Thesis Chapters by Sam MacPhee
Mount Allison University, 2021
This thesis compares the strategies employed by two fourteenth-century polemicists, Marsilius of ... more This thesis compares the strategies employed by two fourteenth-century polemicists, Marsilius of Padua (d.1342/3) and William of Ockham (d.1347), to challenge the theoretical underpinnings of papal absolutism.
Drafts by Sam MacPhee
Papers by Sam MacPhee
In this paper, I identify a parallel between the psychologies of action of the great medieval phi... more In this paper, I identify a parallel between the psychologies of action of the great medieval philosophers Avicenna (980–1037) and Peter Abelard (1079–1142). As far as I am aware, other scholars have not noticed this parallel. I contend that, by examining this connection, the intricacies of Peter Abelard's highly debated moral psychology are brought into focus.
Few medieval philosophers exercised as much real-world power, complementing their powers of the i... more Few medieval philosophers exercised as much real-world power, complementing their powers of the intellect, as the Byzantine statesman Theodoros Metochites (c. 1270-1332). Having seized the attention of Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos in 1291 with a powerful eulogy to the city of Nicaea, Metochites spent the next thirty years climbing the imperial ranks. As Metochites was amassing political power at Constantinople, his vast literary outputcomprising orations, eulogies, invectives, scientific treatises, and philosophical commentariesearned him a reputation as one of the Empire's leading intellectuals. 1 In 1321, Metochites concluded his political ascent when Andronikos II bestowed on him the office of grand logothete, the most potent administrative office in the Empire. That same year, however, occasioned a drastic turn for the worse in the grand logothete's fortunes. In May, disagreements between Andronikos II and his grandson, Andronikos III, ignited a civil war in which Metochites remained loyal to the elder Andronikos, his long-time friend. The war concluded seven years later, in 1328, when the younger claimant forced his grandfather to abdicate power and exiled Metochites to the town of Didymoteichos in Thrace. 2 Around 1327, Metochites published a collection of essays on various philosophical subjects entitled Semeioseis Gnomikai / Sententious Notes. 3 These were reworked versions of 1 Ioannis Polemis summarizes Metochites's early oeuvre: "He composed an introduction to astronomy on the basis of the work of Claudius Ptolemaeus, and he composed a series of commentaries to some important works of Aristotle (Physica, De anima, Parva naturalia). He wrote many rhetorical works: praises for saint Marina, saint Gregory of Nazianzus, the archangels, John of Didymoteichon and Michael the New of Egypt, two encomia for the emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos, funeral orations for the empress Theodora Palaiologina, and his friend Joseph the Philosopher, two invectives against his enemy Nicephorus Choumnos, a praise of the city of Constantinople, and an important treatise on the value of education and philosophy entitled Ethikos" (Ioannis Polemis, trans., Theodoros Metochites: Poems [Turnhout: Brepols, 2017], 8). After 1321, Metochites authored several poetic epistles and a collection of miscellaneous essays entitled Semeioseis Gnomikai / Sententious Notes, the subject of this paper. On the former, see Metochites,
To be precise, Calcidius translated 17a-53c of the Timaeus and commented on 31b-53c. 2 E.g., J.C.... more To be precise, Calcidius translated 17a-53c of the Timaeus and commented on 31b-53c. 2 E.g., J.C.M. van Winden, Calcidius on Matter: His Doctrine and Sources (Brill, 1965), 2. John Magee offers a good overview of the possible identities of Osius (Calcidius, viii-x) and argues convincingly against identifying Calcidius as a Christian (Calcidius, x-xiv). 3 At the earliest, he wrote in the mid-third century; at latest, the end of the fourth.
Conference Presentations by Sam MacPhee
Ninth Annual Medieval Studies Colloquium, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2022
This is a shortened and modified version of my undergraduate thesis, Den of Heretics, which is al... more This is a shortened and modified version of my undergraduate thesis, Den of Heretics, which is also posted on this profile. I presented this paper at the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Ninth Annual Medieval Studies Colloquium in April 2022.
Crossroads, 2022
The Apostolic See enjoyed the zenith of its power and prestige under Pope Innocent III (r.1198–12... more The Apostolic See enjoyed the zenith of its power and prestige under Pope Innocent III (r.1198–1216). Innocent enacted canonical legislation that touched most facets of Christian belief and practice, especially at the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. One of the most misunderstood laws passed at IV Lateran, the eighteenth canon, concerns a rather unexpected subject: surgical practice. Although many scholars have claimed that this canon forbade clerics from performing surgeries as part of its general prohibition against clerical bloodshed, my paper suggests that the truth is more nuanced. Struck by the worldly and spiritual benefits that professional surgeons offered Christendom, Innocent formulated the eighteenth canon to forbid only a minority of clerics from performing only the most dangerous surgeries.
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Thesis Chapters by Sam MacPhee
Drafts by Sam MacPhee
Papers by Sam MacPhee
Conference Presentations by Sam MacPhee