Ancient Philosophy

Catalog description

In this course we will investigate how the earliest practitioners of Western philosophy conceived of their own activity. The word philosophy' stems from two ancient Greek words and means, literally, 'love of wisdom.' A lover of wisdom is one who pursues wisdom rather than possesses it; consequently, we can think of ancient philosophers as founding a history of inquiry into questions whose relevance for human beings ensures their persistence, questions like: What is the nature of the universe? What can be known? and What in any given situation is the right thing to do?