Philosophy 101: History of Western Philosophy
The Ancient Period

Spring 2002, TuTh 1:15, Mr. Beckman

All the courses in the history of philosophy sequence, phil 101-5, examine the works of recognized philosophers in various periods and geographical regions of the West. This course examines the works of philosophers in the Classic Period of Greek history. While this period of Greek culture did not have a continuous and direct influence on the later development of Europe, many of its fruits filtered back into Europe indirectly through Arab translations, and it was to this culture that Europeans looked back, as a Golden Age, beginning with the Renaissance. Certainly the modern movement in philosophy, from the late 16th Century onward, was strongly influenced, if not defined, by the issues and ideas of the Greeks.

One of the main objectives in studying the history of philosophy is seeking to understand past cultures through their aspirations and problems as raised and discussed by their foremost thinkers. When a culture has had a significant influence on development of our own society, this study may help us to understand our own aspirations and problems. In that case, another objective is to learn what we can about the methods that thinkers have used in raising issues, arguing about them, and identifying solutions.

In this course, I have elected to define ancient philosophy rather narrowly by encompassing primarily Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, leaving out any substantial consideration of the pre-Socratic philosophers and entirely missing the philosophers of later Hellenism. The fact that Plato himself was our chief source of information about Socrates makes this even more narrow! Fortunately, these three spanned the most important period in Greek history; and this was a period that precipitated a wide range of discussions that remain appropriate, in fact urgent, even today.

Finally, the ultimate and underlying objective of any philosophy course is to stimulate thought and discussion about real problems --- that is, issues that have vital importance to us today. Life is what we have before us, but always the question is how to live life well.

Resources

I have ordered several texts through Huntley Bookstore; these are noted in the bibliography, below. I have not ordered but I recommend Friedo Ricken's Philosophy of the Ancients as a good comprehensive introduction to ancient thought. I also recommend M. I. Finley's The Ancient Greeks as a good, short history of the Greek world. A standard reference in the history of philosophy is W. T. Jones' A History of Western Philosophy, Volume I, The Classical Mind. These books are usually available at Huntley in the trade book section under philosophy or you can find them at Honnold Library.

PHIL-101-L@hmc.edu is our class E-MAIL list. Any question on readings, lectures, or discussion can be addressed to this list and will be readable by all class members. Private messages can be sent to me at Tad _Beckman@hmc.edu. There is also a course discussion site for this class on the Web; you will find a link to it on the course home page.

All course materials, including this syllabus, are on the course Web site at http://www4.hmc.edu/humanities/phil101/. This site includes all course notes, reading and paper assignments, and other relevant information. Since I will update these materials throughout the semester, please be sure to visit the site occasionally (especially before assignment due dates) to review changes.

Please remember, also, that the Writing Center is available for help in drafting papers. It is located in TG 106.

Assignments and Expectations

Attendance and participation in class discussions are expected. If there is any reason why you cannot attend regularly, please see me immediately. Since the bulk of class time will be devoted to discussion of the texts, it is essential that everyone finish the assigned reading before class and be prepared to talk about it and ask questions, intelligently.

The course discussion site contains a schedule of class discussions. Each student must submit a discussion question or enter into the on-going discussion for the correct day, on this site, by at least 11:00 AM on the class day. I will review the discussion questions and structure the class discussion on that basis.

There will be three writing assignments during the semester. There will also be a final writing assignment in this course.

Grading will be based on the following approximate distribution of emphasis:
Class Participation (20%)
On-Line Discussion (30%)
Papers (3) (10% each)
Final Paper (20%)

Bibliography

Almost everything that we will read in this course is available somewhere on the InterNet as a digital text (either on a Gopher site or on a Web site). These are public domain editions, namely, older translations. In most cases, the newer translations are more readable and, hence, more interesting. Nevertheless, you will do fine with the InterNet resources if that is the route you want to take. Let me know if you have any trouble finding them.

Books Ordered Through Huntley

AUTHOR: Sophocles
TITLE: The Three Theban Plays; Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus
IMPRINT: New York : : Viking Penguin, , Feb. 1984
ISBN/PRICE: 0140444254 TP; USD 9.95 R
PUB ORDER NO: Viking Penguin

AUTHOR: Aristotle
TITLE: Introduction to Aristotle
IMPRINT: New York : : McGraw-Hill Companies, The, , Feb. 1965
SERIES: Modern Library College EditionsISBN/PRICE: 0075536528 PT; USD 10.00 N
CONTRIBUTOR: McKeon, Richard P.; edt

AUTHOR: Plato
TITLE: The Works of Plato
IMPRINT: New York: : McGraw-Hill Companies
ISBN/PRICE: 007553651X PT

AUTHOR: Plato
TITLE: Republic
IMPRINT: New York: : Oxford University Press
ISBN/PRICE: 0192833707 TP

Recommended:

AUTHOR: Finley, Moses I.
TITLE: Ancient Greeks
IMPRINT: New York : : Viking Penguin, , March 1987
ISBN/PRICE: 0140137076 TP; USD 11.95 R

AUTHOR: Barnes, Jonathan
TITLE: Early Greek Philosophy
IMPRINT: New York : : Viking Penguin, , June 1987
ISBN/PRICE: 0140444610 TP; USD 12.95 R

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This page was last updated on January 10, 2002.