Ancient Philosophy (AP9100C)

Content

This unit is an introduction to Ancient philosophical thought. The Greco-Roman tradition is the foundation of all other Western philosophy and its history has profoundly influenced Christian thought and practice. Authors and schools of thought to be studied include Greek Tragedy, selected Pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, and the Neo-Platonists. Students will be introduced to the historical period and its varied sources, and to topics such as nature, myth, tragedy, being, life and death, soul, freedom, immortality, the state, art, and God.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

One unit of philosophy

Pedagogy

Lectures, seminars, tutorials. When taught online asynchronously, the tutorial/seminar component may be replaced by guided reading exercises.

Indicative Bibliography

Recommended reading:

• Barnes, Jonathan, ed. The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
• Blackson, Thomas A. Ancient Greek Philosophy: from the Presocratics to the Hellenistic Philosophers. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
• Graham, Daniel W., ed. and trans. The Texts of Early Greek Philosophy: The Complete Fragments and Selected Testimonies of the Major Presocratics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
• Hamilton, Edith, and Huntington Cairns, eds. Plato: The Collected Dialogues of Plato including the Letters. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961.
• Irwin, Terence. Aristotle’s First Principles. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
• ¬———. Classical Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Meyer, Susan. Ancient Ethics: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge, 2008.
• Prior, William J. Virtue and Knowledge: An Introduction to Greek Ethics. London: Routledge, 1991.
• Sharples, R. W. Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics: An Introduction to Hellenistic Philosophy. Oxford: Routledge, 1996.
• Taylor, A. E. Plato the man and his work. New York: Dover, 2011.

Assessment