Deacon Aspirant Introduction to Philosophy

Prof. Alfred Freddoso
1930 Ridgewood Circle, South Bend, IN 46617
Phone:  574-287-4961 (home)
E-mail: afreddos@gmail.com
Home page: http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos/
 
 
Purpose of Course
Texts
Requirements
Reading Assignments
Lecture Notes

Purpose of Course:

The purpose of this course is to introduce the students to philosophical topics that have a direct bearing on our understanding of Catholic doctrine. The topics will include: (a) the relation between faith and reason; (b) the existence and nature of God as they can be known by natural reason; (c) philosophical anthropology, i.e., the philosophical study of what we are as human beings and what our flourishing consists in, insofar as this can be known by natural reason; (d) and moral theory, insofar as this can be known by natural reason. The main mentor for this course will be St. Thomas Aquinas, with St. Augustine playing an ancillary role. This is in keeping with the instructions of Vatican II concerning aspirants to Holy Orders: "In order that they may illumine the mysteries of salvation as completely as possible, the students should learn to penetrate them more deeply with the help of speculation, under the guidance of St. Thomas, and to perceive their interconnections" (Optatam totius, no. 16).  Of course, St. Thomas himself draws upon the full array of Sacred Scripture and the Fathers of the Church, along with prominent ancient and medieval thinkers, both believers and non-believers. The instructor will make sure to note pertinent connections — both similarities and contrasts — between philosophical and theological treatments of relevant topics, along with problems that arise from trying to re-state Catholic doctrine within frameworks invented by modern European philosophers such as Descartes, Kant, and Hegel.

To sum up, this is, in the main, a “big picture” course that will descend to ‘academic subtleties’ only when necessary. I hope that it will help you deepen your own understanding of the Catholic vision.

Texts:

  • I will supply links to all the readings for just about the whole course. In some cases (e.g., with the assigned sections of St. Augustine's Confessions), you yourself might already have another translation that you prefer. That's ok. (I do note, however, that all the links to the Summa Theologiae are to my own translations, and I prefer that you use those translations.)

  • For the moral theory section, I will have Deacon Stan order Josef Pieper's masterful The Four Cardinal Virtues to end the course with.

Requirements:

  • Submission of comments and/or questions on the readings and lecture notes for each class day. (Each section of the course is divided into sub-sections designated by Roman numerals, and each of these corresponds to (roughly) one three-hour class day.) Your comments/questions should be less than one page long and should be emailed to me by the Thursday evening preceding the class meeting. I will use them when deciding what to emphasize in my lectures and what needs clarification.

  • Part of your preparation for class should be to go over the relevant section of the lecture notes ahead of time. Don't be discouraged if you have difficulties understanding these notes as well as some of the readings. I'm here to guide you through the material. Also, while I'm not trying to turn you into philosophers (honest!), it's good for you to be exposed to some of the technical elements of Thomistic-Aristotelian philosophy. It's something you can tell your grandchildren about. :-)

Tentative outline with reading assignments:

I.  Faith and Reason       

II.  Natural Theology

III.  Philosophical Anthropology

IV.  Moral Theory