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PL 706 ADVANCED TOPICS IN MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

THEORIES OF COGNITION

Spring 2010

DAY /TIME : W 1:003:00 P.M.INSTRUCTOR : J.-L.SOLREOFFICE : DEP.OF PHILOSOPHY,# 390

21 Campanella Way, 3rdFloorTEL : 2-4670OFFICE HOURS : W3:004:30P.M.or by appointmentEMAIL : solere@bc.edu

Course Description:

How and what do we perceive? How does one form concepts? Who thinks? This classwill offer the opportunity to examine central issues of medieval philosophy: senseperception, realism versus representationalism, the nature of the intellect, the process ofabstraction, the identity of the cognitive subject. Curiously enough, regarding the latterquestion, it has long been believed that it was not the individual self only who wasthinking. 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-depthpresentation 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, CosimoClassics 2008, ISBN: 978-1605204321 (chap. 1-7 & 12 of book II and chap. 1-3 of bookIII 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 978-0-87220-872-8

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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 onthe Blackboard Vista site created for this course.

Classes Schedule

PART I:SENSIBLE KNOWLEDGE

Jan 20 Class 1IntroductionAristotle,De anima, bk II, chap. 1-7 & 12, bk III, chap. 1-3. Peter King, Rethinkingrepresentation in the Middle Ages (on Blackboard).Add.: V. Caston, Intentionality in Ancient philosophy, Aristotle and the problem ofintentionality (both all on Blackboard).

Jan. 27 Class 2Avicenna: the standard medieval psychologyKitb al-Najt, Concerning The Soul, p. 24-40 (photocopy); The Cure, The Soul, inClassical Arabic Philosophy, p. 175-199 & 205-209.Add.: H. Wolfson, The internal senses (on Blackboard).

Feb. 3 Class 3

Averroes: sensation and intentional beingMiddle Commentary on De Animap. 60-68 & 90-107, Commentary on Sense andSensation, p.5-21 (all photocopies).Add.: M. Tweedale, Representation in scholastic epistemology; C. Normore, Matterof thought (both on Blackboard).

Feb. 10 Class 4

Roger Bacon : the materiality of speciesSelections from On the multiplication of speciesand 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 speciesCommentary on De Anima,bk II, lect. 1-3 (in On Human Nature, p. 16-33); Summa

Theologiae, I

a

p., q. 75, q. 76 art. 3-5, q. 77, q.78 art. 1-4, q. 85 art. 1-3 (in On HumanNature, p. 60-95, 98-119 & 155-165); Summa Theologiae,Iap., 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, Explai-ning 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 Aristotles 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 Representa-tion (on Blackboard).

March 17 Class 7

William of Ockham, direct realism and intuitive cognitionReportatiobk II q. 15, p. 670-679; Epistemological problems (selections fromPhilosophical Writings), p. 18-32; Quodlibets,p. 72-74, 132-137, 257-259, 387-391 (allphotocopies).Add.: S. Brower: Intuition, externalism, and direct reference in Ockham and Ockhamon judgments, concepts, and the problem of intentionality; G. Klima: Is Ockham off thehook?; D. Perler, Things in the mind (all on Blackboard).

PART II:THE INTELLECT(S)

March 24 Class 8

The distinction passive/active intellectAristotle,De Anima,bk III, chap. 4-8. Selections from the commentaries of Alexanderof Aphrodisias and Themistius (photocopies).Add.: P. King, The inner cathedral (on Blackboard).

March 31 Class 9The transcendence of the agent intellectAlfarabi, On the Intellect, in Classical Arabic Philosophy, pp. 68-78. Avicenna, TheCure, The Soul, ibid. pp. 199-205.Add.: P. King, The failure of Aristotelian psychology (on Blackboard).

April 7 Class 10The separated material intellect

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Averroes,Long Commentary on the De Anima, in Classical Arabic Philosophy, pp. 335-360. Siger of Brabant, On the intellective soul chap. 7 (photocopies).Add.: R. Taylor, Intelligibles in act in Averroes, Averroes philosophical conceptionof separate intellect and God (both on Blackboard).

April 14 Class 11William of Auvergne: discovering AvicennismThe Soul,chap. 7 (pp. 423-498).Add.: R. Teske, "William of Auvergne's rejection of the Agent Intelligence" (onBlackboard).

April 21 Class 12Bonaventure: illumination and agent intellectCommentary 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 13Aquinas on intellectual knowledgeCommentary on De Anima,bk III, lect. 7-10 (in On Human Nature, p. 34-59); SummaTheol. Iap., 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 AverroesSumma Theol. Iap., q. 76 art. 1-2, q. 79 art. 4-5 (in On Human Nature, p. 75-84, 126-130).Add.: R. Taylor, Intellect as intrinsic formal cause, Intellect and intelligibles,Averroes epistemology and its critique by Aquinas (all on Blackboard).

May 12 Class 15ScotusConcerning 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 inScotuss cognitive psychology; P. King, Scotus on mental content (all on Blackboard).