History of Philosophy, specialization (ancient and medieval)

FILK-210 History of Philosophy I

The student is expected to acquire the ability to analyse, interpret and assess the selected texts with the help of relevant secondary literature. Each lecture focuses on a specific topic addressed from different perspectives in accordance with the different texts. Students should be able to present the views of the philosophers studied in a critical manner and assess their arguments. Students should also develop an independent perspective about the philosophical problems studied. 

Select texts from the following authors and works:

Plato, Theaetetus, Republic

Aristotle, Posterior Analytics, Metaphysics, de Anima (On the Soul), Nicomachean Ethics

The Epicureans, the Stoics, and the Sceptics, select translations from A. A. Long and D. N. Sedley, The Hellenistic philosophers Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1987.

Augustine, On Trinity (de Trinitate)

Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics (Dumb Ox Books 2007)

Thomas, Aquinas, Commentary on Aristotle's de anima (Yale University Press 1999)

Further introductory reading: 

James Warren and Frisbee Sheffield (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Ancient Philosophy, Routledge: New York, 2014.

Robert Pasnau, Theories of Cognition in the Later Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press, 1997. 

Katherine Tachau, Vision and Certitude in the Age of Ockham (Brill, 1988) 

Leen Spruit, Species Intelligibilis: From Perception to Knowledge (Brill, 1994)

Simo Knuuttila & Pekka Kärkkäinen (eds.), Theories of Perception in Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy (Springer, 2008)

Steven Marrone, The Light of Thy Countenance. Science and Knowledge of God in the Thirteenth Century (Brill, 2001)

Autumn

The course combines lectures with interpretative work on some primary texts, always given in translation, which students are expected to read and that are to be discussed in the classes. Written final exam. Alternatively, this course can be done via book examination, depending on an agreement with the responsible teacher.

If the resources allow the course can be part of open university studies. The method of completion may differ from the program in the case of open university studies.

Written exam; scale 0–5

Language of instruction: English/Finnish