This course will provide an overview of the history of philosophy in the Latin West during the millennium that stretches from the 6th century to the 15th century. This epoch , as everyone knows, is characterized by the decisive influence of Christian faith on the cultural and doctrinal life of the West. We should begin by noting that the Middle Ages, according to some, forms a parenthesis — something like a void — in the history o f philosophy. And in light of this, we should ask:  Can we be both Christians and genuine philosophers? Are faith and philosophy mutually exclusive, or not?

Seventh Lesson: Saint Bonaventure

Eighth Lesson: Saint Thomas Aquinas

Ninth Lesson: Radical Aristotelianism

Tenth Lesson: The Turning Point of 1277 and the Movement of Doctrine in the Late 13th century

Eleventh Lesson: John Duns Scotus

Twelfth Lesson: Doctrinal Life in the Order of Preachers in the 14 th Century

Thirteenth Lesson: William of Ockham and the Movement of Doctrine at the End of the Middle Ages

This course intends to familiarize the students with the debates and contributions of the main philosophical scholars and theories which have developed through history from the time of Greek Sophists through the XX century. Based on the Aristotelian assumption that man is a by nature a political animal, the course intends to give ultimate answers to questions such as how material goods should be distributed; on what basis people should possess property; what are the justified reasons why some people have more properties than others; why political power has to exist; what kinds of governments are acceptable; what does it determine the correct balance between authority and autonomy;  what is the right balance between private and common good; what are the justified limits to my/your freedom.

There are many different definitions of Social Political Philosophy (SPP): the political can be defined as social decision making; philosophy is the most general form of inquiry that is the attempt to say what it is true and why. It is a  normative discipline:  SPP tries to establish norms, rules and ideal standards, how the social and political life should be. Different from Political science, which is the art of governing people, the discipline and the practice of assuring the “common good” of a certain society. Different from Social Sciences, which are descriptive disciplines which try to know the social facts and to find connections between them.

PROGRAM 

Part I: Historical contributions on social political thought

The Sophists: philosophy goes public; Plato’s Republic; Aristotle’s Politics; Cicero: Ius Gentium; Patristic era, St. Augustine: “De Civitate Dei”; St. Thomas on Natural law; Marsilio: “Defensor Pacis”; Machiavelli: The Prince; The Protestant reformation,  Luther & Calvin political thought; Hobbes, Locke on Social Contract; Rousseau: Human nature and society; Montesquieu: Separation of powers; Tocqueville: Democracy in America; Adam Smith:  The Wealth of nations; John Stuart Mill: On Liberty; Marx’s Critique of capitalism; Freud: Civilization and its discontents; Dostoyevsky’s Grand inquisitor; Hitler’s Nazism & Mussolini’s Fascism; Gandhi use of Power

Part II: Contemporary social political issues

Theories of Justice & distribution of property; Rights & Freedom; Natural law and social political philosophy; Justifications of the State, forms of Government ; Environment, Individualism, Multiculturalism, Feminism, Civil movements in a globalized world.

BASIC  BIBLIOGRAPHY

Leo Strauss, History of Political Philosophy, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1990

W.L. Mc Bride, Social and Political Philosophy, Paragon House, New York, 1994

Wolff, An Introduction to Political Philosophy, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996

Santoni, & J. Sommerville, Social and Political Philosophy, Anchor Books, NY, 1963

The term ‘anthropology’ is derived from two Greek words: ἀνθωπος (anthrōpos) and λογος (logos). The former (anthrōpos) refers to ‘man’ in the generic sense, that is to say, it means ‘human being’; the latter (logos) signifies ‘discourse’ or ‘science. Philosophical anthropology is thus concerned with a philosophical account of the mystery of the human being. Naturally, the history of philosophy has produced a wealth of approaches and an abundance of profound insights concerning the human being. It has also given rise to numerous errors in this regard.
This course will engage the question of how we are to construe the relationship that obtains between body and soul/mind. Rather than adopting a purely historical approach, beginning with Aristotle,
the text begins with an exposition of three different contemporary treatments of this issue before proceeding to expound important aspects of Aristotle’s and St. Thomas Aquinas’s metaphysics of human nature.

To show the implications of normative theories for specific moral issues or contemporary debates on particular ethical issues.

To show the implications of normative theories for specific moral issues or contemporary debates on particular ethical issues.

This course will take students through ethical discourse from the time of Plato to Aristotle, then to Kant and utilitarians. The principal aim of this course is to make students aware of the different traditions or approaches to ethics. Students can then be able to compare some of the most influential ethical theorists in human history.

John Locke was an influential seventeenth century English philosopher and regarded as one of the greatest Enlightenment thinkers and forerunner of Liberalism and British Empiricism. He can be considered as among the most famous and prominent philosophers and theorists of the seventeenth century. This course offers an extensive and comprehensive account of John Locke’s epistemology and political philosophy based on his core ideas, themes and writings.

Political philosophy is a branch of philosophy that studies essential questions about various political issues, concepts and problems that are important to any human society.  Based on concepts such as state, justice, liberty, rights, government and authority, political philosophy can be regarded as the primal ethics applied to a group of people, geared towards the setting up of a political society, the maintenance of a stable society and the best possible way for citizens to act.

PH009 - This is a comprehensive and systematic course on the philosophy of David Hume – a prominent Scottish Enlightenment philosopher widely known for his influential system of philosophical empiricism, naturalism and scepticism. Based on his influential and extreme Empiricist ideas, Hume can be rightly considered as one of the most important philosophers of all time.