500098 - HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY - ADVANCED

courses
ID:
500098
Duration (hours):
36
CFU:
6
SSD:
STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA MEDIEVALE
Year:
2025

Overview

Date/time interval

Secondo Semestre (23/02/2026 - 22/05/2026)

Syllabus

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, students will have acquired the historical and philosophical skills necessary for critically analysing interpretative theories on dreams from ancient times to the Latin Middle Ages. Through analysing primary documents and sources, and studying the main secondary literature on this subject, students will demonstrate their understanding of the different ancient and medieval theories covered by the course, as well as their philosophical and scientific implications.

Course Prerequisites

Students enrolled on this course should already have knowledge of the history of medieval philosophy. They should also have acquired the critical discussion and research skills required for the three-year BA in Philosophy.

Teaching Methods

The course will be divided into 18 frontal lessons (36 hours) covering the main examination topics. Some lessons will be more introductory in nature, others will be devoted to the reading, discussion and commentary of some treatises or sections of important works on the course subject (primary sources will be provided in Italian translation). The material used to illustrate the contents of the course (Powerpoint slides, primary sources, secondary literature) will be made available to students at the end of the course on the Kiro UniPV platform (University of Pavia Didactics Portal). There will be time at the end of each lesson for questions from students.

Assessment Methods

Oral examination. Students must demonstrate their understanding of the course topics. They must be able to present the course content in a critical and independent way, establishing links between the various issues covered and comment on one or more passages taken from the primary sources listed in the bibliography.

Texts

In addition to studying the lesson notes, students will read relevant sections from the following texts: 1. ARISTOTELE, Il sonno e i sogni. Il sonno e la veglia, I sogni, La divinazione durante il sonno, a cura di L. REPICI, Marsilio, Venezia, 2003, pp. 9-80. 2. BOEZIO DI DACIA, Sull’eternità del mondo – Sui sogni – Sul sommo bene, a cura di L. BIANCHI, La vita felice, Milano 2017. 3. S.DONATI, “Dreams and Divinatory Dreams in Albert the Great’s Liber de somno et vigilia”, in A. SPEER and R. HOFMEISTER PICH (eds.), Contemplation and Philosophy: Scholastic and Mystical Modes of Medieval Philosophical Thought, Brill, Leiden-Boston 2018, pp. 178-215. 4. V.FETI, “La Scienza dei Sogni nel Medioevo: il De somniis di Boezio Dacia”, in Medicina nei secoli, 27 (2015), pp. 149-198. 5. G.FIORAVANTI, “La ‘scientia somnialis’ di Boezio di Dacia”, in Atti dell’Accademia delle Scienze di Torino: II. Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, 101 (1966-1967), pp. 329-369. 6. T. GREGORY (a cura di), I sogni nel Medioevo. Seminario Internazionale (Roma, 2-4 ottobre 1983), Edizioni dell’Ateneo, Roma 1985 (in particolare il saggio dello stesso T. GREGORY, “I sogni e gli astri”, in pp. 111-148). 7. S.F. KRUGER, Il sogno nel Medioevo, Vita e Pensiero, Milano 1996. These texts do not exhaust the bibliography. Further bibliographical information and secondary literature will be provided during the course. Bibliographic material will be available on the Kiro UniPv platform.

Contents

Course topic: Dreams in Medieval Thought. Through an analysis of how Aristotle's theory of dreams was received in the Middle Ages, this course will explore how dreaming was understood many centuries before Freud and Jung focused on its psychoanalytic significance. Starting with readings from Aristotle's treatises on this subject (De somno et vigilia, De insomniis and De divinatione per somnum), the course will examine fundamental aspects of the reception of Aristotelian ideas on dreams. In particular, it will consider the interpretation of a prominent figure in Latin Scholasticism: Boethius of Dacia (13th century). The classifications and theses of Calcidius, Macrobius, Avicenna, Averroes, Albertus Magnus and the physician and philosopher Peter of Abano will be explored in depth. This reconstruction will focus on the anthropological implications of different ways of understanding the aetiology of dreams and their divinatory capacity.

Course Language

Italian

More information

There will be no difference between students who attend classes and those who do not. Students are encouraged to participate actively in the course. All texts, PowerPoint slides and additional bibliographical references will be made available in digital format on the Kiro platform, and be accessible to all enrolled students who are registered users of the platform.

Degrees

Degrees (3)

PHILOSOPHY 
Master’s Degree
2 years
PHILOSOPHY 
Master’s Degree
2 years
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