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Class Detail:

WN 2012
Philosophy
PHIL 460 - Medieval Philosophy
Section 001
Credits: 3
Waitlist Capacity: 99
Class Misc Info: This course counts toward the "one additional course" in history of philosophy requirement for the concentration and the "one additional course" requirements c and d in the History of PHIL minor.
Advisory Prerequisites: One philosophy introduction.
Repeatability: May not be repeated for credit.
Primary Instructor: Schmaltz,Tad M

 
(real time availability for all sections)

This course concerns the development of philosophy during the period known as the "Middle Ages" (between the "ancient" and "modern" periods). The focus is on three leading figures of this period:

  • Augustine (354–450), who attempted to reconcile a broadly Platonic outlook with an emerging Christian orthodoxy
  • Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), who attempted to reconcile an entrenched Christian theology with an Aristotelian philosophy that was just becoming available in the West
  • William of Ockham (1287–1347), who was a prominent defender of a nominalist/conceptualist outlook that deviated from more traditional Platonic and Aristotelian views.

Topics for discussion include:

  • the compatibility of pagan philosophy with religious revelation
  • the problem of universals; the nature of time and eternity
  • the possibility of knowledge of the nature and existence of God
  • problems involving evil, human freedom and divine foreknowledge
  • the nature and destiny of human beings.

Course Requirements:

There will be three (non-cumulative) exams and one term paper.

Class Format:

The class will meet for three hours per week.
Course Syllabi
Syllabi are available to current LSA students. IMPORTANT: These syllabi are provided to give students a general idea about the courses, as offered by LSA departments and programs in prior academic terms. The syllabi do not necessarily reflect the assignments, sequence of course materials, and/or course expectations that the faculty and departments/programs have for these same courses in the current and/or future terms.

Search for Syllabus
Textbooks/Other Materials (data maintained by department in Wolverine Access)
ISBN: 9780915145805 Philosophy in the Middle Ages : the Christian, Islamic, and Jewish traditions, Publisher: Hackett Pub. Co 1983
Required
ISBN: 9780872202504 Five texts on the mediaeval problem of universals : Porphyry, Boethius, Abelard, Duns Scotus, Ockham, Publisher: Hackett 1994
Required

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