History and Texts of Philosophy of the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Teacher(s)

Counet Jean-Michel;

Language

French

Prerequisites

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Main themes

This course explains the key stages in the development of Medieval and Renaissance philosophy. It will cover the main topics of Medieval philosophy (the quarrel of the universals, the faith-reason dialectic, the representation of nature) and its different institutional contexts (monasteries, universities, the advent of Aristotelianism and Arabic philosophy), and of Renaissance philosophy (the dignity of man, the status of space and movement, the return to antiquity and, in particular, to Plato, Epicure and the sceptic tradition, the impact on philosophy of advances in arts and science). In class, students will read and comment on representative texts by leading philosophers.

For the Latin Middle Ages, the authors and movements studied in the course will include the following milestones: Augustine, Anselme, Abelard, the Dominican school (Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas) and the Franciscan school (Duns Scotus, Ockham).

For the Renaissance, Neo-Platonic authors (Nicholas of Cusa, Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola), political thinkers (Machiavelli, Jean Bodin), art theoreticians (Alberti), naturalists (Telesio, Giordano Bruno) and Montaigne.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	By the end of the course, students will be able to present an overview of the main movements and themes of Medieval and Renaissance philosophy. They will have developed their critical reading of Medieval and Renaissance philosophical texts and secondary literature.

Bibliography

Gilson Etienne, La Philosophie au Moyen Age, vol. I et II, Payot, 1922
Van Steenberghen Fernand, La Philosophie au XIIIème siècle, Louvain, Publications Universitaires, Paris Béatrice Nauwelaerts, 1966
Kennt Anthony, Medieval Philosophy ( A New History of Wester Philosophy vol. 2) Oxford University Press, 2005
Garin Eugenio. La Renaissance. Histoire d'une Révolution Culturelle, Marabout Université, 1970

Teaching materials

• Syllabus

Faculty or entity

EFIL