A. ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY – THE BEGINNINGS
The word “philosophy” first occurred in the fifth century BCE in Attic comedy and writings of Plato, but the traces of philosophical thinking can be found much earlier. The emergence of western philosophy is usually associated with cosmologies of so-called Presocratics. However, such selectionhelps us to understand only half of the phenomenon. A full understanding of the history of Greek philosophy requires that we take into account the contribution of the moral and political investigations of early Greek epic and lyric poets.Such complex approach will help us to understand better both crucial aspects of philosophical thinking – the theoretical and the practical one.
The course applies to
✓ Tourist Guides,
✓Museum Workers,
✓Archaeologists,
✓Teachers,
✓Researchers of Classics
COURSE OUTLINE:
- Introduction. What is philosophy about – theoretical and practical approach,
- The notion of polis in Homeric epic poetry,
- Hesiod on justice,
- Solon’s innovations in political thinking,
- Theognis and his new value system,
- Discovery of “science” – the Ionians (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes),
- Italic response (Pythagoras, Xenophon),
- Discovery of being (Parmenides),
- Discovery of flux (Heraclitus),
- Love, strife and mind (Empedocles, Anaxagoras),
- Atoms, void and kind mind (Democritus),
- The Sophistic revolution
ASSESSMENT
- Attendance (20 %),
- Mid-term examination / presentation of a topic in class (20%),
- One 3000-word written essay (20%),
- Final examination (written) (40%).
READING LIST
- Laks, André, Most, Glenn W.Early Greek Philosophy, Volume I: Introductory and Reference Materials. Loeb Classical Library 524, Harvard University Press, 2016,
- Cartledge, Paul. Ancient Greek Political Thought in Practice. Cambridge University Press, 2009,
- Barnes, Jonathan. The Presocratic Philosophers. Routledge, 1982,
- Rowe, Christopher, Schofield, Malcolm, editors. The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Political Thought. Cambridge University Press, 2005,
- Pearson, Lionel. Popular Ethics in Ancient Greece. Stanford University Press, 1962.
B. ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY – THE BLOSSOM
Life and thoughts of Socrates kick-started classical period of ancient Greek philosophy. The works of Plato and Aristotle inthe field of ontology, epistemology, moral and political philosophy deeply influenced philosophical thinking from antiquity up to nowadays. In Hellenistic period Socratics’ legacy inspired Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics for grasping the philosophy merely as a practice, as a way of life.
The course applies to
✓ Tourist Guides,
✓Museum Workers,
✓Archaeologists,
✓Teachers,
✓Researchers of Classics
COURSE OUTLINE:
- Socrates – the Hero of practical philosophy,
- Socrates and the care of the self,
- Why Plato wrote dialogues?
- Plato – the soul and the polis,
- Plato’s allegories of the sun, the divided line and the cave,
- Aristotle –all men naturally desire knowledge,
- Aristotle – how to achieve an excellent character,
- Aristotle –political animal who speaks with the logos,
- Hellenistic philosophy and science,
- The Stoics,
- The Epicureans,
- The Sceptics.
ASSESSMENT
- Attendance (20 %),
- Mid-term examination / presentation of a topic in class (20%),
- One 3000-word written essay (20%),
- Final examination (written) (40%).
READING LIST
- Morrison, Donald R., editor.The Cambridge Companion to Socrates. Cambridge University Press, 2011,
- Benson, Hugh H., editor. A Companion to Plato. Blackwell, 2006,
- Barnes, Jonathan, editor. The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle. Cambridge University Press, 1995,
- Long, Anthony Arthur. Hellenistic Philosophy. University of California Press, 1986,
- Rowe, Christopher, Schofield, Malcolm, editors. The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Political Thought. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Matúš Porubjak, PhD
Professor of Professor of philosophy
Department of Philosophy and Applied Philosophy,Faculty of Arts, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava(UCM), Slovak Republic
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