Course Description
The major writings of Plato.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Longer term-paper, possibly an in-class presentation, and higher standards for all assigned work.
Athena Title
PLATO
Prerequisite
PHIL 3000 or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The student will become acquainted with the Socratic and pre-Socratic background of Plato's writings. The student will read (in translation) and discuss several major Platonic dialogs. The student will become familiar with such terms and concepts as: Platonic forms, egoism, eudaimonism, the mnemonic theory of learning, dialectic, demiurge, philosopher king. In developing the Socratic/Platonic ethics, students will be in a better position to understand and judge ethical behavior. Discussions of the state and the individual will give the student a better perspective on contemporary debates involving the relation of the individual to the state. Communicating effectively through writing and speech, relevant use of the computer, and critical thinking are all stressed. During the course the student should be improving in each of these skill areas.
Topical Outline
The outline will include such topics as: I. Pre-Socratic influences II. The Historical Socrates III. The Socratic method IV. The Socratic theory of the virtues V. Plato's short, critical dialogs VI. Plato's longer, thematic dialogs VII. The Theory of Forms VIII. Plato's epistemology IX. Plato's political and ethical views X. Plato's cosmology XI. Dialectic XII. Importance of Plato's work for contemporary philosophy
Syllabus