PL 706 – ADVANCED TOPICS IN MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
THEORIES OF COGNITION
Spring 2010
DAY / TIME : W 1:00 – 3:00 P.M.
INSTRUCTOR : J.-L. SOLÈRE
OFFICE :
DEP. OF PHILOSOPHY, # 390
21 Campanella Way, 3rd Floor
TEL :
2 - 4670
OFFICE HOURS : W 3:00 – 4:30 P.M. or by appointment
solere@bc.edu
EMAIL :
Course Description:
How and what do we perceive? How does one form concepts? Who thinks? This class
will offer the opportunity to examine central issues of medieval philosophy: sense
perception, realism versus representationalism, the nature of the intellect, the process of
abstraction, the identity of the cognitive subject. Curiously enough, regarding the latter
question, it has long been believed that it was not the individual self only who was
thinking. Through the study of some landmark thinkers, such as Avicenna, Averroes,
Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, we will thus observe the apparition of the modern conceptions
of the subject and of knowledge.
The class is especially designed for giving graduate students a strong and in-depth
presentation of an essential moment in the history of philosophy.
Requirements:
Class participation; research paper.
Readings:
Aristotle, De anima: a translation you already have or transl. R. D. Hicks, Cosimo
Classics 2008, ISBN: 978-1605204321 (chap. 1-7 & 12 of book II and chap. 1-3 of book
III to be read for the first class)
John Duns Scotus, Philosophical Writings, Hackett 1993, ISBN 0-87220-018-3
J. McGinnis and D. C. Reisman, Classical Arabic Philosophy, Hackett 2007, ISBN 9780-87220-872-8
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Thomas Aquinas, On Human Nature, Hackett 1999, ISBN 0-87220-454-5
William of Auvergne, The Soul. Medieval Philosophical Texts in Translation 37.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press, ISBN 0-87462-240-9
Photocopies will be provided for the other texts. Secondary literature will be posted on
the Blackboard Vista site created for this course.
Classes Schedule
PART I: SENSIBLE KNOWLEDGE
Jan 20 – Class 1
Introduction
Aristotle, De anima, bk II, chap. 1-7 & 12, bk III, chap. 1-3. – Peter King, “Rethinking
representation in the Middle Ages” (on Blackboard).
Add.: V. Caston, “Intentionality in Ancient philosophy”, “Aristotle and the problem of
intentionality” (both all on Blackboard).
Jan. 27 – Class 2
Avicenna: the standard medieval psychology
Kitâb al-Najât, “Concerning The Soul”, p. 24-40 (photocopy); The Cure, “The Soul”, in
Classical Arabic Philosophy, p. 175-199 & 205-209.
Add.: H. Wolfson, “The internal senses” (on Blackboard).
Feb. 3 – Class 3
Averroes: sensation and intentional being
Middle Commentary on De Anima p. 60-68 & 90-107, Commentary on Sense and
Sensation, p.5-21 (all photocopies).
Add.: M. Tweedale, “Representation in scholastic epistemology”; C. Normore, “Matter
of thought” (both on Blackboard).
Feb. 10 – Class 4
Roger Bacon : the materiality of species
Selections from On the multiplication of species and the Optics (all photocopies).
Add.: Y. Raizman, “Bacon on species” (on Blackboard).
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Feb. 17 – No class (instructor away for conference)
Feb. 24 – Class 5
Aquinas: the “spirituality” of species
Commentary on De Anima, bk II, lect. 1-3 (in On Human Nature, p. 16-33); Summa
Theologiae, Ia p., q. 75, q. 76 art. 3-5, q. 77, q.78 art. 1-4, q. 85 art. 1-3 (in On Human
Nature, p. 60-95, 98-119 & 155-165); Summa Theologiae, Ia p., q. 14 art. 1-6, q. 15 art.
1-3 (photocopy); On Truth, q. 2 a. 2 (photocopy).
Add.: M. Burnyeat: “Aquinas on spiritual change in perception”; A. Simmons, “Explaining sense perception” (both on Blackboard).
March 10 – Class 6
Aquinas: indirect realism?
Contra Gentiles, I chap. 53, IV chap. 11; On The Power of God, q. 9 art. 5, p. 123-126;
On Truth, q. 4 art. 1, p. 168-176; Commentary on the De Anima, p. 282-287, 300-308;
Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics, p. 136-149 (all photocopies). – R. Pasnau, “Id quo
cogitamus”; D. Perler, “Essentialism and direct realism” (all on Blackboard).
Add.: G. Klima, “Tradition and Innovation in Medieval Theories of Mental Representation” (on Blackboard).
March 17 – Class 7
William of Ockham, direct realism and intuitive cognition
Reportatio bk II q. 15, p. 670-679; “Epistemological problems” (selections from
Philosophical Writings), p. 18-32; Quodlibets, p. 72-74, 132-137, 257-259, 387-391 (all
photocopies).
Add.: S. Brower: “Intuition, externalism, and direct reference in Ockham” and “Ockham
on judgments, concepts, and the problem of intentionality”; G. Klima: “Is Ockham off the
hook?”; D. Perler, “Things in the mind” (all on Blackboard).
PART II: THE INTELLECT(S)
March 24 – Class 8
The distinction passive/active intellect
Aristotle, De Anima, bk III, chap. 4-8. – Selections from the commentaries of Alexander
of Aphrodisias and Themistius (photocopies).
Add.: P. King, “The inner cathedral” (on Blackboard).
March 31 – Class 9
The transcendence of the agent intellect
Alfarabi, On the Intellect, in Classical Arabic Philosophy, pp. 68-78. – Avicenna, The
Cure, “The Soul”, ibid. pp. 199-205.
Add.: P. King, “The failure of Aristotelian psychology” (on Blackboard).
April 7 – Class 10
The separated material intellect
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Averroes, Long Commentary on the De Anima, in Classical Arabic Philosophy, pp. 335360. – Siger of Brabant, “On the intellective soul” chap. 7 (photocopies).
Add.: R. Taylor, “Intelligibles in act in Averroes”, “Averroes’ philosophical conception
of separate intellect and God” (both on Blackboard).
April 14 – Class 11
William of Auvergne: discovering Avicennism
The Soul, chap. 7 (pp. 423-498).
Add.: R. Teske, "William of Auvergne's rejection of the Agent Intelligence" (on
Blackboard).
April 21 – Class 12
Bonaventure: illumination and agent intellect
Commentary on the Sentences, book 2, distinction 24 part 1, article 2, q. 4 (photocopies).
Add.: T. Nejeschleba: “Aquinas and the early Franciscan school”
April 28 – Class 13
Aquinas on intellectual knowledge
Commentary on De Anima, bk III, lect. 7-10 (in On Human Nature, p. 34-59); Summa
Theol. Ia p., q. 76 art. 3-5, q. 79 art. 1-3 & 6-10, q. 84 art. 1-7, q. 87 art. 1-3, q. 88 art. 1-2
(in On Human Nature, p. 85-94, 120-154, 171-177 & 179-187); q. 54 art. 1-5, q. 86 art. 1
(photocopies).
Add.: S. & J. Brower, “Aquinas on representation”; P. King, “Ockham on concepts”
(both on Blackboard).
May 5 – Class 14
Aquinas against Averroes
Summa Theol. Ia p., q. 76 art. 1-2, q. 79 art. 4-5 (in On Human Nature, p. 75-84, 126130).
Add.: R. Taylor, “Intellect as intrinsic formal cause”, “Intellect and intelligibles”,
“Averroes’ epistemology and its critique by Aquinas” (all on Blackboard).
May 12 – Class 15
Scotus
“Concerning human knowledge” (selections from Philosophical Writings), pp. 97-132;
Quodlibet, q. 15 (photocopies).
Add.: D. Perler, “Scotus and Aureol on intentional objects”; R. Cross: “Externalism in
Scotus’s cognitive psychology”; P. King, “Scotus on mental content” (all on Blackboard).
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