Module 2

This course prepares students to read Aquinas’s theological texts by providing an introduction to the main philosophical notions employed by him in these texts. The course will begin with an introduction to the nature of philosophy itself, from a Aristotelian-Thomistic perspective, followed by an overview of the importance of Aristotelian philosophy for Aquinas’s thought, and its historical transmission to 13th century scholastic thought. This course will then turn to a study of some broad themes in classical philosophy which acted as a catalyst for the development of Aristotle’s own philosophy. This will lead to an examination of some of the fundamental notions in Aristotle’s philosophy, which were then adopted by Aquinas for use in his theology. This course is a prerequisite for, and intended to be taken with the next course, Introduction to the Metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas.

Course Material