The page “Medieval and Renaissance Psychological Sources on the Internet” has moved under this blog (see the link in the sidebar). The page also includes several new titles. From now on, additions will be noted in the comments on the page, which can be subscribed as a rss-feed.
Adam Wood has prepared an English translation of the psychological part of the natural philosophy, which was produced by Johann Bernhardi of Feldkirch, Luther’s and Melanchthon’s colleague in Wittenberg.
See this blog post for more information on my lecture on the Aristotelian psychology in late medieval Erfurt.
Jussi Varkemaa, a theologian from Helsinki, has finished his doctoral thesis on late fourteenth century theologian Conrad Summenhart. The topic is Summenhart’s theory of individual rights and its medieval background. Summenhart, who was one of first professors theology in the University of Tübingen. Summenhart has been considered as an important figure in the development of modern theories of rights. Until now Summenhart’s views have been studied only superficially, but Varkemaa discusses them thoroughly and situates them appropriately in the context of late medieval discourse. For more information, see the abstract of the dissertation here (scroll down for an English version).
From the website of the research group “Philosophical Psychology, Morality and Politics”:
Spring 2009
Friday, 30 January, 12-15 (Auditorium IX, Main Building, Unioninkatu 34, 3rd floor)
Imagination from Aquinas to Hobbes
Pekka Kärkkäinen
Juhana Lemetti
Friday, 27 February, 12-15 (Auditorium IX, Main Building, Unioninkatu 34, 3rd floor)
Madness and Morality
Vesa Hirvonen
Timo Kaitaro
Friday, 20 March, 12-15 (Lecture room 6, Aleksanterinkatu 7, 6th floor)
Christopher Shields (Oxford), Aquinas’s moral psychology
Thursday, 16 – Friday, 17 April
Sources and resources of political life in early-modern Europe
Quentin Skinner (keynote speaker), Ronald Asch, Martin van Gelderen, Mark Goldie, Catherine Larrère, John Robertson, Richard Serjeantson, Sari Kivistö, Virpi Mäkinen, Sami-Juhani Savonius-Wroth, Mikko Tolonen.
Friday,15 May, 12-15 (Auditorium XI, Main Building, Unioninkatu 34, 3rd floor)
Tobias Hoffmann (CUA), Free decision in Aquinas
Taina Holopainen
The seminar is open.
Lorenzo Casini has written an entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on this remarkable Spanish humanist. Vives was both a learned scholar and popular among his contemporaries. Even the reformer Philip Melanchthon recommended Vives’ De anima et vita in the prefatory letter of his own work on psychology.
Latin was the lingua franca of the intellectuals of the late medieval and Reformation period. Today, we have better resources than ever for learning different languages, including Latin. In addition to conventional textbooks, there are several sites on the internet devoted to such topics. One must only do a search on expressions like “learning Latin” to find several interesting resources. Below, I have picked three among the most unusual ones.
1. Latinum, an online Latin course, where you can improve your skills by listening. Includes a major part of George Adler’s textbook of conversational Latin. Lessons can be downloaded as podcasts or listened directly from the webpage.
2. If you want to improve both your daily prayer life and Latin skills, Vatican radio broadcasts daily laudes, vesperae and completorium, directly from Rome. You can listen to each broadcast any time after the recording has become available, usually within an hour.
3. Each Friday, the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) sends the news review in Latin. The weekly Nuntii latini is also available in both written and audible form on a webpage.
How many know one of the greatest Renaissance poets Helius Eobanus Hessus? Eoban studied in Erfurt, travelled a lot and became supporter of Wittenbeg Reformation. His early works have been recently edited and translated into English by Harry Vredeveld. The first volume, which included works written during his student years in Erfurt (1504-09) give a vivid picture of student life in poetic form. Second volume, which is now also available, contains among others a beautiful series of fictional letter of Christian women in verse. See more here: http://www.asu.edu/clas/acmrs/publications/mrts/rts.html
Updates in “Medieval and Renaissance psychology” -page
I have reorganised the page on medieval and Renaissance psychological sources putting the items in an alphabetical order. A link to Agostino Nifo’s De anima was also added.