HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

Academic year
2026/2027 Syllabus of previous years
Official course title
STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA MEDIEVALE
Course code
FT0212 (AF:579156 AR:428896)
Teaching language
Italian
Modality
On campus classes
ECTS credits
6
Degree level
Bachelor's Degree Programme
Academic Discipline
M-FIL/08
Period
1st Term
Course year
2
Where
VENEZIA
This course belongs to the group of activities on History of Philosophy for the Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy. The course aims at:
1) providing an overview of contexts, authors, works relevant for medieval philosophy (5th-15th century), especially in the Latin tradition;
2) understand the issues discussed by medieval authors, and analyse their texts;
3) know medieval philosophical concepts and terminology.
It is to be expected that, by attending these course, students will acquire the following expertise: know the main contexts, authors, and works of medieval Latin philosophy; know and understand some medieval issues and questions; understand and analyse medieval philosophical texts of different sorts and literary genre; acquire skills in communicating and arguing, with special reference to medieval philosophical terminology.
There is no mandatory prerequisite. I, however, encourage students to attend courses on ancient philosophy and Arabic philosophy.
This is an introduction to medieval philosophy (especially in Latin). It will, on the one hand, provide a broad overview of the period (via studying the short textbook by L. Sturlese) and, on the other, focus on a few authors and themes (via the textbook by L. Valente). This year in particular we will focus on:Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Hildegard of Bingen, Aquinas, Ockham, Christine de Pizan.
The issues investigated will concern especially: being, happiness, and language.
- Loris Sturlese, Filosofia nel medioevo, Carocci 2014 (to be studied in full)
- Luisa Valente, Filosofie e filosofi nel medioevo. Essere, felicità, linguaggio, with the collaboration of Massimiliano Lenzi, Le Monnier Università, 2023 (ISBN: 9788800746564), the sections on: Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Hildegard of Bingen, Aquinas, Ockham, Christine de Pizan.
- a selection of primary sources and other materials available on Moodle.

The modality of verification is an oral exam to be taken at the end of the course. The subject of the exam will be to test knowledge of textbook concepts and the content of texts analyzed in class.
oral

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

Grades are marked over 30 points.
After a general historical overview, with an introduction to the authors, the lessons will also include a section dedicated to reading medieval texts and discussing their main interpretative issues. Lectures may be complemented by seminars with experts.
Definitive programme.
Last update of the programme: 07/04/2026