Full syllabus available from http://faculty.smcm.edu/mstaber/

Seminar Schedule

PHIL 380.02—The Self in Love and Friendship
Taber, Fall 2025

(revised 27 September 2025)

* = sessions available for you to lead solo

** = sessions available for a pair of you to lead

There is a Google folder in which reside some materials for class.

I. Classic accounts of love
Sep. 03	Introduction to the semester, and discussing Plato’s Symposium, Introductory Dialogue, Speech of Phaedrus, and Speech of Pausanias [19 pp.] Notice the rhetorical interplay among: Plato the writer, the narrator (whose name is what?), the source for the narrator, and you the reader. Any idea as to why all these layers?
Sep. 05	Plato’s Symposium, through Speech of Aristophanes [12 pp.]
Sep. 08	Plato’s Symposium, through Socrates Questions Agathon [13 pp.]
Sep. 10	Plato’s Symposium, through Speech of Diotima [16 pp.]
Sep. 12	Plato’s Symposium, remainder (through “Final Dialogue”) [16 pp.]
Sep. 14	Sunday by noon: email paper #1 (3-4-pp.)
Sep. 15	from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, chs. 7 & 13 [6 pp.]
Sep. 17	Nygren’s “Agape and Eros” [11 pp.]
II. Classic accounts of friendship
Sep. 19	Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Book 8, chs. 1-6 & 12 [10 pp.]
Sep. 22	Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Book 9, chs. 3-12 [15 pp.]
Sep. 24	Gartner’s “Aristotle on the Nature and Value of Friendship” [10 pp.]
Sep. 26	Abbey’s “Mary Wollstonecraft on ‘That Simple Food’ of Friendship” [10 pp.]
Sep. 29	Hochstetler’s “A Philosophical Look at Running Friendships” [12 pp.]
Oct. 01	Paper #2 (4-5 pp.) due by noon to Taber; no class today due to tutorials.
III. Relationships and self-interest
Oct. 03	C. S. Lewis’ The Four Loves, “Introduction” & “Affection” [9+26 pp.], skipping “Likings and Loves for the Sub-Human”
Oct. 06**	Lewis’ “Friendship” [34 pp.]
Oct. 08**	Lewis’ “Eros” [25 pp.] Madi & Austen
Oct. 10**	Lewis’ “Charity” [26 pp.] Hannah & Sam
Oct. 13	No classes, due to College’s Fall Reading Days, 13^th & 14^th
Oct. 15	Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness, Introduction & ch. 1, “The Objectivist Ethics” [33 pp.]
Oct. 17**	Rand, chs. 3-5 [22 pp.] Jackson & Journey
Oct. 20**	Nozick’s “Love’s Bond” [19 pp.] Fikayo & Eden
Oct. 22**	Fumerton’s “Friendship and Self-Interest” [8 pp.] Brooks NYT column “The Wrong Definition of Love” Ty & Jaidyn
Oct. 24**	Brink’s “Friendship and the Personal Good” [11 pp.] TJ & Hudson
Oct. 27	Paper #3 (5-7 pp.) due by noon to Taber; no class today due to tutorials.
Oct. 29	5-minute presentation about your research topic (+ 5 mins. Q&A)
Oct. 31
IV. Contemporary work on love
Nov. 03* Jackson	Protasi’s “Mama, Do You Love Me? A Defense of Unloving Parents” [11 pp.]
Nov. 05	No classes today due to programming for Wellness Day
Nov. 07* Madi	Behrensen’s “Queer Bodies and Queer Love” [11 pp.]
Nov. 10* Sam	Liberto’s “Threats, Warnings, and Relationship Ultimatums” [9 pp.]
Nov. 12* Eden	Cherry’s “Love, Anger, and Racial Justice” [11 pp.]
Nov. 14* Austen	Ebels-Duggan’s “Love and Agency” [10 pp.]
Nov. 17* Hudson	Nyholm’s “Love Troubles: Human Attachment and Biomedical Enhancements” & Naar’s “Real-World Love Drugs: Reply to Nyholm” [13 + 4 pp.]
Nov. 19* Hannah	Tiku’s WashPo article “Your Chatbot Friend Might Be Messing with Your Mind” Wright’s WashPo article “Please Break Up with Your AI Lover” Szalavitz’s NYT article “Love Is a Drug. AI Chatbots Are Exploiting That.” NYT’s podcast The Daily, “She Fell in Love with ChatGPT. Like, Actual Love. With Sex.” [34 mins.]
V. Contemporary work on friendship
Nov. 21* Fikayo	Healy’s “Friendship Between Children” [9 pp.]
Nov. 24	Teach Your Family presentations
Thanksgiving break
Dec. 01* Journey	Kristjánsson’s “Can Parents and Their Children Be Friends?” [9 pp.]
Dec. 03* TJ	Abbate’s “The Animals in Our Living Rooms: Friends or Family?” [11 pp.]
Dec. 05*	Jollimore’s “Partiality to Friends” [12 pp.]
Dec. 08* Jaidyn	McKeever’s “Friends with Benefits: Is Sex Compatible with Friendship?” [10 pp.]
Dec. 10* Ty	Elder’s “Friendship and Social Media” [11 pp.]
Dec. 12	remaining Teach Your Family presentations
Dec. 16	Your final paper (8+ pp.) is due emailed to Taber by the conclusion of our final exam slot: 4:15 p.m. ET.