, rethorics, ethics and theology. Close attemption is payed to the context of medieval philosophy with discussion of the rise of this particular cultural and theological phaenomenon generally resumed under the name of monastic spirituality and monastic conversational community.

Course contents

Theories of will, responsible choice and free will in medieval philosophy.

The philosophical traditions of the Middle Ages have taken from the ancient and late-antique inheritance the problem of responsible action, freedom of choice of the subject and the resulting moral norms. Will, free will, consensus, intention are the coordinates around which the philosophical and theological debate has been polarized, with particular reference to the theories of practical action that have historically succeeded one another from Augustine of Hippo to William of Ockham. The theme of responsible action, against a vulgate that wants the philosophy of the so called "dark ages" as monolithic and aligned with theological orthodoxy, has actually produced in the Middle Ages very varied and heterogeneous models: theories of the "righteous" will, models of practical rationality (like Aquina's ones, starting from the reflection on the seventh book of Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle) and weak rationality (this is the case of the discussions on akrasia or incontinentia, that is the inability to act following the best advice) and, finally, naturalistic models of free will which, together with its prerequisites (counterfactual possibilities, intentionality, greater or lesser causal control over our actions) make free will, although emerging from physical processes, remain a phenomenon of a higher level, autonomous from them.

Readings/Bibliography

1)
Primary sources:

Augustin on free choice of the will (transl. by T. Williams), Hackett, Indianapolis,

https://books.google.it/books?id=axCM5xaDKZ0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=augustine+free+will&hl=it&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiWzPiI4uPqAhXokIsKHb5aDTMQ6AEwAHoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=augustine%20free%20will&f=false

 

Thomas Aquinas, On Evil, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003

 

M. Mc Cord Adams, Ockham on will, nature and morality in P.V. Spade (ed.), "The Cambridge Companion to Ockham", Cambridge U. P., Cambridge, 1999.

 

2) History of Early Medieval Thought/Histoire de la philosophie médiévale

J. Marenbon, Early Medieval Philosophy, Routledge, 1998

ou

A. de Libera, La philosophie médiévale, PUF, Paris, 2014 (XIII e XIV siècles compris).

 

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons, partecipate lessons, workshops, charts, use of visual references both papery and multimedia.

Assessment methods

The skill of students' knowledge will be tested with oral (or an agreed paper of 15 pp.) exams about the texts - sources and secondary literature - listed in bibliography or agreed after an interwiev with the professor.

Teaching tools

Primary sources, secondary literature, multimedia sources, online instruments, charts, reference to digital Archives, lectures given by scholars of XII century thought and/or historian of medieval theology. 

Office hours

See the website of Riccardo Fedriga