History buff here: I hate that we spend only one week in the Middle Ages, when there was so many weird creatures and (weird-er ideas)! The Middle Ages also accounts for such a broad period of time; even narrowing in on Western thought, and Aristotelian (ah-rist-ah-tale-ian) thought, leaves so much unexplored.
This week we will spend some time talking about Medieval epistemology (of course), especially on the topic of institutional and gendered authority. On the podcast, though, you will be asked to search for truth outside of words and texts, like through pinecones and sea anemone.
- Listen to A Curious Disputation, Season 2 Ep 3
- Read Antonio, “Aristotle on Politics” (Beyond the Pale)
- Read Crosthwaite, “Thomas Aquinas on Servitude” (Beyond the Pale)
- Read Allen, “Two Medieval Views on Women’s Identity”
- Watch “Introduction to Hildegard von Bingen” on TikTok
- Read Aquinas, Compendium to Theology*
- Read Hildegard, Scivias*
- Turn in your Aristotelian Thought Reading Response to Populi
- Guiding question for your RR: How might we understand the particularity of Hildegard’s and Thomas Aquinas’s authority in the Church and broader Medieval culture?