Aristotles Political Science and Thomass Commentary
Paul Bullen The first part of Aristotles political science, his writings on ethics, will be compared with the extensive commentary by Thomas Aquinas. We will be interested in understanding Aristotle, using Aquinass work as our secondary literature. We will also be interested in seeing the extent to which Thomas develops his own views by supplementing, altering, or taking issue with Aristotle. We will be on the look-out for places where Thomass interpretation is affected by the peculiarities in the Latin translation he was using. The course will be one half lecture and one half discussion. Grades will be based on class participation and a paper. No knowledge of foreign languages is assumed.
Week 1: Introduction to Aristotle and Aquinas Week 2: Political Science and Human Flourishing Week 3: Elements of Ethical Behavior Week 4: Good Person vs. Good Citizen Week 5: Social Justice and the Law Week 6: Prudence and Legislative Science Week 7: Weakness of Will Week 8: Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft Week 9: Theology and Politics Week 10: Conclusion |