The aim of this course is to teach students how to engage closely and critically with foundational texts of ancient and medieval philosophy, while becoming familiar with the specific features of premodern textual traditions. Particular attention will be paid to identifying, distinguishing, and assessing the many layers of mediation through which these texts have come down to us (manuscript copies, critical editions, translations, and traditions of interpretation) in order to understand how they shape our access to the texts and how they can be used to support precise philosophical reading.
The course will also address the problem of anachronism. Terms that appear familiar to modern readers may carry very different meanings in ancient and medieval cultures. Learning how to write a philosophical commentary will therefore require students to reconstruct the argumentative movement of a text and to identify the philosophical issues that are specific to it.
No prior knowledge of ancient languages is required. Students will nevertheless encounter texts in their original languages alongside French translations. They will learn how to read the basic elements of a critical apparatus, identify a standard scholarly edition, compare different editions and translations, and assess, as far as possible, the philosophical implications of editorial and translational choices.
The broader aim is to provide students with the main methodological tools required for the close reading of ancient and medieval philosophical texts, while also showing how historical, philological, and conceptual analysis can bring out their relevance to contemporary questions.
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
· read an ancient or medieval philosophical text closely and accurately, reconstructing its argumentative structure, identifying its main concepts, and formulating the philosophical problems it raises;
· distinguish the different forms of mediation that shape our access to ancient texts, including manuscript traditions, critical editions, translations, and traditions of interpretation;
· compare different translations or editions of the same text, and assess the philosophical assumptions that may inform editorial and translational choices;
· situate a text within its historical, cultural, and doctrinal context in order to avoid anachronistic readings and better understand the specificity of the concepts it employs;
· produce a personal and well-argued philosophical commentary that identifies the issues specific to the text while, where relevant, bringing out its connections with contemporary questions.
For the 2026-2027 academic year, the course will focus on the following question: “What place should scholars have in the city?”
We will read texts by Plato, Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, Al-Fārābī, Maimonides, and Thomas Aquinas. Particular attention will be paid to the philosophical specificity of each text, to its historical context, and to the distinctive problems raised by its transmission.
Throughout the course, we will examine different ways of thinking about the place of knowledge within a political community. Should philosophers govern? Does the scholar possess a particular form of authority within the political order? Is the philosopher or scholar in competition with the prophet? These questions will also provide a framework for reflecting on contemporary debates concerning the legitimacy of knowledge in society, as well as the relationships between knowledge and power, science and politics, and reason, religion, and authority.
The table of contents will be provided during the first few sessions.
Textual commentary, argumentative analysis, comparison of translations and editions, reading of critical apparatuses, oral presentation.
General introduction to philosophy [LPHIB105]
The course is based on the close reading and detailed commentary of a selection of ancient and medieval philosophical texts. Particular attention will be paid to the material and historical conditions of their transmission, as well as to the problems raised by their editing and translation.
Teaching will be primarily discussion-based and participatory. Students will regularly be asked to compare different translations or editions of the same passage, engage with the linguistic diversity of the texts in their original languages, decipher elements of a critical apparatus, and reconstruct the argumentative structure of the texts.
The aim is to develop an autonomous and methodical practice of philosophical commentary, attentive to textual precision, historical context, and conceptual issues.
Students will be asked to complete regular writing exercises in class and will receive feedback on their work. These assignments will not be graded, but completing them is a requirement for passing the course. Assessment will consist of an oral commentary and a discussion on a text studied in class.
Al-Fārābī, Traité des opinions des habitants de la cité idéale, trad. Tahani Sabri, Paris, Vrin, « Études musulmanes », 1990.
Aristote, Les Politiques, trad., introduction, bibliographie, notes et index par Pierre Pellegrin, Paris, GF-Flammarion, nouvelle éd., 2015.
Augustin, La Cité de Dieu, trad. Gustave Combès, introduction et notes par Gustave Bardy, 5 vol., Paris, Desclée de Brouwer, « Bibliothèque augustinienne », 1959-1960.
Gutas, Dimitri, Pensée grecque, culture arabe. Le mouvement de traduction gréco-arabe à Bagdad et la société abbasside primitive (IIe-IVe/VIIIe-Xe siècles), trad. Abdesselam Cheddadi, Paris, Aubier, 2005.
Irigoin, Jean, Tradition et critique des textes grecs, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1997.
Maïmonide, Le Guide des égarés, trad. de l’arabe par Salomon Munk, nouvelle édition revue et mise à jour sous la direction de René Lévy, avec la collaboration de Maroun Aouad, Lagrasse, Verdier, 2012.
Platon, La République, trad., introduction et notes par Georges Leroux, Paris, GF-Flammarion, 2002.
Reynolds, Leighton D. et Wilson, Nigel G., D’Homère à Érasme. La transmission des classiques grecs et latins, trad. Claude Bertrand et Pierre Petitmengin, nouvelle édition revue, mise à jour et augmentée par Luigi-Alberto Sanchi et Aude Cohen-Skalli, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2021.
Thomas d’Aquin, Questions disputées sur la Vérité. Question XII : La prophétie, trad. Serge-Thomas Bonino, introduction et notes par Jean-Pierre Torrell, Paris, Vrin, 2006.
Thomas d’Aquin, La Royauté, au roi de Chypre, introduction, traduction et notes par Delphine Carron, texte latin de l’édition Léonine, Paris, Vrin, « Translatio », 2017.
| Training | Block | Credits | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor in Philosophy | 3 | 4 | Yes |