Teaching code

4S007314

Teacher

Carlo Chiurco

Credits

6

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

M-FIL/06 - HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

Period

Sem. 1B dal Nov 19, 2018 al Jan 12, 2019.

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars

To show the organization of the course that includes this module, follow this link:  Course organization

Learning outcomes

The course provides students with a ground knowledge of the conceptions, the schools, and the main authors of medieval philosophy. Students are expected to learn:
KNOWLEDGE:
1. To know the roots and the subsequent developing of medieval philosophy and civilization from a philosophical, religious and theological perspective, as well as - to a lesser extent - a historical, cultural and social one;
2. To know the specificity of medieval philosophy and civilization with respect to the rest of (the history of) Western civilization, particularly with respect to our time.
ABILITIES:
1. To correctly position authors, schools and themes of medieval philosophy through the centuries:
-1a. To distinguish the different readings given in time on the meaning and value of Middle Ages;
-1b. To distinguish clearly the main lines of medieval philosophy and civilization: recurring conflicts, fault lines, permanent elements of identity;
2. To autonomously formulate assessments on the genesis, the nature, the meaning of the main theoretical questions that are found in medieval philosophy;
3. To correctly and autonomously position the main themes and the authors of medieval philosophy within the wider context of the history of Western civilization in a critically sound and historically ground way:
-3a. To know and enhance the Middle Ages as a multi-confessional and multi-cultural age;
-3b. To know and enhance the Middle Ages as the founding moment of European identity.

Program

The course will deal with the following subjects:
1. The meaning and the value of the Middle Ages:

- different readings and assessments on the Middle Ages (Humanism, Enlightment, Romanticism, historical-critical);

- Middle Ages beyond the Eurocentric perspective, as an age of pluralism: multi-confessional and multi-cultural (co-presence of a Latin, a Greek, a Hebrew and a Muslim Middle-Ages);

- the Middle Ages as the founding moment of European identity: birth of national languages and literatures, as well as pre-statual monarchies;
- the Middle Ages face to the legacy of the Greek-Roman and Late Antiquity worlds;
- the Middle Ages and science.
2. Historical phases in Medieval philosophy:
- Late Antiquity or Formation phase (division between the Greek and the Roman world; Augustine; Boethius);
- High Middle Ages phase (Carolingian age and Eriugena; 10th-century);
- The phase of the restart of philosophical reflection (Anselm of Canterbury);

- The renaissance of the 12th Century and the first Scholasticism (Abelard, the Great schools of Chartres and St.-Victor, the rediscover of science, the reactionary turn in the monastic thinking of Bernard of Clairvaux);

- 13th-century mature Scholasticism, the birth of universities and the rediscover of Aristotle (Avicenna and Averroes, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure of Bagnoregio);

- The decline and dissolution of Scholasticism and the fading of the Middle Ages into Humanism in the 14th century (Duns Scoto, Ockham, the political thought of Marsilio of Padua).

TEACHING METHODOLOGY
Beside usual class lessons, which may include the usage of slides, the course will rely on readings and discussions of texts of different authors and periods (always conducted in close reference with the Latin original texts), in order that students may learn the characteristics of medieval philosophy, its internal dynamics, and how to position it within the wider context of Western civilization, particularly with respect to our time.
Students who cannot attend the classes are not asked to follow a different program. It is always possible for all students to devise a customized program: in this case, students are requested to discuss it in advance.
The reference text of the course is:
Carlo Chiurco, "Il pensiero medievale. I grandi temi: ontologia ed etica. Gli autori e le scuole", QuiEdit, Verona 2018.
Beside the program texts, it is compulsory to study the audio files of the classes found on the e-learning website of the university.

Examination Methods

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EXAMINATION
The examination test aims to ascertain that students meet the course targets as outlined above. It consists of an oral examination featuring at least two open questions concerning the subjects and the authors studied during the course.