Medieval Ethics

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

Given their broadly shared theological outlook, one might expect that medieval writers on ethics were content mostly to restate a bland sort of orthodoxy. In fact, though, they differed sharply on such central topics as the nature of goodness and badness, happiness, the relationship between morality and God’s will, free choice and the structure of human action, and the virtues. This course is a survey of ethical thought in the Latin-speaking West from the late fourth century through the early fourteenth century, focused on exploring and understanding those debates through a reading of primary texts, many of which continue to exert an influence on contemporary ethical thought. We will examine the foundations of medieval ethical thought in Augustine and Boethius, ethics before the universities (Anselm, Peter Abelard, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Peter Lombard), ethics in the universities (Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham), and ethics outside the universities (Hadewijch and Catherine of Siena).