Course Information Overview
Course Description
This course satisfies the "Philosophy and Religion" (C-3) section of the General Education Program. Courses in this section are designed to promote critical reflection on questions concerning the nature, meaning, and value of human existence, the world in which we live, and our relations with one another. Students should understand the sources and limits of knowledge, and they should appreciate and be able to assess different world views and moral teachings that have played central roles in human culture.
More specifically, this course is designed as a critical evaluation of classical philosophy with a focus on the metaphysic and epistemology of the Pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. We will also examine the historical situation of the rise of philosophy in ancient Greece, the role of the sophists, democracy in 5th century B. C. Athens, and the influence of the Peloponnesian War on Plato's Republic.
Course Requirements
1. Two Exams-- @ 20% each-- 40%
2. Short Paper 20%--5 pages due the 12th week of the semester. See "Writing Philosophical Papers" by McHenry in Reflections on Philosophy.
3. Participation/Attendance-10%
4. Final Exam-- 30% Comprehensive but concentrating on the final section of the course.
The plus/minus grading system will be used, i.e., A, A-, B+, B, B-…
Tentative Course Outline
1. Introduction to Ancient Philosophy
Mythos to Logos, The rise of science and philosophy
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, Chapter 1
2. The Pre-Socratics
The doctrines of substance, form, process and permanence
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5
Ancient Philosophy, pp. 1-30.
3. Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War
Required Reading:
Ancient Philosophy-- Pericles, Funeral Oration
Thucydides, The Melian Conference, p. 56
4. Socrates vs. the Sophists
Absolutism vs. Relativism, Dialectic vs. Rhetoric
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, Chapters 9, 10
Ancient Philosophy--Plato's Euthyphro, Apology,
EXAM 1
5. Plato
The Theory of Forms, Mathematics, The Ideal State
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, Chapters 11, 12, 13, 14
Ancient Philosophy--Plato's Symposium, Republic, Theaetetus
Recommended Reading:
Reflections on Philosophy, Ch. 3
EXAM 2
6. Aristotle
The Theory of Substance, Change, Potential and Actual, Natural Science
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, Chapters 15, 16, 17
Ancient Philosophy--Aristotle's Categories, Physics, Metaphysics,
Recommended Reading:
Reflections on Philosophy, Ch. 3
REVIEW
FINAL EXAM