PHGA
7048 Bonaventure and Aquinas
Professor Christopher M. Cullen, S.J.
Fall Semester 2006
Mondays, 11:00-1:00
This course will examine the theses distinctive of Bonaventure and the early Franciscan (i.e., pre-Scotistic) school. The distinctiveness of these theses will emerge by comparing and contrasting Bonaventure and Aquinas on a number of different issues. In particular, the class will examine how Bonaventure appropriated Aristotle’s hylomorphism while remaining firmly committed to certain central Augustinian theses about nature, man, and the universe, including the impossibility of an eternal world. Special attention will be given to Bonaventure and Aquinas’s common battle against the Averroists in the 1270s. In 1273, Bonaventure traveled to Paris to deliver a series of conferences on the six days of creation. As the intellectual capital of Christendom was seized with “Aristotle-mania,” Bonaventure seems to issue a defiant “stop” to the Aristotelian juggernaut, at least among its more extreme proponents. In his Conferences on the Six Days of Creation, he warns against the Averroizing Aristotelianism of his day as a secularizing force that would turn people away from an understanding of human life as a journey of the soul to God.
By the end of the semester the main outlines of an Augustinian scholasticism should be clear. The following are the major topics for the course:
I
The Relationship of Philosophy and Theology
II
The Impossibility of Creation from Eternity
III
Universal Hylomorphism
IV
Metaphysics of Light
V
Seminal Reasons
VI
Plurality of Substantial Forms
VII
The Soul as a Complete Substance (Spiritual Matter)
VIII
The Real Identity between the Essence of the Soul and Its Powers
IX
Divine Illumination
X
The Soul’s Knowledge of Itself
XI
The Primacy of the Will and the Affective Powers
XII
Relationship of Church and State
Course Requirements
1. Attendance: Attendance is required at all classes. Absence from more than three classes will result in a failing grade for the semester.
2. Reading: It is essential to have read the assigned texts before class in order to follow the lectures and discussion in class.
3. Participation: Active participation is welcome. Students are encouraged to ask questions and to make contributions that advance the work of the class.
4. Term Paper: A term paper is required of all students. It should be 18-20 pages in length. The paper should critically engage an issue related to one or more of the texts which are discussed in class. The paper should not merely repeat material from the lectures and notes. While the focus of the paper should discuss one or more of the primary texts, there may also be some consideration of secondary sources. The paper is due on the last day of class. Any paper turned in after the due date will be reduced by one level (A minus becomes B plus, etc.). Failure to submit a paper will result in a failing grade for the course. Ideas and quotes used in the paper other than those of the student’s must be footnoted. Both footnotes and bibliography must be done according to the requirements established by the The Chicago Manual of Style. The requirements for Chicago-style citations can be found in the following: Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Sixth Edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). Plagiarism or any other type of academic dishonesty on the essay or in the exam will result in failure.
5. Final Exam: There will be a final exam. All students are expected to take the exam on the day arranged at the beginning of the semester.