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.
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.
Uploads
Thesis Chapters by Sam MacPhee
Drafts by Sam MacPhee
Papers by Sam MacPhee
Conference Presentations by Sam MacPhee