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Syllabus Collection Entry

Ancient Philosophy

Reflections:

The goal was for students to acquire as broad and as deep an understanding of the philosophy of Aristotle as possible. As is explained in the opening paragraph of the syllabus, the goals of breadth and of depth are potentially in conflict; but for this type of course, a good measure of both is essential. The graduate students, as well as some of the undergraduates, are serious students of philosophy, who feel that their grasp of the history of philosophy would be incomplete without some grasp of Aristotle. However, with rare exceptions, none of them is intending to specialize in Aristotle or Greek philosophy; so their exposure to Aristotle may well be limited to this one course. The course therefore needs to be both an overview and an in-depth look at specific texts.

For this reason, I typically alternate between detailed commentary on texts and more general discussion of Aristotle's ideas and the philosophical issues they raise. The detailed commentary typically stimluates questions and comments from the serious students referred to above; little special effort is needed to generate discussion from this group, and the exercise can be very rewarding for instructor and students alike. A detailed focus on texts is, however, more problematic for another group of students not so far mentioned, namely undergraduates without a strong background or interest in philosophy. (Even at an "elite" institution like Johns Hopkins, there are plenty of such students in upper-level classes.) For them, the line-by-line analysis will frequently come across as nit-picking. Some effort therefore needs to be made always to keep in the students' minds why the particular stretch of text under discussion is important in the wider picture of Aristotle's philosophy; I have not always been successful in achieving this goal. On the other hand, some of the less text-bound discussions in the course - for example, of Aristotle's views on slavery - tend to generate interest and participation from both specialists and non-specialists.

Success in teaching this course, then, is a matter of achieving a delicate balance among a variety of competing demands. And this balance may of course vary depending on the precise mix of students; yet this mix will itself not be clear immediately. One therefore needs to be flexible in one's expectations of what will get "covered" in the course. Usually I put more on the syllabus than I can get through by the end of term. However, it is important to maintain the basic "shape" of the course, in order for it to serve as a reasonably comprehensive overview.

Syllabus Text:

150.402 MTW 12 Aristotle 348 Gilman Richard Bett

The aim of this course, very simply, is to introduce you to Aristotle. Aristotle's philosophy aspires to be a systematic whole, which means that a good, representative overview should be as comprehensive as possible. But he also proceeds by way of detailed, painstaking argument, which means his texts must be examined closely and carefully. We will try to achieve both of these (potentially competing) goals as far as is feasible in one semester; for each work that we read, the task will be both to understand precisely what it is saying and to see how it connects with the rest of Aristotle's thought. The corpus of Aristotle's surviving work is enormous; we will be looking only at a small selection of the most central writings. His texts are also extremely difficult to understand (there is no point in pretending otherwise); this is partly because of the intrinsic complexity of his thought, partly because he was writing in an intellectual context remote from our own, and partly because he did not really intend these texts for a general audience. So the assigned readings for the course will be relatively short, but very dense; Aristotle needs to be read slowly, and in small doses, if one wants to understand what he is talking about. All this may sound daunting. But Aristotle is arguably the most influential single philosopher who has ever lived; he is certainly, by any normal standards, one of the great intellects of all time. It is the worth the effort, in my opinion at least, to get inside his head (so to speak) to some degree. Some previous acquaintance with Greek philosophy (particularly Plato) would be helpful, but is not required. No knowledge of the Greek language is assumed. Again, though, if you do happen to know some Greek, this will be beneficial.

Just one book has been ordered for the course:

Aristotle, Selections, Translated with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary by Terence Irwin and Gail Fine (Hackett, 1995)

You should each get a copy of this - even if you already have some other anthology of works by Aristotle. Other anthologies will have different selections and different translations; given the amount of detailed inspection of the text that will occur in the course, it is crucial that we all use the same volume. (This is a hefty volume but, like all Hackett texts, excellent value for money.) The phrase "all selections" in the list below refers to all the portions of a given text which are included in this anthology.

Tentative Schedule of Topics and Readings Week by Week

Week 1 (1/26-28): Introduction, Nature. Metaphysics I.1-2; Physics II.1-2.

Week 2 (2/2-4): Causes, Teleology. Physics II.3-9.

Week 3 (2/9-11): Further related aspects of the natural order. De Partibus Animalium, all selections; De Interpretatione 9; De Generatione et Corruptione II.2-5.

Week 4 (2/17-18): Coming to be, Motion, and perhaps Time. Physics I, III (all selections), and perhaps IV (all selections). (2 class meetings only; Monday is Presidents' Day.)

Week 5 (2/23-25): Soul, Perception. De Anima I, II, all selections.

Week 6 (3/2-4): Perception (continued), Thought, Mind, Action. All selections from De Anima III and De Motu Animalium.

Week 7 (3/9-11): The Good for Humanity, Virtues of Character. Nicomachean Ethics I, II, all selections.

3/16-22: Spring Break

Week 8 (3/23-25): Voluntary and Involuntary Action, Deliberation, Virtues of Thought. Nicomachean Ethics III, VI, all selections.

Week 9 (3/30-4/1): Incontinence, Pleasure, Human Communities, Slavery. Nicomachean Ethics VII (all selections), X.4-5; Politics I, all selections.

Week 10 (4/6-8): Citizenship, The Best State. Politics III, VII, all selections.

Week 11 (4/13-15): Methodology, First Principles. Posterior Analytics I.1-10, II.19; Metaphysics IV, all selections.

Week 12 (4/20-22): Substance, Basic Reality, Opposition to Plato's Forms. Categories 1- 5; perhaps a few chapters (to be specified later) of Metaphysics VII; Metaphysics I.6,9; On Ideas.

Week 13 (4/27-29): Divine and Human Contemplation. Metaphysics XII, all selections; Nicomachean Ethics X.6-9.

Week 14 (5/4): Leeway, Summary. No Reading. (1 class meeting only.)

This list is only tentative; there will probably be at least minor changes in the timing, and some reading assignments may be trimmed, in light of how we progress. On the Latin titles (and also some of the English titles), see the editors' notes at the beginning of each work.

Two shorter papers (5-6 pages) and one longer paper (10-12 pages) will be required. (The course is designated "writing intensive" for undergraduates, which means that at least 20 pages of writing must be assigned.) There will be no final exam. All three papers will require you to demonstrate your understanding of some aspect of Aristotle's philosophy, but also to express, and argue for, opinions of your own about it. There should, however, be a rather greater emphasis on the development of your own ideas and interpretations in the longer paper than in the shorter ones. I will hand out a list of possible topics for the shorter papers (at least two weeks before they are due). For the longer paper you will be asked to select your own topics, subject to a few guidelines to be specified later, and to meet with me individually (a few weeks before the papers are due) so we can discuss subject-matter and approaches.

First Short Paper Due: Wed., February 25 (week 5) (25% of grade) Second Short Paper Due: Wed., April 1 - no fooling (week 9) (25% of grade) Long Paper Due: Mon., May 4 (final class meeting) (50% of grade)

As you work on your long paper, and perhaps at other times too, you may wish to do some further reading, in Aristotle and/or in the secondary literature. For this purpose I have placed the following items on reserve in the library:

1) Aristotle

The Complete Works of Aristotle, Revised Oxford Translation, 2 vols., ed. Jonathan Barnes (Princeton, 1984)

2) Secondary Literature

a) Surveys of Aristotle's thought by single authors

Jonathan Barnes, Aristotle (Oxford, 1982) J.L. Ackrill, Aristotle the Philosopher (Oxford, 1981) Jonathan Lear, Aristotle: The Desire to Understand (Cambridge, 1988) T.H. Irwin, Aristotle's First Principles (Oxford, 1988)

These range from the very short and basic (Barnes) to the very long and complicated (Irwin). Barnes and Ackrill are useful for purposes of general orientation; Lear and Irwin will probably be more useful to dip into on individual topics - though each also has an interesting (and controversial) comprehensive vision of what Aristotle is up to. I have also included a helpful (and short) introductory work on Aristotle's ethics specifically:

J.O. Urmson, Aristotle's Ethics (Blackwell, 1988)

b) Collections of essays by multiple authors

The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle, ed. Jonathan Barnes (Cambridge, 1995) - covers the major areas of Aristotle's philosophy Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. A. Rorty (U. of California, 1980) Aristotle's Physics: A Collection of Essays, ed. L. Judson (Oxford, 1991) Essays on Aristotle's De Anima, ed. M. Nussbaum & A. Rorty (Oxford, 1992)

The secondary literature on Aristotle is vast, and you cannot hope to do more than stratch the surface in any particular area. What I have put on reserve may well be sufficient for your needs; but if you feel the need to go further afield, most of these volumes contain bibliographies (and so does the text for the course). The bibliography in The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle, in particular, is huge, recent, and clearly organized into sections according to subject-matter. I can also give you advice about further reading when you discuss your topics with me.

In addition to reading and writing, some participation in class discussion is expected. I am hoping that class time will be occupied at least as much with questions, comments and discussion from you as with lecturing from me. As I am sure you know, it is in talking about difficult or unfamiliar ideas that one really comes to understand them; listening to someone else talking about them can only take one part of the way. Both the size of the class and the nature of the material should, I think, encourage an interactive format; in any case, the more of this the better. You can improve your grade through thoughtful, active in-class participation; if at the end I am wavering between two grades for you, on the basis of your written work, this will be the deciding factor. I will be having office hours Wednesday 11-12 and 2-3; if that is inconvenient, we can fix a separate appointment. My office is 344 Gilman (phone 516-6863). In addition, I can be contacted through the Philosophy Department.