Previous Classes Offered in the History of Philosophy at ND

Outline

• Spring 2026 Graduate Classes
• Spring 2026 Undergraduate Classes

• Fall 2025 Graduate Classes
• Fall 2025 Undergraduate Classes
• Spring 2025 Graduate Classes
• Spring 2025 Undergraduate Classes
• Fall 2024 Graduate Classes
• Fall 2024 Undergraduate Classes
• Spring 2024 Graduate Classes
• Spring 2024 Undergraduate Classes

Spring 2026 Graduate Classes

CLLA 60100 // Ancient Virtue

Elizabeth Mazurek | MWF 10:30am-11:20am in Malloy Hall 315

In this advanced Latin language class students will read accounts of virtuous behavior related by ancient Romans. What virtues and vices did the Romans extol or criticize? How did they fashion fables or stories to educate and entertain their audiences? In order to review and master the harder elements of Latin syntax, in addition to carefully reading Latin texts students will submit regular composition exercises. We will read selections from poets and prose writers such as Cornelius Nepos, Valerius Maximus, Phaedrus, Aulus Gellius, Macrobius, Livy, Pliny or Horace. Pre-requisite: CLLA 20003.

Crosslisted With: CLLA 20400, section 01

CLLA 60054 // Augustine's Confessions

Hildegund Muller | TTh 9:30am-10:45am in Departmental Space

A reading of Augustine’s Confessions, partly in Latin and in its entirety in English, with a special emphasis on close reading and precise grammatical and stylistic analysis. We will focus on understanding Confessions as a work of Latin literature and Christian philosophy, part of the great late ancient endeavor to develop new genres and styles to mirror the new belief system, yet connected to the classical world in multiple ways. In addition to the narrative itself, Augustine’s personal experience, Confessions allows the reader to gain insight into his major philosophical tenets and the conversations and controversies of his life. We will also discuss important scholarly questions (origin, historical setting, sources and parallels, biblical framework, structure, philosophical background, modern readings, etc.) and read selections of scholarly literature.

Crosslisted With: CLLA 40054, section 01

HIST 83110: Genealogies of Islamic Thought: Counterpoints in the History of Ideas

Ebrahim Moosa | W 3:30pm-6:15pm in DeBartolo Hall 335

The course examines key writings in the history of Islamic thought. Using a variety of theoretical approaches ranging from writings by Ibn Khaldun, Marshall Hodgson to Michel Foucault, this advanced course examines the conditions under which multiplicities of Islamic knowledge, discourses and domains of power had been formulated over time. The course will utilize Hodgson's The Venture of Islam and Ibn Khaldun's, Muqaddima as the two main texts. Several other readings authored by scholars ranging from Iqbal, Fazlur Rahman, Jabri, Laroui in addition to theorists like Collingwood, Koselleck and Asad will be studied. The goal of the course is to engage in a textured and fine grain reading of how Muslim domains of knowledge and ideas were formulated over time.

Crosslisted With: MGA 63110, section 01, IIPS 73202, section 01, MI 83288, section 01

MI 60553 // Dante II

Theodore Cachey, Beatrice Rosso | MW 9:30am-10:45am in Geddes Hall B034

An in-depth study, over two semesters, of the entire Comedy, in its historical, philosophical and literary context, with selected readings from the minor works (e.g., Vita Nuova, Convivio, De vulgari eloquentia). Lectures and discussion in English; the text will be read in the original with facing-page translation. Students may take one semester or both, in either order.

Crosslisted With: ROIT 40116, section 01, LLRO 40116, section 01, ROIT 63116, section 01, MI 40553, section 01, EURO 40116, section 01

PHIL 83210 // Aristotle on Nutrition, Perception, Sleep and Dreams

Sophia Connell | Th 3:30pm-6:15pm in Malloy Hall 220

Aristotle was the first thinker to describe differences between animals and plants in terms of distinct soul capacities. For Aristotle, animals are defined by their perceptual capacities and activities, controlled by their ‘perceptual soul’ (aisthetikon). These are grounded, however, in the most fundamental of life functions, self-nourishment and generation to type, controlled by the ‘nutritive soul’ (threptikon). Aristotle most often focuses on animals and is driven to account for the phenomena their lives manifest, including events that stem from digestion and perception, such as the necessity for sleep and the experience of dreaming. This course consists in close readings of key texts from Aristotle’s On the Soul (De Anima) Book II, chapters 1-7, 11-12 and excerpts from his small works entitled On Sleep and Waking (Somn. Vig.) and On Dreams (Insomn.). The aim is to provide an in-depth understanding of Aristotle’s general theory of the soul, his explanations of nutrition and perception and of sleeping and dreaming. On the Soul Book II contains the core theory: the soul is the actualisation of a body potentially possessing life or a body with organs. This theory is more fully sketched out in terms of three main soul capacities: nutritive, perceptual and intellectual. Plants only have nutritive capacities, animals add perceptual ones, and human beings alone are able to think in an intellectual manner. The course will concentrate on the first two soul capacities and how they are related and affect one another in animals. Nutritive functioning maintains the living being as what it is and aims towards generation of another like in kind through the transformation of food into the living body and the construction and maintenance of functioning parts, many of which are required for the processes of digestion. The perceptual soul is potentially able to become like the objects of perception; the five distinct senses operate in a similar manner, registering and bringing in perceptual information and coordinating behaviour responses. This account of nutritive and perceptual capacities is required to understand why animals need to sleep and why it is that they dream. According to Aristotle sleep, which only occurs in perceptual animals, is caused by digestion, resulting in an impairment of the common sense faculty. Dreaming also comes about due to certain bodily processes that support perception: perceptual images remain in the body to resurface during sleep. The course will include a comprehensive introduction to the most important secondary literature on these topics.

PHIL 83214 // Plato's Parmenides

Denis Robichaud | W 2:00pm-4:30pm in Hesburgh Library 715J

Plato’s Parmenides holds a priviledged place in the long history of Platonism from 270-1499, a period that covers the death of Plotinus (270), the founder of a philosophical movement known as Neoplatonism, until the death of Ficino, who is single handedly responsible for integrating the largest body of Greek philosophical texts into late medieval Latin philosophy. For most late ancient Platonists following Plotinus, the Parmenides was held to be Plato’s most important dialogue containing the seeds to understanding the first principle, the One. Following Iamblichus, and as evidenced by Proclus’s commentary, the Parmenides was studied as the theological capstone of an extensive curriculum. Following a brief examination of the Parmenides’s influence on important late ancient Platonists, this course will examine the direct and indirect influence of this elusive dialogue on important religious interpreters from late antiquity (the Corpus Dionysiacum; the Liber de causis) and from the late middle ages and the Renaissance (Aquinas; Cusanus; Pico; and Ficino). No prerequisites are required for the course, but familiarity with ancient, medieval, and/or Renaissance philosophy would be useful. Students will be invited to read Latin texts but no specific level of Latin is required. The course will be designed to allow students to work with their level of Latin. No knowledge of Ancient Greek is required nor of other modern languages (e.g., Italian, French, German) but some linguistic training in these languages would be beneficial, especially Ancient Greek.

Crosslisted With: MI 63042, section 01, HIST 63042, section 01, HPS 63042, section 01

PHIL 83240 // God, World & Soul in Classical Islamic Philosophy

Stephen Ogden | T 9:30am-12:15pm in Malloy Hall 220

A careful study of some key debates in the classical period of Islamic philosophy, focusing on three of the most central thinkers: Avicenna (Ibn Sina), al-Ghazali, and Averroes (Ibn Rushd). Many of the philosophical positions and texts formed a critical background not only in the later Islamic tradition, but also for other medieval traditions (in Judaism and the Latin Christian West). Discussions include God's nature and knowledge, the eternity of the world, causation, and the afterlife.

Crosslisted With: MI 83360, section 01

PHIL 93235 // Medieval Theories of Universals

W 9:30am-12:15pm in Malloy Hall 220

This class will examine theories of universals in the middle ages, focusing on the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but where relevant considering the background to such theories in late antiquity and earlier Islamic philosophy.

PHIL 93270 // Heidegger’s Later Philosophy

Andrew Huddleston | T 12:30pm-3:15pm in Malloy Hall 220

In this course, we will be considering key themes from the “later” Heidegger’s thought— difficult to periodize, but roughly his post-Being and Time work from the mid-1930s onwards, after the so-called “turn.” We will be focusing, in particular, on Heidegger’s philosophy of art and his ethico-social philosophy, and treating adjacent issues, such as his notions of unconcealment and the fourfold. Texts to be studied include “On the Origin of the Work of Art,” “What are Poets For?,” “Building Dwelling Thinking,” “Letter on Humanism,” and “The Question Concerning Technology.” We will also be considering fraught questions around the relationship between Heidegger’s thought and his politics, and the extent to which the two are entangled and the extent to which they can be disentangled.

PHIL 93812 // History of Philosophy of Science from the Scientific Revolution to 1900

Don Howard | TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 110

This course examines the work of key figures from the history of natural philosophy and science. Placing the philosophical work of Leibniz, Newton, Hume, Kant, Alexander Humboldt, Whewell, J. S. Mill, Helmholtz, Ernst Mach, Wilhelm Wundt, William James, Einstein, Henri Poincare, Bergson, and others, within a wider philosophical, historical, and cultural context, we will explore how and why they identified their central problems and the methods they used to approach those. We will focus on understanding how the central problems and theories that these figures worked on, ranging from questions of space, time, motion and substance/matter to theories of human sensibility and perception, to wider epistemological and metaphysical investigations, engaged the scholarly communities surrounding them, and helped them promote broader programmatic goals for reshaping and reforming philosophy/science. As they engaged contemporary philosophers/scientists over fundamental philosophical questions, they pressed new ideals of knowledge and programs to reform natural philosophy and reorganize the broader scholarly community - and society itself (e.g., Kant). We will explore how these natural philosophers framed new epistemologies and simultaneously promoted new ideals of the philosopher, scholar, and/or educated citizen, who would be capable of creating valid knowledge. In sum, we will explore how preeminent natural philosophers, at once, made original contributions to epistemology, understanding of space and time, and metaphysics, as they framed new visions of the knowing subject within a changing society.

Crosslisted With: HPS 93812, section 01

PHIL 93910 // Pragmatism

Curtis Franks | TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm in Corbett Family Hall E478

This upper division course will be an introduction to American Pragmatism ranging over the classical texts of Pierce, James and Dewey to the contemporary texts of Putnam and Rorty.

Crosslisted With: PHIL 43605, section 01

POLS 60660 // Constitutionalism: Ancient, Modern, American.

Susan Collins | MW 9:30am-10:45am in Jenkins and Nanovic Hall B044

Is America well-founded? Some critics think it is not. This course considers this question through the study of seminal texts of ancient and modern constitutionalism. Topics and questions to be addressed include: What is the foundation of political society? What is the purpose or telos of a good political order? What makes political rule legitimate? In what sense is the political community by nature and in what sense not by nature? What is the relationship between religious authority and political authority? What are the politically relevant meanings of ideas such as equality, freedom, consent, rights, and justice? Readings will consist primarily of primary texts, e.g. Aristotle’s Politics, Locke’s Second Treatise, and The Federalist, supplemented by relevant secondary scholarship and supplemental lectures.

POLS 60661 // Augustine and Contemporary Political Thought

Mary Keys | Th 3:30pm-6:15pm in Malloy Hall 315

Augustine of Hippo is an early Christian theologian, whose writings deal with political themes chiefly (though not exclusively) in relation to religion. Augustine’s own polity, the declining Roman Empire of the fourth and early fifth centuries, seems almost entirely “other” than modern political societies. Why, then, has his thought been influential in so large and diverse a body of contemporary ethical and political theory? What is it about Augustine’s reflections on humanity, nature, happiness, justice, and society that makes him seem indispensible many centuries after he wrote, and among scholars of varied faiths and no faith? How do appropriations, revaluations, and critiques of Augustine’s thought help to shape some of the leading political-philosophical work in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries? How compelling are various interpretations of his writings that shape contemporary engagement with his thought? These are some of the questions we will reflect on this semester. The first two thirds of the course focus directly on Augustine’s ethical and political thought, through a close reading of his City of God. The final third of the course examines Augustine’s use and import in contemporary political thought. Readings for this portion of the course include writings of Hannah Arendt, John Cavadini, Robert Dodaro, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Ernest Fortin, Eric Gregory Alasdair MacIntyre, Pierre Manent, Reinhold Niebuhr, Charles Taylor, and Paul Weithman. Among the many themes open to our consideration, some attention will be given to Augustine’s arguments concerning pride and humility, humanity and love, and philosophy and faith as they impact personal, social, and political life. Also important are Augustine’s interpretations, appropriations, and critiques of ancient historians, statesmen, poets, philosophers, and philosophic schools.

THEO 60204 // Medieval Christology

Joshua Lim | TTh 11:00am-12:15pm in DeBartolo Hall 244

This course explores christological questions and debates arising in thirteenth-century scholastic theology. We will focus especially on the writings of Thomas Aquinas, covering such topics as the nature of the hypostatic union, the medieval reception of early Church councils, the question of the motive of the Incarnation, the instrumentality of Christ's human nature, and attendant doctrines. We will compare Aquinas's account with that of his Parisian contemporaries (e.g., Bonaventure and the Summa Halensis), as well as other notable medieval scholastics such as Robert Grosseteste.

Crosslisted With: THEO 40204, section 01, MI 40447, section 01, MI 60447, section 01

THEO 60256 // The Kabbalah and Christianity

Jeremy Brown | MW 12:30pm-1:45pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 201

Kabbalah is often synonymous with “Jewish mysticism.” Stemming from Catalonia and Castile in the thirteenth century, its literature encompasses a speculative and hortatory domain of divine knowledge in the rabbinic tradition that has served as a major source of Jewish theology throughout the ensuing centuries. The course will explore the complex relationship of this medieval curriculum of rabbinic wisdom to the Church—among the richest case studies in the creative-yet-tortured confluence of Judaism and Christianity. Students will study the disputational context in which kabbalah first saw the light of history and especially the polemical representations of Christianity it produced. They will also investigate aspects of the discourse that would appear to approximate contemporary Christian teachings and practices. These include putatively para-Christological elements, penitential discourse, concern with poverty and social ethics, apparent parallels to Marian devotion, and more. Students will also examine apologetical readings of kabbalah by Christian authors during the early modern period and Jewish reactions thereto.

Crosslisted With: THEO 40242, section 01, MI 60450, section 01, MI 40450, section 01

THEO 60186 // Science, Philosophy, and the Gods in the Ancient Near East

Abraham Winitzer | MW 11:00am-12:15pm in Flanner Hall 114

What constitutes science or philosophy in the case of the ancient Near East and its civilizations, which did not conceive of a "natural" world separate from a "supernatural" one? Can we speak of the existence of science and philosophy under such circumstances? Can scientific or philosophical thought operate within a theological framework exist? The course will attempt to answer these and related questions by providing a comprehensive overview of ancient Near Eastern "scientific" and "philosophical" thought as reflected in the writings of ancient Mesopotamia and related cultures. An introduction to the ancient Near East will provide grounding for this course, along with basic secondary literature on the history and philosophy of science in general and with respect to Mesopotamia and the ancient Near East more specifically. The course assumes no knowledge of ancient languages; primary literature will be read in translation.

Crosslisted With: HPS 60186, section 01, HPS 60186, section 02

THEO 83156 // Ancient Philosophy for the Study of Christian Origins

David Lincicum | T 12:30pm-3:15pm in Malloy Hall 320

Early Christianity emerged in a complex context in the ancient Greco-Roman world, and among other more dominant influences, like Judaism, Hellenistic philosophical traditions played a part in shaping the emergent Jesus movement. This seminar offers the opportunity to read the most relevant Greek and Roman philosophers (particularly from the Platonic tradition, and from Cynics, Stoics, and Epicureans) and to critically assess significant scholarly proposals for the influence of one or another philosophical school on the texts of the New Testament. Knowledge of Greek is a prerequisite.

THEO 83671 // Virtue and Moral Law

Gerald McKenny | Th 8:00am-10:45am in O'Shaughnessy Hall 200

In recent decades, virtue and law conceptions of ethics are often thought to be alternative approaches to ethics that are in tension or even opposed to one another. But Christian ethics is committed to both, raising the question of how they go together in a Christian account of the moral life. This seminar shows how historical figures such as Aquinas, Calvin, Hooker, Suarez, and Kant related virtue and moral law, and then turns to recent figures such as Julia Annas, Elizabeth Anscombe, and Servais Pinckaers, all of whom recognize differences and even tensions between virtue and law conceptions of ethics but also show how, at least in principle, they can be reconciled. Although the relation of virtue and moral law is a conceptual issue, the point of the seminar is to arrive at a deeper understanding of how they go together in the moral life of a Christian.

Spring 2026 Undergraduate Classes

CLLA 20400 // Ancient Virtue

Elizabeth Mazurek | MWF 10:30am-11:20am in Malloy Hall 315

In this advanced Latin language class students will read accounts of virtuous behavior related by ancient Romans. What virtues and vices did the Romans extol or criticize? How did they fashion fables or stories to educate and entertain their audiences? In order to review and master the harder elements of Latin syntax, in addition to carefully reading Latin texts students will submit regular composition exercises. We will read selections from poets and prose writers such as Cornelius Nepos, Valerius Maximus, Phaedrus, Aulus Gellius, Macrobius, Livy, Pliny or Horace. Pre-requisite: CLLA 20003.

Crosslisted With: CLLA 60100, section 01

CLLA 40054 // Augustine's Confessions

Hildegund Muller | TTh 9:30am-10:45am in Departmental Space

A reading of Augustine’s Confessions, partly in Latin and in its entirety in English, with a special emphasis on close reading and precise grammatical and stylistic analysis. We will focus on understanding Confessions as a work of Latin literature and Christian philosophy, part of the great late ancient endeavor to develop new genres and styles to mirror the new belief system, yet connected to the classical world in multiple ways. In addition to the narrative itself, Augustine’s personal experience, Confessions allows the reader to gain insight into his major philosophical tenets and the conversations and controversies of his life. We will also discuss important scholarly questions (origin, historical setting, sources and parallels, biblical framework, structure, philosophical background, modern readings, etc.) and read selections of scholarly literature.

Crosslisted With: CLLA 60054, section 01

ENGL 20158 // The "Ancient Quarrel" between Poetry and Philosophy

Riley McGuire | TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 116

Violent video games make people violent. Philosophers waste their time debating whether tables exist. The ideas behind these statements can be traced back to an “ancient quarrel” between poets and philosophers (Plato, Republic). By reading philosophical and literary texts by great poets and philosophers, including (among others) Plato, Aristotle, Sidney, Shelley, Shakespeare, and Keats, this course will explore the “ancient quarrel” between poets and philosophers and its continuing relevance in modern art and culture. In class discussions and written assignments, we will learn to make arguments about the philosophy of literature and practise literary analysis of both philosophical and literary texts.

HIST 30524 // Modern European Thought from Rousseau to Foucault

Sarah Shortall | TTh 2:00pm-3:15pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 200

Since the eighteenth century, Europeans have grappled with a number of transformative events and developments, from the French Revolution and the birth of an industrial economy, to catastrophic wars and the rise and fall of European empires. In the process of making sense of these events, they produced works of philosophy, political theory, art, and literature that continue to shape the way we understand our place in the world today. This course introduces students to the history of European thought from the Enlightenment to the present, a period that birthed the many great "isms" that have defined the modern world: liberalism, socialism, nationalism, feminism, existentialism, totalitarianism, and colonialism. Course readings will be drawn from a range of primary sources, including novels, works of philosophy, political treatises, films, and works of art, as well as secondary sources by historians. By reading these two kinds of sources together, we will explore not only how ideas and works of art were shaped by the historical context in which they were produced, but also how they themselves shaped the course of European history.

Crosslisted With: EURO 30524

MI 40553 // Dante II

Theodore Cachey, Beatrice Rosso | MW 9:30am-10:45am in Geddes Hall B034

An in-depth study, over two semesters, of the entire Comedy, in its historical, philosophical and literary context, with selected readings from the minor works (e.g., Vita Nuova, Convivio, De vulgari eloquentia). Lectures and discussion in English; the text will be read in the original with facing-page translation. Students may take one semester or both, in either order.

Crosslisted With: ROIT 40116, section 01, LLRO 40116, section 01, ROIT 63116, section 01, MI 60553, section 01, EURO 40116, section 01

PHIL 10111 // God and the Good Life

Paul Blaschko, Justin Christy (meeting info varies by section)

In God and the Good Life (GGL), you'll explore the big questions about how to live a meaningful life: what justifies your beliefs, whether you should practice a religion, what sacrifices you should make for others, and more. You’ll learn what the greats like Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes have to say on issues like these, and will work with your classmates in small, intensive dialogue groups to apply their insights to your own life today. By the end of the course, you'll have formed close intellectual friendships with your classmates, strong analytical skills, and most of all, a vision for what the good life can be.

PHIL 20206 // Augustine's Confessions

David Cory | TTh 2:00pm-3:15pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 110

An in-depth examination of the philosophical themes, ideas, and arguments in Augustine's classic Confessions, with attention to historical, theological, and literary context.

Crosslisted with: PRL 20206, section 01

PHIL 20219 // Dialogues of the Enlightened: Modern Philosophy in Conversations

Huimin Liu | (meeting information varies by section)

This course delves into the history of modern philosophy, taking a unique approach that goes beyond traditional narratives. While we will explore the contributions of canonical men philosophers, we will also shine a light on the often-overlooked women philosophers of this period who significantly advanced Enlightenment thought. By putting these men and women philosophers into dialogue, we will examine their philosophical developments not just through their seminal works but also through their correspondences and interactions. We will engage with actual historical discourses and create new interactions based on their philosophical ideas. This method allows us to explore the most important topics in modern philosophy from multiple perspectives, understanding what these philosophers’ views are and how they communicated them. By reading different kinds of materials, we will aim to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the intellectual exchanges that shaped the philosophical landscape of the Enlightenment.

PHIL 20220 // Freedom and Nature: Introduction to German Philosophy from Kant to Hegel

Michael Brown | TTH 9:30am-10:45am in Jenkins and Nanovic Hall B058

This course will examine the work that arose out of one of the most important periods in the history of philosophy, typically dubbed “German idealism.” These thinkers were obsessed with freedom: freedom of thought and religion, freedom in politics, and going so far to say that human beings are, in their very essence, free. And true to their commitment to the freedom of thought, they imagined humankind rising out of its immaturity, putting aside all traditional metaphysics that was detached from reality, and finally achieving sturdy and reasonable self-assurance of the workings of nature and society. However, in this, a great problem arose: if the world was absolutely determined in some scientifically demonstrable shape, how could humanity, which is a part of that fixed picture, be free? Freedom seems to suggest that a complete science is impossible, and a complete science risks abolishing human freedom. This is the question we will be examining through four important philosophers: Immanuel Kant, J. G. Fichte, F. W. J. Schelling, and G. W. F. Hegel. They each took a novel approach to solving this problem of freedom and nature, and we will examine them in turn. Kant decided reason, a faculty of the mind, had to hold itself back from making any claims about how the world really is in itself, thus making room for freedom. Fichte insisted that a philosophical system of freedom can only be rooted on the self's absolutely free self-relation. Schelling saw the world as one of basic polarity, and against the human subject was the freely developing process of nature, and each limits and intertwines with the other, seeking harmony. Hegel believed that freedom itself has developed through human cultural history and only in recent history has freedom reached its highest phase of development. In examining these thinkers, we will consider their historical context and take a close look at the debates they all had with one another. Each of them was at time a collaborators with another before philosophical disagreements forced them apart. We will draw out these arguments and examine their strengths and weaknesses. By the end, we will consider whether their debates and arguments remain relevant to current manifestations of the freedom-nature debate.

Crosslisted With: GEST 20220, section 01

PHIL 20403 // Virtues and Vices

John Jenkins | TTh 11:00am-12:15pm in Bond Hall 308

This great books-style, discussion-based seminar introduces students to some of the most influential philosophical perspectives on what makes for true human flourishing. Students will read great works of fiction along philosophical texts as they wrestle with the nature of human flourishing in general as well the nature of specific virtues and vices. Feel free to email the professor for more information.

PHIL 20627 // Science and Catholicism

John O'Callaghan | TTh 11:00am-12:15pm in Corbett Family Hall E486

A historical and philosophical examination of the relations, if there are any, between science and religion with particular reference to the Catholic intellectual tradition. Through the use of historical materials the course will attempt to isolate and examine philosophical difficulties that might be thought to obtain between the claims made by Christian revelation and various scientific theories about features of the world. Emphasis will be placed upon distinctive ways in which the intellectual tradition of the Catholic church has faced the issues raised. Figures to be considered may include Augustine, Aquinas, Galileo, Bellarmine, Darwin, Huxley, Dawkins, Newman, Leroy, Zahm, LeMaitre, and Hawking, as well as others. Topics to be discussed are Language, Meaning, and Revelation, the Nature of Science, Theory, and Hypothesis, Evolution, the Big Bang, Soul and Body, Creation versus Making, Providence and Chance.

PHIL 30301 // Ancient and Medieval Philosophy

Joshua Trubowitz, Stephen Dumont | (meeting information varies by section)

This course will concentrate on major figures and persistent themes. A balance will be sought between scope and depth, the latter ensured by a close reading of selected texts.

PHIL 30302 // History of Modern Philosophy

Alix Cohen | TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm in DeBartolo Hall B011

This course examines the sweeping transformations of philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries by exploring some of the leading philosophers of that era. Topics include innovations in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophical theology, and the natural sciences, many of which continue to shape the agenda in contemporary philosophy.

PHIL 43129 // Chinese Philosophy

Mike Zhao | TTh 9:30am-10:45am in Malloy Hall 315

This course is an introduction to classical Chinese philosophy, written in the period from 500BC to 200BC. This period saw the rise of the "Hundred Schools of Philosophical Thought", including Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, and Legalism. These traditions debated with each other over questions like whether human nature is good, how we should live, and how to govern. In this course, we'll read through the canonical works of classical Chinese philosophy: The Analects, Mozi, Mencius, the Daodejing, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, and Han Feizi.

PHIL 43151 // Aquinas on Human Nature

John O'Callaghan | MW 11:00am-12:15pm in Flanner Hall 725

Advanced survey of Aquinas's philosophical writings on human nature, such as The Treatise on Human Nature (Summa Theologiae 1a 75-89), his Commentary on Aristotle's De Anima, and Disputed Questions on the Soul.

Crosslisted With: PRL 43151, section 01

PHIL 43181 // Kant's Critique of Pure Reason

Chris Benzenberg | TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm in Malloy Hall 315

This course is on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, his attempt to confront our finite minds with reason’s infinite demands. We will examine why Kant thinks reality depends partly on our minds and how this makes possible metaphysical knowledge about the general structure of space, time, quantity, quality, relation, and modality. We will consider why Kant denies such knowledge about the soul, the world, and God, thereby making room for rational faith within ethics and science. We will also ask whether metaphysics can stand as a science separate from physics and mathematics, and what it means to critique reason itself. No prior knowledge of Kant is required. We will read the text closely and discuss it critically, aiming to grasp its main arguments, its architectonic, and its mind-bending ambition.

Crosslisted With: GEST 43181, section 01

PHIL 43204 // German Philosophy in the Twentieth Century

Fred Rush | TTh 2:00pm-3:15pm in Hesburgh Library 201C

An intensive survey of the two main strands of German philosophical thought in the twentieth century: phenomenology and critical theory. Readings from: Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer, Lukács, Benjamin, Adorno, Marcuse, and Habermas. Topics include: the future of the idea of subjectivity, the relation of self to society, the role of art in self-understanding, the importance of history to philosophy, and the nature of the philosophical enterprise.

Crosslisted With: GEST 43204, section 01

PHIL 43605 // Pragmatism

Curtis Franks | TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm in Corbett Family Hall E478

This upper division course will be an introduction to American Pragmatism ranging over the classical texts of Pierce, James and Dewey to the contemporary texts of Putnam and Rorty.

Crosslisted With: PHIL 93910, section 01

PHIL 43801 // Joint Seminar in Philosophy and Theology

Ann Astell, Alexander Jech | TTh 2:00pm-3:15pm in DeBartolo Hall 308

In this class we will read two of the great thinkers of the 19th century, Søren Kierkegaard and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Writing during a time of increasing prosperity, liberty, and enlightenment, both found much that was troubling or naïve in the age’s conviction in the liberating and transformative power of reason, and provided analyses of the human condition and the self whose power and insight continue to provoke and challenge. We will focus on three themes that unite this analysis of the human condition: suffering, freedom, and transformation through love. Suffering makes us conscious of our limitations, our helplessness, our lack of control, and yet every human being must form the self in freedom. Can suffering lead to increased self-knowledge and transformation? When does suffering lead us closer to God? Does suffering purify love, or poison it? What is the relationship between suffering and freedom? To what extent does one's suffering limit the exercise of freedom? Can the suffering self make choices out of love that increase one's freedom, transforming the self? When freedom is made subject to nothing but reason it becomes trapped in its own irresolvable perplexities concerning its origin and its destination. The course will raise the question of what “the self” is, how suffering, freedom, and love are related to the self; how relationships structure, limit, and potentially transform the self; in what sense the suffering of despair represents the disordered self; and the different ways that Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky envision faith and love as unifying and completing the self.

Crosslisted With: THEO 43203, section 01 & section 02

PLS 13186 // Literature University Seminar: Poetry, Theater, and Philosophy of Ancient Greece

Francesca Bordogna | TTh 9:30am-10:45am in O'Shaughnessy Hall 320K

Find out why some books are so enthralling that they have captivated readers for two and a half millennia. We will read, discuss, and write about great works from ancient Greece, including Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Sappho’s lyrical poems, tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, Herodotus’s and Thucydides’s histories, and some of Plato’s most beautiful dialogues. Besides offering an opportunity to consider some of the foundational texts of Western culture, the class will also serve as an introduction to the “Great Books” approach of the Program of Liberal Studies, in which students develop and test interpretations of classic texts through careful reading and active discussion. This seminar counts as the first in the required seminar sequence for students who go on to major in PLS, and it fulfills the University literature requirement.

PLS 20412 // Fundamental Concepts of Natural Science

Robert Goulding | MW 9:30am-10:45am in Bond Hall 220E

This course raises questions fundamental to our experience of the physical world. Questions such as "What is space?" and "What is time?" and broader issues about the nature of life are initially raised through a close reading of Plato'sTimaeus and Aristotle's Physics, along with excerpts from other ancient texts. In attempting to answer these questions over the course of the semester, we will read a wide variety of sources: principally ancient and modern primary texts, with some secondary readings. These readings will include Euclid's Elements, Descartes' Principles of Philosophy, and Einstein's Theories of Relativity. Spring.

PLS 30302 // Political and Social Theory

Emma Planinc | (meeting information varies by section)

This course examines a selection of canonical works in the history of political thought. Current readings are: Plato's Republic, Rousseau's Second Discourse and Social Contract, Hegel's Philosophy of Right, Marx's early philosophical writings, and Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition. These texts are read in full. Small selections from other texts (e.g. Aristotle's Politics and Locke's Second Treatise) are also included.

PLS 40302 // Metaphysics and Epistemology

Gretchen Reydams-Schils, Felicitas Munzel | (meeting information varies by section)

An engagement with philosophical conceptions of the nature of knowledge, reality, and the relation between them. Selections from the Platonic tradition, Aristotle's Metaphysics, and Kant's Critique of Pure Reasonform the basis of the course. Other readings may include works by such thinkers as Aquinas, Heidegger, and other 20th Century authors. Spring.

POLS 30110 // 1776: The Ideas that Made the Modern World

Vincent Munoz, James Otteson | T 7:00pm-8:00pm in Mendoza College of Business 110

In what sense are “all men… created equal”? What is human liberty? What is prosperity, and how is wealth created? In 1776 these questions were addressed and acted upon in ways that have created the modern world. This one-credit course will explore 1776 and the ideas that made the modern world, focusing on the Declaration of Independence and Adam Smith’s "Wealth of Nations." All students will take the course on a Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory basis. The course is open to students of all majors, especially those students who are intellectually curious. No prerequisites are required.

Crosslisted With: CNST 30455, section 01, BES 46150, section 01

POLS 30622 // Contemporary Political Thought

Dana Villa | MW 2:00pm-3:15pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 107

A survey of some of the most influential political thinkers of the late 19th and 20th century. Topics include secularization, bureaucratization, moral pluralism, individual freedom and the place of politics in contemporary life. Readings from Mill, Nietzsche, Weber, Schmitt, Arendt, Berlin, and Strauss.

POLS 30659 // The Political Philosophy of Education

Patrick Deneen | MW 9:30am-10:45am in Jenkins and Nanovic Hall B044

From Plato's Republic to Rousseau's Emile to John Dewey's Democracy and Education, political philosophers have understood that education is arguably the primary way that political and social values are articulated, realized and conveyed. In this course we will examine a variety of philosophies of education, ranging from ancient to contemporary authors, exploring contending ideas and ideals of education, with particular attention to higher education and implications for our own institution, the University of Notre Dame.

THEO 20848 // The Mystery of Death: Theological & Philosophical Perspectives

Jay Martin | MW 12:30pm-1:45pm in DeBartolo Hall 210

In this course, we will study the historical and conceptual development of the Christian understanding of death and how it relates to various theological themes including nature and creation, human being and subjectivity, and sin, salvation, eschatology, and the sacraments. Course readings will include the Bible and classical Christian literature, as well as readings from philosophy, literature, and the sciences.

THEO 40204 // Medieval Christology

Joshua Lim | TTh 11:00am-12:15pm in DeBartolo Hall 244

This course explores christological questions and debates arising in thirteenth-century scholastic theology. We will focus especially on the writings of Thomas Aquinas, covering such topics as the nature of the hypostatic union, the medieval reception of early Church councils, the question of the motive of the Incarnation, the instrumentality of Christ's human nature, and attendant doctrines. We will compare Aquinas's account with that of his Parisian contemporaries (e.g., Bonaventure and the Summa Halensis), as well as other notable medieval scholastics such as Robert Grosseteste.

Crosslisted With: THEO 60204, section 01, MI 40447, section 01, MI 60447, section 01

THEO 40242 // The Kabbalah and Christianity

Jeremy Brown | MW 12:30pm-1:45pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 201

Kabbalah is often synonymous with “Jewish mysticism.” Stemming from Catalonia and Castile in the thirteenth century, its literature encompasses a speculative and hortatory domain of divine knowledge in the rabbinic tradition that has served as a major source of Jewish theology throughout the ensuing centuries. The course will explore the complex relationship of this medieval curriculum of rabbinic wisdom to the Church—among the richest case studies in the creative-yet-tortured confluence of Judaism and Christianity. Students will study the disputational context in which kabbalah first saw the light of history and especially the polemical representations of Christianity it produced. They will also investigate aspects of the discourse that would appear to approximate contemporary Christian teachings and practices. These include putatively para-Christological elements, penitential discourse, concern with poverty and social ethics, apparent parallels to Marian devotion, and more. Students will also examine apologetical readings of kabbalah by Christian authors during the early modern period and Jewish reactions thereto.

Crosslisted With: THEO 60256, section 01, MI 60450, section 01, MI 40450, section 01

Fall 2025 Graduate Classes

In antiquity as well as in modern times, many philosophers have wondered about the concept of not-being. For instance, many philosophers have maintained that the idea of a creation ex nihilo is absurd. But it is in the area of philosophy of language and philosophy of mind that the problem of not-being becomes really troublesome: how is it possible to speak of what is not or to think of it? If speaking of what is not is to speak falsely, and to think of what is not is to make a false judgement, one might even feel compelled to aver the completely counter-intuitive claim that it is impossible to speak falsely and to make a false judgement. This course, in English and in seminar format, will address the solution to this problem offered in Plato’s Sophist. This dialogue will be analysed in its details and its most important passages will be carefully commented on.

This course will examine Aquinas' discussion of soul from earlier works like the Disputed Question on Spiritual Creatures to later works like the Disputed Question on the Soul and Aquinas' Disputed Question on the Soul and questions 75 and 76 of the first part of the Summa Theologiae. Distinct from and proceeding in a different order from his commentary on Aristotle's De Anima, they provide an opportunity to fill out various issues that arise in an abbreviated form in the Summa, including the status of the soul as both a bodily form and a particular subsistent, its incorporeality, immateriality, and incorruptibility, whether it is composed of parts, its relationship to its powers, and various questions concerning what it can know and what it can suffer or enjoy apart from and following bodily death. We will also consider contemporary discussions of material constitution and Aquinas, discussions that seek to show that Aquinas holds that the human person survives death as a soul.

Crosslisted with MI 83346.

The aim of the course is to discuss Kant’s ‘Critique of the Power of Judgment’ with particular attention paid to its Introduction as well as Part I on judgments of beauty. It will also include some readings from secondary sources. Students will be expected to participate actively through presentations and discussion. The course doesn’t require any knowledge of German but some prior knowledge of Kant will be beneficial.

PHIL 93301 // Heidegger and his Phenomenological Forebears

Fall 2024 Graduate Classes

ROIT 53080 // Dante’s Paradiso: Reshaping the World through Poetry

Laura Banella | T 2:00pm-4:45pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 107

In this course students will read Dante's Paradise in its historical and intellectual context and in close connection with its sources. The course will explore Dante's ideal of the function of poets and poetry in society and the ways in which he imagined his literary work as a powerful epistemological and gnoseological achievement. The course will be taught in English. Reading knowledge of Italian is required.

Crosslisted With: ROIT 63080; MI 63561

ROIT 63115 // Dante I

Laura Banella | TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 114

PHIL 83207 // Aristotle on Ontology, Language, and Logic

Paolo Crivelli | W 3:30pm-6:15pm in DeBartolo Hall 223

This seminar will discuss some of the main themes of Aristotle’s ontology, philosophy of language, and logic. We will first address Aristotle’s theory of the categories as it is presented in the treatise whose title is Categories: this is a classification of the simplest among the entities that populate the world and are signified by atomic linguistic expressions (nouns and verbs on their own). The course will then move on to how nouns and verbs are articulated in complete sentences, a topic discussed in Aristotle’s de Interpretatione. After a brief excursion in Aristotle’s theory of the assertoric syllogism (in the Prior Analytics), the course will concentrate on book 4 of the Metaphysics. We will discuss Aristotle’s project of a science that studies all beings in so far as they are beings, the relationship of this science to the study of the highest among beings (and, in particular, of God), and will finish by concentrating on the complex argument that Aristotle offers to defend the Principle of Non-Contradiction (i.e. the principle that it is impossible for the same attribute both to belong and not to belong to the same thing).

PHIL 83208 // Plato: Political Philosophy

Dave O'Connor | MW 12:30pm-1:45pm, location TBD

This seminar focuses on Plato's Republic, with supplements from other dialogues and from the political, literary, and religious culture with which Plato is in conversation. As time allows, we will also discuss influential modern interpretations from Leo Strauss and Martin Heidegger. Assignments will include a reading journal, two in-class 30-minute oral examinations, and an oral final examination.

PHIL 83243 // Aquinas on God

John O'Callaghan | MW 9:30am-10:45am in O'Shaughnessy Hall 209

A close examination of several philosophical themes and arguments within the first thirteen questions of the first part of Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, as well as texts elsewhere in his work on faith, and related discussions in other authors as the occasion arises. The course will focus upon certain topics to the exclusion of others. Topics of particular interest in the thirteen questions are the relationship between what Aquinas calls Sacra Doctrina and the exercise of reason apart from Sacra Doctrina in relationship to the nature of philosophy; the nature of faith, the demonstration of the existence of a god, the simplicity of a god, the perfections that pertain to a god, our knowledge of God, and how we speak about God.

PHIL 93335 // Merleau-Ponty

Stephen Watson | Th 3:30pm-6:15pm in DeBartolo Hall 204

This seminar will involve an extended investigation of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s treatment of embodied experience in his Phenomenology of Perception. We will also examine his modifications of Husserl and Heidegger’s classical accounts of phenomenology. Further, some time will be spent comparing Merleau-Ponty’s treatment with similar formulations in Sartre’s Being and Nothingness. Finally, in consultation with students’ varying interests, we will discuss subsequent challenges and developments to the account, including Merleau-Ponty‘s own later work. Requirements: mid-term, final paper.

Crosslisted With: PHIL 43224, section 01

HPS 93636 // Experience and Experiment in Medieval and Early Modern Science and Medicine

Evan Ragland | F 9:30am-12:15pm, Location TBD

Fall 2024 Undergraduate Classes

CLLA 20400 // Ancient Virtue

Tadeusz Mazurek | MW 3:30pm-4:45pm in DeBartolo Hall 245

In this advanced Latin language class students will read accounts of virtuous behavior related by ancient Romans. What virtues and vices did the Romans extol or criticize? How did they fashion fables or stories to educate and entertain their audiences? In order to review and master the harder elements of Latin syntax, in addition to carefully reading Latin texts students will submit regular composition exercises. We will read selections from poets and prose writers such as Cornelius Nepos, Valerius Maximus, Phaedrus, Aulus Gellius, Macrobius, Livy, Pliny or Horace.

PLS 20301 // Philosophical Inquiry

Felicitas Munzel | Section 01, MW 12:30-1:45pm; Section 02, MW 2:00-3:15pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 202

THEO 20258 // Aquinas, Faith, and Wisdom

Instructor TBD | MWF 12:50pm-1:40pm in Coleman Morse Center 330

THEO 20848 // The Mystery of Death: Theological & Philosophical Perspectives

Jay Martin | MW 12:30pm-1:45pm in DeBartolo Hall 204

In this course, we will study the historical and conceptual development of the Christian understanding of death and how it relates to various theological themes including nature and creation, human being and subjectivity, and sin, salvation, eschatology, and the sacraments. Course readings will include the Bible and classical Christian literature, as well as readings from philosophy, literature, and the sciences.

PHIL 30301 // Ancient and Medieval Philosophy

Section 01 - Richard Cross | MW 11:00am-12:15pm in O'Shaughnessy 201 Section 02 - David Cory | MW 9:30am-10:45am in Pasquerilla Center 102

This course will concentrate on major figures and persistent themes. A balance will be sought between scope and depth, the latter ensured by a close reading of selected texts.

PHIL 30302 // History of Modern Philosophy

Kristopher McDaniel | TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm in DeBartolo Hall 119

This course examines the sweeping transformations of philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries by exploring some of the leading philosophers of that era. Topics include innovations in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophical theology, and the natural sciences, many of which continue to shape the agenda in contemporary philosophy.

PLS 30301 // Ethics

Eric Bugyis | Section 01, TTh 9:30am-10:45am; Section 02, TTh 11:00am-12:15pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 214

HIST 30087 // Chinese Ways of Thought

Lionel Jensen | TTh 2:00pm-3:15pm in Pasquerilla Center 107

PHIL 43101 // Plato

Paolo Crivelli | TTh 2:00pm-3:15pm in Malloy Hall 315

A detailed and systematic reading, in translation, of the fragments of the pre-Socratics and of the following Platonic dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Protagoras, Phaedo, Republic, Phaedrus, Symposium, and Theaetetus.

PHIL 43102 // Aristotle

Sean Kelsey | TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm in Malloy Hall 220

An examination and evaluation of Aristotle's philosophy, with special emphasis on the logical, physical, and metaphysical writings.

PHIL 43224 // Merleau-Ponty

Stephen Watson | Th 3:30pm-6:15pm in DeBartolo Hall 204

This seminar will involve an extended investigation of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s treatment of embodied experience in his Phenomenology of Perception. We will also examine his modifications of Husserl and Heidegger’s classical accounts of phenomenology. Further, some time will be spent comparing Merleau-Ponty’s treatment with similar formulations in Sartre’s Being and Nothingness. Finally, in consultation with students’ varying interests, we will discuss subsequent challenges and developments to the account, including Merleau-Ponty‘s own later work. Requirements: mid-term, final paper.

Crosslisted With: PHIL 93335, section 01

PHIL 43312 // Aesthetics

Nic Teh | MW 9:30am-10:45am in Malloy Hall 315

This is a hybrid lecture/seminar course in which we consider several of the main topics in aesthetics and the philosophy of art: what beauty might be, what makes something a work of art, the nature of aesthetic representation, the nature of artistic expression, the function of criticism in the reception of art, the relation of art to morality and to politics. Readings are approximately divided equally from the history of philosophy and art criticism and more contemporary materials. Both materials from Anglo-American and more European perspectives are considered. Close attention to and analysis of art works (i.e. painting, poetry, film, music) will be undertaken in order to "test" the theories we consider. Readings from: Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, R.G. Collingwood, Nelson Goodman, Richard Wollheim, Arthur Danto, Michel Foucault, Walter Benjamin and others.

PHIL 43404 // Justice Seminar

Paul Weithman | TTh 3:30pm-4:45pm in Coleman Morse Center 330

An examination of major theories of justice, both ancient and modern. Readings include representatives of liberal theorists of right, such as John Rawls, as well as perfectionist alternatives. The course also serves as the core seminar for the philosophy, politics, and economics concentration.

Crosslisted With: POLS 43640, section 01; ECON 30260, section 01

PHIL 43427 // Commercial Society and the Common Good: Classic Texts

Dave O'Connor | MW 9:30am-10:45am in Mendoza College of Business 291

The last three centuries have seen the worldwide rise of Commercial Society and Democracy, creating the distinctively modern culture we now inhabit, and that inhabits us. This distinctive modernity has inspired both celebration and critique, the subjects of this seminar. The seminar emphasizes depth over breadth, exploring with intensity and leisure a very few works of deep cultural significance. The works chosen will vary from semester to semester to reflect faculty and student interests. Possible choices range from economic and social analysis to works of outstanding aesthetic distinction. For fall 2024, the seminar will focus on Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, and Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.

Crosslisted With: BES 43300; CNST 30649

ROIT 40115 // Dante I

Laura Banella | TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 114

PLS 40601 // Intellectual and Cultural History

Denis Robichaud | Section 01, MW 9:30am-10:45am; Section 02 MW 11:00am-12:15pm in O'Shaughnessy Hall 202

This course will deal with the issue of historical consciousness and with the limits and possibilities of historical understanding. The first portion of the course will examine the issues of historiography and the use of historical analysis in the contextualized reading of texts. From this foundation, the issue of history will be explored with reference to authors such as Augustine, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Kant, Hegel, Ranke, and Eliade.

THEO 40808 // Major Roman Catholic Thinkers: John Henry Newman

Cyril O'Regan | MW 11:00am-12:15pm in Malloy Hall 320

Spring 2024 Graduate Classes

PHIL 83206: Towards a history of psychology: Ancient and medieval therapies of the soul

Wiebke Marie Stock | MW 11:00am-12:15pm

In ancient and medieval texts the soul is the principle of life, of sense-perception, emotions, passions, rational thought and ethical behavior. Throughout history, the investigation of the soul has been special in two ways. First of all, we are not addressing an external topic; we are treating ourselves. Secondly, this study of ourselves is not merely meant to describe and analyze, but to change and to form. Ancient philosophers thought of their work as "care of the soul". The soul is not a mechanism or machine, but something living which can err and go wrong. Pre-modern authorities often described this in the terms of sickness: The body may be sick and need the help of the doctor, and the soul may need therapy if it is sick. In the course, we will address a selection of texts and topics from ancient and medieval sources (Plato, Aristotle, Galen, the Stoics, Neoplatonic authors and Christian authors from late Antiquity and the Middle Ages), and compare them with select contemporary texts. What constitutes a healthy soul? What are the sicknesses of the soul? What therapies are recommended? How can one build resilience and how much resilience is right? What role does gender play? The course will also integrate lectures/discussions with practicing therapists and a field trip to "mindworks" (Chicago Museum of cognitive psychology).

Crosslisted With: MI 33022, HHS 33022, CLAS 33022, STV 33022

PHIL 93238: Avicenna, Averroes, and Aquinas on the Intellect

Therese Cory & Stephen Ogden | T 3:30pm-6:15pm

An in-depth investigation into three competing medieval theories of intellect, from Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Averroes (Ibn Rushd), and Thomas Aquinas. These are three of the most important medieval noetic systems, which adapt Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic views within the Islamic and Christian traditions and which shape influential debates into later medieval and Renaissance philosophy. Readings include Avicenna's Psychology of The Cure; Averroes' Long Commentary on De Anima; Aquinas's De Unitate Intellectus; and important secondary scholarship.

Crosslisted With: MI 93366, HPS 93238

PHIL 93606: Philosophy of Edith Stein

Kristopher McDaniel | Th 12:30pm-3:15pm

This course will focus on some of the central texts of the philosophy of Edith Stein. Edith Stein was an important member of the phenomenological movement: she was Husserl's first assistant (Heidegger followed after) and wrote important works in this tradition. She was also a scholar of scholastic philosophy. One of her last works is a treatise on systematic metaphysics that integrates insights from phenomenology, neo-Kantianism, and scholastic metaphysics. We’ll begin by discussing the general philosophical and contextual background to Edith Stein's early works. We’ll then discuss several of her works, ranging from her first book The Problem of Empathy up to Finite and Eternal Being. We will largely focus on her views about philosophical methodology, phenomenology, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and metaphysics, though we will also touch on her ethics and philosophy of religion.

PHIL 93812: History of Philosophy of Science from the Scientific Revolution to 1900

Don Howard | TTh 11:00am-12:15pm

This course examines the work of key figures from the history of natural philosophy and science. Placing the philosophical work of Leibniz, Newton, Hume, Kant, Alexander Humboldt, Whewell, J. S. Mill, Helmholtz, Ernst Mach, Wilhelm Wundt, William James, Einstein, Henri Poincare, Bergson, and others, within a wider philosophical, historical, and cultural context, we will explore how and why they identified their central problems and the methods they used to approach those. We will focus on understanding how the central problems and theories that these figures worked on, ranging from questions of space, time, motion and substance/matter to theories of human sensibility and perception, to wider epistemological and metaphysical investigations, engaged the scholarly communities surrounding them, and helped them promote broader programmatic goals for reshaping and reforming philosophy/science. As they engaged contemporary philosophers/scientists over fundamental philosophical questions, they pressed new ideals of knowledge and programs to reform natural philosophy and reorganize the broader scholarly community - and society itself (e.g., Kant). We will explore how these natural philosophers framed new epistemologies and simultaneously promoted new ideals of the philosopher, scholar, and/or educated citizen, who would be capable of creating valid knowledge. In sum, we will explore how preeminent natural philosophers, at once, made original contributions to epistemology, understanding of space and time, and metaphysics, as they framed new visions of the knowing subject within a changing society.

Crosslisted With: HPS 93812

MI 60801: Augustine's Confessions

Hildegund Müller | TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm

A reading of Augustine’s Confessions, partly in Latin and in its entirety in English, with a special emphasis on close reading and precise grammatical and stylistic analysis. We will focus on understanding Confessions as a work of Latin literature and Christian philosophy, part of the great late ancient endeavor to develop new genres and styles to mirror the new belief system, yet connected to the classical world in multiple ways. In addition to the narrative itself, Augustine’s personal experience, Confessions allows the reader to gain insight into his major philosophical tenets and the conversations and controversies of his life. We will also discuss important scholarly questions (origin, historical setting, sources and parallels, biblical framework, structure, philosophical background, modern readings, etc.) and read selections of scholarly literature.

Crosslisted With: CLLA 40054, CLLA 60054, MI 40801

MI 80367: Elements of Reasoning in Neoplatonism: Metaphysics and Nature

Denis Robichaud | TTh 9:30am-10:45am

A distinctive feature of premodern philosophy and science is the organization of nature, reasoning, and methods into elements. Philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians in the premodern world conceived of elements of reasoning as they developed axiomatic methods of demonstration and argumentation. Perhaps the most famous example of this kind of reasoning is Euclid’s Elements, but other ancient and medieval philosophers composed works in elemental modes and formulated axiomatic methods (sometimes known as demonstrating in more geometrico or a geometrical way) to study metaphysics and nature. Proclus’s Elements of Theology are a foundational and paradigmatic text in this tradition (and to a lesser extent so too is his shorter Elements of Physics). This course is centered on a close examination of Proclus’s Elements of Theology but will also study selections in this premodern tradition, including Porphyry’s Sententiae, and Cusanus’s De non aliud, as well as Boethius’s De Hebdomadibus and the Liber de causis, along with their respective commentaries by Thomas Aquinas. No prerequisites are required for the course, but familiarity with ancient and medieval philosophy would be useful. Students will be invited to read texts in translations and in their original language. No knowledge of ancient languages (Greek and Latin) is required nor of other modern languages (e.g., Italian, French, German) but some linguistic training in these languages would be beneficial.

Crosslisted With: HPS 80146

THEO 60713: Modern Jewish Theology

Isaac Slater | MW 3:30pm-4:45pm

Abraham Heschel’s assertion that “no religion is an island” is especially true of modern Judaism. From Moses Mendelssohn’s defense of religious freedom to Heschel’s support of the civil rights movement, modern Jewish theology is characterized by an ongoing dialogue with other faith traditions, especially Christianity. This course explores the diverse manifestations of modern Jewish theology and its dialogical contextualizations from the eighteenth century to the present. We will read and analyze seminal works by Heschel, Mendelsohn, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Margarete Susman, and Emmanuel Levinas, among others. In each case, we will analyze their reliance on diverse ancient, medieval, and modern traditions. Topics to be discussed include the theology of praxis, modern messianism and mysticism, political theology, theological ethics, theories of religious language, and Jewish existentialism. In addition to providing access to texts and ideas that continue to shape contemporary Judaism, the arc of the course invites reflective wrestling with its core definitions: What should we consider modern in the context of Jewish thought? What speculation amounts to a system we can call theology? Does modern interreligious dialogue blur the boundary between Christian and Jewish theology? And if so, what makes certain ideas Jewish?

Crosslisted With: THEO 40729

Spring 2024 Undergraduate Classes