Plato, Aristotle and the Ancients: Phil 321
Instructor: Jonathan D. Trigg Ph.D.
Office: HLG 510
Office hours: Mon., Wed., Fri.: 1:00 – 3:00; Tue., Thur.: 3.30 – 5.30
E-mail: jon.trigg@louisiana.edu
Class Time: MWF 11:00-11:50
Class Place: HLG 504
Assessment: Your final grade will be made up of the following components:
Mid-Term Examination 30%
Final
Paper
35%
Final
Examination 30%
Class
Participation
5%
In the mid-term examination you will answer two questions in fifty
minutes, and in the final examination you will answer three questions
in two and a half hours. We will spend some class time discussing exam
technique. The final paper will be between 8 and 12 pages long (12
point, double spaced). I will provide you with a list of titles for
this paper, and plenty of advice on how to complete it.
Grading System
• Remember that you are being graded for achievement, not effort.
• Grades range from A to F. A = 90-100; B = 80-89; C = 70-79; D = 60-69; F = 39 - 59
• An A is assigned to excellent work, B to
better than average, C to average and D to below average but passing; F
grades fail.
• No ‘extra credit’ will be given.
Attendance and Class Policies
Attendance is mandatory. Students who miss more than three classes over
the semester without good reason will automatically be dropped from the
course. Good reasons include illness (requiring medical attention) and
involvement in significant university activities. I will deduct 2.5
points (a quarter letter grade) a day from unexcused late assignments.
If you have a disability and require assistance with fulfilling class
assignments, don't hesitate to notify the instructor and the Office for
Services to Students with Disabilities at 482-5252. Finally, be sure
you are familiar with all university policies described in the UL
Lafayette Undergraduate Bulletin.
If you miss class, for whatever reason, it is your responsibility to
get class notes from another student. Missed exams or other assignments
can be made up only if an appropriate excuse, e.g., illness requiring
medical attention, participation in certain official university events,
etc., is provided. If you miss an assignment due date, you must notify
me within one week of the due date in order to make up the assignment.
Anybody caught plagiarizing will fail the course and will be reported
to the University. It is incredibly easy to identify examples of
plagiarism. You must include full citations of any sources that you use
– including page numbers of books and URL’s for websites.
Emergency Evacuation Procedures
A map of this floor is posted near the elevator marking the evacuation
route and the Designated Rescue Area. This is an area where emergency
service personnel will go first to look for individuals who need
assistance in exiting the building. Students who may need assistance
should identify themselves to the teaching faculty.
Main Texts
Terence Irwin, Classical Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 1999.
Miles Burnyeat, The Theaetetus of Plato (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co.) 1990
James O. Urmson, Aristotle’s Ethics (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers) 1988
Plato, Theaetetus (London: Penguin) 1987
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 1998
Internet Resources
An excellent web page for Plato’s Theaetetus can be found at:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-theaetetus/
And for the Aristotle’s ethics:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/
Main Themes
Whilst this course concerns two of the most important figures in the
history of our civilisation it will not primarily be an historical
course. It will be a philosophical investigation of problems in
metaphysics, theory of knowledge and ethics which are as pressing today
as they were when Plato and Aristotle discussed them 2500 years ago.
They include:
Metaphysics
Are there many things or just one thing?
Is the universe made up of processes or objects?
What are appearances?
Are there kinds of things as well as things? If so, what kind of a thing is a kind of a thing?
Epistemology
Can I know how things really are, or only how they seem to me?
If knowledge of a world independent of our minds is
possible, how is it possible? In particular: Does it depend on our
capacity for rational thought or our capacity for sense-perception?
What does it mean to say that someone knows something?
Ethics/Politics
What is it to be a good person?
What kind of life is the most desirable?
Does wanting to be happy make me selfish?
What is the best way for us to live together?
What is the point of philosophy?
Course Structure and Reading
Roman numerals in brackets refer to chapters in Irwin’s Classical Philosophy
B refers to Burnyeat’s The Theaetetus of Plato
NE refers to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
U refers to Urmson’s Aristotle’s Ethics
You should read the relevant pieces before we discuss the issues they
raise in class. I highly recommend you read them again after class;
philosophical writing is dense and demanding and you should not expect
to understand things perfectly the first or second time around.
Week 1: Introduction – Overview of period (I)
Metaphysics and Epistemology
Week 2: Nature and Change (II)
Week 3: Mystics and Naturalists (III)
Week 4: Scepticism: Is knowledge possible? (IV)
Week 5: Plato’s response – the forms. (V)
Week 6: The Theaetetus: What is knowledge anyway? First answer -
Knowledge is perception – Introducing Protagoras and Heraclitus
((IV) + B part 1)
Week 7: Plato’s refutation of Protagoras, Heraclitus and Theaetetus (B part 1)
Week 8: Perception and judgement ((V) + B part 1) Mid Term Examination
Ethics and Politics
Week 9: Introduction: Virtue Ethics vs. Consequentialism and Deontology
Week 10: The ideal life – Aristotle ((X) + U Introduction & Ch. 1; + NE Book 1 Chs. 1-5, 7 & 13)
Week 11: Pleasure, Happiness and Egoism ((XII) & U Ch. 8)
Week 12: Justice and Friendship ((XII) U Ch. 9)
Week 13: The ideal life again – virtue and contemplation (U Ch. 10 + NE Book X Chs. 6-8 esp. 7)
Week 14: Politics – individual and collective well being (XIV)
Week 15: Taking Stock – revision and final examination.
Final Examination:
HLG 505; Friday, December 9, 7:30 A.M. – 10:00 A.M.