PHIL 611: Ancient Philosophy

For the Spring Semester 2008

Instructor: Robin Smith

Place: Bolton 213

Time: Tuesday 8:45-11:45 AM

Warning: This is a draft syllabus, last revised Jan. 10, 2008

Course Description.

This course will be a rather fast survey of the philosophical thought of Plato and Aristotle, aimed at graduate students in philosophy who may not have any previous background in ancient Greek philosophy and who may not be planning to pursue further research in it either. It will involve a great deal of reading; one of my goals is to cover the major works of both philosophers, at least in outline, with most emphasis on their approaches to knowledge, reality, and the best human life. As a result, Plato's Phaedo, Republic, and Sophist and Aristotle's Metaphysics and Nicomachean Ethics will get somewhat more attention than other works. The objectives of this course are (a) to provide graduate students with a sufficient background in Plato and Aristotle to support further graduate study in ancient Greek philosophy and (b) to prepare graduate students in the Ph.D. program for comprehensive exams in the history of philosophy.

Text and other reading.

There are two required texts for this course

1. The Cambridge Companion to Plato, ed. Richard Kraut. Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-521-43018-6
2. The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle, ed. Jonathan Barnes. Cambridge University Press, 1995. 0-521-12294-9 ISBN

These are, in the terminology of the discipline, secondary sources, that is, works about Plato and Aristotle. Of course, the fundamental texts for the course are the primary sources: the works of Plato and Aristotle. I will assume you have access to these, and I recommend the following versions of their complete works:

1. Plato, Complete Works. Edited, with Introduction and Notes by John M. Cooper. Hackett Publishing Co., 1997. ISBN 0-87220-349-2. This is by far the best, and most economical, complete edition of Plato in English translation.
2. The Complete Works of Aristotle, Edited by Jonathan Barnes. Princeton University Press (Bollingen Series), 1984. ISBN 0-691-09950-2. Usually known as the 'Revised Oxford translation,' this is the most convenient way to get all of Aristotle's works in useable form.

I have not made these required texts because some students may already have other versions. You're welcome to use the translations you have of the works we read (or Greek texts of them, if you're so equipped), but if you're seriously planning a career in philosophy then these are among the things you probably ought to own.

Some futher sources of information through the web:

• The Perseus project, an "evolving digital library" for Classical studies
• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has articles on Plato and Aristotle's biology, categories, logic, ethics, metaphysics, philosophy of mathematics psychology, natural philosophy (natural science), political theory, and treatise on rhetoric.

Prerequisites, and what you need to know.

It will help if you have taken an undergraduate course in ancient philosophy (such as our own PHIL 410, Classical Philosophy), but this course does not assume that you have. No knowledge of Greek is required.

Formal course work and grading policies.

There are three pieces of formal work required for this course.

1. A term paper (15 pages), due at the end of the course (May 2. It can be about any aspect of Plato's or Aristotle's thought. A third of your grade is based on this.
2. A take-home examination on Plato, with questions distributed on February 26 and answers due on March 4. A third of your grade is based on this.
3. A take-home examination on Aristotle, with questions distributed on April 22 and answers due on April 29. A third of your grade is based on this.

Schedule for the semester.

The reading assignments below are subject to change and refinement based on how the course actually progresses. Exam dates will not be changed. Please note that there is a lot of reading expected for this course.