PHH 3100 Honors
Ancient Greek Philosophy, WAC
http://wise.fau.edu/~dwhite/courses/PHH3100WAC.htm
Office Hours and
Syllabi: http://wise.fau.edu/~dwhite
Daniel White
In this course we will cover the foundations of Western
philosophy in ancient Greek thinking about nature and humanity, including the
ideas of the pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. We will consider the
basic philosophical issues raised by these thinkers, as well as the historical
and cultural context in which their thought arises. We shall give special
consideration to the different readings of Greek texts made possible by
different interpretive frameworks. Therefore, we are going to raise the
fundamental questions of philosophy as they have been handed down from the
Greeks. What “exists”? Is there a
“soul”? How is “nature” constituted?
Does it have “laws”? If so, what are they? Are the laws of nature different
from those of “society” or “culture”? Is there “life” after “death”? What is
the “best” life? What constitutes the best “state”? Does the human soul have “faculties”? If so,
what is the most important one? What is “reason”? What is “art”? What are the
best methods by which nature, society, and the individual may be “known”? The
emphasis of the class will be on the reading, discussion, and interpretation of
texts in light of philosophical, interdisciplinary, and broad human
interests. Your daily participation is
essential to our success. This course
fulfills the Wilkes Honors College Core requirement in Culture, Ideas, and
Values (CIV), the WHC Philosophy Concentration requirement in History of
Philosophy (H), and as part of the FAU requirement in Writing Across the
Curriculum (WAC) and the Gordon Rule.
Course Objectives:
Course Requirements: the principal forms of evaluation of your performance in this class will be in terms of critical writing, discussion, and oral presentation.
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Requirements:
This writing-intensive course serves as one of the two “Gordon Rule”
classes at the 2000-4000 level that [you must take] after completing ENC 1101
and 1102 or their equivalents. You must receive a grade of “C” (not C-minus) or
better to receive credit. Furthermore, this class meets the University-wide
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) criteria, which
expect you to improve your writing over the course of the term. The
University’s WAC program promotes the teaching of writing across all levels and
all disciplines. Writing-to-learn activities have proven effective in
developing critical thinking skills, learning discipline-specific content, and
understanding and building competence in the modes of enquiry and writing for
various disciplines and professions.
Guidelines
for writing reading responses and formal and informal essays, including
examples of essay questions:
1)
general
principles: Informal and formal
essays should be organized in deductive, inductive, or dialogical
form; one paper during the term will be in narrative form (you will
have the opportunity to write your own philosophic myth, as in Plato’s Allegory
of the Cave). The principal differences
between your informal responses and your formal essays will be in length of
development and in the process of revision.
2) Specific
guidelines:
a) deductive or thesis-support organization: this essay will be
organized into an introduction, a body, and a conclusion:
The introduction
should present the subject of your essay for a wide, educated audience
who are somewhat familiar with the ancient Greeks and may know of a philosopher
or two, but who will need you, the writer, briefly to explain how each
philosopher fits into the history of Greek thought, what key terms mean, and
why the issues you deal with in your essays should be of interest; the
introduction will culminate in a thesis which is a succinct statement of
the principal argument of your essay. Thesis: “Plato’s theory of Forms was, as
Aristotle would demonstrate, actually a faulty theory of predication.”
The body of your essay
should be organized into a series of paragraphs each of which is organized into
a topic sentence and a series of examples illustrating the topic, evaluating
the topic in terms of pros and cons, or analyzing the topic in terms of its
components. Each topic sentence should be logically connected to the thesis
statement; you should remind your reader explicitly of how each topic is
relevant to your thesis. Based on the thesis stated above, one topic sentence might say: “Plato’s theory
of Forms was, in his view, a clear way of explaining, first, why natural
objects remain distinct, second, how we can know those objects, and finally why
they exhibit ‘degrees of perfection and imperfection’”; another might say,
“Aristotle argued that the grammar of sentences, parsed into subject and
predicate, can serve as the basis of understanding both definite forms of
natural objects and our clear understanding of them.” Each of these topics
could itself be broken down into subtopics, either for the organization of
complex paragraphs or for the development of separate paragraphs. Thus you
could write an entire paragraph on the topic, “Plato argued that the distinct
existence of natural objects could be accounted for by their ‘partaking’ of
ideal Forms.”
The conclusion of your essay should summarize key points made in terms
of the topics and examples of the body in light of the introduction, and return
to reiterate your thesis in light of the ideas presented overall. You should
leave your readers with a refined understanding of our original argument and
some lasting food for thought. Remember here as in your introduction who your
audience is and what their interests are likely to be. You might of course
address the philosophers among them, as well as those less initiated into the
difficulties of this discipline, striking a balance between the serious and the
merely curious student of your work.
b) inductive organization: arguing to
derive a reasonable thesis from evidence via a guiding question.
c) dialogical form: developing an
argument in terms of a conversation among interlocutors who represent different
points of view.
c) narrative order: developing your idea in terms of a “story”
(plot, character, imagery, symbol).
3) Grading
criteria: formal: A, B, C, D, F; informal:
√++ √+ √
√ -
√ - -; the same qualitative measures (below) will be
applied under both formal and informal criteria, but under the informal the content
of writing (its ideas and reasoning) will be emphasized while its composition
(grammar, mechanics, organization, and style) will be noted but not
emphasized; under the formal criteria, both content and composition will be
emphasized; thus it’s easier to get a √++ than an A, but any
compositional problems noted in the √++ essay and not corrected in the
formally graded essay will likely prevent the latter from receiving an A; thus
informal writing will serve to provide feedback about composition which should
be incorporated into the writing of formal assignments. The following
descriptions of grades are exemplary but not definitive: they do not constitute
exclusive criteria for the receipt of grades in each category; they are meant
to provide guidelines for judgment, not to determine it.
A / √++: the essay argues a clear thesis in terms of a series of
topics and supporting examples; it is organized coherently into introduction,
body, and conclusion, with logical transitions between paragraphs; it is based
on a careful and through reading and presentation of textual and historical
evidence; it not only answers the question but also offers its own, distinctive
insight into the problem posed; there are few if any errors in grammar and
mechanics; it is written in lucid language with varied sentence structure,
versatile vocabulary, and astute word choice. A key indicator is that the
language used is consistent with the writing of a distinguished Honors
Thesis in the senior year. In inductive,
dialogical, or narrative writing the same qualitative standards will apply but
in terms of each distinct form of organization: inductive: the detailed,
consistent, derivation of general principles from evidence, leading in clear
steps toward the answer to a question; dialogical: the dialectical
working out of ideas through their interchange, particularly conflicting views
of a problem, leading toward a reasonable resolution; narrative: the
controlled use of plot, character, imagery, and symbol to represent ideas iconically,
clearly illustrating concepts or problems, including intellectual conflicts and
their resolutions, allegorically, as in Plato’s famous story of the Cave.
B / √+: the essay has a
clear thesis with good support (or question and derivation of answer, or
dialectical interplay of ideas, or ideational narrative); but it does not
represent its ideas as clearly, utilize evidence as thoroughly and precisely
based on the most discerning standards of reading; its organization is clear
but not as tightly interlinked as in the A paper; its language is
reasonably communicative but not lucid; its sentences are more repetitive and
less varied in organization; its word choice is less diverse and less exactly
keyed to the concepts expressed; there are more frequent errors in grammar and
mechanics, though the writing on the whole is commensurate with the production
of a successful Honors Thesis in the senior year.
C / √: the essay presents a
thesis but its components could be clearer and more carefully conceived: e.g.,
“Thales was an ancient philosopher who thought about nature,” instead of, “The
early Greek philosopher Thales posed the first theory designed to explain all
phenomena in the cosmos in terms of a single cause.” The thesis,
moreover, is not developed in terms of clear and consistent
topics supported by appropriate evidence (or does not pursue a key
question consistently in terms of a careful presentation of evidence, or does
not construct a dialogue with clear thematic development, or does not create a
clear narrative based on characters and images that effectively convey ideas).
There are several (at least) errors in English composition per page (see
grading symbols below). In general, the essay is not clearly argued and not
well written, though it is just “passable” by common standards of literacy.
D / √ - : The essay does not have a clear thesis;
its paragraphs are not organized into identifiable topic sentences and, if
topics are present, they are not logical components of the thesis; nor are topics supported by useful evidence;
thus the essay does not develop a clear theme (whether deductively,
inductively, dialogically, or narratively); there are multiple errors in
composition per page; thorough revision is required targeting the organization,
argumentation, evidencing, and composition of the text.
F / √ - -: The essay presents no clear arguments, it is disorganized
and its ideas, when discernible, are not supported by evidence; the study
reveals little or no familiarity with the assigned texts; there are also
typically numerous errors in composition throughout; the writer has clearly not
taken the assignment seriously or clearly has not studied the relevant
material.
4) Grading
symbols for grammar and mechanics: If you are unfamiliar with these terms,
please research them at http://wise.fau.edu/~weisser/handbook.htm.
CS = “comma splice”
D = “diction” or “word choice”
DOC = “documentation style”
frag =
“sentence fragment”
M = “mood” (indicative,
subjunctive, interrogative, imperative)
PA = “pronoun-antecedent
agreement” or PR “pronoun reference”
A/PV = “active or passive voice”
SV = “subject-verb agreement”
T = “verb tense” (either the
wrong tense or an inappropriate tense shift)
Sample
Essay Questions including brief Grading Criteria:
Midterm
Essay (1,000 words, written out of class, including a preliminary analytical
outline): (this assignment will be
evaluated in terms of a) the clarity of argumentation (your ability to reason,
step by step from premises to conclusion); b) the insightfulness of your
analysis (your ability develop hypotheses about the assumptions underlying the
texts in question); c) the quality of your judgment based on your own view of
the problems raised by the philosophers; d) grammar, mechanics, organization,
and style—see more detailed grading criteria above). The early Greek Milesian philosophers, Thales,
Anaximander, and Anaximenes, developed “materialist” theories about “nature” (physis) which led to their reputation as
“physicists.” The Greek Italian philosopher
Pythagoras and his students developed the “idealist” theory that nature was
derived from “numbers.” Write a 1,000 (minimum) word essay in which you: 1)
explain the assumptions and the arguments that lead the Milesians and
Pythagoreans to their conclusions; 2) identify key similarities and differences
between the two schools; 3) evaluate the materialist and idealist forms of
explanation in light of what you take to be a credible understanding of the
world. (Notice that in part 3 you will have to identify your own assumptions, produce your own argument, and draw your own conclusion that
agrees with one, the other, neither, or both of the two schools. You might
consider how much you yourself know based on your observation of the world, and
how much you have simply assumed to be true based, e.g., on the authority of
science.)
Alternative Midterm Essay
(1,000 words, out of class, including a preliminary series of character
sketches): (this assignment will be graded based on the clarity of the
arguments presented, the authenticity of your characters as measured by how
accurately they represent the arguments of the relevant Greek philosophers; the
quality of your insight into the basic problems in Greek philosophy; the
quality of your English composition, including grammar, mechanics,
organization, and style): Write a 1,000 word (minimum) dialogue in which
Anaximenes and Pythagoras argue about the “nature of nature.” Have the two
characters consider: 1) what they think that nature is; 2) why they think it is
that way; 3) why each thinks his view of nature is better than the other’s; 4)
other key issues that you take to be of significance in early Greek thinking.
You might include yourself as a character in the dialogue, offering a preface,
a conclusion, and witty interjections, to bring out what you take to be the
most important features of the debate and why you think so.
Essay II (Final) : (final essay
1,500 words minimum, out of class): (this essay is to be written in two complete drafts. As with Essay I,
the key contents of Essay II will have been explored in terms of your weekly
Responses thus far (on which you have received written feedback on content and
composition); based on these response, you should construct the first draft of
Essay II; this should be a serious attempt to develop an argument about the
development of Greek philosophy from the Sophists through Plato and Aristotle
in deductive (thesis-support), inductive (evidential enquiry leading to a
conclusion), or dialogical form; you should discuss this draft with me
(by appointment); the final draft should be a revision of the first based on
our discussion; both drafts must be submitted
together for a final grade; the assignment will be graded based on: a) the
clarity of your (or your characters’) argumentation; b) the reasonableness of
your claims about the key ideas in the texts studied in light of evidence you
present to support your arguments; c) the quality of your insights into the
problems of early Greek thinking; d) the quality of your English composition,
including grammar, mechanics, organization, and style. Based
on any four of your Response essays or dialogues on ancient Greek
philosophy since the Presocratics, please answer the
following question: what were the key problems of early Greek thinking
bequeathed to their descendants by the Presocratics?
How did Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle attempt to solve these problems? What
issues did their theories leave unresolved for philosophers to come?
Students enrolled in
this course agree to abide by the Honors College Honor Code. Please review this important document: http://www.fau.edu/divdept/honcol/students/honorcode.html.
Required Texts:
Cohen, Marc et al. Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy, 3rd edition (Hackett, 0-87220-769-2): a good contemporary undergraduate text of readings in ancient philosophy.
Roochnick, David, Retrieving
the Ancients (Blackwell,
1405108621), an historical introduction to Greek philosophy.
Electronic Sources:
Some Guidelines for Writing Papers in Philosophy:
Selections from Greek Philosophy and Literature (Greek, English, French): http://philoctetes.free.fr/parmenides.htm
Williams College: "Paper Writing Strategies for Introductory Philosophy
Courses": http://www.williams.edu/acad-depts/philosophy/jcruz/writingtutor/
Watson, Ellen, University of Queensland : "A Guide for Writing Papers in
Philosophy": http://www.uq.oz.au/~pdgdunn/watessay.htm
Pryor, James, Harvard University: "Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy
Paper": http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~jpryor/general/writing.html
Portmore, Douglas, College of Charleston: "Tips
on Writing a Philosophy Paper": http://www.cofc.edu/~portmord/tips.htm
"A Brief Guide for Writing Philosophy Papers": http://www.nwmissouri.edu/~rfield/guide.html
Franklin, R.L., University of New England: "On Writing Philosophy
Assignments": http://www.uq.edu.au/~pdgdunn/rlfessay.htm
Studying Philosophy on the Internet:
American Philosophical
Association: http://www.udel.edu/apa/
Aristotle: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/a/aristotl.htm
Biography of Aristotle: http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Aristotle.html
Biography of Plato: http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Plato.html
Exploring Plato’s Dialogues: http://plato.evansville.edu/
Greek Philosophy Archive: http://graduate.gradsch.uga.edu/archive/Greek.html
Internet Classics Archive: http://classics.mit.edu/index.html
Perseus Project: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
Philosophy Resources on the Internet: http://www.epistemelinks.com/Main/MainPers.asp
Philosophy Text Collection: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/philtext.htm
Plato: Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy: http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/plato.htm
Pre-Socratic Philosophy: http://www.forthnet.gr/presocratics/indeng.htm
Pythagoras’ theory of Number: http://www.mathgym.com.au/history/pythagoras/pythnum.htm
Pythagoras & Pythagoreanism: http://www.abu.nb.ca/Courses/GrPhil/Pythagoras.htm
Pythagoras & the Music of the Spheres: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.geometry/unit3/unit3.html
Pythagorean Number & the Cosmos: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.geometry/unit3/unit3.html
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/
Weekly Sequence of Assignments:
1 Aug. 28-30
T: Course Introduction; Early Greek philosophy and cultural history;
From Mythology to Philosophy: Homer, Hesiod and the Presocratics, Cohen,
introduction, pp. 1-7; Roochnick, Part
R: Milesians: Posing the question: "What
one thing accounts for all other things?": Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes.
2 Sept. 4-6
T & R: Music, Mathematics and the Order of Things: Pythagoras
and Pythagoreanism, Philolaus; in Cohen; The origins of the European sciences:
Part I; Animated Proof of
the Pythagorean Theorem , More
Proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem , Proof by
Drag-and-Drop , Pythagoras
in the History of Mathematics, Pythagorean
Number and the Cosmo .Response 1.
3 Sept. 11-13
T: Poetry and Philosophy: Xenophanes; all things in flux: Heraclitus;
R: The Logic of Being: Parmenides in Cohen; Roochnick,
Part I; Response 2.
4 Sept. 18-20
T: The Eleatics, in Cohen;
R: Pluralism: Empedocles, Anaxagoras; Response 3.
5 Sept. 25-27
T: The reconciliation of changeless being with changeful phenomena:
Atomism: Leucippus and Democritus, in Cohen; Response 4.
R: Essay I: Analytical outline due (including Introduction with thesis; Body
with topics and examples drawn from the assigned texts, as well as key points
to be argued; Conclusion, return to thesis in light of discussion in the body
to make final point or raise final question/s).
In-class discussion of draft; make appointments with me to discuss
drafts on an individual basis.
6
Oct. 2-4
T: The Sophists: Rhetoric; Protagoras, Gorgias,
Antiphon, and Critias, in Cohen; Roochnick,
Part I; Socrates’ new form of
questioning: What is piety? Euthyphro, in Cohen.
R: ESSAY I DUE; further discussion of Euthyphro.
7 Oct. 9-11
T: Rethinking the Greek Intellectual Tradition: Socrates and Plato:
Cohen, pp. 83-90;. Socrates’
self-defense: Apology;
R: Crito, in Cohen; Roochnick, Part II.
8 Oct. 16-18
T: Virtue and Recollection: the Meno, an illustration from geometry: Halving a Square .
R: The death of Socrates: arguments for the immortality of the soul.
Knowledge, recollection, virtue and immortality: the Phaedo. Response
5. Presentations.
9 Oct. 23-25
T & R: A Reminiscence: Socrates and his friends in the Symposium; Socrates as Silenus?; Cohen, part 2; Roochnick, Part
II; Response 6. Presentations.
10 Oct.
30-Nov. 1
T & R: Plato on Power, Justice and the
Presentations.
11 Nov. 6-8
T & R: Knowledge, Belief, Appearance and Reality: Plato’s Republic,
Books V-VII in Cohen; Roochnick, Part III;
Response 8. Presentations.
12 Nov. 13-15
T: Philosophy, Art and Politics: Republic,
Book 10, in Cohen; Plato’s Spindle
of Necessity in the Myth of Er in light of modern
astronomy; Plato’s student Eudoxus of Cnidus; Eudoxus on
Planetary Motion; Eudoxus--the
video.
R: Plato revisits an old problem and his own theory, from Parmenides, in Cohen; Zeno, in Cohen, pp. 59-75.
13 Nov.
20-22 (Thanksgiving Holiday)
T: Aristotle’s methodology of knowledge: Categories and De
Interpretione (On Interpretation);
R: Holiday
14 Nov. 27-29
T:
Rough drafts of Final Essay due Nov. 27th; group and
individual discussion of rough drafts.
Aristotle:
Topics, Book 1secs. 1,2, 5 (pp. 671-675); Posterior
Analytics, Books I and II, 676-693—see class handout on causal syllogisms).
R: Aristotle’s analysis
of Change: a new look at an old problem: from Physics, Books 1 and 2 (pp. 694-719); Roochnick, Part IV.
15 Dec. 4th,
Last Day of regular Class.
T: Aristotle on natural reality, selections from Metaphysics, Book 1, secs. 1-9; Book IV, secs. 1-2 (pp. 758-775); Cohen's
Commentary on the Metaphysics; “on the soul,” selections from De Anima (On the Soul), in Cohen, Books
1-3 (pp. 809-831); Roochnick, Part IV;
R: Reading Day .
16 Exam Week, Dec. 7-13th: FINAL ESSAY Due Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 4:00 PM.