Knowledge and Immortality from Plato to Aquinas
Fall 2025
Instructor: Samuel Pell
Course Description: According to an ancient philosophical tradition, human knowledge provides a clue to the immortality of the human soul. The idea is that, if we really understand the nature of our knowing, we can understand that there something incorruptible in us that can behold God after death. This tradition originated in ancient Athens, but was enthusiastically adopted by Christian, Muslim, and Jewish philosophers in the Middle Ages. While the tradition certainly supports the beliefs of many religious faiths, it does not base itself in any revealed texts but grounds its claims solely in rational argumentation.
This course will begin by examining questions related to the nature of knowledge. We will investigate the differences between knowledge, opinion, and experience, and we will differentiate between sensation and intellectual knowledge. We will then use our findings to explore the ultimate perfection of human nature and the possibility of life after death.
Objectives:
- Students will learn to read a philosophical text closely. I will assign you less reading, but I will expect you to engage substantively with the text. You will learn to approach a text from an unfamiliar culture or system of thought, and to come to some understanding of the arguments the author is making.
- Students will gain facility with key philosophical concepts. Again, the aim is not to memorize a lot of complex jargon, but to gain mastery of a few powerful ideas.
- Students will learn to develop their own independent philosophical views. Students will develop this skill in three stages, through three major assignments: a) close analysis of a philosophical text; b) oral presentation and evaluation of an argument from a text in class; and c) a paper presenting an original philosophical position.
Note on Textbooks: When purchasing textbooks, make sure to buy the translation and edition listed, as we will be referring to specific page numbers and quotations in class. Kindle editions are acceptable. While students are responsible for procuring the required texts, I will post a digital copy of all recommended texts on Canvas. Some readings will be available only through Canvas.
Required Texts:
Plato. Meno. Eva Brann, Peter Kalkavage, and Eric Salem (Tr.) Newburyport: Focus Publishing, 2021. ISBN: 9781585109937.
Plato. Phaedo. Eva Brann, Peter Kalkavage, and Eric Salem (Tr.) Newburyport: Focus Publishing, 1998. ISBN: 9780941051699.
Aristotle. Basic Works of Aristotle. Richard McKeon (Ed.) New York: Random House, 2001. ISBN: 9780375757990.
Augustine of Hippo. Against the Academicians and The Teacher. Peter King. (Tr.)Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1995. ISBN: 9781603848558.
Augustine of Hippo. Confessions. Thomas Williams (Tr.) Indianapolis: Hacket Publishing, 2019. ISBN: 9781624668029.
Students are also required to purchase a composition book or notebook as a journal. They may substitute a tablet only if they do not use the typing function, it does not connect to the internet, and they can upload its files to a computer in order to e-mail me their assignments.
Recommended Texts:
McGinnis, Jon, and David C Reisman. Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Company, 2007. ISBN: 9780872208711.
Plotinus. The Enneads. Lloyd P Gerson, and G. R Boys-Stones (Tr.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. ISBN: 9781107001770.
Thomas Aquinas. Summa Contra Gentiles. Book One, God. Anton C. Pegis (Tr.) Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1975. ISBN: 9780268045517.
Thomas Aquinas. Summa Contra Gentiles. Book Two: Creation. James F. Anderson (Tr.) Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1976. ISBN: 9780268016807.
Breakdown of Final Grade:
20% Attendance/Reading Questions/Class Contribution
20% First Paper: In-Class Critical Exercise
20% Oral Exam: Defending a Position
20% Oral Discussion of Final Paper
20% Final Paper
Attendance: Barring serious illness or travel that has been cleared with the university, you are expected to attend class. If you cannot come to class, you should come by my office hours to go over what you missed.
Reading Questions: For each reading assignment, I will post 3-4 reading questions on Canvas. Answer each reading question in a few sentences in a journal (composition book or notebook). You are responsible for bringing your journal to class each session (or to office hours if you missed class). You will often be asked to share your answers with your group or with the class. I will collect your journals periodically throughout the semester.
Class Contribution: Students are expected to engage actively in class discussions. Class time will be divided between lecture, small group discussion, and large group discussion, so there will be many opportunities for students to participate in different ways. Each class, students must bring their journal with all their assignments completed, a pen or pencil, and the text we are discussing.
Papers: Students will complete two writing assignments: 1) an in-class exercise thoughtfully engaging with the texts from the first unit, and 2) a final paper defending an original thesis. Students will discuss each of their assignments with their peers during class. Students will share their first exercise with each other upon completion of the assignment, and they will share a first draft of their final paper during a workshopping session on the last day of class. Their final draft of their final paper should show signs of revision in light of this workshopping session, and will be submitted via Google Docs. (This is also to discourage the use of AI software.)
Oral Examinations: Students will have two oral examinations: 1) a session in which they present an argument from a text in Module 2 and a text in Module 3, offering an objection to each, and 2) a session in which they discuss the central argument of their final paper. Students should be prepared to talk for 3-4 minutes for each argument they present. (They will be presenting two arguments in the first oral exam and one argument in the second.) The rest of their 15-minute examination session will consist of answering questions that I raise for their view. Students will have in-class time to discuss their ideas with each other before each oral exam, and they may take a notecard with them into the exam.
Academic Integrity: Use of generative AI for any part of this course is strictly prohibited. The assignments I give you are such that AI would not do a good job on them. (If AI-generated material can earn you a good grade on a college-level course, then college is preparing you for a job that will no longer exist when you graduate.)
Schedule:
Module 1: What is Knowledge?
- Week 1: Meno’s Paradox, Knowledge as Recollection
- Monday, 8/25: Syllabus, Introduction to Plato
- Wednesday, 8/27: Meno 70e-86c (pp. 2-32)
- Week 2: Knowledge and True Belief, Criticisms of Recollection
- Monday, 9/1: Meno 86c-100c (pp. 32-55)
- Wednesday, 9/3: Aristotle, Posterior Analytics I.1-3; Augustine, Against the Academicians I.2.5-9.60 (pp. 5-25)
- Week 3: Can Knowledge Come from Sense Perception?
- Monday, 9/8: Aristotle, Posterior Analytics II.9-10, 19 (pp. 169-170, 184-186); Augustine, Against the Academicians II.4.10-13.45 (pp. 34-52)
- Wednesday, 9/10: Against the Academicians III.1.1-III.20.56 (pp. 52-93)
- Week 4: Divine Illumination and Culminating Activity
- Monday, 9/15: Augustine, The Teacher 1.1-4.7.6, 8.21-13.46 (pp. 94-102, 121-146)
- Wednesday, 9/17: Paper #1:In-Class Critical Exercise
Module 2: The Nature of the Soul and Sensation
- Week 5: Aristotelian Hylomorphism and Avicennian Dualism
- Monday, 9/22: Aristotle, Physics I.7, II.3 (pp. 230-233, 240-242); De Anima II.1-3 (pp. 554-560)
- Wednesday, 9/24: Avicenna, Kitab al-Nafs I.1, 5 (Arabic Philosophy pp. 175-186)
- Week 6: Aristotelian Theories of Vision
- Monday, 9/29: Aristotle, De Anima II.5 (pp. 564-566), Avicenna, Kitab al-Nafs II.2 (Canvas)
- Wednesday, 10/1: Albert’s De Anima II.3.4, 6-7, Aquinas’s De Sensu 3 (Canvas)
- Week 7: Does Sensation Help or Hinder Thought?
- Monday, 10/6: Aristotle’s Metaphysics I.1-2 (pp. 689-693), Avicenna, Book of Demonstration (Classical Arabic Philosophy pp. 147-156), Aquinas’s Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics I.1 (Canvas)
- Wednesday, 10/8: Phaedo 57a-77b (pp. 27-53)
Module 3: Some Rival Visions of Immortality
- Week 8: Plato: The Human Soul is Eternal and Incorruptible
- Monday, 10/13: Phaedo 77c-95b (pp. 54-74)
- Wednesday, 10/15: Phaedo 95c-118a (pp. 74-101)
- Week 9: Fall Break
- Week 10: Aristotle: Human Thought is Eternal and Incorruptible
- Monday, 10/27: Aristotle Ethics I.5, 7; X.7-8 (pp. 938-939, 941-944, 1104-1108)
- Wednesday, 10/29: Aristotle, De Anima III.4-8 (pp. 589-596)
- Week 11: Averroes and Aquinas: What is the Relation of Thought to the Soul?
- Monday, 11/3: Averroes, De Anima III.5.1-8, 27-60 (Classical Arabic Philosophy pp. 335-337, 342-350)
- Wednesday, 11/5: De Unitate Intellectus Intro (Canvas), Summa Contra Gentiles II.75-77 (pp. 232-248)
- Week 12: Aquinas: Securing the Immortality of the Soul
- Monday, 11/10: Quaestiones Disputatae de Veritate 11.1-2 (on Canvas)
- Wednesday, 11/12: Summa Contra Gentiles II.49-51, 57, 79 (pp. 149-152, 168-172, 254-259)
- Week 13: Scotus Against Aquinas: Immortality is Only Known through Faith
- Monday, 11/17: Scotus Ordinatio IV.43.2.93-111,120-155 (pp. 27-36, on Canvas)
- Wednesday, 11/19: In-class preparation for oral exams
Module 4: Knowing God
- Week 14: Knowing God as the Perfection of Human Life
- Monday, 11/24: Summa Contra Gentiles I.1-8 (pp. 59-76), ST II-I.3 (Canvas)
- Wednesday, 11/26: Thanksgiving Break
- Week 15: Can God be Known in This Life?
- Monday, 12/1: Plotinus Enneads I.6.7-9, V.1, VI.9 (pp. 99-103, 533-547, 882-898)
- Wednesday, 12/3: Summa Theologiae I.12.1-11
- Week 16: Can God be Known in This Life? (Continued)
- Monday, 12/8: Augustine, Confessions VII.4.6-5.7, VII.8.12-21.27; IX.10.23-12.29; X.6.8-8.15, 17.26-28.40 (pp. 102-104, 107-118, 154-158, 167-171, 177-185)
- Wednesday, 12/10: Final Paper Workshopping