“In the Image of God he Created Them”: Medieval Theories of Human Transcendence, Cognition, Emotions and Value (AP9123C)

Content

This unit examines medieval accounts of the soul and body, and the relationship between cognition, emotions and values in selected medieval scholastic thinkers. It investigates two strategies used by medieval thinkers to uphold the transcendent dignity of the human person and the claim that humans are made in the image of God. The first strategy (exemplified by Albert the Great and Aquinas) was to argue for the immateriality and immortality of the soul on the basis of the powers of the intellect. The second strategy (exemplified by Henry of Ghent and the Franciscans) focused on the will rather than the intellect and argued that the image of God in human nature is the radical freedom of the human will – that is, the human ability to love freely. The unit will also consider the relation of debates on these topics to characterisations of thinkers as voluntarists and rationalists, and our understanding of the relation between faith and reason.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

Prerequisites: One unit of philosophy at postgraduate level or four units of philosophy at undergraduate level.

Pedagogy

Seminars

Indicative Bibliography

• Bonansea, Bernardino M., and John K. Ryan, eds. John Duns Scotus 1265-1965. Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy, vol. 3. Baltimore, Maryland: Project Muse, 2018.
• Davies, Brian. Aquinas. Outstanding Christian Thinkers. London: Continuum, 2002.
• Frank, William A., ed. Duns Scotus on the Will and Morality. Translated by Allan B. Wolter. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1997.
• Henry of Ghent. Quodlibetal Questions on Moral Problems. Translated and edited by Roland J. Teske. Medieval Philosophical Texts in Translation 41. Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 2005.
• Kahm, Nicholas. Aquinas on Emotion's Participation in Reason. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2019.
• Kent, Bonnie. Virtues of the Will: The Transformation of Ethics in the Late Thirteenth Century. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1995.
• Pasnau, Robert. Thomas Aquinas on Human Nature: A Philosophical Study of Summa Theologiae 1a, 75-89. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
• Pegis, Anton. St. Thomas and the Problem of the Soul in the Thirteenth Century. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1976.
• Scotus, John Duns. Philosophical Writings: A Selection. Edited and translated by Allan B. Wolter. Edinburgh: Nelson, 1962.
• Williams, Thomas, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Cambridge Companions to Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Assessment