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From Athens to Baghdad to Toledo: a Philosophical Journey - Period 5
OVERVIEW
CEA CAPA Partner Institution: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Primary Subject Area: Philosophy
Instruction in: English
Course Code: W_BA_OPT
Transcript Source: Partner Institution
Course Details: Level 300
Recommended Semester Credits: 3
Contact Hours: 84
DESCRIPTION
The Book on the Exposition of the Pure Good, ascribed to Aristotle and better known by the title of its Latin version, The Book of Causes (Liber de causis), is a reworking of Proclus' Elements of Theology redacted in Arabic, most likely in the 9th century at the "circle of al-Kind" in Baghdad.
It is composed of 31 propositions (32 in the most famous among the Latin versions); each proposition is followed by a commentary, in which the author(s) select(s) and recompose(s) in different order some key principles of the Proclian system: the derivation of the second causes from the first cause is a crucial idea.
Compared to Proclus? Elements of Theology, the Book on the Exposition of the Pure Good or Book of Causes presents some important theoretical re-elaborations, which seem coherently to aim, and succeed, at making the philosophy of the Neo-Platonic thinker acceptable in a monotheistic and creationist religious context.
The course will examine the Greek origin (Proclus), the environment in which the book was born and the project of philosophical translations which explains its existence and - of course - the text itself: during the course we'll read parts of both the Elements of Theology and the Book of Causes. We will delve into its main philosophical topics: the notion of being and of emanation/creation and its link to the idea of both intelligence and soul; we will also present the philosophical idea of analysis and the 'mos geometricus', which both play a fundamental role in the work. Finally, we will also present the great fortuna of the text in the Latin Middle Ages. Both Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas (among others) commented the text. Only in 1268 - thanks to William of Moerbeke's translation of the Elementatio theologica (from Greek into Latin) Thomas Aquinas discovered the Proclian origin of the text.
Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.
It is composed of 31 propositions (32 in the most famous among the Latin versions); each proposition is followed by a commentary, in which the author(s) select(s) and recompose(s) in different order some key principles of the Proclian system: the derivation of the second causes from the first cause is a crucial idea.
Compared to Proclus? Elements of Theology, the Book on the Exposition of the Pure Good or Book of Causes presents some important theoretical re-elaborations, which seem coherently to aim, and succeed, at making the philosophy of the Neo-Platonic thinker acceptable in a monotheistic and creationist religious context.
The course will examine the Greek origin (Proclus), the environment in which the book was born and the project of philosophical translations which explains its existence and - of course - the text itself: during the course we'll read parts of both the Elements of Theology and the Book of Causes. We will delve into its main philosophical topics: the notion of being and of emanation/creation and its link to the idea of both intelligence and soul; we will also present the philosophical idea of analysis and the 'mos geometricus', which both play a fundamental role in the work. Finally, we will also present the great fortuna of the text in the Latin Middle Ages. Both Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas (among others) commented the text. Only in 1268 - thanks to William of Moerbeke's translation of the Elementatio theologica (from Greek into Latin) Thomas Aquinas discovered the Proclian origin of the text.
Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.
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