Syllabus

Objectives

            This course will take up one of the most important books of the Thomistic revival of the Twentieth Century, Jacques Maritain’s 1932 Distinguer pour unir, ou Les degrés du savoir. We will consider this volume for its contribution to epistemology in general and for its crucial role in the development of Neothomism. The course will also involve considerable study of certain medieval texts that were crucial to Maritain’s project (especially works by Aquinas and John of St. Thomas).

            Participants will be expected to produce a 20-25 page research paper by the end of term on a topic agreed upon in advance (by October 3, 2005) with the instructor.  By October 24, 2005 students need to submit in writing a statement of the problem they intend to investigate and an annotated bibliography of works they intend to consult in their research.  In addition, each student will present an in-class seminar progress-report on the chosen research topic on a date (to be determined) during the second half of the semester.  Papers are due on December 19, 2005.

Texts

(1) The Degrees of Knowledge by Jacques Maritain, translated from the fourth French edition under the supervision of Gerald B. Phelan, presented by Ralph McInerny.  The Collected Works of Jacques Maritain.  University of Notre Dame Press.   ISBN 0-268-00886-8.  Original French edition:  Distinguer pour unir, ou Les degrés du savoir (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1932).

(2) An Introduction to the Metaphysics of Knowledge by Yves R. Simon.  Translated by Vukan Kuic and Richard J. Thompson.  New York: Fordham University Press, 1990.   ISBN 0-832-1263-7.  Original French edition: Introduction à l’ontologie du connaître (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1934).

(3) Tractatus de Signis: The Semiotic of John Poinsot by John of St. Thomas.  Interpretive arrangement by John N. Deely, in consultation with Ralph Austin Powell. (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1985).   From the 1930 Reiser edition (emended second impression) of the Ars logica, itself comprising the first two parts of the five part Cursus philosophicus of 1631-1635.  Original Latin edition:  Cursus philosophicus thomisticus secundum exactam veram, genuinam Aristotelis et doctoris  angelici mentem by John of St. Thomas, edited by Beatus Reiser.  3 vols.  Taurini (Italia) ex officina domus editorialis Marietti, nunc Marii E. Marietti, 1930-1937. 2^nd ed. 1948.

(4) Summa theologiae by Thomas Aquinas.  Available in various editions in Latin and in translation, such as in the five-volume paperback set Summa Theologica (Christian Classics, 1997).