2007-08

Summer 08

  1. Phil 2200 (211): Ancient Philosophy (Daily 2:30-3:45)

  2. This course focuses on the thought of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and considers developments prior to Socrates and after Aristotle in relation to these three foundational figures. Topics include central issues in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy.

  3. CAU Study Tour: Heaven and Earth in the Ancient Aegean   

  4. Study tour website

  5. CAU website

Spring 08

  1. Phil 410: Latin Philosophical Texts   

  2. Selected readings in Latin philosophical texts. Permission of instructor required.

  3. Text for Spring 08: Aquinas on the cardinal virtues (from Scriptum super sententiis III)

  4. Phil 612: Seminar: Medieval Philosophy (R 7:30-9:30)

  5.             Topic: Aquinas’s Moral Theory

  6. This course examines Aquinas’s moral theory by focusing on his moral psychology and his accounts of virtue and natural law. We will read a variety of Aquinas’s texts (in English translation), including Summa theologiae, Summa contra gentiles, various disputed questions, and the commentary on Aristotle’s Ethics. We will also give some attention to important recent literature on these parts of Aquinas’s thought.

Fall 07

  1. Phil 315: Medieval Philosophy (MW 2:55-4:10)

  2. A selective survey of Western philosophical thought from the fourth to the fourteenth century. Topics include the problem of universals, the theory of knowledge and truth, the nature of free choice and practical reasoning, and philosophical theology. Readings (in translation) include Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Abelard, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham. Some attention will be given to the development of ideas across the period and the influence of non-Western traditions on the West.

  3. Prerequisite: one previous course in philosophy.

  4. Text for Spring 07: tba

  5. Phil 410: Latin Philosophical Texts   

  6. Selected readings in Latin philosophical texts. Permission of instructor required.

  7. Text for Fall 07: Tertullian’s De anima.

  8. Tuesdays 4:45-6:15, GS 320

Summer 2007

Cornell Adult University

  1. Inventing Christianity: The First Six Centuries

  2. Course website

  3. CAU website

2006-07

Fall 06

  1. On leave

Spring 07

  1. Phil 263: Religion & Reason (MWF 1:25-2:15)

  2. Phil 410: Latin Philosophical Texts   

  3. Selected readings in Latin philosophical texts. Permission of instructor required.

  4. Text for Spring 07: Augustine, De trinitate book 9

Summer 2006

Three-Week Summer Session

  1. Phil 101: Introduction to Philosophy

Cornell Adult University

  1. Deadly Sins (course site)

2005-06

Fall 05

  1. Phil 651: The Problem of Evil (co-taught with Andrew Chignell)

  2. The seminar will focus on important recent work on the problem of evil, including Marilyn McCord Adams's Horrendous Evils and Eleonore Stump's 2004 Gifford Lectures on the problem of evil.

  3. Phil 410: Latin Philosophical Texts (Tuesday 3:30–5:00)

  4. Selected readings in Latin philosophical texts. Permission of instructor required.

  5. Text for Fall 05: Confessions 11

Spring 06

  1. Phil 100.1: Augustine’s Confessions: How to Search for God Without Losing One’s Mind (Tues/Thurs 1:25–2:40)

  2. No thinker has done more to shape the Western intellectual tradition than Augustine (354-430 AD), and no book displays Augustine’s dynamic vision of reality more compellingly than the Confessions. Its probing and intimate reflections on the meaning of human life, the nature of God and mind, good and evil, love and sexuality, and time and eternity have challenged every generation since Augustine’s own. The seminar will be structured around a close, critically engaged reading of the Confessions. Some attention will be given to its historical context and significance. Required work will include short exegetical and analytical assignments and longer synthetic and critical essays. Attention will be given to developing tools for critical reading and thinking as well as for effective writing.

  3. Phil 410: Latin Philosophical Texts (Tuesday 11:30-1:15)

  4. Selected readings in Latin philosophical texts. Permission of instructor required.

  5. Text for Spring 06: Confessions 7

 

Scott MacDonald

Courses