Annotation
THIS CODE WAS CREATED SPECIFICALLY FOR ERASMUS STUDENTS. If you are a foreign student and you need a grade for this course, you should sign up for this code.
For more information about the course, click on the link next to "Is provided by" above
SPRING TERM 2022
MA Module
Thursday, 14:10-15:45 P225 e-mail us for consultation or questions: anna.tropia@ff.cuni.cz, daniele.desantis@ff.cuni.cz
What is a person? From Antiquity to Modern Ages, philosophers have built such complex notion around concepts like those of substance, individual and rational being. In this course the same question will be studied in the answer provided by the phenomenologist Edith Stein (1891-1942), with a particular attention to the way she combines Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus with the ontological and phenomenological resources developed by Husserl and by the early phenomenological tradition.
AIM OF THE COURSE
The course has a double aim. On the one hand, it wants to regard the philosophical work of Edith Stein as the point of intersection of two seemingly different traditions: the Medieval one and the early phenomenology. On the other hand, it will also show that Stein reconnects to certain Medieval motifs precisely in order to take distance from Husserl’s idealism.
Literature
Thomas Aquinas
Selection of texts from the De Veritate (qq. 4-6) and Summa theologiae
Latin text of the De Veritate: Sancti Thomae de Aquino Opera omnia iussu Leonis XIII P. M. Edita, Romae, 1889-, vol. 22, 2.1. (UFAR library and accessible online: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k94800/f9.item)
English text of the De Veritate: https://isidore.co/aquinas/QDdeVer10.html
Latin text of the Summa: Sancti Thomae de Aquino Opera omnia iussu Leonis XIII P. M. Edita, Romae, 1889-, vols. V and 13. Both are accessible at the UFAR library as well as online: https://www.corpusthomisticum.org/repedleo.html
English Translation of the Summa by Alfred Freddoso available online: https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/summa-translation/TOC-part1.htm
John Duns Scotus
Selection of distinctions from the Ordinatio (vol. III of J.D.S, Opera Omnia, Typis Polygl. Vaticanis, Civitas Vaticanas 1950-. UFAR library)
English Translation: Being and Cognition, Ordinatio I.3, tr. by J. Van der Bercken, Fordham University Press 2016 (UFAR, Moodle)
Selection from Ord. I.2, teacher’s translation
Edith Stein
Gesamtausgabe: the German edition of her work is available on-line for free on the website of the Edith Stein-Archive: http://www.edith-stein-archiv.de/beispielseite/
English translations:
Life in a Jewish Family: Her Unfinished Autobiographical Account, ICS Publications 1986
On the Problem of Empathy, ICS Publications 1989
Philosophy of Psychology and the Humanities, ICS Publications 2000
An Investigation Concerning the State, ICS Publications 2006
Potency and Act, Studies Toward a Philosophy of Being, ICS Publications 2009
Finite and Eternal Being, ICS Publications 2002
Secondary Literature (a selection: more on Moodle)
R. Pasnau-Ch. Shields, The philosophy of Aquinas. Oxford University Press, 2016.
R. Pasnau, Thomas Aquinas on Human Nature: A Philosophical Study of Summa Theologiae Ia 75-89. Cambridge University Press, 2002.
T. Cory, Aquinas on Self-Knowledge. Cambridge University Press 2013 (UFAR library)
A. Lolordo. Person: a History. Oxford Philosophical Concepts 2019 (UFAR library)
D. Perler, Ein Person Sein. Vittorio Klostermann 2019 (UFAR library)
REQUIREMENTS TO THE EXAMS
Students will be evaluated upon the following parameters: 1) Regular attendance (whether in person or online) and in-class active participation (regular reading of the texts discussed) 2) Final oral exam (more info to be provided in due time) or in-class presentation (topic and modality to be discussed with the teachers).
Break-down of the course
Week 1: Introduction to the concept of person in medieval philosophy
Week 2: Who’s Who: Edith Stein in context
Weeks 3-4: Thomas Aquinas on personhood and cognition
Weeks 5-6: Edith Stein on personhood and intentionality
Weeks 7-8: John Duns Scotus on individuals and individuum
Weeks 9-10: Edith Stein on the core of the person
Week 11: recapitulation
Week 12: to be determined