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Bachelor of European Studies (BAES). Grado conjunto otorgado por UCM, KUL, UNIBO y JU (Alianza Una Europa)

Undergraduate Programme. Academic Year 2024/2025.

MEDIEVAL AND MODERN EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY - 806596

Curso Académico 2024-25

Datos Generales

SINOPSIS

COMPETENCIAS

Generales
COMPETENCIES:

GENERAL: The students will learn more about the period under investigation, i.e., Late Antiquity, with regard to its political and social history as well as the history of ideas relevant to the era. They will furthermore learn more about the growth and gradual establishment of Christianity in the Roman Em-pire. This will be done via a critical lecture of different source texts, student presentations and working on a prosopographical database to reconstruct and study socio-political and intellectual networks.
Transversales
TRANSVERSAL:
1) Critical and innovative thinking.
2) interpersonal skills.
3) intrapersonal skills.
4) global citizenship.
5) literacy in modern media and AI and their use for the study of history and philosophy.
Específicas
SPECIFIC:
1) Critical engagement with different source texts.
2) Learning to interact with students from home universities and from other universities in Europe, thus introduction into a new academic environment and tradition.
3) introduction into the use modern tools of digital history (Geovistory) for the presentation of study results for an interested public.
4) honing of presentation-skills.
Otras
OTHERS:
1) Introduction into academic schools and networks.
2) digital and (self-)organizational skills to pass the course.

ACTIVIDADES DOCENTES

Clases teóricas
HOW: The class dynamic will be heterogeneous with a focus on participation between the Universities of Zurich and Complutense of Madrid. The class will have online and offline segments to facilitate collaborative endeavors and interactive work between students of both universities.
The course is divided into two parts:
(1.) theory and analysis of text.
(2.) team working and a final workshop to present the outcomes.
Presentaciones
TEAMWORK: Collaboration regarding the study of intellectual networks based on a dossier (prepared by the profs.), followed by presentations in a workshop and inclusion of data in "Geovistory", and publication in a website at the end of the course.
TEAMS: The groups will be formed during the first week of class. Each team will have members from Madrid and Zurich, will be registered (name of the team, first and last names of its members, e-mail-addresses) and the prepared dossiers will be distributed among the individual groups.
Otras actividades
PERSONAL WORK: Preparation of texts and sources of prosopographical dossiers and selected philosophical texts.

Presenciales

6

Semestre

2

Breve descriptor:

What: The central theme of the course will be the study of the schools of philosophy and their relation to political decision-makers between the 3rd and the 8th century CE to better understand intellectual and socio-political networks within the Roman Empire. This course will combine interdisciplinary approaches, from ancient history to philosophy. 

How: The class dynamic will be heterogeneous with a focus on participation between the Universities of Zurich and Complutense of Madrid. The class will have online and offline segments to facilitate collaborative endeavors and interactive work between students of both universities.

The course is divided into two parts: (1.) theory and analysis of text and (2.) team working and a final workshop to present the outcomes.


This course is under the UZH global_innovation Fund Bearers of Knowledge and Networks of education in Antiquity and Middle Ages (2024-2026) 


Requisitos

REQUIREMENTS:
The students are expected to know how to critically engage with historical source texts. Additionally, communication between members of the Universities of Zurich and Complutense of Madrid will happen in English so that a firm knowledge of spoken and written English will be helpful. Knowledge in Latin or Greek is helpful but not necessary to participate in the planned course.

Contenido

Thematic Content:

History of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity (political, social), History of philosophical and religious thought, digital history, prosopography, network analysis and networking.

Further details of the course will be developed in coordination with the planning teams in Zurich and Madrid. Here is a general introduction to themes:

Themes

Philosophical Schools

Historical Context

Theme I

-      Introduction.

-      Community of Rome: Ammonius Sakkas, Plotinus, Porphyry.

-      The role of women: Marcella as a perfect exemplum.

-      Context of the Roman Empire: the crisis of the 3rdcentury.

-      The organization of the society of the Roman Empire.

Theme II

-      School of Apamea and Syria: Introduction to theurgy with Iamblichus.

-      The structure of the tetrarchy as a political order.

-      Persecutions of Christians under the tetrarchs.

Theme III

-      School of Athens: the catena aurea of Plutarch of Athens, Sirianus, Proclus, Marinus, Damascius, Simplicius.

-      The end of an era? The whereabouts of Damascius and Simplicius in Persia.

-      The reign of Constantine I and the acceptance of Christianity as a religio licita.

-      Julian (emperor) the Apostate and the Valentinian dynasty.

Theme IV

-      School of Alexandria: two exemplar head of the school:

o   Hypatia.

o   Olympiodorus the Elder.

-      Theodosius I and Ambrose.

-      Augustine and the fall of Rome in 410.

-      Hypatia and her contexts.

Theme V

-      School of Constantinople.

-      The Roman Empire in the 6th century CE and the closing of the school of Athens.

-      Byzantium and the education. Towards a new world order.

Theme VI

-      Other schools: school of Apamea, the schools of translations: from Cordoba to Toledo, etc.

-      The importance of Arab, Syriac and Armenian for translation, spread and militance of knowledge.

Theme VII

-      Conclusions.

-      Final remarks.

Evaluación

EVALUATION:
- Active participation during the semester (10%)
- Critical analysis of philosophical texts and careful input of prosopographical data (60%)
- Presentation during workshop in Zurich (30%)

Bibliografía

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
BROWN, P. (1971b). The World of Late Antiquity : from Marcus Aurelius to Muhammad by Peter Brown. London, Thames and Hudson Ltd.: 1976th ed.
BROWN, P. (1992). Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire. The Classical World. The University of Wisconsin Press: Vol. 87.
CAMERON, A. (1993). The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity AD 395–600. London, Routledge.
COSTERO QUIROGA, S. (2024). «Introducción». In Plotino. Enéadas I. Libros I-II. Madrid, Gredos: 5–27.
EDWARDS, M. J. (2006). Culture and Philosophy in the Age of Plotinus. London, Duckworth.
GERSON, L. P., & DILLON, J. (2015). Neoplatonic Philosophy: Introductory Readings. Vancouver, BC Crane Library.
HÄCHLER, N. (2023b). «The “Hammer of the Aristocracy”? Diocletian’s Reign and Its Consequences for the Amplissimus Ordo». In F. Carlà-Uhink & C. Rollinger (Eds.), The Tetrarchy as Ideology Reconfigurations and Representations. Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag: 179–220.
HARPER, K. (2017). The Fate of Rome. Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire. Princeton - Oxford, Princeton University Press.
HARPER, K. (2021). Plagues upon the Earth. Disease and the Course of Human History. Princeton - Oxford, Princeton University Press.
O’MEARA, D. J. (2003). Platonopolis: Platonic Political Philosophy in Late Antiquity. Oxford, Clarendon Press.
SALZMAN, M. R. (2002). The Making of a Christian Aristocracy: Social and Religious Change in the Western Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
WATTS, E. J. (2006). City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria. (P. Brown, Ed.), The Transformation of the Classical Heritage. Berkeley, University of California Press: Vol. XLI.

Otra información relevante

PROFESSOR:

Dr. Sonsoles Costero-Quiroga
E-mail: s.costero.quiroga@ucm.es
Appointment: Tuesday and Wednesday *Send an e-mail in advance.

SEMESTER CALENDAR 2025
Classes: from 20 January to 9 May 2025 inclusive.
Easter holidays: from 11 to 21 April 2025, both inclusive.
Ordinary examination period: from 12 to 30 May 2025 inclusive.
Extraordinary examination period: from 12 June to 27 June 2025, inclusive.

Estructura

MódulosMaterias
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Grupos

Clases teóricas y/o prácticas
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Grupo único - - -SONSOLES COSTERO QUIROGA