Syllabus
General part 18.02.Introduction to the course, informations about requirements and exams. Overview on the relationship between curiosity and knowledge 25.02. A short history of curiosity
Curiosity in the Latin literature and philosophy 03.03. Curiosity in the ancient thought. Cicero and Seneca. 10.03. Curiosity in the Latin literature: Apuleius
Curiosity in the Late Antiquity 17.03. Fathers of the Church and the early Christian account of curiositas. Tertullian and Augustine 24.03. Augustine: curiositas between physical and intellectual desire
Desire of knowing and curiosity in the Middle Ages 31.03. Gregory the Great and Peter Damiani 07.04. Peter Abaelard 14.04. Bernard of Clairvaux and the monastic view on curiosity 14.04. Jean Gerson on the relationship between curiosity and philosophy 21.04. Jean Gerson on curiosity and doctrinal errors
The relationship between studiositas and curiositas 28.04. A history of the concept of studiositas 05.05. Studiositas and curiositas in the works of Thomas Aquinas 12.05. Studiositas and curiositas in the works of Bonaventure of Bagnoregio
Annotation
The course aims to recall the history of the concept of curiosity. As a positive driving force, curiosity leads to constantly seek out knowledge, as well as to grasp new ideas, responding to the Aristotelian sentence "omnes homines natura scire desiderant" (“all men by nature desire to know”).
In other contexts and in particular in the Christian thought, curiosity is seen as a negative temptation of the soul that distracts the human being from another goal, the spiritual elevation. This preoccupation often leaves him in a perpetual research of earthly things, bringing him ultimately to confusion, dissatisfaction, and perdition.
During the course, this double dimension of curiosity will constantly be put in relation with the process of studying and learning in their various forms and fields of the ancient and medieval culture. The course is meant as interdisciplinary and is open to all those who are interested in the ancient and medieval culture, in particular philosophers, philologists, historians, theologians and experts of cultural studies.