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PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT A COURSE FOR ERASMUS STUDENTS! We start on Tuesday, February 25.
The course aims at clarifying the centuries-long evolution of the concept of “melancholy” as not only a condition of exceptional geniuses in all domains of human creativity, but also a larger mirror of human situation in the universe. Staring with the Aristotelian Problem XXX.1 as a text which elaborates the blueprint for all subsequent treatments of melancholy, we will therefore test the hypothesis according to which the melancholy genius is to humankind what humankind is to the whole universe. While reading the Aristotelian text we will be interested in its sources in Hippocratic writings but also in Democritean ethics. We will also take a look at how this synthesis itself influences the apocryphal Letter to Damagetes no. 17 where “Hippocrates” describes his encounter with the “laughing Democritus” and the nature of the latter’s alleged madness. In this context, we will focus on the systematization of the theory of humors and on its cultural use in the theory of temperaments, with an emphasis on the theoretical construction of the “black bile”, a matter whose capacity for extreme states underlies the dynamics of melancholy. Thanks to this dynamism, the original conception of melancholy often inclines towards the active pole of the variable melancholy states. Later on, however, the passive side of melancholy will often prevail, whether in the notion of acedia (also known as the sin of sloth) or in the modern nostalgia. To follow this development, we will work with a wide range of texts, from Thomas Aquinas through Ficino, Montaigne and Descartes to Freud and Foucault. Last update: UFRTHEI (09.02.2020)
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The aim of the course is to examine some of the most famous images of melancholy throughout Western tradition, stemming from ancient philosophy and medicine, and later intertwined with theology, epistemology, and theories of truth. The introduction and general framework of each “image” of melancholy will be provided by the teacher, but the texts that will be mobilized, in such reconstruction, will be read and commented on by the students in short in-class presentations. Last update: UFRTHEI (30.01.2020)
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The full list of primary and secondary texts will be established before the beginning of the semester. The texts will then be accessible in the Moodle. Last update: UFRTHEI (30.01.2020)
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Students will be evaluated based upon the following two distinct parameters: (1) Participation (which includes, yet is not limited to: doing the assignments, attendance, in-class active participation). If you areabsent, please ask some of your classmates for any assignments or key discussion materials missed or to check out our Moodle-page). (2) A Final Oral Exam (date and additional information will be provided in due course) or a 30 min. in-class presentation to be discussed with the teachers based upon our schedule. The schedule of presentations will be established in the first seminar. Last update: UFRTHEI (30.01.2020)
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PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT A COURSE FOR ERASMUS STUDENTS We start on Tuesday, February 25. Course outline: 25. 2. Introduction: the original connection between genius and melancholy. Pseudo-Aristotle, Problem XXX.1 3. 3. The sources of Problem XXX.1: the medical theory of the humors and Democritean moods 10. 3. Hippocrates visits the mad Democritus: Letter to Damagetes no. 17 17. 3. Acedia and Sadness: Thomas Aquinas’ synthesis 24. 3. Aquinas continued 31. 3. Genius and philosophy. Ficino in the wake of ancient wisdom 7. 4. Ficino as a melancholic. Doing philosophy in first person 14. 4. Dürer’s engraving Melancholia I: reading seminar (analysis of the chapter on Dürer in Saturn and melancholy) 21. 4. Michel de Montaigne. The study of melancholy 28. 4. Descartes and the melancholic seventeenth century 5. 5. Seminar by our guest, Dr. Serena Masolini, on acedia (the mortal sin of sadness) 12. 5. Sigmund Freud, “Mourning and Melancholia” and the historic turn towards melancholy as nostalgia Last update: UFRTHEI (09.02.2020)
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The course is intended for the MA students of philosophy at our faculty. The BA students of philosophy may attend depending on the number of participants. PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT A COURSE FOR ERASMUS STUDENTS! Last update: UFRTHEI (24.01.2020)
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