Classes will regard a general historical reconstruction of Ancient Greek and Roman Western philosophical traditions, with a special focus on Plato and Aristotle. Some of the most influential philosophers will be read in the English translation of their original texts. One or more films are envisaged, depending on time schedule. Lectures and presentations imply a strong motivation and an active participation in class.
Course outcomes
By the end of the semester students will be able to master and use basic philosophical concepts. They will also be capable of understating the roots and the origin of our Western traditions in such fields as ontology, epistemology, politics, logic, ethics, and of critically constructing their own perspective on these issues.
AUTHORS (online texts):
Pre-Socratics (a short history of their re-evaluation)
Gorgias and the Sophists
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
Epicurus
Cynics, Sceptics, Stoics
Epictetus
Plotinus
Short texts and quotations by contemporary philosophers (Arendt, Friedlaender, Nietzsche, Nussbaum, Popper, Chomsky, Heisenberg, and others) will be used to show the continuity between ancient and modern thinking.
TEXTBOOK:
Thomas A. Blackson, Ancient Greek Philosophy: from the Presocratics to the Hellenistic Philosophers, 2011 (electronic format)
REFERENCE BOOKS ON RESERVE:
M.Nahm, Selections from Early Greek Philosophy
C.Shields, Classical philosophy
D. Roochnik, Retrieving the Ancients
J.L.Saunders, ed., Greek and Roman Philosophy after Aristotle
FILM
Oedipus Rex by Pier Paolo Pasolini