University of the West of England
MODULE SPECIFICATION
Code: UPZNQY-30-3 Title: Medieval Philosophy Version: 1
Level: 3 UWE credit rating: 30 ECTS credit rating: 15
Module type: Standard
Owning Faculty: Social Science and Humanities Field: Philosophy
Valid from: September 2010 Discontinued from: n/a
Contributes towards: Awards up to BA (Hons)
Pre-requisites: UPZPMS-30-1 Ancient Philosophy or equivalent
Co-requisites: None
Excluded combinations: None
Learning outcomes:
On successful completion of the module students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a good knowledge of the principal philosophers, problems, and ideas within medieval philosophy (assessed at all assessment points).
2. Demonstrate an ability to examine critically material from medieval philosophy using a range of logical and analytical skills (assessed at all assessment points).
3. Demonstrate transferable skills in both i) oral presentations and ii) formal written work (assessed at assessment points A and B respectively).
Syllabus outline:
This module offers an introduction to medieval philosophy, understood as the philosophy produced between approximately the fourth and fourteenth centuries in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, written primarily in Latin and Arabic, and building upon the ancient Greek philosophical tradition. It has often been assumed that between the end of antiquity and the rise of modern philosophy in the seventeenth century not much of any significance happened in the history of philosophy. A common caricature assumes that philosophy was reduced to a mere handmaiden to theology. Nothing could be further from the truth, for in fact philosophy flourished during the middle ages, as much recent scholarship has started to show. This module offers an introduction to a wide range of philosophers, ideas, and debates from the period, including problems in metaphysics, philosophy of language, epistemology, philosophy of mind, ethics, and philosophy of religion. Texts from both the Latin and Arabic traditions will be studied in translation, including (but not restricted to) works by Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Peter Abelard, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), al-Ghazali, Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham.
Teaching and learning methods:
Teaching will be via lectures and seminars, with lectures used to introduce key philosophical texts and the problems they address, and seminars used to examine texts closely, discuss the arguments they contain, and consider their wider philosophical significance. Students will be expected to prepare a presentation on an agreed topic and so actively contribute to the teaching and learning process.
Reading strategy:
Students will be expected to purchase a core textbook of translated texts, with any additional primary texts being made available electronically via Blackboard. Full use of both printed material and electronic resources will be encouraged and detailed guidance for week-by-week reading will be offered in the module handbook.
Indicative reading list:
Extracts from primary works including (but not restricted to): Augustine, Confessions; Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy; Anselm, Proslogion; Abelard, Ethics; Ibn Sina, The Metaphysics of the Healing; Al-Ghazali, The Incoherence of the Philosophers; Ibn Rushd, The Decisive Treatise; Aquinas, On the Unity of the Intellect; Duns Scotus, Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard; Ockham, Summary of Logic. Many of these can be found in:
A. Hyman & J. J. Walsh, eds, Philosophy in the Middle Ages (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1973)
Note also the following general studies:
P. Adamson & R. C. Taylor, eds, The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)
R. N. Bosley & M. M. Tweedale, Basic Issues in Medieval Philosophy (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview, 2006)
A. Kenny, Medieval Philosophy, A New History of Western Philosophy II (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005)
N. Kretzmann, A. Kenny, J. Pinborg, eds, The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982)
D. Luscombe, Medieval Thought (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)
J. Marenbon, ed., Medieval Philosophy, Routledge History of Philosophy III (London: Routledge, 1998)
J. Marenbon, Medieval Philosophy (London: Routledge, 2007)
A. S. McGrade, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)
A. B. Schoedinger, Readings in Medieval Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996)
P. V. Spade, Five Texts on the Mediaeval Problem of Universals (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994)
Assessment
Weighting between components A and B (standard modules only) A: 25% B: 75%
ATTEMPT 1
First Assessment Opportunity
Component A
Description of each element Element weighting
1 Presentation (20 mins) FINAL 25%
Component B
Description of each element Element weighting
1 Write up of Presentation (1000 words) 15%
2 Project Essay (4000 words) 60%
Second Assessment Opportunity (further attendance at taught classes is not required)
Component A
Description of each element Element weighting
1 Presentation (20 mins) 25%
Component B
Description of each element Element weighting
1 Write up of Presentation (1000 words) 15%
2 Project Essay (4000 words) 60%
SECOND (OR SUBSEQUENT) ATTEMPT: Attendance at taught classes is not required.
Specification confirmed by …………………………………………………Date ……………………………
(Associate Dean/Programme Director)