Description and Objectives

Man, Nature, and Epistemology is about man and his place in the intelligible order of creation. Beginning with the philosophical experience of wonder, students investigate the structure of the cosmos through Aristotle’s principles of nature and consider what these principles reveal to us about the author of creation, God Himself. The course then turns to the human person, examining the soul and its powers—sensation, appetite, intellect, and will—as well as the nature of human knowledge, culminating in a consideration of the immateriality and immortality of the human soul. Finally, students explore the objectivity of truth and moral goodness through the natural law, considering human nature, objective human goods, virtue, and moral obligation.

Textbooks

Students will read excerpts from the following works: Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Treatise on Man; Aristotle, De Anima; Aristotle, Physics; Adler, Mortimer, Aristotle for Everybody; Bollore, Michel-Yves & Bonnassies, Olivier, God, The Science, The Evidence; Esclanda, Roderick, Incarnate Spirits; Feser, Edward, Aquinas; Feser, Edward, Five Proofs for the Existence of God; Feser, Edward, Immortal Souls; Feser, Edward, The Last Superstition; Kreeft, Peter, What Would Socrates Say?; Kreeft, Peter, Why Study Philosophy and Theology?; Lewis, C. S., The Abolition of Man; Lewis, C. S., The Poison of Subjectivism; Pageau, Jonathan, Jack and the Fallen Giants.

 

Course Requirements

Man, Nature, and Epistemology is a year-round course that meets every other day, alternating with the tenth-grade religion course.

Students can expect short reading assignments to be completed by the next class meeting. A typical class will begin with a short quiz on the assigned reading. Approximately every two weeks, there will be a larger quiz or test, which will typically consist of three sections: Terms, Multiple Choice, and Short Essay Questions. Students should expect approximately four major assessments per quarter.

Quarter grades will be based primarily on quiz and test performance, though there will be ample opportunities for extra credit. There is no separate grade for class participation; however, in marginal cases, a student’s overall grade may be adjusted upward or downward based on his engagement and conduct in class.

Course Outline

Part 1. Introduction to Philosophy

Key Concepts:
logos, cosmos, mythos, wonder, wisdom, philosophy.

Part 2. Reason, Evidence, and Truth

Key Concepts:
knowledge, truth, reason, sense knowledge, intellectual knowledge, deduction, induction, demonstration, probable argument, skepticism, scientism.

Part 3. The Principles of Nature

Key Concepts:
being, potency, act, change, matter, form, substance, accident, four causes, nature, art, teleology.

Part 4. From Nature to God (The Cosmological Argument)

Key Concepts:
causality, necessity, contingency, first cause, unmoved mover, divine simplicity.

Part 5. Philosophy of Man

Key Concepts:
life, soul, powers of the soul, vegetative life, animal life, rational life, external senses, internal senses, appetite, intellect, will, imagination, memory.

Part 6. Knowledge and the Intellect

Key Concepts:
particulars, universals, abstraction, sensation, intellectual knowledge, acts of the mind, concept, judgment, reasoning, realism, nominalism, rationalism, empiricism, skepticism, immateriality of intellect.

Part 7. Immortality and Human Destiny

Key Concepts:
substantial unity of body and soul, immortality, happiness, final end

Part 8. Natural Law and Objective Good

Key Concepts:
moral objectivism, subjectivism, sentiment, moral affections, human nature, human goods, ends, practical reason, natural law, obligation, conscience, virtue.

 

 

Successful Students

The content of this class is cumulative. Concepts introduced later in the course build upon the foundations established during the first quarter. Therefore, it is especially important that students complete the assigned readings and take detailed notes in class.

Each part of the course will introduce a number of important terms and concepts. Students should make notecards for these terms and review them regularly since they will appear not only on the bi-weekly quizzes but also on the midterm and final exams.

Extra credit opportunities are available upon request.