Fall 2026
Thomas Aquinas and his Arabic Sources on the Metaphysics of Divine Knowing
Marquette University Phil 6954 Seminar & Katholieke Universiteit Leuven “Aquinas in Context”
Professors Andrea A. Robiglio and Richard C. Taylor
Désiré-Joseph Cardinal Mercier (1851-1926) in the garden of the KUL Institute of Philosophy
This course on Thomas Aquinas and metaphysical teachings of the Arabic Tradition focuses on the issue of Divine Knowledge and Causality, in particular with consideration of the issue of how Divine Knowledge is causative of other things and of how Divine Knowledge and Causality can be known given the limitations of human understanding.
REVISIONS RELATED TO A GUEST SPEAKER ARE UNDERWAY. CHANGES COMING.
Recommended Pre-Class Readings for Students Unfamiliar with Aristotle and Aquinas (forthcoming)
Shortcut Links 2026 Divine Knowledge and Causality
Instructors: Prof. Andrea Robiglio at KUL and Prof. Richard Taylor at MU.
Marquette Location: Raynor Library 320a Thursdays 9 am – 11:40 am
First Marquette University Class: 3 September 2026; last Marquette Class 10 December
KU Leuven location: Thursday, 16h-18h30 Room MSI 2.15
First KU Leuven Class: 24 September; last KU Leuven class TBA
Office Hours:
Prof. Robiglio: TBD CET and by appointment (particularly for Marquette students via TEAMS)
Prof. Taylor: Tuesdays & Thursdays 3:30-5 pm US Central Time at Marquette Hall 437; and by appointment in person or via TEAMS. KU Leuven students should make contact via email to arrange TEAMS appointments: Richard.Taylor@Marquette.edu or richard.taylor@hiw.kuleuven.be. Best time is Wednesday for TEAMS meetings 14h-15h CET
Graduate Student Information Sheet : Complete and email by the beginning of next week.
Course Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able on their own to understand, interpret, and comment on Aquinas’s philosophical writing, as well as orient themselves in the technical terminology and grasp the meaning and structure of the debated issues, in some cases in the context of the Arabic philosophical tradition important to the development of the thought of Aquinas. This includes the development of these skills:
- identifying, summarizing, ‘reconstructing’ the arguments;
- engaging with sophisticated interpretations of problematic textual passages, making use of the primary and secondary sources and interpretive categories implied in them and looking for further conceptual paradigms to uncover the hidden assumptions of the reasoning;
- arguing analytically and historically for or against explanations of the debated issues as they have been presented in the literature;
- conceiving their own argumentative reflection and organizing it according to a concrete and intellectually insightful structure, expressing such in an outline and in a well-written and possibly elegant paper.
Course Grading and Work Expectations; Due Dates
The courses at Marquette University and KU Leuven are separate with distinct student trainings and distinct requirements & grading. But they come together in late September for collaborative study of the thought of Thomas Aquinas with particular focus on contextualizing his thought in relation to his sources. This approach has the descriptive name, Source Based Contextualism.
Each of these universities have distinctively different grading systems and distinctively different work expectations regarding final course papers.
Marquette students: Grades will be based on (i) Class attendance and active participation. MU students are also required to email to Prof. Taylor 24 hrs before classes one single spaced page of 2 questions based on the readings studied, unless specified otherwise. Title your email “Phil 6640 Questions: For Class [date of upcoming class]”. This will be part of the 25% participation grade ; (ii) one class team presentation 25%; and (iii) a substantial course paper of 18-30 pages (less bibliography) due 10 December (or earlier) 50%.
KU Leuven students: Students should find detailed information concerning the course grading in the course ETCS-fiche or later here.
Special for Marquette students: ACCOMMODATION OF DISABILITIES: Please see me before or after your first time in class to discuss this matter. See here for Marquette’s policies: https://bulletin.marquette.edu/resources-opportunities/disability-services/.
CONSUMPTION OF FOOD AND DRINK IN CLASS: Consumption of liquids in class is encouraged as vital hydration or attention stimulation (coffee, tea, water, sodas). But consumption of food in class is prohibited except when approved by the instructor on the basis of medical need.
Religious Observances
MU Requirements for Students:
- Make every effort to schedule classes that will minimize conflicts caused by these activities and related travel.
- Provide written notification, including a schedule of all activities and related travel to all your instructors within the first two weeks of each term, or as soon as possible for non-scheduled events.
- Obtain any class notes or other course material missed due to these absences, prior to taking any subsequent examinations or submitting any subsequent graded assignments.
- Make arrangements with the instructor to make up any missed work/lectures, prior to any of these absences.
Students at KUL or MU who are unable to attend a class in person but would like to connect to the class with live video should contact Prof. Taylor at richard.taylor@kuleuven.be or richard.taylor@marquette.edu at least 30 minutes before the start of class. He will provide the link. Note that it is impossible to teach and also monitor email at the same time. Hence the 30 minutes advance contact requirement must be observed.
Classes 3-17 September : MU only.
Classes 24 September – 3 December: MU & KUL work together
Classes later December classes: KUL only.Videos and Notes on the Arabic Tradition
Procedures: Student Class Presentations Starting October (TBD): Assignments for Presenters and Other Students
Student Presenter teams of ca. 3 students will be assigned to prepare presentations on texts and topics assigned by the instructors. Presentations will be made at class weekly followed by discussion and questions for an hour or a bit more. Student teams will be determined in September.
(1) Instructions for Student Presenter teams: Short Presentations
From their research on the assigned texts & other relevant sources, each topic team of presenters is to provide on the Tuesday before class a handout of no more than 6 single spaced pages with 150 word abstract and also include a 1 page outline plus a 2 page bibliography. This is to be sent to the instructors via email before 23h59 Central Europe Time for KUL students and 11:59 pm US Central Time for MU students on that Tuesday. On Thursday the student presenters team will make a summary oral presentation of 10 minutes (no more) which will be followed by comments by the instructors and then general discussion by the class. There will be 1-2 team presentations for each class 16 October – 27 November. (Note: MU students will be required to meet with Prof. Taylor to discuss their work in the days preceding their presentations.)
(2) Instructions for Other Class Students: Plan on receiving the written team presentation on Wednesday for your study. All students are expected to study at least the selected primary texts and the handout provided by the presenters. Those students not presenting in the class are expected to read carefully key selections of the texts indicated by the Instructors and to come to class with two or more written questions on the topics, the texts and / or the student team presentation.
Approximate Regular Format For Thursday Student Short Presentations: Class begins with the TEAMS connection at ca. 9 am MU / 16h00 KUL; (A) 9:10 / 16h10 (10 min) Profs Robiglio & Taylor Framing Topics; (B) 9:20-10:10 / 16h20-17h20 Presentation & Discussion; (C) 10:20-10:30/ 17h20-17h30 Break; (D) 10:30 / 17h30 – 11:10 / 18h10 Presentation & Discussion; (E) 11:10-11:30 / 18h10-18h30 Broader or Extended Discussion; then finally (F) 11:30-11:40 / 18h30-18h40 Preview for Next Class.
Advice on note taking: Do it. Note taking: See (a) https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain; and (b) https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-writing-by-hand-is-better-for-memory-and-learning/.
Detailed Syllabus Schedule.
Some modifications will be made in October when we have indications of how many KULeuven students are enrolled.
Note: MU has only 7 students so their presentations will be by groups of 2, 2 & 3 students. The remaining presentations will be by KUL students.
Marquette classes before the connection with KU Leuven: setting the contexts
Class number, Date
(1) 3 Sept: (i) Introduction to the course: Final, Formal, Efficient and Material Causes; (ii) Course overview; (iii) Selected key Platonic Teachings: Republic, Timaeus, Parmenides
(2) 10 Sept: Selections of Key Aristotelian Teachings: (i) substance & accidents (Cat.), (ii) Post. An.; 1.1-4; Metaphysics: selections from books 1, 4, 6, 7, 12; (iii) Alexander of Aphrodisias
(3) 17 Sept: Selections of Key Neoplatonic Teachings: (i) Plotinus; (ii) Proclus; (iii) The Discourse on the Pure Good / Liber de causis. An available video lecture from a course taught at KU Leuven only: Link
Marquette and KU Leuven classes connect Thursday 24 Sept.
(4) 24 Sept: Linking MU & KUL (i) The Issue of Divine Knowledge; (ii) course procedures; (iii) TBA Guest speaker; or instructors will provide a short review of key Platonic and Aristotelian teachings, Plotinus & Proclus on the First Principle and Divine Knowledge; (ps.)Dionysius East & West (AAR); closing with a discussion of: What is Aristotelianism in the Arabic and Latin traditions of the Middle Ages? Assigned readings: Prologue to Aquinas’s Commentary on the Divine Names by Dionysius; Prologue to Aquinas’s Commentary on the Liber de causis.
(5) 1 Oct: No class with KUL. MU: Class work TBA
(6) 8 Oct: TBA Guest speaker; or instructors will provide a short review of key Platonic and Aristotelian teachings, Plotinus & Proclus on the First Principle and Divine Knowledge; (ps.)Dionysius East & West (AAR); closing with a discussion of: What is Aristotelianism in the Arabic and Latin traditions of the Middle Ages? Assigned readings: Prologue to Aquinas’s Commentary on the Divine Names by Dionysius; Prologue to Aquinas’s Commentary on the Liber de causis.
(7) 15 Oct: Divine Knowledge (i) Ibn Sīnā / Avicenna with TBD, ; (ii) Ibn Rushd / Averroes, a novel account.
Summary of next weeks: Student seminars on Thomas Aquinas: (1) Commentary on the Sentences Scriptum super libros Sententiarum, Book 1, d. 35-39; (2) On Truth De Veritate Q. 2; (3) Summa theologiae, Prima pars, Q.14-16; (4) Compendium of Theology Compendium Theologiae Book 1, ch. 28-43.
Class Presentations: 3 for MU students, ca. 6 for KUL students.
Instructions for student presentation. The foci of our course are on the nature of divine knowledge as well as the related question of the extent to which this question can be addressed by human knowing. Student presenter groups should (i) determine the key texts on those foci, (ii) contextualize the assigned text in the work done earlier in the course, (iii) locate the key texts in their immediate placement, and (iv) then proceed to explicate and raise questions in the key texts for the assignment drawing relevant secondary literature. The class presentation is a major part of student grades.
(8) 22 Oct: Two Presentations: Scriptum super libros Sententiarum Book 1, (i) MU: Distinction 35; (ii) KUL Distinction 36.
24 October Belgium Time Change; US Time Change 1 Nov.
(9) 29 October: (i) 8 am Milwaukee / 16h Leuven: only KUL students for discussion of paper topics and parameters. (ii) 9 am Milwaukee / 17h Leuven: MU. & KUL together on (i) Sentences 1, D. 38; 10 am Milwaukee / 18h Leuven; (iii) 10 am only MU students with Prof. Taylor to discuss course paper topics.
(10) 5 Nov (i) Sentences 1, D. 39; (ii) KUL De veritate Q. 2
(11) 12 Nov (i) Summa theologiae Q 14, a. 1-3; (ii) Summa theologiae Q 14, a. 4-7.
(12) 19 Nov (i) KUL Summa theologiae Q 14, a. 8-11; Summa theologiae Q 14, a. 12-16.
(13) 26 Nov (Marquette Thanksgiving Break): KUL students only. ASSIGNMENTS TBD
(14) 3 Dec (i) Compendium Theologiae ; (ii) Discussion: Aquinas and his Greek and Arabic Sources
(15) 10 Dec N0 CLASS FOR MU STUDENTS: APPOINTMENTS TO DISCUSS PAPERS WITH PROF. TAYLOR AT OTHER TIMES; KUL only short papers (I)
(16) Thursday 17 Dec KUL only short papers (II)