History of Ancient Philosophy

Catalog description

Almost all the questions and puzzles in the continental and analytic traditions of philosophy today can be sourced to developments in the philosophy of Ancient Greece. In this course, students read ancient texts from pre-Socratic thinkers such as Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides. Students also read several dialogues of Plato, explore the metaphysics of Aristotle and the stoicism of Epictetus. Students discuss the differences between science and myth, philosophy and religion, opinion and knowledge, and explore questions about the nature of reality, its oneness and plurality, the nature of justice, and the purpose of life. Offered Fall.