Sylabus
The course will be summarily divided into four blocks:
- Introduction to the course; introduction to the Middle Ages and to the medieval intellectual history.
- The use of philosophical categories and terminology in building up theological questions: examples from the Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
- Aristotle and Plato: their reception and use in medieval philosophy and theology.
- Theology controlling philosophy: medieval University statutes and academic censures.
Anotace
The relationship between philosophy and theology animates the intellectual life in the Middle Ages. If nowadays we see these two disciplines as very far from each other and sometimes even opposed, in the Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages philosophy and theology were tightly related and often mixed. Thinkers like Thomas Aquinas or Albert the Great used both philosophical and theological categories in their intellectual speculation. Theology built up its language referring to the Greek and Latin philosophical terminology. Medieval University masters used authoritative texts of Aristotle, Plato, Seneca and other philosophers in their teaching and writing activity. In this intellectual context, philosophers and theologians often reflected on the synergy, cooperation, limits and sometimes dangers of the relationship between two disciplines that have, in themselves, different origins and totally different purposes.
During the course, through the analysis of relevant texts and authors, we will discuss the relationship between Philosophy and Theology in the Middle Ages, looking in particular at the University life and at the production of academic texts (commentaries, treatises, summae, disputed questions, etc.).