This course will be a historical survey; we will effectively be doing history of medieval philosophy; hopefully we will see why it matters (fol. instr.)
Read the texts yada yada
Arabic philosophy will only be 1 lecture because it’s not the instructor’s specialty and she doesn’t know Arabic or something
ISBN 978-0-19-966322-4 for the course handbook or something
Middle ages last approx. between 450 and 1450 AD
The fall of the roman empire and the fall of byzantine to the turks
Medieval Latin is Italian.
There’s a lot of material to discover.
Instructor found a lost text apparently.
There are four key traditions in Medieval Philosophy:
Jewish, Arabic, Greek (Orthodox Christian), and Catholic (Latin)
They all share the influence of the greeks, and a monotheistic outlook on the world. Hence, they’re all medieval philosophy. [Brave.]
Medieval philosophy was very multicultural.
Many medieval philosophers were theologians. But medieval philosophy is not theology in disguise.
The reason they were theologians was because theology was considered the best/most important thing.
There were developments in a number of philosophical/scientific subjects in the medieval period. [you don’t say]
Medieval philosophers believed in angels as incorporeal beings, who were messengers to human being and were intelligent.
How can angels communicate if they don’t have a body, if they’re transparent? Do they need to communicate with one another? [Me when I make some shit up and go ‘wow i wonder how this would work’]
Aquinas says it’s a hivemind without interiority.
Olivi says they are individuals and are able to close themselves off from the gaze of the other.
Is there a non-theological framework in the middle ages?
Yes. In medieval times, philosophy was an institution. To be a theologian, you needed to have an education (cursus). The first faculty you had to attend was the Art faculty. There, you study logic, rhetoric, math/arithmetic, music → the quadrivium
Thereafter you can start theology.
Philosophy is sometimes seen as just a stepping stone for the more important theology.
In the 13th century, some of the professors in the faculty of arts in (particular) Paris, started recognizing themselves as philosophers dignified in their own sense.
Boethius of Dacia (not the usual one): only the philosopher does not err/sin (peccat).
Plato and Aristotle.
The ideas of Plato are transmitted into the middle ages through the Neo-Platonist. Authors like Augustine were influenced by Plato and Neo-Platonists and transmitted Platonism to the middle ages.
The history of Medieval Philosophy is also a history of materiality and what can be transmitted, what can be known and what cannot.
They didn’t know about Aristotle’s logic until the [end of?] 12th century.
The problem of change. The chestnut grows on a tree, falls of a tree, grows into a tree.
Plato - how can we have true knowledge of something that is ever-changing. → his solution is the forms, something unchanging, necessary, and universal (as opposed to transient, contingent, and particular).
→ the world consists of stable forms
some things are beautiful because they participate in the form of the “beautiful”
Hellenism:
don’t become attached to worldly things
don’t be afraid of death