This course is about two arguments and (for the most part) three philosophers. The philosophers are Aristotle, Diodorus Cronus, and Chrysippus, and the arguments are (1) the argument to which Aristotle is replying in On Interpretation 9 (I shall call this the "Sea Battle") and (2) the "Master Argument" that Diodorus Cronus proposed. There's a close connection between argument (1) and argument (2), although it's controversial just how close it is. We know a good deal about one of these philosophers (Aristotle), and we know very little about the other two. What we do know, however, is that these arguments were of great importance to ancient Greek philosophers in the Classical and, especially, the Hellenistic periods. However they are interpreted, they present a challenge of some sort to the notion that our actions are up to us and support some version of fatalism or determinism.
As it happens, On Interpretation 9 is one of the most heavily-discussed passages in Aristotle, or indeed in any ancient philosopher. Its interpretation has been controversial for many centuries, and its content has raised major problems for many philosophers, including medieval theologians and modern logicians. The Master Argument has also been a subject of considerable discussion, both because of its intrinsic content and because of the difficulties in determining just exactly what it was.
In this course, we will work through the past half century (or a little more) of interpretive controversy concerning these arguments. That will, of course, involve studying Aristotle's text and the evidence we have concerning Diodorus' argument, but it will also involve studying the study of Aristotle's text and Diodorus' argument. One thing that I hope will emerge from this is some idea of the interactions between work in the history of philosophy and work in philosophy proper.
There is one listed textbook for this course: Aristotle, Categories and De Interpretatione, translated with notes by J. L. Ackrill (Clarendon Aristotle Series). We will in fact be reading a good deal more than this, but I'm relying on the library and electronic resources to save you money (and also to provide some experience in working with the library and electronic resources). There is a Bibliography for this course including material that's relevant to it.
The readings for each week are listed in the schedule below. Some readings are chapters of books, and these are available electronically from the Library through the Reserve site for this course. Others are journal articles, and these are available electronically through the Library's online subscriptions to those journals. A few others are available as online books in one format or another. In addition to these listed readings, the Reserve list for the course includes several items that may be useful to you in writing your term paper.
Please bear in mind that until Sept. 2, this schedule is subject to modification.
| Date | Subject | Readings |
|---|---|---|
| Sep. 2 | What the course is about | |
| Sep. 9 | The philosophers and the arguments | Shields, Aristotle; Sedley, Diodorus Cronus; Bobzien, Dialectical School; Sedley, "Diodorus Cronus and Hellenistic Philosophy"; Baltzly, Stoicism; |
| Sep. 16 | The Sea-Battle argument: On Interpretation 9 | Aristotle, On Interpretation 9 (and Ackrill's notes); Aristotle, Metaphysics Θ; |
| Sep. 23 | Three-Valued Logic and the Sea Battle | Lukasiewicz, "Philosophical Remarks on Many-Valued Systems of Propositional Calculus"; Baylis, "Are Some Propositions Neither True Nor False?"; Prior, "Three-Valued Logic and Future Contingents" |
| Sep. 30 | The Sea-Battle arrives in Oxford | Anscombe, "Aristotle and the Sea Battle"; Ryle, "It Was to Be"; Saunders, "A Sea Fight Tomorrow?" |
| Oct. 7 | The Sea Battle II | Albritton, "Present Truth and Future Contingency"; Taylor, "Problem of Future Contingencies"; Strang, "Aristotle and the Sea Battle" |
| Oct. 14 | The Sea Battle III | Hintikka, "The Once and Future Sea Fight"; Rescher, "An Interpretation of Aristotle's Doctrine of Future Contingency and Excluded Middle"; Sorabji, "Tomorrow's Sea Battle"; Brogaard, "Sea Battle Semantics" |
| Oct. 21 | The Master Argument | Epictetus, Discourses II.19; Cicero;
First Take-home Exam due at the start of class |
| Oct. 28 | Cleanthes' and Chrysippus' Responses | Frede, "Stoic Determinism"; Ide, "Chrysippus's Response to Diodorus's Master Argument" |
| Nov. 4 | Interpreting the Master Argument, I | Prior, "Diodoran Modalities"; Hintikka, "Aristotle and the Master Argument of Diodorus Cronus" |
| Nov. 11 | Interpreting the Master Argument, II | McKirahan, "Diodorus and Prior and the Master Argument." |
| Nov. 18 | Interpreting the Master Argument, III | Denyer, "Time and Modality in Diodorus Cronus."; Gaskin, "Reconstructing the Master Argument: Response to Denyer"; |
| Nov. 25 | Thanksgiving break (no class) | |
| Dec. 2 | Conclusions for the semester | Whitaker, Aristotle's De Interpretatione: Contradiction and Dialectic; Term papers due |
| Dec. 11 | (Not a class day) | Take-home Exam 2 due by 5:00 PM |
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