Simple Index of Course Webpages 2022 Fall MU & KUL
Marquette University, Fall 2022: Phil 6640 Aquinas & Aristotle On Divine Being. Thursdays 9-11:40 am US Central Time. This course begins on 1 September and on 29 September will link with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Philosophy Institute, Aquinas in Context 16h-19h Central Europe Time (CET). The course is taught collaboratively by Profs. Richard Taylor and Andrea Robiglio.
Short MU Course Description
R.C. Taylor: Phil 6640 Aquinas & Aristotle On Divine Being
Location: Raynor Library 320a.
A. Robiglio & R. Taylor, Aquinas in Context
Location: TBA
Day and Time: MU Thursdays 09:00-11:40 US Central Time, KUL 16h-19h CET
Language of instruction: English.
Office hours:
Prof. Taylor TuTh 1-2 pm & 5-5:30 pm US Central Time. For KUL students via TEAMS by appointment.
Prof. Robiglio TBA. For MU students via TEAMS by appointment
This Marquette University (MU) course is taught in collaboration with the annual graduate course Aquinas in Context at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) in Belgium taught by both Prof. Andrea Robiglio and Prof. Richard Taylor. Responsibility for grading at MU is with Prof. Taylor.
Course Structure and Philosophical Content:
After a four week introduction to key issues in the philosophical thought of St Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) and selected texts of the Metaphysics and Categories of Aristotle (d. 322 BCE), this course will join with Prof. Andrea Robilgio and graduate students enrolled in the annual “Aquinas in Context” class at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven for an intensive study of Divine Being in Aristotle and Aquinas. Since Aquinas’s metaphysics of God and creatures was profoundly influenced by the Necessary Being ontology and philosophical theology of Ibn Sīnā / Avicenna (d. 1037), we will also study this foundational source for what became Aquinas’s famous understanding of essence and existence as it relates to God and creatures. In his Metaphysics Aristotle provides several accounts on the nature of being and, in book Lambda, he provides his famous account of the transcendent being of the gods. Aristotle and thinkers of the Greek tradition and of the medieval Arabic, Hebrew and Latin traditions of philosophy provided insights that Thomas Aquinas drew upon in forming his famous conception of Divine Being as ipsum esse per se subsistens drawing deeply on the insights of Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) and others of the Arabic tradition. Constructing his own account, Aquinas sets out a distinctively novel metaphysics of Divine Being.
Note: For the benefit of all students, one full class will be devoted to explaining and demonstrating how to prepare professional philosophy articles and papers.
Student Class Presentations Starting 13 October: Assignments for Presenters and Other Students (MU student teams have been selected by a random team generator.)
Student Presenter teams of 2-3 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.
(1) Instructions for Student Presenter teams:
From their research on the assigned texts and topic presenters are to provide by Tuesday 11:59 pm US Central Time / 6h59 CET a handout of no more than 6 single spaced pages plus a 2 page bibliography. This is to be sent to the instructors via email and posted on TEAMS before the deadline.
On Thursday the Student Presenter team will make a summary oral presentation of 10-12 minutes (no more) which will be followed by comments by the instructors and then general discussion.
(2) Instructions for Other Class Students: Other students in the class are to post two questions only on the texts, topic and Student team presentation on TEAMS no later than Wednesday 4:59 pm US Central Time / 23h59 CET. This is part of the MU student participation grade for the course. For KUL students it is a simple expectation for any serious student of philosophy. Students who do not post questions should expect that the instructors will ask questions of them regarding the course materials.
MU Grading & Attendance in brief: Team presentation (25%), Class participation (25%) Course paper (50%). Attendance at every class is mandatory.
MU Requirements met by this course are: CATH; HIST.
Information on KUL student grading is forthcoming, but it will largely follow the model of http://richardctaylor.info/kul-grading-page-2021/.
Course Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able on their own to understand, interpret, and comment on the philosophical writing of Aristotle and Aquinas, as well as orient themselves in the technical terminology and grasp the meaning and structure of the debated issues, 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 by students:
- 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 an outline in a well-written and possibly elegant paper.
ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION
See here for Marquette’s policies: http://bulletin.marquette.edu/undergrad/academicregulations/#attendance
Regular attendance is required. Please let me know in advance if you have to be absent. If your absence is required on short notice, speak with me about the reasons immediately following it and I may approve. Excessive absences may require removal from the course or substantially lowered grade for Participation. If you are ill and unable to make it to class, you can attend via TEAMS even if you prefer to remain silent due to your illness. Note that classes are being recorded on TEAMS.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
See here for Marquette’s policies: https://bulletin.marquette.edu/undergrad/academicregulations/
ACCOMMODATION OF DISABILITIES
See here for Marquette’s policies: http://bulletin.marquette.edu/undergra /personalresourcesandfacilities/#disabilityservices
THE WRITING CENTER
I highly recommend that you take advantage of the Writing Center (located on the second floor of the library) early and often during the course of the semester. The Writing Center is a free service for all students and can provide assistance with nearly every step of the writing process in either 30 or 60-minute appointments. https://www.marquette.edu/writing-center/