Learning objectives
The course aims to achieve the following objectives:
- Knowledge: full knowledge of the most important aspects and authors as for the construction of the philosophical anthropology in the Middle Ages and Renaissance; knowledge of the specific terminology;
- Skills: to understand and analyze philosophical and scientific texts; to reconstruct the rise of a concept, theme or philosophical position and its historical-philosophical development; to identify key concepts by making appropriate connections and comparisons between epochs and cultural contexts; to analyze and synthesize correctly and completely the most significant aspects of the course by using specific terminology; to express judgments and to structure a clearly and logically coherent argument;
- Abilities: to reorganize the contents in a personal, critical and documented way.
Prerequisites
A basic knowledge of Plato's and Aristotle's philosophy, together with the mastery of their philosophical lexicon, is essential. Moreover, the full knowledge of the history of medieval and renaissance philosophy is required.
Course unit content
The definition of human nature: philosophy, medicine and religion between Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Full programme
The course aims to present some of the main moments of the construction of medieval anthropology and its legacy, illustrating the fruitful dialogue between philosophical and medical-scientific discourse through the ages and spaces of medieval culture. It will take into consideration the following topics:
- the reception and reworking of philosophical and medical sources, and their synthesis in a Christian perspective, in Gregory of Nyssa’s "De hominis opificio" and Nemesius of Emesa’s "De natura hominis";
- Augustine of Hippo’s anthropology;
- the unity of soul and body in Thomas Aquinas;
- Neoplatonism and Aristotelianism in Renaissance culture: elements of the anthropological reflection of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino and Pietro Pomponazzi.
The course includes the reading and commenting of textual extracts, which are part of the exam program.
Bibliography
Attending students
I. Lecture notes and textual extracts read and commented during the course;
II. One of the following groups of texts:
A
Gregorio di Nissa, L’uomo, introduzione, traduzione e note a cura di B. Salmona, Roma, Città Nuova, 1982.
Nemesio di Emesa, La natura dell’uomo, a cura di M. Morani e G. Regoliosi, Bologna, Edizioni Studio Domenicano, 2018, libri I, II, III.
B
Aurelio Agostino, La Trinità, saggio introduttivo e note al testo latino di G. Catapano; traduzione, note e apparati di B. Cillerai, Milano, Bompiani, 2012, libri IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV.
Aurelio Agostino, La città di Dio, traduzione e cura di C. Carena, Torino, Einaudi – Parigi, Gallimard, 1992, libri XIII-XIV.
C
Tommaso d'Aquino, Commento al De anima di Aristotele, libro II (ed. Lo specchio dell'anima: la sentenza di Tommaso d'Aquino sul De anima di Aristotele, a cura del Progetto Tommaso, Cinisello Balsamo, San Paolo, 2012).
Tommaso d’Aquino, La somma teologica, I, qq. 75, 76, 79, 83 (traduzione e commento a cura dei Domenicani italiani, testo latino dell’edizione leonina, vol. V, Bologna, Edizioni Studio Domenicano, 1984).
D
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, De hominis dignitate, in Opere, a cura di E. Garin, vol. 1, Torino, Aragno, 2004.
Marsilio Ficino, Teologia platonica, a cura di M. Schiavone, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1965, libri I, III, IV, V.
Non attending students
One of the following essays:
J. Agrimi, C. Crisciani, Malato, medico e medicina nel Medioevo, Torino, Loescher, 1980.
C. Crisciani, O. Grassi (a cura di), Nutrire il corpo, nutrire l'anima nel Medioevo, Pisa, ETS, 2017.
F. Amerini, Tommaso d'Aquino: origine e fine della vita umana, Pisa, ETS, 2009.
R. Martorelli Vico, Medicina e filosofia: per una storia dell'embriologia medievale nel XIII e XIV secolo, Milano, Guerini e Associati, 2002.
G. Zuccolin, I gemelli nel Medioevo: questioni filosofiche, mediche e teologiche, Como, Ibis, 2019.
Teaching methods
Frontal teaching, with reading and commenting on extracts of philosophical texts. Non-attending students will refer to an alternative program that compensates for non-attendance (see Bibliography).
Assessment methods and criteria
Oral exam aimed to ascertain the knowledge of the topics of the course, as well as the skills and abilities acquired.
Other information
https://classroom.google.com/c/NDY2NDY3MTg1NzA3?cjc=d7autcy
