PHH3200 HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
SPRING 2025
Contact
Information:
Instructor: Kenton Harris
Office Hours: By Appointment
Office: DM 343 B MMC
Telephone: (305) 348-3516
Email: harrisk@fiu.ediu
Website: https://faculty.fiu.edu/~harrisk/
Course Description:
This course serves as a basic
introduction to the major representative thinkers of
the Middle Ages. Far from being monolithic and unenlightening,
this particular period in history was a creative one. Many medieval
philosophers attempted an original synthesis of the
Abrahamic faiths with that of the
philosophical or "scientific" knowledge of the
time. This led to the formation of many essential
concepts that have affected modern and
contemporary philosophy in
no small way.
Course Objective:
The aim of this course is to provide
an accurate account of the diversity of medieval
philosophies, understanding just how the relationship between philosophy and
theology unfolded in certain philosophers' engagements with issues like
natural theology, divine naming, epistemology, ethics, creation, God's
foreknowledge, predestination, the
problem of evil, the nature and immorality of the
soul, free will, faith and reason, personhood,
virtue, natural law, etc.
It will introduce and
strengthen skills in reading, analyzing and interpreting
philosophical texts, deconstructing and reconstructing
arguments, formulating original criticism,
and engaging in dialectical process that moves any
inquiry - especially philosophical
inquiry - forward. The skills in
this set have application well beyond
philosophy: clarity and concision in writing,
critical and analytical skills, and rigorous logical
thought, are skills students can expect
to hone in this class.
Assignments:
Mid-term Exam (20%): This
exam will comprise both short answer and essay questions. The essay section will offer students
an opportunity to reflect synoptically on questions of broad
significance for medieval
philosophy, especially the influence of
the Abrahamic religions on philosophy in
the Middle Ages.
Final Exam (30%): This exam will comprise
both short answer and essay questions. The
short answer section will have the same format as the midterm exam.
Essays (30%): Two short essays
(4-6 pages) analyzing the major philosophical/theological
themes of the course will be
required. Rubric and guidelines will be distributed in
time.
Presentations/ Additional Research Project (20%):
Expectations:
Students are expected to
participate actively in all lectures and
discussions. Although there is not
a class participation grade as such, I
reserve the right to raise or lower any student's final mark by one-half
of a letter grade proportional to the amount
of participation in class. I will judge
participation by both the frequency and the quality of remarks
made in class.
Preliminary Course Schedule:
|
Date |
Topic |
|
1. |
Welcome
to the Wonderful World of Philosophy |
|
2. |
Plato Plato’s Metaphysics and Epistemology Video
Lectures: Plato's Metaphysics
& Epistemology: 1st Half (Being & Becoming) Plato's Metaphysics &
Epistemology: 2nd Half (Allegory of the Cave) |
|
3. |
Aristotle Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Epistemology Video
Lectures: Aristotle's
Metaphysics and Epistemology 1st Half Aristotle's
Metaphysics and Epistemology 2nd Half |
|
4. |
E. Gilson, Reason and Revelation (Forward and Chapter
1) The Early Church Fathers and Philosophy (Faith
and philosophy in the early church) |
|
5. |
Agustine: 1
Augustine on Ancient Philosophy 31 9
Augustine on Divine Ideas and Illumination 83 14
Augustine on the Certainty of Self-Knowledge 117 32
Augustine on Divine Immutability 255 35
Augustine on Evil as the Privation of Goodness 309 |
|
6. |
Boethius: 4
Boethius Against Real Universals 59 37
Boethius on Being and Goodness 318 43
Boethius on the Supreme Good 353 |
|
7. |
Anselm: 33
Anselm of Canterbury on God’s Existence 259 |
|
8. |
Averroës The
Evolution of Islamic Medieval Philosophy and Theology 25
Averroës on the Immateriality of the Intellect 198 |
|
9. |
Thomas Aquinas: Thomas
Aquinas and the Cosmological Argument: Cosmological
Arguments: Overview Cosmological
Argument: Aquinas 3
Thomas Aquinas on the Nature and Scope of Sacred Doctrine 45 10
Thomas Aquinas on Illumination vs. Abstraction 87 11
Thomas Aquinas on our Knowledge of the First Principles of Demonstration 98 15
Thomas Aquinas on whether the Intellect Can Be False 120 34
Thomas Aquinas on God’s Existence and Simplicity 266 38
Thomas Aquinas on the Convertibility of Being and Goodness 322 44
Thomas Aquinas on Happiness 358 45
Thomas Aquinas on Natural Law and Positive Law 361 |
|
10. |
William Of Ockham 7
William Ockham on Universals 71 |
|
11. |
John Duns Scotus 13 John Duns Scotus on Divine
Illumination 46
John Duns Scotus on Natural Law and Divine Law 375 |
|
12. |
|
|
13. |
|
|
14. |
|
|
15. |
|
Standard Histories and
Guides
Blackwell Companion to Philosophy in the
Middle Ages. Ed. Jorge Gracia. London, 2002.
The Cambridge Companion to
Medieval Philosophy. Ed. A. S. McGrade. Cambridge, 2003.
The Cambridge History if Later Greek and Early
Medieval Philosophy. Ed. A. H. Armstrong.
Cambridge, 1967.
The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy. Edd. N.
Kretzmann, A. Kenny, J. Pinborg, and
E. Stump. Cambridge, 1982.
Gilson, Etienne.
History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages.
New York, 1955.
Marenbon, John.
Early Medieval Philosophy (480-1150):
An Introduction. London-
Boston, 1983.
Later Medieval Philosophy (1150-1350):
An Introduction. London- New
York, 1987.
Maurer, Armand A. Medieval Philosophy J.
Rev. ed. Toronto, 1982.
Routledge History
of Philosophy,
Vol 2: Aristotle
to Augustine. Ed.
David Furley. London, 1997;
Vol. 3 Medieval Philosophy. Ed.
John Marenbon. London, 1998.
Anthologies
Basic Issues in Medieval
Philosophy. Ed. R. Bosley and M. Tweedale. Peterborough,
Ont., 1997.
The Cambridge Translations if Medieval
Philosophical Texts. Cambridge, 1988-
Volume One:
Logic and the Philosophy of Language.
Edd. Norman Kretzmann and Eleonore
Stump. Cambridge, 1988
Volume Two: Ethics and Political Philosophy
Ed A. S. McGrade, et al. Cambridge, 2001
Volume Three:
Mind and Know/edge. Ed. Robert Pasnau. Cambridge,
2002.
Medieval Philosophy J. Edd.
and trans. John F. Wippel and Allan Wolter.
New York, 1969.
Medieval Political Philosophy:
A Sourcebook. Edd.
Ralph Lerner ado Muhsin Mahdi. Ithaca, 1963.
Philosophy in the Middle Ages. Ed.
and trans. James J. Walsh and Arthur Hyman.
Indianapolis, 1973.
Readings in Ancient
and Medieval Philosophy J. Ed.
James Collins. Westminster, MD, 1960.
A Scholastic Miscellmry: Anselm to Ockham. Ed.
Eugene Fairweather. Philadelphia, 1956.
Selections from Medieval Philosophers. Ed.
Richard McKean. New York, 1930.
Electronic Resources
Title: Patrologia Latina
The Patrologia
Latina Database is an electronic version of
the first edition of Jacques-Paul Migne's Patrologia Latina, published
between 1844 and 1855, and the four volumes of indexes published
between 1862 and 1865.
The Patrologia
Latina comprises the works of the Church
Fathers from Tertullian in 200
AD to the death of Pope Innocent III in 1216. The
Patrologia
Latina Database contains the complete Patrologia
Latina, including all prefatory material, original
texts, critical apparatus and indexes.
Migne's column numbers, essential references for
scholars, are also included.
Title: Cetedoc Library
of Christian Latin Texts
The CLCLT contains searchable
texts from the CCL as well as numerous other
modern editions. It will eventually include
all medieval, Latin authors. Title: International
Medieval Bibliography;
Indexes articles, notes, and
similar literature on medieval subjects in
journals, Festschriften, conference proceedings, and
collected essays. Covers all aspects of medieval
studies within the date range of 400 to 1500
for the entire continent of Europe, the
Middle East and North Africa for the period before the Muslim
conquest and parts of those areas subsequently controlled
by Christian powers. Includes more than 300,000
articles published 1967- , all of which are fully
classified by date, subject and location; needs to be consulted
because Philosophers Index does
not cover medieval material very well.