PHIL 788 Medieval Epistemology: Thirteenth Century Themes, Abstraction, Illumination and the First Known
This course aims at articulating the overarching themes of the theory of knowledge in thirteenth century philosophy. Beginning with the classical texts that posed epistemological problems for thinkers of that century - Aristotle's Physics and De anima, Augustine's De libero arbitrio, and Avicenna's De prima philosophia and De anima, and Averro's, Commentarium in libros De anima - we shall treat each of the major themes in tandem by reading, among other texts, Albert the Great's De homine, Thomas Aquinas's Super Boetium De Trinitate, and selections from St. Bonaventure's Comm. in Sent. as well as his QQ. disp de scientia Christi. Thereafter, we shall pursue the themes in their treatment by later authors, including Henry of Ghent, Matthew of Aquasparta, Vital du Four, and John Duns Scotus. Reading knowledge of Latin is required, inasmuch as not all course reading materials will be made available in English translation.