Seminar Schedule

Philosophy 300—Cranks and Sages: Greek and Roman Philosophy
Michael Taber

St. Mary’s College of Maryland, USA

Fall 2023

 (revised 15 November 2023)

There is a Google folder in which live some of the materials linked below.

All semester long, for more on many of these thinkers, consult in the following order of amount of detail:

·       Wikipedia (usually okay, though not peer-reviewed; so it contains an occasional howler)

·       the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (peer-reviewed, hence trustworthy)

·       or—for greatest detail—the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (peer-reviewed).

Being reviewed by one’s peers (fellow scholars, in this case) means the articles are put there by people who know what they’re talking about.

I.              The Presocratics

Aug. 28

Introduction to the semester, consulting the road map. Come having read ch. 2 “The Milesians” in Curd’s A Presocratic Reader [APR] (see “Seminar Materials” page), about Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. 

N.B.: I’ve made only chapters 2-4 of this book available in the Google folder for our course, in case some of you need a couple of days in which to get the book in hand. These are the readings for the first two days of class.

Aug. 30

1.     Pythagoras (APR, ch.3)

2.     Letter, Theano to Nikostrate, supposedly written by the Theano who was Pythagoras’ wife (and first student)

3.     Sacks’s “The Twins” (What the heck is going on with them?!)

4.     Suplee’s “Team’s Model Demonstrates How Evolution Obeys Mathematical Laws”

5.     Johnson’s “From Here to Infinity: Obsessing with the Magic of Primes,” which mentions Sacks’ twins

6.     a 6-minute video with more on the three-quarters power law (= Kleiber’s law)

7.     Even the sizes of cities get in on the Pythagorean fun: Strogatz’s NYT guest blog “Math and the City.”

8.     And Pythagoras’ “music of the spheres” has this contemporary counterpart.

9.     Xenophanes (APR, ch.4)

Sep. 01

1.     the poet Sappho: her only complete poem “Hymn to Aphrodite”; her “Old Age Poem”; other excerpts, including fragments. (Look through to see the prominence of nature in her love poetry.)

2.     Heraclitus (APR, ch.5)

3.     Lewis Thomas on “Logos”

4.     Adam Mann’s NYT’s Trilobite: “The Hills Are Alive with the Flows of Physics” (What would Heraclitus think?)

Sep. 04

Labor Day…no classes

Sep. 06

1.     Parmenides  (APR, ch.6)

2.     Taber’s “Parmenides on Non-Being”

3.     One page from E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web (Notice the tie-in to Parmenideans on “nothing”?)

4.     A 19-minute interview with Suki Finn (scroll down) on the Philosophy Bites podcast, about the metaphysics of nothing. (You’ll see the link to click on that page.)

Sept. 08

1.     Zeno of Elea (APR, ch.7)

2.     Taber’s “On Overtaking Zeno’s Dichotomy and Achilles Paradoxes”

3.     Thoughts from three former students: Irvine, McCutcheon, and Schermerhorn.  

4.     Then ducks.

5.     Now you have time, and the background knowledge, to appreciate this short article about Anaximander.

Sep. 11

1.     Empedocles (APR, ch.8)

2.     Anaxagoras (APR, ch. 9)

3.     Tanasa’s “An Ancient Conversation about Motion” for a creative recreation of the Eleatics

Sep. 13

1.     Leucippus & Democritus (APR, ch. 10)

2.     Primo Levi’s “The Story of C”  (See the tie-in with Democritus?)

3.     Rosenzweig’s “Being, Non-Being, and the Void”

4.     See Sophia Gottlieb’s ruminations on nothingness in “An Essay on Nothing” on the web or as a pdf (from Philosophy Now magazine 2020).

5.     3 graphics: Abstruse Goose’s “The Sliver of Perception” & 2 charts from The Economist magazine

Sep. 15

The Sophists (APR, ch.14)

Sep. 18

Catch-up day, before the exam

Sep. 20

Exam (short-answer and essay) on the Presocratics; bank of questions will be circulated to you at least one week in advance.

 

II. Socrates & Plato

Sep. 22

Plato’s Apology & Taber’s “The Euthyphro Objection to the Divine Command Theory of Morality”; at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, in front, from above solo, and from above with Sean.

Sep. 24

Sunday: letter from a Presocratic (2-3 pp.) due e-mailed to me by noon.

Sep. 25

Plato’s Crito & death scene from the Phaedo (from 114d to the end)

Sep. 27

King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

Sep. 29

·  Plato’s Symposium 185c4 [“When Pausanius…”]-193d (that is, the speeches of Eryximachus and Aristophanes); consult my reading notes as needed.

·  Agnes Callard’s “Against Persuasion,” on what we can learn from Socratic inquiries

·  Carolyn Price’s “Socrates—Teacher, Paragon or Chatterbox?”

Oct. 01

Sunday: letter from Socrates in reply to King’s letter (3-4 pp.), due emailed to me by noon

Oct. 02

1.     Test yourself here about the Euthyphro objection to the divine command theory of morality

2.     Symposium 201d1 [“Now I’ll let you go…”] to the end

Oct. 04

1.     Plato’s Republic II

2.     Consult my reading notes about Republic II-IX, as we proceed through the work.

Oct. 06

Republic IV

Oct. 09

No classes, due to College’s Fall Reading Days, 9th & 10th

Oct. 11

4-6-page paper about Plato due emailed to me by start of class.

No class today, due to tutorials being scheduled.

Oct. 13

Republic V

Oct. 16

Republic VI & VII (just through 521b)

Now that you’ve read Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, see Vincent Kavaloski’s very short story “What Is Freedom?” on the web or as a pdf (from Philosophy Now magazine, 2020).

Oct. 18

Republic VIII & IX

Oct. 20

1.     Reeve’s “Women” (chapter from his book Women in the Academy: Dialogues on Themes from Plato’s Republic) (handout)

2.     Two excerpts from Plato’s Timaeus: 24d-25e (where the myth of Atlantis comes from) and 48e2-56c9 (where Plato finally addresses what space & matter are) (handout)

3.     Jenni Jenkins’ “Would Plato Allow Facebook in His Republic?” on the web or as a pdf (from Philosophy Now magazine, 2017).

4.     A one-pager from The Economist magazine (2020) about the role of democracy in Athens surviving the plague of 430 BCE.

5.     And now maybe you’re ready for Jared Smith’s “Taylor Swift: A Socratic Dialogue” from McSweeney’s, and this from The Onion.

 

III. Aristotle

A user-friendly overview of Aristotle’s life is on pp. 3-29 of this course’s recommended book Introducing Aristotle: A Graphic Guide, which is out of print but is available as a pdf in the Aristotle folder for this course.

Oct. 23

1.     Physics I.1 ( = p. 36)

2.     Physics II.1-3 & 8 ( = pp. 42-50 & 57-60)

3.     Selections in our reading from Physics VI & VIII ( = pp. 62-68)

4.     In conjunction with Physics, see pp. 57-68 of the Graphic Guide.

You might look over University of Houston’s Professor Cynthia Freeland’s outline. And for ALL of our Aristotle readings, consult as needed Taber’s reading notes for Aristotle, as a handout, on the web or as a pdf.

Oct. 25

1.   Generation and Corruption

2.   De Anima, Book I

3.   chapters 61-68 of Armand Marie Leroi’s 2014 book The Lagoon: How Aristotle Invented Science (handout) (You might also enjoy the BBC’s four 15-minute videos based on this book; check out at least the first one.)

4.   Passage from 1689 by John Locke that is often cited as showing that Locke is to be credited with inventing the blank slate (in Latin: tabula rasa) view of humans. (Notice in Book I of De Anima where Aristotle shows that he beat Locke by a couple of millennia.)

Oct. 27

De Anima II & III

Graphic Guide, pp. 106-117

Oct. 30

1.     Metaphysics I and VIII-XIII

2.     Graphic Guide, pp. 30-56 & 69-73

3.     Buddhist simile of the chariot (How might Aristotle reply?)

4.     Sam Woolfe’s “The Universe Is Made of Mathematics” (note the Platonism of physicist, Max Tegmark), on the web or as a pdf (from Philosophy Now magazine, 2016).

5.     The epilogue “Plato’s Cave” from Andreas Wagner’s Arrival of the Fittest

6.     In the first in this series of interviews of the podcast Closer to Truth, the physicist Sean Carroll suggests (in 5 minutes) that maybe everything that exists is a collapsing of *one* wave function. Not a separate wave function for each different thing—or even for each different universe (if more than one there be). (Cue Parmenides smiling.)  In case you care to listen to more of this “What Exists” episode, the third guest is philosopher David Chalmers, who mentions—among other interesting things—that he thinks that numbers don’t really exist. (Cue Pythagoras and Plato crying.)

7.     To get Pythagoras and Plato smiling again, view this 10-minute interview with physicist Max Tegmark (see #4 above) about his view that mathematics is discovered, not invented.

Nov. 01

Campus-wide Wellness Day (no classes)

Nov. 02

5-8-page Plato paper due emailed to me by noon on Thursday, Nov. 02.

Nov. 03

Catch-up day; no new reading

Nov. 06

1.     Nicomachean Ethics II

2.     NE VIII & IX, on friendship

3.     Graphic Guide, pp. 118-135

4.     Consider viewing this 9-minute video.

5.     A chart of Aristotle’s virtues (means) and vices (excesses and defects)

6.     A brief overview from Psychology Today about the role of eudaimonia (approximately our “happiness) in Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

7.     And just to keep the order of things straight….

Nov. 08

1.     Politics I-III in Irwin & Fine (pp. 288-309)

2.     Graphic Guide, pp. 136-149

3.     Brooks’ NYT opinion piece “How to Find Out Who You Are” (Or as Aristotle said, humans are social animals.)

4.     I’ve put together this one-pager for you about Aristotle on logic. Please look over the piece by Sowa, to the extent (small though it is) that I describe on the aforementioned page.

Nov. 10

1.     Poetics

2.     Freeman’s 2-page personal story about encountering the Poetics, in this precis of his book Aristotle on How to Write a Story

3.     Graphic Guide, pp. 150-161

4.     a packet of additional Aristotle readings (handout)

a.   Law I-IV (on how to train physicians)

b.   Rhetoric II.xii-xiv (on education)

c.   Politics

                      i.       I.3-6 (on slavery & some criticisms of Plato’s Kallipolis)

                    ii.       IV.11 (on Aristotle’s realistic best polis)

                   iii.       VII.9 (on Aristotle’s idealistic best polis)

                   iv.       VIII.1-3 (on education)

d.     Qvortrup’s “Aristotle’s Philosophy of Equality, Peace, and Democracy” (from Philosophy Now magazine, 2016)

e.     Aristotle’s will

5.     D’Angelo’s (et al.) “If Aristotle Were a Surgeon: Phronetic Knowledge in Surgery” (from Annals of Surgery, 2023)

6.     Callard’s “Should We Cancel Aristotle?” (from NY Times, 2020) [And for those wanting a bit more  by Callard on the general subject of being cancelled, see this 2022 NYT essay.]

7.     The podcast Elucidations has a 45-minute installment that is useful for consolidating your understanding of Aristotle, especially in light of some of his predecessors (like Parmenides, Democritus, and Plato). Go to their homepage and then scroll down to “Episode 133: Aristotle discusses his philosophy.” (And one of the two hosts is none other than Agnes Callard, author of the preceding reading and another on our syllabus 5 or so weeks in.)

 

IV. Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy

Nov. 13

1.     Diogenes the Cynic: Cynics excerpts (Desmond & others--handout)

2.     the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy about Hipparchia, a Cynic mentioned in the final aforementioned excerpt

3.     from Big Think, Jonny Thomson’s article “Twisted humor and life advice from Diogenes the Cynic”

4.     a 5:25 animated video from TED-Ed, “Are You a Cynic?”

5.     this painting; this statue in his hometown of Sinope (now in Turkey) causing political problems (I imagine Diogenes smiling); this statue in Corinth (Greece), where he died; a couple of SMCM students getting involved: Jacob and Daniel.

Nov. 15

1.     Epicurus’ Letter to Menoeceus and “Principal Doctrines” (handout)

2.     Thiessen on how Eratosthenes computed the circumference of the earth, “Of Clouds and Shadows”

Nov. 17

Teach Your Family, part I: John, Ruth, Patrick, Jordan, Levi, Jack L., Mason, Maura, Argyrios

Nov. 20

Aristotle exam

 

Thanksgiving break

 

Nov. 27

1.     Hellenistic Week!...keeping a Hellenistic Week Journal (any seven consecutive days; due emailed by last regular class): you can choose from among Cynic Week, Epicurean Week, or Stoic Week. (Due at last regular class.)

2.      Everyone subscribes (free!) to the Daily Stoic meditation. Scroll down that page till you see the following, then click where it says:

“Join 300,000+ other Stoics and get our daily email meditation.
Subscribe to get our free Daily Stoic email. Designed to help you cultivate strength, insight, and wisdom to live your best life.”

3.     Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic, letters 2-18

Nov. 29

1.     Seneca’s letters 26-28, 38-41, 47

2.     excerpts from the Stoic Musonius Rufus (handout)

3.     Frank Thermitus’ “A Stoic Approach to Racism” from Philosophy Now magazine

4.     Some common misconceptions of Epicureanism and Stoicism.

Dec. 01

1.   Seneca’s letters 53, 54, 63, 77, 78, 83

2.   This TikTok video applying the Stoic philosopher Epictetus to some everyday challenges.

3.   Church’s 2-page “Being Stoic”—because when’s the last time you’ve read something from the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons?

4.   You might want to read this short overview from Psychology Today of the four main schools of thought in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, bound together by their concern for attaining the state of mind known as ataraxia (translated roughly as “tranquility”).

5.   Catherine Wilson has this parting plea for Epicureanism over Stoicism.

6.   Adam Rattray has a comparison in “Marcus Aurelius and Diogenes: Stoicism and Cynicism.”

7.   And this cartoon serves as something of a summary of Hellenistic and Roman schools of thought.

Dec. 03

Plotinus: two diagrams, then read the editor’s intro and excerpt Ennead 6, chapter 9 [10 pp.] (handout)

Proclus, excerpts from the Elements of Theology [4 pp.]  (handout)

Dec. 06

1.    Hypatia, from Oxford University Press…

2.    …& from the Smithsonian Magazine.  (Consider someday watching the movie Agora, which is about her.)

3.    Note the three Neoplatonic academies mentioned briefly here.

4.    selections by and about St. Catherine of Siena (Note where her world-view is Platonic.) (handout)

Dec. 10

Pseudo-Dionysius in installment #105 of Peter Adamson’s podcast History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps [22 mins.]

Teach Your Family, part II (and review for final exam): Kirsten, Lukas, Dameon, Ivan, Chrysanthe, Zayon, Jack W.

 

Levity break: Alex Baia’s “What Your Favorite Philosopher Says About You” from McSweeney’s.

 

 

Wed. Dec. 13

7:00-10:00 p.m.: your Ultimate Celebration of Understanding (called by barbarians a “final essay examination”), the questions for which will be composed from a list circulated to you at least one week in advance.

Send me mail:  mstaber at smcm dot edu  

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