HUM 193-001, Call No. 19690 -- Fall 2002
9:30-10:45 TR--Cherry Hall 211
Catalog Description:A survey of the Greek gods and such philosophers as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine.General Education Information:
This course fulfills a Categorical Requirement as a Humanities Elective (B-II).Required Texts (Purchase these):Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates (TDS), trans. G. M. A. Grube, rev. by John M. Cooper (Hackett Publishing Co., 2001)Required Additional Reading (course website or online sources), partial listJulia Annas, Voices of Ancient Philosophy: An Introductory Reader (VAP) (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
The Theogony of Hesiod (selections, from an online source)Major Factors Contributing to Grade, with Tentative Weighting
Xenophanes fragments (course website)
Anaximenes fragments (course website)
Heraclitus fragments (course website)
The Critias fragment (course website)1. Three exams, the first two 18 percent of grade each. The first two will each cover about one third of the course material. The third exam will take place during the final exam period (Dec. 9, 10:30 a.m.) and may count slightly more or less than 22 percent. Exams will be partly objective and partly short-essay in nature.
2. A short paper (about 3 pages) on Heraclitus, the atomism of Democritus, or Socrates as revealed by Plato in Defense Speech, Crito, and Laches (12 percent). Due: mid to late September (to be announced).
3. One 5-6 page paper, due November 26, on a philosophical topic debated by schools of the Hellenistic Period, i.e., Platonists, Aristotelians, Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics, etc. (17 percent). I shall suggest topics and provide further guidelines later. If you would like feedback on first or second drafts or outlines, please get them to me by November 19.
4. Class contribution and attendance, 8-10 percent. What counts most is active engagement with the issues, the texts, and your fellow inquirers. You can begin by formulating questions aimed at better understanding the texts we'll be studying, and trying to engage in dialogue with their perspectives.
Office Hours: My office hours are T-R 8:15-9:15 a.m. and by appointment.
Tentative Schedule of Sessions and Main Topics, with Readings
§: one of the six sections of VAP. Numbers following "VAP" refer to the pages in VAP. "(P)" indicates that the passage is from a dialogue by Plato.
S1. Opening Session. The Cave Allegory: A Preliminary Discussion
Read: Plato, Cave Allegory, VAP 177-79 (Rep. 514a-517a) (P)S2. Periods, Social Types, and Schools (VAP, xix-xxiii).S3. The Poets and the Gods
Read Hesiod’s Theogony (Read the parts of CW item C1 assigned in class.)S4 Xenophanes; Critias; Anaximenes (Read CW items C2, C5, and C3, respectively.)S5 Heraclitus (Read CW item D1.)
S6 The Atomism of Democritus (Read # on course website.)
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (VAP §6)
S7 Democracy
Herodotus, Three Types of Regime, VAP 427-29S8 Individualistic Views
(Also recommended: The Old Oligarch, VAP 430-33)
Protagoras, A Philosophical Defense of Democracy, VAP, 373-75 (P)Callicles, The Naturalness of Tyranny, VAP, 377-79 (P)S9 "Socrates" in action: Laches, a dialogue on courage (VAP 131-43) (P)
Glaucon’s Challenge to (Plato’s) View that Justice is Desirable for Itself, VAP 383-87 (P)S10 Defense Speech of Socrates as given literary form by Plato (TDS) (P)
S11 Socrates’ Defense of Obedience to Athenian Laws, VAP 379-83 (P)
S12 First exam
S13-14 Plato, VAP 71-82, 83-4 (P) REASON AND EMOTION (VAP §2)
S15: Aristotle on Emotion in general and Anger in particular, VAP 84-89; Aristotle on Virtue and Anger, VAP 91-94. (Recommended: http://ww.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/twoethix.htm)
S16-17 The Stoics on Virtue, Emotion, and Anger, VAP 91-97 (Also recommended: Euripides’ Medea (excerpt), VAP 110-14)
THE GOOD LIFE (VAP §5)
S18: Background: Herodotus, VAP 299-301, Aristotle, VAP 297-98, Democritus, 304-305; Polus [a character in Plato’s Gorgias], VAP 305-9, 318-19)S19 Aristotle’s positive view, VAP 320-323; 325 (ch. 9)-328
S20 Stoics, VAP 328-38
S21 Epicurus, VAP 338-51
S22 Second Exam
KNOWLEDGE (VAP §3)
S23 Democritus and Protagoras (VAP 158-9 [P]);
Plato’s critique of Protagoras (VAP 162-66 [P])S24-25 Plato’s Classical View:
Belief v. Knowledge (VAP 150-156);
The Forms, the Good, the Divided Line, and the Cave (VAP 166-180)
SPECIAL TOPICS
S26 Epicurean and Stoic Views of Nature
(Read: Stoic and Epicurean Philosophies Compared)S27 Skepticism against the Dogmatists (VAP 213-24)
S28 Jesus as a Teller of Parables
S29 Neo-Platonism (VAP 360-69)
S30 Augustine (Reading to be announced)