7AAN2026 Greek Philosophy I: Plato Syllabus Academic year 2015/16

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1 School of Arts & Humanities Department of Philosophy 7AAN2026 Greek Philosophy I: Plato Syllabus Academic year 2015/16 Basic information Credits: 20 Module Tutor: Dr Tamsin de Waal Office: Rm 702 Consultation time: TBC Semester: 1 Lecture time and venue: Mondays 16:00-18:00, 605 Philosophy Building, Strand Campus Module description This course is designed to give students an overview of key topics in Plato s epistemology and metaphysics, and, more generally, to guide students in how to approach Plato s dialogues. The course will place emphasis on close reading and critical analysis of the primary texts (in translation), introducing students to different interpretative strategies, as well as to key debates in the secondary literature. Central questions will be: What is knowledge on Plato s account? What is the distinction between knowledge and belief? What are forms? What are forms for? What is the role of the form of the good? How do we attain the good? Can we attain the good? A focus throughout will be how Plato s epistemology shapes his metaphysics and vice versa, and the relation of epistemology to ethics in Plato. The course will cover a range of texts, including the Meno, Phaedo and Parmenides, focusing in particular on the Republic. The course will consist of a weekly one-hour lecture immediately followed by a one-hour seminar. Each week a different student will be asked to give a short presentation to start off class discussion. All students are required to prepare the set primary and secondary reading for each week, and should bring a copy of the relevant dialogue, as well as a copy of the secondary reading, to all seminars. Students are also encouraged to look at the further reading. With respect to the primary reading, if you want all the Plato works collected together: J.M. Cooper and D.S. Hutchinson, eds., Plato: Complete Works (Hackett 1997). There are also numerous editions of individual texts. The great advantage of these is that they often have very useful introductions. Two good translations of the Republic are: G.M.A. Grube, Plato, Republic (Hackett, 1974; rev. 1992). T. Griffith, Plato, The Republic, ed., G.R.F. Ferrari (CUP 2000). 1

2 Students are encouraged, though not required, to take this module in conjunction with 7AAN2027 Greek Philosophy II: Aristotle in the second semester. Assessment methods and deadlines Formative assessment: Two essays of words each. First essay due: 16:00 on Friday October 30 th Second essay due: 16:00 on Friday December 11 th Summative assessment: A two-hour exam. Suggested essay questions FIRST FORMATIVE ESSAY Is the Socratic method essentially negative? Answer with reference to the Apology and Meno. What role does the theory of recollection play in Socrates's response to Meno's paradox? Does the account of knowledge and belief at the end of Republic Bk V differ from the account we get in the Meno? If so, how? And what problems, if any, does the Republic account present? Why does Plato postulate forms? Answer with reference to the Phaedo. SECOND FORMATIVE ESSAY Explain and critically assess the role of the form of the Good. Aristotle claims that Plato posits intermediate mathematical objects, as well as forms and sensible objects. On what grounds does Aristotle make this claim, and what evidence is there in Plato to support it? Does Republic VI-VII present problems for this claim? How, on Socrates account in the Republic, is studying mathematics an aid to attaining the Good? Should the critique of forms in the Parmenides persuade Socrates to abandon the theory? Outline of lecture topics (plus suggested readings) Week One Sept 21 st : Introduction to Plato and the dialogue form. Suggested reading: M.M. McCabe, Form and the Platonic Dialogues in H.H. Benson, ed., A Companion to Plato, (Blackwell 2006), M. Frede, Plato s Arguments and the Dialogue Form in Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, suppl. vol. 1992, Week Two Sept 28 th : The Socratic method. Apology. Meno. Page 2

3 G. Vlastos, The Socratic Elenchus in G. Fine, ed., Plato I: Metaphysics and Epistemology (OUP 1999), M. F. Burnyeat, Socratic Midwifery, Platonic Inspiration in Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy, vol. 2 (CUP 2012), M.M. McCabe, The Virtues of Socratic Ignorance in Classical Quarterly 38 (1988), G. Vlastos, Socrates Disavowal of Knowledge in G. Fine, ed., Plato I: Metaphysics and Epistemology (OUP 1999), Week Three Oct 5 th : Recollection, knowledge and true belief in the Meno. Meno G. Fine, Knowledge and True Belief in Meno, in D. Sedley, ed., Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 27 (OUP 2004), G. Fine, Inquiry in the Meno, in R. Kraut, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato (CUP 1992), G. Vlastos, Anamnesis in the Meno, in Studies in Greek Philosophy, vol. 2 (Princeton University Press 1995), D. Scott, Plato s Meno (CUP 2006), Parts II and III. H. Benson, The method of hypothesis in the Meno, in Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy 18 (2003), A. Nehamas, Meno s Paradox and Socrates as a Teacher, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 3 (1985), Week Four Oct 12 th : Immortality and forms in the Phaedo. Phaedo 72e-77a and 96a-105c. D. Sedley, Platonic Causes, Phronesis 43 (1998), G. Vlastos, Reasons and causes in the Phaedo, in G. Vlastos, Platonic Studies (Princeton University Press 1981), A. Nehamas, Plato on the Imperfection of the Sensible World, in G. Fine, ed., Plato I: Metaphysics and Epistemology (OUP 1999), T. Irwin, The Theory of Forms in G. Fine, ed., Plato 1, (OUP 1999) N. White, Plato s Metaphysical Epistemology, in R. Kraut, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato (CUP 1992), Week Five Oct 19 th : Knowledge and belief in the Republic. Republic V. 473a-480a. G. Fine, Knowledge and Belief in Republic V in G. Fine, ed., Plato on Knowledge and Forms (OUP 2003), Page 3

4 F.J. Gonzalez, Propositions or Objects? A critique of Gail Fine on Knowledge and Belief in Republic V, Phronesis 41, N. Denyer, Language, Thought and Falsehood in Ancient Greek Philosophy (Routledge 1991), ch.4. G. Vlastos, Degrees of Reality in Plato, in Platonic Studies (Princeton University Press 1973), READING WEEK NB FIRST FORMATIVE ESSAY DUE - 16:00 on Friday October 30 th 2015 Week Six Nov 2 nd : The form of the Good. Republic, VI. 504.d-VII. 517c. G. Santas, The Form of the Good in Plato s Republic, in G. Fine, ed., Plato I: Metaphysics and Epistemology (OUP 1999), N. Denyer, Sun and Line: The Role of the Good, in G.R.F Ferrari, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato s Republic (CUP 2007), Further reading G. Fine, Knowledge and Belief in Republic 5-7, in Fine, ed., Plato I: Metaphysics and Epistemology (OUP 1999), A.S. Ferguson, Plato s simile of light, Parts I and II, Classical Quarterly (1921, 1922); and Plato s simile of light again, Classical Quarterly (1934). Week Seven Nov 9 th : The status of mathematical objects: forms or intermediates? Esp. the divided line image at Republic VI. 509d-511e; also Republic VII. 525c-526b. Aristotle s Metaphysics M and N, esp. 987b, 992b, 1028b. J.A. Brentlinger, The Divided Line and Plato s Theory of Intermediates, in Phronesis 8, no.2 (1963), P. Pritchard, Plato s Philosophy of Mathematics (Academia-Verlag 1995), ch.6, Further Reading J. Annas, An Introduction to Plato s Republic (Clarendon 1980), ch.11, H.S. Arsen, A Case For The Utility Of The Mathematical Intermediates, in Philosophia Mathematica (III) 20 (2012), T. Penner, The Forms in the Republic, in G. Santas, ed., The Blackwell Guide to Plato s Republic (Blackwell 2006), Week Eight Nov 16 th : The role of mathematics in attaining the Good. Republic VII. 517c-535a. M.F. Burnyeat, Plato on why mathematics is good for the soul, in Proceedings of the British Academy 103, Reprinted in T. Smiley, ed., Mathematics and Necessity (OUP 2001). M. Miller, Beginning the Longer Way in G.R.F Ferrari, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato s Republic (CUP 2007), Page 4

5 M.F., Burnyeat, Platonism and Mathematics: A Prelude to Discussion, in A. Graeser, ed., Mathematics and Metaphysics in Aristotle (Haupt 1987), K. Gaiser, Plato s Enigmatic Lecture on the Good, in Phronesis, vol. 25, no. 1 (1980), I. Mueller, Mathematics and Education: Some Notes on the Platonist Programme, in I. Mueller, ed., Peri ton Mathematon: Essays on Greek Mathematics and its Later Development, Apeiron 24 (1991), Week Nine Nov 23 rd : Problems for forms. Parmenides 128d-135d. M.L. Gill, Problems for Forms, in H.H. Benson, ed., A Companion to Plato (Wiley-Blackwell 2009), M.L. Gill & P. Ryan, Plato: Parmenides (Hackett 1996) cf. commentary on 128d-135d. Further Reading: R.E. Allen, Plato s Parmenides (Blackwell 1997) cf. commentary on 128d-135d. M.M. McCabe, Unity in the Parmenides: The Unity of the Parmenides, in C. Gill and M.M. McCabe, eds., Form and Argument in Late Plato (Clarendon Press 2004), Week Ten Nov 30 th : The Third Man Argument. Parmenides 128d-135d, esp. 132a-b. G. Vlastos, The Third Man Argument in the Parmenides, in R.E. Allen, ed., Studies in Plato s Metaphysics (Routledge & Kegan Paul 1965), C. Meinwald, Goodbye to the Third Man, in R. Kraut, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato (CUP 1992), S.M.Cohen, The Logic of the Third Man, Philosophical Review 80 (1971), M. Schofield, Likeness and Likenesses in the Parmenides, in in C. Gill and M.M. McCabe, eds., Form and Argument in Late Plato (Clarendon Press 2004). NB SECOND FORMATIVE ESSAY DUE - 16:00 on Friday December 11 th 2015 Suggested additional readings On Socrates: S. Ahbel-Rappe and R. Kamketar, eds., A Companion to Socrates (OUP 2006). T.C. Brickhouse and N.D. Smith, Plato s Socrates (OUP 1994). L. Judson and V. Karasmanis, eds., Remembering Socrates: Philosophical Essays (OUP 2006). D.R. Morrison, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Socrates (CUP 2011). G. Vlastos, Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher (CUP 1991). Page 5

6 On Plato: H.H. Benson, ed., A Companion to Plato (Blackwell 2006). T. Irwin, Plato s Ethics (OUP 1995). G. Fine, ed., Plato 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology, and Plato 2: Ethics, Politics, Religion, and the Soul (OUP 1999). G. Fine, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Plato (OUP 2008). R. Kraut, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato (CUP 1992). On the Republic: J. Annas, An Introduction to Plato s Republic (OUP 1981). R.C. Cross and A.D. Woozley, Plato s Republic: A Philosophical Commentary (Macmillan 1964). G.R.F Ferrari, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato s Republic (CUP 2007). G. Fine, ed., Plato I: Metaphysics and Epistemology (OUP 1999). G. Santas, ed., The Blackwell Guide to Plato s Republic (Blackwell 2006). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a good online resource plato.stanford.edu Page 6