Aristotle's De anima represents one of the fundamental texts in the
Western and Middle Eastern philosophical tradition. From the very first
centuries after the death of the Greek philosopher, many intellectuals
in every area of the Mediterranean basin began commenting on the text in
an attempt to clarify its gnoseological, metaphysical, and
anthropological implications: among the big names were the Greeks
Alexander of Aphrodisia († 3rd cent. B.C.) and Themistius († 387 B.C.);
the Persian Ibn-Sina († 1037 B.C.) and the Arab Ibn-Rushd († 1198 B.C.);
and then all the Latin scholastics, starting with Albertus Magnus (†
1280 B.C.) and Thomas Aquinas († 1274 B.C.). The importance of this text
lies in its content, which intersects at least three different issues:
1. Gnoseological problem: The De anima offers the privileged way to
understand what Aristotle thought of the cognitive process, and in what
stages he articulated it;
2. Ilemorphic problem: The De anima offers a very special case for
studying what substance is, namely an analysis of the substance 'human
being', its vital functions, the powers of the soul and the connection
between soul and body;
3. Anthropological problem: the De anima - mainly thanks to its medieval
commentators - places the human being in an intermediate ontological
condition, straddling sensibility/corporality and
intellect/immateriality. This amphibious nature will have fundamental
repercussions on Renaissance and early modern anthropology.
These three problems formed the backbone of the Western philosophical
debate with respect to some fundamental problems such as the Mind-body
problem, theories of human knowledge, the problem of the immortality of
the soul, and the birth of modern anthropology (the so-called dignitas
hominis). For these reasons, to study Aristotle's theory of knowledge in
De anima is to develop essential knowledge for understanding the
development of the Western philosophical tradition and to better focus
on other later authors, from Aquinas to Descartes.
The aim of the course will be to read - as extensively as possible -
Aristotle's De anima, in order to familiarise with his theory of
knowledge and the problems arising from it. In addition, other
significant authors of the gnoseological debate, such as Alexander of
Aphrodisias, Averroes, and Aquinas, will be considered in the commentary
on the text and in the theoretical reflection.
- Dozent/in: Luca Burzelli
- Dozent/in: Fabian Marx