PL 706 – THEMES IN MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
Fall 2008: Metaphysics in the Middle Ages
DAY / TIME:
W 2-3:50 P.M.
INSTRUCTOR: PROF. JEAN-LUC SOLÈRE
OFFICE: DEP. OF PHILOSOPHY, # 390, 21 Campanella Way, 3rd Floor
TEL: 2 - 4670
OFFICE HOURS: W 4:30-6:00 P.M., or by appointment
EMAIL: solere@bc.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION
We will study how Neo-Platonism and Aristotelism dialogued, argued, merged, parted in
medieval metaphysics, especially in the 13th and 14th centuries. The opportunity will thus
be offered to work on fundamental concepts such as participation, causality, creation,
being, essence and existence, form and matter, substance and accident, etc. The class is
especially designed for giving graduate students a strong and in-depth presentation of
medieval thought, an essential moment of the development of western philosophy.
REQUIREMENTS:
Class participation; research paper.
READINGS:
We will use the online version of Aquinas’ works in the database “Past Masters” (free
access through the library databases). Hard copies will be placed on the library reserve
shelves. For the other texts listed in the syllabus, photocopies will be provided.
The students will have to (re)read by themselves Aristotle’s Metaphysics VII and
Porphyry’s Isagoge (copies available on the reserve shelves too).
Also, the lectures will not include basic presentations of the authors. The students are
asked to consult beforehand the encyclopedias entries indicated in the syllabus (SEP=
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, online, unconditional free access; REP= Routledge
Encycl. of Philosophy, online, free access through the library databases).
Complementary readings will be proposed in the bibliography posted on the course
Blackboard site.
SYLLABUS
Introduction (class 1)
Fundamental concepts: being, substance, essence, etc.
Class 2: Boethius, Contra Eutychen, I-III, De Trinitate, II-IV; Avicenna
Metaphysics, I.5; Averroes, Epitome I; Aquinas, On Being & Essence I, II.1-3
(SEP: “Boethius”)
Essence and individuation
Classes 3 and 4:Avicenna, Metaphysics II, V.3-9; Averroes, Epitome II; Aquinas,
On Being & Essence II.4-9 (REP: “Avicenna”, “Averroes”)
Class 5: Scotus, Ordinatio II, d. 3, p. 1 (SEP: “Medieval Theories of Haecceity”)
Essence and existence
Class 6: Proclus, Elements of Theology; [Anonymous] Liber de causis; Boethius,
On the Hebdomads (REP: “Proclus”)
Class 7: Avicenna, Metaphysics I.6; Aquinas, On Being & Essence IV-V (REP:
“Aquinas”)
Class 8: Aquinas, On Separate Substances, c. 9, Quodlibetal Question II, q. 2, a.1
Class 9: Ockham, Sum of Logic I, 38, III, ii, 37 (SEP: “Ockham”)
God, being and beings: analogy or univocity
Class 10: Aquinas, On Truth q. 2, a. 11, Summa contra Gentiles I, 32-34, On the
Power of God, q. 7, a. 7 (SEP: “Analogy, medieval theories of”)
Class 11: Henry of Ghent, Summa a. 21, q. 2-4 (SEP: “Henry of Ghent”)
Class 12: Henry of Ghent, Summa a. 23, q. 1-2
(REP: “Henry of Ghent”)
Class 13: Scotus, Opus oxoniense I, d. 3, q. 1 (SEP: “John Duns Scotus”)
Class 14: Scotus, Reportatio I-A, I, d. 8 (REP: “John Duns Scotus”)