Aesthetics in the Middle Ages

Code:

MFIL035

Acronym:

EIM

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Philosophy

Instance: 2020/2021 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Web Page:	http://moodle.pt
Responsible unit:	Department of Philosophy
Course/CS Responsible:	Masters in Philosophy

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MFIL	0	MFIL - Study Plan	1	-	9	75	243

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

Under the subject "image and likeness" medieval doctrines on the visibility of the absolute will be discussed from the ontological and epistemological point of view.

By reading and interpreting selected texts from the works of medieval philosophers on the concept of image and of beauty, the program aims to grasp the emergence of aesthetic categories in the Middle Ages and their function as a way to perform the relationship between humans and the absolute.

Apart from the philosophical texts, the concept of beauty can also be grasped in vernacular texts and in biblical commentaries. The contrast between beauty as a transcendental atribute of being and beauty as a caracteristic of material, natural world's forms is philosophical problem that this program alçso discusses. The latter builds images raised in scientific experience and on earthly life. These images are found in medieval sources such as manuscripts with diagrams and illuminations,  medieval instruments of astronomy and in architecture.

The analize of all these aesthetic realms aims at the student’s understanding of the concept of beauty in the Middle Ages as a whole either in its theoretical and philosophical explanation or in its artistic and applied materializations in the liberal arts..

The student should be able to identify positions on aesthetics in medieval texts and authors; to understand the main arguments at stake in the historiographical discussion on whether there is an aesthetic philosophical thought in the Middle Ages; to identify and explain the philosophical doctrines on beauty found in the texts of the medieval authors studied; to identify, in the samples of symbolic forms connected with medieval disciplines, philosophical and scientific problems, references to ancient traditions and intellectual habits of teaching.

Learning outcomes and competences

The student will be aible to:
1- analyse and distinguish the folowing concepts, in the work of the medieval texts and authors analysed in the syllabus:
a) image; b) phenomena linked to sense perception and to the perception of beauty; c) expressions and construction of the beautiful (arts and nature).
2 - understand the ontological and epistemological roots of medieval doctrines on beauty explained by relevant authors and to identify and define the concept of beauty stated by these authors and texts.
3. grasp  the emergence and formation of the theoretical categories of beautiful and the way this emergence is linked with the question on man ultimate end and the ways toward the absolute.
4. distinguish the different paradigms of beauty in the middle ages and analyse the main theoretical problems they are concerned with.
5- acquire the technical vocabulary of the doctrines of each author studied and to manage the main skills for scientific research in the field.

Working method

Presencial

Program

1.Augustine of Hippo: Definition of image, similitude and identity. The ontological statute of image. 2. Three types of vision: corporeal, spiritual and intellectual. Degrees of perception and ways of human mind toward the absolute.

2. Visibility and in-visibility of the absolute - opposite paradigms: Augustine and Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite

3. The controversy on the images in the time of Charlemagne (Teodulfo d'Orleans: Libri carolini).

4.Metaphysics of light. Forms of things, sense perception. The experience of light and color and its function in the perception of beauty. The contemplation of forms in the Book of Nature in the Middle Ages: Hildegard of Bingen, Robert Grosseteste, Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, Thomas Aquinas, .

5.Creation, production and reproduction: the concept of beauty in nature and in the arts. The “material” production of images as techne-ars and the reproduction of the material world.

6. The concept of beauty in the Renaissance: Francisco de Holanda.

Mandatory literature

Agostinho, Santo, 354-430; Agostinho de Hipona. ISBN: 978-972-36-1288-2
Agostinho de Hipona; Comentário Literal ao Livro do Génesis, Livro XII, Civitas Augustiniana, 2012
Boaventura, Santo, 1217-1270; Itinerário da mente para Deus. ISBN: 978-989-96485-0-0
Francisco de Holanda, 1518-1584; Da pintura antiga
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite; The Complete Works,, London: Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge., 1987
Hildegarde de Bingen; Scivias
Grosseteste, Robert, 1175-1253; Tratado da luz e outros opúsculos sobre a cor e a luz. ISBN: 978-972-36-1290-5
Agostinho de Hipona; 83 Questões Diversas, q. 74 (Portuguese translationby Paula Oliveira e Silva, available o Moodle elearning page)

Complementary Bibliography

Boulnois, Olivier; Au-delà de l.image. ISBN: 978-2-02-096647-4
De Bruyne, Edgar; Études d.esthétique médiévale. ISBN: 2-226-09967-0 2-226-09968-9
Garnier, François; Le langage de l.image au Moyen Age. ISBN: 2-86377-014-4
Grabar, André; Les^origines de l.esthétique médiévale. ISBN: 2-86589-039-2

Comments from the literature

Other bibliography will be available both on Moodle elearning page and in class.

Teaching methods and learning activities

Seminar. Lecture and commentary on the texts proposed in the program.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	20,00
Prova oral	20,00
Trabalho escrito	60,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	100,00
Frequência das aulas	52,00
Trabalho de investigação	118,00
Total:	270,00

Eligibility for exams

Students are commited with the preparation of a written paper of about 15 pages (70%) as well as with the oral presentation of this paper and the participation in classes (30%)

Calculation formula of final grade

Average mark based on the somatory of the mark given to the wrtitten work, to the oral work and to the participation, transferred to a quantitative scale.

Classification improvement

weighted average resulting from the written work mark (70%) plus the oral exam mark (30%)