Ancient Greek Philosophy (PHIL 210.001)

This course offers an introduction to Ancient Greek Philosophy, by focusing on Socrates’, Plato’s and Aristotle’s attempts to dissociate different forms of knowledge which seem to overlap: craft (techné), practical wisdom (phronésis), wisdom (sophia) and (scientific) knowledge (epistémé). We will encounter the first highly ambiguous Socratic formulation of the problem in the Hippias Minor, the ways in which the questions raised there were carried further by Plato in the Euthydemus and the Gorgias and, finally, Aristotle’s response in his Nicomachean Ethics, Book 6. The course combines close reading of the texts with an interest in reconstructing the philosophical dialogue between the above mentioned three figures of Ancient Greek Philosophy.

The weekly readings will consist of the entire dialogue Hippias Minor and extended passages from Plato’s Euthydemus and Gorgias and from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Book 6. Grading will be via mid-term papers and in-class final exam.

Please note: Some seats in this class have been reserved for Philosophy majors.

This course satisfies the PH and WB general education requirements.

Pavlos Kontos’s webpage