|
|
JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY
COURSE CODE: "HS/PH 223"
COURSE NAME: "Historical and Philosophical Aspects of the Italian Renaissance"
SEMESTER & YEAR:
Fall 2014
|
SYLLABUS
INSTRUCTOR:
Tiziana Provvidera
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS:
MW 3:00 PM 4:15 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS:
45
CREDITS:
3
PREREQUISITES:
OFFICE HOURS:
|
|
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The course offers an introduction to the major figures and themes of philosophy in the Renaissance. It entails the examination of some fundamental philosophical and historical issues by reading primary texts and discussing them in class, in relation to the contexts and the debates of their age.
|
SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
Topics include Plato’s and Aristotle’s ethics and politics, new ideas and ideals of the individual in the Renaissance, Platonism and Aristotelianism, cosmological models, Copernicus’s heliocentric theory, Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Giordano Bruno, Niccolò Machiavelli and Baldassarre Castiglione.
|
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of the course, students will be able to demonstrate:
- mastering of some significant aspects of ‘Italian Renaissance’ culture, namely civic life, education, social organization, ethics and politics;
- understanding of both ancient texts and the most famous philosophical writings of the Renaissance;
- enhancement of their writing and critical skills.
|
TEXTBOOK:
| Book Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN number | Library Call Number | Comments | Format | Local Bookstore | Online Purchase |
| Philosophers of the Renaissance | R. Blum | CUA Press | 978-0-8132-1726-0 | | Chapters: 3 (Lorenzo Valla); 6 (Pico della Mirandola); 7 (Marsilio Ficino); 9 (Machiavelli); 18 (Giordano Bruno) | | | |
| Major Problems in the History of the Italian Renaissance | B.G. Kohl and A.A. Smith | Lexington | 978-0669280029 | | Documents and Essays: Burckhardt; Leonardo Bruni (Chap. 1); Carpentier (Chap. 2); Jones (Chap. 6); Mattingly; Skinner; Vettori; Machiavelli (Chap. 7); Witt, Baron; Petrarch (Chap. 8); Baron; Rabil; Salutati (Chap. 9); Kristeller; Trinkaus; Vergerio (Chap. 10); Guicciardini (Chap. 13); Castiglione, Galateo (Chap. 14) | | | |
| Italy in the Age of Renaissance | J.M. Najemy | Oxford University Press | 978-0-19-870040-1 | | | | | |
|
REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
| Book Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN number | Library Call Number | Comments |
| Renaissance Philosophy | B.P. Copenhaver - C.B. Schmitt | Oxford University Press | 0-19-289-184-7 | | |
| Renaissance Thought and Its Sources | P.O. Kristeller | Columbia University Press | 0231045123 | | |
| Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789 | M.E. Wiesner-Hanks | Cambridge University Press | 978-0521005210 | | |
| Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe | C.G. Nauert | Cambridge University Press | 978-0521547819 | | |
RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
| Book Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN number | Library Call Number | Comments |
| Giordano Bruno : philosopher/heretic | I. Rowland | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780809095247 | | |
| The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Humanism | J. Kraye (ed.) | Cambridge University Press | 0521436249 | | |
| The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Philosophy | J. Hankins (ed.) | Cambridge University Press | 9780521846486 | | |
|
GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
| Assignment | Guidelines | Weight |
| 2 written papers | (1500-2000 words) | 25% |
| oral proficiency and class participation | In-class oral activity and presentation. Students are examined singularly or small groups. | 15% |
| midterm exam | PART 1 multiple choices
PART 2 2 essay question | 25% |
| final exam | PART 1 multiple choices
PART 2 2 essay question | 35% |
-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.
-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
The attendance is mandatory
|
|
|
ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic
dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred.
In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment,
may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of
academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student
who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from
the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation
to the President, who will make the final decision.
|
STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap.
Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning
of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.
|
|
|
SCHEDULE
|
|
Sept 1 General introduction: what was the Renaissance? The historiographical debate.
Course reader: Chronological table of the Renaissance; the historiographical debate: summary.
Sept 3-8 Classical Renaissance: the studia humanitatis; the debate between Humanism and Scholasticism.
Course reader: The studia humanitatis according to Cicero; The curriculum of medieval Universities/ The curriculum of humanistic institutions.
Vocabulary: Liberal arts; moral philosophy/natural philosophy; Scholasticism.
Sept 10 New ideas and ideals of Man: Petrarch and the development of the personal-self.
Course reader: Petrarch, A disapproval of an unreasonable use of the discipline of dialectic; A self-portrait; On his own ignorance and that of many others; Familiares (selections)
Vocabolary: Dialectic.
Sept 15 Petrarch’s influences on Quattrocento: Civic Humanism.
Course reader: Cultural and intellectual life, 1350-1600: a timeline; J. Burkhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (selections); Vergerio, On Liberal Learning; Leonardo Bruni, Praises Petrarch’s Rekindling of Antiquity; Leonardo Bruni, Studiis et litteriis
Schmitt and Copenhaver: Chap. 1, Chap. 4, pp. 196-226; Kristeller: Part One, Part Five.
Sept 17 Backgrounds in classical thought: Plato (I) Plato’s theory of forms; Plato’s theory of the soul.
Course reader: Phaedrus (I), Phaedrus (II), Republic (I); Plato’s theory of the soul and Plato’s theory of love (diagrams).
Sept 22 Backgrounds in classical thought: Plato (II) Ethics and politics in Plato; the allegory of the cave.
Course reader: Republic (II), VII letter; the allegory of the cave (illustration).
Sept 24 Backgrounds in classical thought: Aristotle (I): Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s philosophy; Aristotle on politics.
Course reader: Politics (book I)
Vocabulary: Potency and act.
Sept 29 Cosmological models: Plato versus Aristotle.
Course reader: Cosmological models in the ancient world; The creation of the world according to Plato; Plato’s dualistic vision of the world (selections from Timaeus); Aristotle on the Earth; Aristotle on the finitude of the world; Aristotle on the eternity of the world; (selections from On the Heavens)
Vocabulary: Demiurge; Earth; Providence.
Oct 1 Thomas Aquinas and Latin Scholasticism.
Course reader: Aristotle and Ptolemy; Aristotelian- Ptolemaic cosmos; Chart; Some of the most common questions on medieval cosmology.
Schmitt and Copenhaver: Chap. 2; Kristeller: Part Two.
Oct 6 Aristotelianism in the Renaissance.
Vocabulary: Primum mobile; Superlunary and sublunary regions; Epycicle, Eccentric, Ecliptic.
Oct 8 Platonism and Hermeticism in the Renaissance.
Course reader: Platonic philosophy; Plato on the animate universe (selections from Timaeus); Neoplatonic cosmology; Plotinus; Dionysius the Areopagite; Ancient theology; Hermes Trismegistos; Corpus Hermeticum.
Vocabulary: World Soul; Hierarchy of being; Intelligences; Metempsychosis.
Schmitt and Copenhaver: Chap. 3, pp. 127-142; Kristeller: Part Three.
Oct 13 CLASS REVIEW
Oct 15 MIDTERM EXAM
Oct 20 Platonism in the Renaissance: Marsilio Ficino (I).
Course reader: Marsilio Ficino; Ficino on the Earth as a living creature; Ficino describes the universe as an animate organism (selections from Theologia Platonica); Leonardo da Vinci describes the Earth as an organism.
Oct 22 Platonism in the Renaissance: Marsilio Ficino and the theory of Love.
Course reader: Ficino on love as universal attraction (selection from On life); Letters (selections)
Vocabulary: Will.
Schmitt and Copenhaver: Chap. 3, pp. 163-183.
Oct 27 Platonism in the Renaissance: Pico della Mirandola.
Course reader: The Oration on the dignity of man (selections)
Schmitt and Copenhaver: Chap. 3, pp. 127-142; Kristeller: Part Four.
Oct 29 Platonism in the Renaissance: Nicolaus Copernicus and the heliocentric hypothesis.
Course reader: Nicolaus Copernicus; The Copernican cosmos; Copernicus’s Introduction to the De Revolutionibus; Copernicus on the natural motion of the elements; Copernicus on circular motion.
Nov 3 The interpretation of heliocentrism in the Renaissance.
Course reader: Andreas Osiander on the Copernican hypothesis; Renaissance interpretations of the Copernican hypothesis.
Nov 5 Platonism in the Renaissance: Giordano Bruno’s cosmology.
Course reader: Bruno at Oxford; Bruno’s cosmology (I); Bruno on the natural motion of the elements; Petrarch denies that the Earth is infinite; Piccolomini on the immobility of the Earth.
Nov 10 Platonism in the Renaissance: Giordano Bruno’s theory of love.
Course reader: The Heroic Frenzies; The myth of Acteon; The Expulsion of the triumphan Beast; Bruno on God and Nature; Bruno on the philosopher’s goal.
Nov 12 The Roman Inquisition: Bruno’s trial, condemnation and death.
Course reader: The philosophical interpretation of the Bible; Bruno’s cosmology (II); the Venetian Trial (1592-1593); The Roman Trial (1593-1600); Summary of Bruno’s trial; minutes concerning the final hearing of the Congregation of cardinals of the Holy Office in Rome.
Schmitt and Copenhaver: Chap. 5.
Nov 17 The art of grace: Baldassare Castiglione (I)
Course reader: The book of the Courtier (selections)
Nov 19 The art of grace: Baldassare Castiglione (II)
Course reader: The book of the Courtier (selections)
Nov 24 Political morality in the Italian Renaissance: historical background. Christian-ciceronian morality and the ancient constitution; the Advice-books. Challenges and alternatives to the traditional political morality: Niccolò Machiavelli (I).
Course reader: Map: North-Central Italy in Machiavelli’s Time; Diagram: Medici Family Tree; Machiavelli, Letter to Francesco Vettori
Nov 26 Niccolò Machiavelli (II).
Course reader: The Prince (selections)
Dec 1 Niccolò Machiavelli (III).
Course reader: The Discourses (selections)
Schmitt and Copenhaver: Chap. 4, pp. 269-284.
Dec 3 CLASS REVIEW
Dec 6-12 FINAL EXAM
|
|
|