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Εικόνα επιλογής

Ancient Greek Philosophy I: The Cosmos, the Gods and Human Beings

(PHIL2214) -  Stavros Kouloumentas

Περιγραφή Μαθήματος

Τhe course focuses on three interrelated questions examined by most ancient Greek philosophers: how the cosmos is formed and maintains its equilibrium; whether the gods fashion and supervise the cosmos or are not involved in its genesis and functioning; the place of human beings in this orderly system and their relation to the gods. The course offers a general overview of various philosophical systems extending from the Milesians to the Hellenistic philosophers and attempts to analyse broader issues such as the relationship between theology, science and philosophy, the diffusion of ideas, and the development of philosophical thinking. Special emphasis is given to the transition from the mytho-poetic accounts of Homer and Hesiod to the conceptualisation of the cosmos as a self-regulating system governed by norms, the Platonic theology as advanced in the Timaeus, the Aristotelian contribution to natural philosophy, as well as the debate between the Epicureans and the Stoics as to how human beings can acquire happiness by having a proper understanding of the divine.  
 

Ημερομηνία δημιουργίας

Δευτέρα, 9 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024

Σελίδα μαθήματος
  • Περίγραμμα

    Bibliography

    1. Algra, K., J. Barnes, J. Mansfeld and M. Schofield (eds.) 1999. Τhe Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy. Cambridge.
    2. Anagnostopoulos, G. (ed.) 2009. The Blackwell Guide to Aristotle. Oxford.
    3. Bailey, C. 1926. Epicurus: The Extant Remains. Oxford.
    4. Barnes, J. (ed.). 1984. The Complete Works of Aristotle, 2 vols. Princeton.
    5. Barnes, J. (ed.) 1995. The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle. Cambridge.
    6. Broadie, S. 2012. Nature and Divinity in Plato’s Timaeus. Cambridge.
    7. Buxton, R. (ed.) 1999. From Myth to Reason? Studies in the Development of Greek Thought. Oxford.
    8. Cole, T. 1967. Democritus and the Sources of Greek Anthropology. Cleveland.
    9. Cornford, F. M. 1937. Plato’s Cosmology: The Timaeus of Plato. London.
    10. Curd, P. and D. W. Graham (eds.) 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Presocratic Philosophy. Oxford, New York.
    11. Charlton, W. 1970. Aristotle’s Physics, Books I and II. Oxford. 
    12. Diels, H. and W. Kranz (eds.) 1951-2. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. Griechisch und deutsch, 3 vols., sixth edition. Berlin.
    13. Dragona-Monachou, M. 1976. The Stoic Arguments for the Existence and the Providence of the Gods. Athens.
    14. Ιnwood, B. (ed.) 2001. The Poem of Empedocles: A Text and Translation with an Introduction, 2nd edition. Toronto, Buffalo, London.
    15. Ιnwood, B. (ed.) 2006. Τhe Cambridge Companion to the Stoics. Cambridge.
    16. Kahn, C. H. 1960. Anaximander and the Origins of Greek Cosmology. New York, London.
    17. Kirk, G. S., J. E. Raven and M. Schofield (eds.) 1983. The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts, 2nd edition. Cambridge.
    18. Laks, A. and G. W. Most (eds.) 2016. Early Greek Philosophy, vol. I: Introductory and Reference Materials; II: Beginnings and Early Ionian Thinkers, part 1; vol. III: Early Ionian Thinkers, part 2; vol. IV: Western Greek Thinkers, part 1; vol. V: Western Greek Thinkers, part 2; vol. VI: Later Ionian and Athenian Thinkers, part 1; vol. VII: Later Ionian and Athenian Thinkers, part 2. Cambridge MA.
    19. Leunissen, M. (ed.) 2015. Aristotle’s Physics: A Critical Guide. Cambridge.
    20. Long, A. A. and D. N. Sedley (eds.) 1987. The Hellenistic Philosophers, vol. I: Translations of the Principal Sources and Commentary, vol. II: Greek and Latin Texts with Notes and Bibliography. Cambridge.
    21. Montanari, F., A. Rengakos and C. Tsagalis (eds.) 2009. Brill's Companion to Hesiod. Leiden, Boston.
    22. Sedley, D. N. 2007. Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London.
    23. Strauss Clay, J. 2003. Hesiod's Cosmos. Cambridge.
    24. Taylor, A. E. 1928. A Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus. Oxford.
    25. Taylor, C. C. W. 1999. The Atomists: Leucippus and Democritus. Fragments: A Text and Translation with a Commentary. Toronto, Buffalo, London.
    26. Vlastos, G. 2005. Plato’s Universe, 2nd edition. Las Vegas.
    27. Warren, J. (ed.) 2009. The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism. Cambridge.
    28. West, M. L. (ed.) 1966. Hesiod: Theogony. Edited with Prolegomena and Commentary. Oxford.
    29. Wright, M. R. 1999. Cosmology in Antiquity. London, New York.
    30. Zeyl, D. J. 2000. Plato's Timaeus. Indianapolis, Cambridge MA.

    Resources on web

    1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/
    2. JSTOR: https://www.jstor.org
    3. Perseus Digital Library: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper
    4. Thesaurus Linguae Graecae: https://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/

    Course Objectives/Goals

    By the end of the course, students are expected to be in a position to:

    • discern the debates between different philosophical systems as to the creation and workings of the cosmos, the nature and role of gods, and the relation between human beings and gods.
    • comprehend the main features of ancient Greek philosophy (fruitful exchange of ideas, doctrinal and methodological diversities, interaction with other intellectual fields).
    • understand how key concepts such as being and becoming, accident and design, movement and rest were first formed and examined.
    • acquaint themselves with the main doctrines of Aristotelian natural philosophy.