Ancient Philosophy - Module Outline (Part 1)
SPIRE: SCHOOL OF POLITICS, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND PHILOSOPHY
AUTUMN SEMESTER 2006/2007
MODULE PHI-20014
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Level: 2
Credits: 15
Module Co-ordinator: Alan Bailey
Room: CBB2.009
Telephone: 4180
Email: a.bailey@phil.keele.ac.uk
Office Hours: See notice on office door
MODULE DESCRIPTION
Western philosophy is traditionally held to begin in the sixth century BC in the Greek cities of coastal Asia Minor. Moreover any list of the most influential and well-known of the thinkers who have worked in that tradition in the succeeding two thousand six hundred years would undoubtedly include the names of three philosophers – Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle - all closely associated with the Greek city of Athens and the period of time stretching from the middle of the fifth century BC to the final years of the fourth century BC. This module will introduce you to the thought of these three men, but it will also attempt to locate them in a tradition of reasoned discussion and practical engagement with the issues of human flourishing that includes such participants as the sophists, Zeno and other Stoics, the sceptics of Plato’s own Academy, Epicurus, and the hard-line sceptics of the Pyrrhonean tradition. And in the course of examining this tradition, fresh light should be shed on the issues of how one should live, the strengths and limitations of argument, and what philosophy can hope to achieve.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
AIMS: To develop an understanding of some of the key intellectual controversies to be found in ancient Western philosophy and an appreciation of the respects in which those discussions resemble and differ from present-day treatments of the same topics. We will also examine what reflection on the origins and development of ancient philosophy can tell us about the intellectual status of philosophy itself.
OBJECTIVES: On successful completion of this course, students:
Will be able to read and discuss classical philosophical sources
Will be able to understand and critically assess modern readings of ancient texts
Will have an understanding of the history of ancient Western philosophy and some aspects of its social context
Will be able to explain some of the central problems discussed by participants in that tradition
Will be able to analyse and discuss critically the answers offered by ancient philosophers to those problems
Will understand the philosophical practice of tracing and comparing different versions of a problem and the impact and significance of philosophical definition
STRUCTURE OF MODULE
Teaching lasts for ten weeks. On weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, we will meet for two lectures. On weeks 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11, we will meet for one lecture and one seminar. You will have a total of 15 lectures and 5 seminars.
Workload: 150 hours work, which is made up of 15 1-hour lectures, 5 1-hour tutorials, 30 hours tutorial preparation, 60 hours essay preparation, and 40 hours private study.
Participation: learning to do philosophy well involves the open expression and criticism of ideas in the cooperative search for understanding and insight. Students are encouraged (and expected) to share their questions, comments and reflections during tutorials. Reading the material assigned for each class is essential to participating in class discussions and deriving maximum benefit from the course.
Attendance: attendance at tutorials is compulsory. If you cannot attend a seminar you must inform your tutor as soon as possible and obtain their permission. If it is an emergency and you cannot inform your tutor in advance, you must do so as soon as possible after the tutorial. An unexcused absence may attract extra work.
Academic warnings: in bad cases of non-attendance, the School may issue an official academic warning which can be given at any time. The student is given four weeks to make up lost work and perform to the satisfaction of the school, including attending all tutorials. If the student does not meet the specific targets set in the warning s/he will be required to withdraw.
ASSESSMENT
This course will be assessed by examination and by one essay, each contributing 50% of the module mark.
Examination: the exam will last two hours: students will be required to answer two questions.
Essay: Your essay should be no more than 2000 words long. It is strongly recommended that essays should be typed, and must contain a full bibliography of all items read. In addition, any ideas or phrases taken from others should be acknowledged in the text, either by putting the quoted passage in quotation marks followed by the name of the author and the page number in brackets, or by stating in the text that you are indebted to some author (who should be in the bibliography) for this idea. Failing to do this is plagiarism.
Essay deadline: Two anonymous copies of the essay should be handed in to SPIRE Room CBB2.002 between 1.30pm and 3.30pm on Wednesday, November 22nd (Week 9). Essays can be submitted any time before this deadline to the SPIRE office (CBA1.017) in opening hours found on the office door
Late essays: Essays handed in after this deadline without good cause will receive a mark of 0. Students with extenuating circumstances should obtain a form from the SPIRE office and complete it as soon as possible.
Plagiarism: plagiarism is the attempt to pass the ideas of others as one’s own. Serious disciplinary action will be taken against anyone caught plagiarising. For further information see Guide to Undergraduate Courses.
Return of essays: the School will do its best to see that your essay is marked and returned to you with reasonable comments within three weeks but, given student numbers and other staff commitments, this is not always possible. You will be informed when your essays are ready for collection via the school notice-board.
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1) What is Plato’s view of the relationship between being a just person and living a worthwhile life? Is his view one that ought to be accepted as correct? [See reading for tutorials in week 3 and 9 below.]
2) Is Plato’s argument that some women should be Guardians founded on principles that ought to be endorsed by supporters of equality between the sexes? [See reading for tutorial in week 5 below.]
3) Is Socrates merely a sophist with an undeservedly high posthumous reputation? [See reading for tutorial in week 7 below.]
4) What is the aim of Sextus’ Pyrrhonism, and what role is epistemological argument supposed to play in the achievement of this aim? [See reading for tutorial in week 11 below.]
MARKING CRITERIA
These are the criteria that will be used in marking the essays. You may want to ask yourself the following questions when writing it:
· Clarity of expression: how clearly are the ideas expressed?
· Direction/relevance: to what extent does the essay address the question?
· Understanding: to what extent does the essay display an understanding of the material?
· Exposition: if a summary of a text/argument was included, how thorough/accurate is it?
· Structure: how well structured is the material?
· Analysis/criticism: how analytical/critical is the essay?
· Research: how well researched is the essay?
· Originality/independence: how much independent thought does the essay display?
LECTURES AND TUTORIALS
Week 2
Lectures: Introduction to Plato and ancient philosophy; Plato’s Republic and some problems about justice
Week 3
Lecture: Plato’s positive account of justice
TUTORIAL: Plato on justice
Week 4
Lectures: Plato on women; The Pre-Socratics and birth of philosophy
Week 5
Lecture: The figure of Socrates
TUTORIAL: Plato and feminism
Week 6
Lectures: The sophists; Academic scepticism
Week 7
Lecture: Aristotle on philosophy and knowledge
TUTORIAL: Socrates and the importance of philosophy
Week 8
Lectures: Aristotle on virtue; Aristotle and slavery
Week 9
Lecture: The Hellenistic schools of philosophy
TUTORIAL: Aristotle on the good life
Week 10
Lectures: Epicurus on pleasure and friendship; Pyrrhonean scepticism
Week 11
Lecture: Scepticism, self-refutation, and liveability
TUTORIAL: Pyrrhonism
RECOMMENDED READING
Purchasing Suggestions
Plato, The Republic. The recommended edition is the edition translated by G.M.A. Grube and revised by C.D.C. Reeve (Hackett Publishing Company, 1992). However the edition in the Penguin Classics series would also be satisfactory.
Irwin, T., Classical Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1999)
Reading Suggestions
* = Available only through inter-library loan, an online library, or purchase.
Introductions and Overviews
Annas, J, Ancient Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2000) [on order 08/06]
Guthrie, W.K.C, History of Greek Philosophy, 6 vols. (Cambridge University Press, 1962-1981)
Hadot, P, What is Ancient Philosophy? (Harvard University Press, 2002) [On order 08/06]
Irwin, T.H, Classical Thought (Oxford University Press, 1989)
Taylor, C.C.W, ed. From the Beginning to Plato, (Routledge, 1997)
Bibliographies
Excellent bibliographies arranged by topic can be found in:
Everson, S, ed., Epistemology (Cambridge University Press, 1990)
Everson, S, ed., Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 1998) [on order 08/06]
Comprehensive bibliographies relating to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle can be found in:
Barnes, J, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle (Cambridge University Press, 1995)
Brickhouse, T.C. and Smith, N.D, Socrates on Trial (Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. 272-316
Kraut, R, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato (Cambridge University Press, 1992)
For the main Hellenistic schools of philosophy see:
*Bailey, A, Sextus Empiricus and Pyrrhonean Scepticism (Clarendon Press, 2002) [on order 08/06]
*Inwood, B, The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics (Cambridge University Press, 2003) [on order 08/06]
Jones, H, The Epicurean Tradition (Routledge, 1989)
Long, A. A. and Sedley, D.N, The Hellenistic Philosophers (Cambridge University Press, 1987), Vol. 2, pp. 476-512
Tutorial, Week 3, Plato on Justice
Key Reading: Plato, The Republic, Book One and the initial pages of Book Two (327a – 367e); Irwin, T., Classical Philosophy, Sect. XII, ‘The Good of Others’, pp. 298-316 (OUP, 1999)
Additional Possible Reading:
Annas, J, An Introduction to Plato’s Republic (Clarendon Press, 1981), especially Chapters 2, 3, 5, 6, and 12.
Cooper, J.M, ‘The Psychology of Justice in Plato’, American Philosophical Quarterly, 14 (1977), pp. 151-7
Demos, R, ‘A Fallacy in Plato’s Republic?’, Philosophical Review, LXXIII (1964), pp. 395-8
Foot, P, ‘Moral Beliefs’; in her Virtues and Vices (Basil Blackwell, 1978)
Irwin, T, Plato’s Moral Theory (Clarendon Press, 1977), Chapter 7
Kirwan, C.A., ‘Glaucon’s Challenge’, Phronesis, 10 (1965), pp. 162-73
Kraut, R, ‘The Defense of Justice in Plato’s Republic’; in R. Kraut, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato, Cambridge University Press, 1992
Murphy, N, The Interpretation of Plato’s Republic, Chapter 5 (Clarendon Press, 1951)
Pappas, N, Plato and the Republic (Clarendon Press, 2nd edn. 2003), especially Chapters 2, 3, 5, and 8
Sachs, D, ‘A Fallacy in Plato’s Republic’, Philosophical Review, LXXII (1963), pp. 141-58
*Sparshott, F.E, ‘Socrates and Thrasymachus’, The Monist, 50 (1966), pp. 421-59
Taylor, C.C.W, ‘Platonic Ethics’; in S. Everson, ed., Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 49-76 [on order 08/06]
Vlastos, G, ‘Justice and Happiness in the Republic’; in G. Vlastos, ed., Plato, vol. II, Doubleday, 1971
White, N.P, A Companion to Plato’s Republic (Hackett, 1979),Introduction, Sections 1,2, 5 and 6
Tutorial, Week 5, Plato and Feminism
Key Reading: Plato, The Republic, Book Five (449 – 471); Annas, J., ‘Plato’s Republic and Feminism’, Philosophy, 51 (1976), pp. 307-21
Additional Possible Reading
Annas, J, An Introduction to Plato’s Republic (Clarendon Press, 1981), Chapter 7, ‘Plato’s State’
Calvert, B, ‘Plato and the Equality of Women’, Phoenix, XXIX (1975), pp. 231-43
Lesser, H, ‘Plato’s Feminism’, Philosophy, 54 (1979), pp. 113-17
Okin, S.M, ‘Philosopher Queens and Private Wives: Plato on Women and the Family’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 6 (1977), pp. 345-69
Okin, S.M, Women in Western Political Thought (Princeton University Press, 1979), Chapters 1, 2, and 3
Pappas, N, Plato and the Republic (Clarendon Press, 2nd edn. 2003), Chapter 6, ‘Radical Politics’, pp. 102-9
Smith, N.D, ‘Plato and Aristotle on the Nature of Women’, Journal of the History of Philosophy, 21 (1983), pp. 467-78
Vlastos, G, ‘Was Plato a Feminist?’, Times Literary Supplement, March 17 – 23, 1989, pp. 276, 288-9
*Wender, D, ‘Plato: Misogynist, Paedophile and Feminist, Arethusa, 6 (1973), pp. 75-90
Wolff, J, An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1996), Chapter 6, ‘Individualism, Justice, Feminism’, pp. 202-9
Useful Material on the Social and Cultural Background
Davidson, J, Courtesans and Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens (Fontana, 1997), Chapter 3 ‘Women and Boys’, and Chapter 4 ‘A Purchase on the Hetaera’ [on order 08/06]
Dover, K.J, Greek Popular Morality in the Time of Plato and Aristotle (Hackett, 1974), pp.95-101, and 205-216
Joint Association of Classical Teachers, The World of Athens (Cambridge University Press, 1984), Chapter 4, ‘Athenian Society’
Pomeroy, S, Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves (Pimlico, 1975), Chapters IV, V, and VI
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