printer friendly pagePHIL 105C: Beauty in Ancient Greek Philosophy (PHIL 205C)
Beauty occupies a peculiarly central place in ancient Greek philosophical thought, figuring prominently in Plato's and Aristotle's ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics. The ancient conception of beauty is also in various ways at odds with our modern conception: far from being "in the eye of the beholder", ancient philosophers thought of beauty as a paradigm of objectivity, and closely aligned with moral goodness. Why this discrepancy between the ancient and modern conceptions of beauty? And what might the centrality of beauty in ancient thought reveal about ancient ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics? This course is an investigation into these questions, by means of a close reading of the major ancient texts in which beauty appears. Some background in ancient Greek philosophy and/or contemporary aesthetics is preferred, but not required.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Costello, W. (PI)
PHIL 106: Ancient Greek Skepticism (PHIL 206)
The ancient Pyrrhonian skeptics who think that for any claim there is no more reason to assert it than deny it and that a life without any beliefs is the best route to happiness. Some ancient opponents of the Pyrrhonian skeptics and some relations between ancient and modern skepticism.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Code, A. (PI)
PHIL 106A: Philosophy of Neuroscience (PHIL 206A, SYMSYS 206A)
How can we explain the mind? With approaches ranging from computational models to cellular-level characterizations of neural responses to the characterization of behavior, neuroscience aims to explain how we see, think, decide, and even feel. While these approaches have been highly successful in answering some kinds of questions, they have resulted in surprisingly little progress in others. We'll look at the relationships between the neuroscientific enterprise, philosophical investigations of the nature of the mind, and our everyday experiences as creatures with minds. Prerequisite:
PHIL 80.n(Not open to freshmen.)
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Cao, R. (PI)
;
Gottlieb, D. (TA)
PHIL 107: Plato's Early Dialogues (PHIL 207)
We shall read some of the most important and difficult of Plato¿s `early¿ dialogues: the Charmides, parts of the Euthydemus, the Gorgias, the Hippias Minor, the Meno, and the Protagoras. Topics include: the nature of pleasure and its role in the good life, good luck and the good life, self-knowledge, the relation between knowledge and virtue, whether virtue can be taught, learning and recollection, rhetoric, the relations among the virtues, Socratic ignorance, and the Socratic method of the elenchus.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 8 units total)
Instructors:
Bobonich, C. (PI)
PHIL 107A: The Greeks on Irrationality (PHIL 207A)
In this course, we shall examine the views of some central Greek philosophers (Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans, and the Stoics) on the irrational and non-rational aspects of human life. What makes something irrational and what roles (negative and perhaps positive as well) does the irrational play in our lives? We shall examine their views on anger, fear, madness, love, pleasure and pain, sexual desire and so on. We shall also consider more briefly some depictions of these psychic items in ancient Greek literature.
Last offered: Autumn 2012
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
PHIL 107B: Plato's Later Metaphysics and Epistemology (PHIL 207B)
A close reading of Plato's Theatetus and Parmenides, his two mature dialogues on the topics of knowledge and reality. We will consider various definitions of knowledge, metaphysical problems about the objects of knowledge, and a proposed method for examining and resolving such problems. Some background in ancient Greek philosophy and/or contemporary metaphysics and epistemology is preferred, but not required. Prerequisite:
Phil 80.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
Instructors:
Costello, W. (PI)
PHIL 107C: Plato's Timaeus (PHIL 207C)
Last offered: Spring 2015
PHIL 108: Aristotle's Metaphysics Book Alpha (PHIL 208)
An introduction both to Aristotle's own metaphysics and to his treatment of his predecessors on causality, included the early Ionian cosmologists, atomism, Pythagoreans, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras and Plato. Prerequisite: one course in ancient Greek philosophy.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
| Repeatable
for credit
PHIL 108A: Aristotelian Logic (PHIL 208A)
A careful examination of Aristotle's syllogistic, with special emphasis on the interpretation of his modal syllogistic. This course will serve both as an introduction to ancient term logic and to the difference between sentential modal operators and modal modifiers to the copula. Topics will include the analysis of syllogisms into figures and moods, the reduction of 2nd and 3rd figure syllogisms to the first, the consistency of the modal syllogistic, models for the syllogistic, and de re versus de dicto modalities. For students with at least some introductory background in logic.
Last offered: Winter 2014
PHIL 108B: Aristotle's Physics Book One (PHIL 208B)
A chapter by chapter analysis of Aristotle's introductory discussions of physical theory. Topics to be considered include Aristotle's treatment of Eleatic monism, the role of opposites in pre-Socratic physics, the role of matter in physics, and an analysis of the elements of changing objects into form, privation and a subject.
Last offered: Spring 2014
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