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PHL202 H5S Ancient Philosophy |
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Course Description and Objectives This course is an introduction to ancient philosophy through the works of Plato and Aristotle. We will critically examine the theories, philosophical problems and arguments discussed by these philosophers. We will start with some general reflections about Socrates and the ancient conception of philosophy as a way of life, and we will set as our central task to develop an account of the kind of wisdom that ancient philosophers were seeking to attain and its relationship with the question about the good life. To this end, we will discuss Platonic and Aristotelian views on metaphysics, theory of knowledge, psychology and ethics. The objectives of the course are (1) to cultivate the skills of reading and interpreting texts of ancient philosophy, learning to approach the philosophical problems in their original context, (2) to develop an understanding of the central concepts, theses, and arguments discussed in some of the most relevant works of Plato and Aristotle and (3) to achieve an appreciation of the importance of the philosophical views and theories of these authors to later philosophy, understanding not only what the problems are, and why they arose, but also why many of them persist. In addition, this course will help you (4) to improve your writing and critical thinking skills. |
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Warning: This page does not correspond to any actual course. I've only built it as a proposal for my instructorship application. |