BASC63122 - Alumni Sequence: The Middle Ages Year I

Course Description

The sequence continues in Winter Quarter with a focus on some aspects of the relationship between Christian and Muslim cultures. In the seminar, we examine efforts on the part of writers of both cultures to reconcile philosophical understanding with tenets of faith, particularly in response to Aristotle. The tutorial takes up works produced in the context of military and ideological clashes whose axes were often far more complex than Christian vs. Muslim. These texts, while all written from a European (specifically French) perspective, represent and engage with concepts of Christian chivalry and its perceived enemies in a fascinating variety of ways.

Course Outline

Required Texts

Aristotle, De Anima, trans. Christopher Shields (Oxford Clarendon, 2016), 978-0199243457

Ibn Tufayl, Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, trans. Lenn Evan Goodman (Chicago, 2009), 978-0226303109.

Averroes, The Incoherence of the Incoherence (Think Agency, 2018), 978-1790939558. Order Averroes here (not available at Bookstore).

Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, Book Two: Creation, trans. Anderson (Notre Dame, 1975), 978-0268016807.

The Song of Roland, trans. W.S. Merwin (Modern Library, 2001), 978-0375757112.

Ibn Munquidh, The Book of Contemplation, trans. Cobb (Penguin, 2008), 978-0140455137.

Villehardouin, The Conquest of Constantinople, in Chronicles of the Crusades (Penguin, 2009), 978-0140449983.

Seminar

Tutorial