Course

Ancient Philosophy

Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
Philosophy
Course Code
PHIL 3310
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
15
Max Class Size
35
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Typically Offered
To be determined

Overview

Course Description
Western philosophy was born in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, and to those worlds belonged great minds who have continued to be a source of insight. Beginning as early as with the Pre-Socratics, this course will cover philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Pyrro, Lucretius, Epicurus, Epictetus, Sextus Empiricus,
Marcus Aurelius, Plotinus, Origen and Tertullian. The course may consider any number of the major themes found in ancient thought, including those derived from metaphysics and epistemology, as well as from ethics and politics. Students will read selections from major texts, as well as consider the work of important representatives from the main schools, such as the Cynics, the Skeptics, and the Stoics.
Course Content

Topics may include one or more of the following:

  1. Examine the major themes in Pre-Socratic thought, such as the substance of the cosmos, the warring opposites, the one and the many, the reincarnation of the soul, the doctrine of the flux.
  2. Examine the life and ideas of Socrates, with emphasis on Plato’s early dialogues, from which we learn much about the man, his method, and his various moral beliefs.
  3. Examine Plato's doctrine of the Forms, including the nature of universals, the doctrines of recollection and participation, the distinctions between reality and appearance and between knowledge and beliefs, as well as Plato's ideal society and the role of virtue within it.
  4. Examine Aristotle's doctrine of being as substance, including the difference between essence and substratum, between form and matter, and between potentiality and actuality, as well as Aristotle's accounts of the categories and of the four causes, his distinction between moral and intellectual virtue, and his conception of the soul and knowledge.
  5. Examine the practices and ideas of Pyrrho and the Academic Skeptics, such as the impossibility of knowledge and its implications for social and political life.
  6. Examine the teachings of the early Greek Stoicism and its later development in the Roman world, including the doctrines of sufficiency of virtue, resignation, and cosmopolitanism.
Learning Activities

A combination of lecture and seminar. Some classes may involve formal lectures for the entire time (allowing time for questions), in which case a later session will allow discussion of the lecture and reading material. Other class sessions may involve a combination of informal lecture and structured discussion.

Means of Assessment

Evaluation will be based upon course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with Douglas College Policy The instructor will provide a written course outline with specific criteria for assessment during the first week of classes.

Any combination of the following totaling 100%

In-class tests, quizzes, short written assignments 20-50%
Written class presentations, Essays, Final Exam 30-100%
Instructor's General Evaluation (may include attendance, class participation, group work, homework, etc.) 0-20%

 

Learning Outcomes

The general objectives of the course are to:

  1. familiarize students with some of the main philosophical issues prevalent in ancient thought, such as the nature and origin of the cosmos, the relation between knowledge and reality, the possible immortality of the soul, the role of virtue in the individual and in society;
  2. develop an understanding of the main concepts and ideas in the writings of different representative philosophers and their place in an cient Greek and Roman philosophy;
  3. develop a capacity for philosophical awareness and analysis in the context of one or more of the major schools within ancient thought, such as the Sophists, the Neo-Platonists, etc.

Specific learning outcomes: by the end of the course, successful students should be able to:

  1. demonstrate an understanding of the main concepts and theories of the philosophies considered;
  2. explain and analyze competing theories and, where appropriate, their relevant similarities and differences;
  3. demonstrate an ability to employ aspects of philosophical analysis and reasoning, as well as critical thinking skills, in the context of interpreting original philosophical writings;
  4. recognize and explain some of the basic philosophical problems that surround and inform the more specific concerns and projects of the philosophies considered.
 
Textbook Materials

Sample texts (some combination of the following):

The Complete Works of Plato, trans. John M. Cooper and D. S. Hutchinson,  (IN: Hackett Publishing, 1997)

A Presocratics Reader, ed. and trans. Patricia Curd and Richard D. McKirahan, (IN: Hackett Publishing, 1996)

The Basic Works of Aristotle, ed. Richard McKeon, (NY: Modern Library Classics, 2001)

Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings, ed. and trans. Brad Inwood and Lloyd P. Gerson, (IN: Hackett Publishing, 1998)

Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy: from Thales to Aristotle, ed. and trans S. Marc Cohen, Patricia Curd and C. D. C. Reeve, (IN: Hackett Publishing, 2011)

Thomas A. Blackson, Ancient Greek Philosophy: From the Presocratics to the Hellenistic Philosophers, (UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011)

Introductory Readings in Ancient Greek And Roman Philosophy, ed. C. D. C. Reeve and Patrick Lee Miller, (IN: Hackett Publishing, 2006)

Greek and Roman Philosophy After Aristotle, ed. Jason L. Saunders, (NY: Free Press, 1997)

Requisites

Prerequisites

18 credits or with instructor's consent.

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer Details for PHIL 3310
Athabasca University (AU) AU PHIL 2XX (3)
Capilano University (CAPU) CAPU PHIL 150 (3)
Coast Mountain College (CMTN) No credit
College of the Rockies (COTR) COTR PHIL 2XX (3)
Columbia College (COLU) COLU PHIL 2nd (3)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU PHIL 2106 (3)
Langara College (LANG) LANG PHIL 1125 (3)
North Island College (NIC) NIC PHI 2XX (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU PHIL 150 (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU) TWU PHIL 3XX (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) UBCO PHIL_O 2nd (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV PHIL_V 3rd (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC PHIL 3XX (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV PHIL 250 (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC PHIL 207A (1.5)

Course Offerings

Summer 2024