Phil351: Socrates and Plato



Phil351: Socrates and Plato

Department of Philosophy, St. Francis Xavier University

Course Outline

Classroom & Times: Mon. 3:45-5:00, Wed. 3:45-5:00

Instructor: Doug Al-Maini

Office & Office Hours: NH 518; Mon 11:15-12:00; Wed 10:15-12:00; Fri 9:15-11:00

Extension & Email: x4693; dalmaini@stfx.ca

Course Description:

This course is designed as a critical evaluation of the philosophy of the ancient world, covering the thought of figures ranging from the Pre-Socratics to Plato. We shall begin by examining the historical situation of the rise of philosophy in ancient Greece, both the causal factors involved in the rise of philosophy and their affect on the flavour that philosophy was to take in its early formation. The pivotal figure of our period is Socrates, and, after our analysis of the rise of philosophy in Greece, we shall turn our attention to the phenomenon of Socrates. In the course of history Plato has become the most famous member of the “Socratic Circle” (a group who followed Socrates and observed how his life unfolded), and we shall devote considerable attention to his understanding of the effect of Socrates on the relationship between philosophy and society. Socrates’ way of life eventually led to his death at the hands of the very democracy that raised him, and his death provides a striking example of the conflict that can arise between philosophers and their communities. One of the legacies he bequeaths to his circle is the question of how philosophers are to interact with their culture. Socrates’ participation in the Athenian community seems to doom him and his unpopular ideas, and we might ask if philosophers of the Socratic type can participate in the community in any meaningful way without endangering themselves as Socrates did. It is Plato’s analysis of the nature of this problem that will drive the second half of our course.

Schedule:

Week Topic Readings

1 Sep 8 Politics, Religion, & Philosophy Homeric Hymn to Demeter

2 Sep 15 On the Sacred Disease, Anaximander

3 Sep 22 The Pre-Socratics Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Parmenides

4 Sep 29 Empedocles, Anaxagoras

5 Oct 6 Plato Euthyphro

6 Oct 13 (Th.) Apology

7 Oct 20 Crito

8 Oct 27 Gorgias

9 Nov 3 Gorgias

10 Nov 10 Lysis

11 Nov 17 Symposium

12 Nov 24 Sophist

13 Dec 1 Recap/Catch Up

Assignments:

Students will be required to complete the following assignments:

A: Responses to the following questions, handed in on the date specified. Each response should be at least 2 pages in length and will be worth 10% of the final grade.

1) Due Sept. 15. On what grounds does the author of The Sacred Disease attack contemporary religious healers? Particularly, what is the reasoning used in the arguments demolishing the treatment of abstention from goat-meat and refuting the claim that the disease is divine? How are the author’s own methods of treatment supposed to be superior to the methods of the charlatans? Finally, what does this text indicate about the status of argumentation in polis culture?

2) Due Oct. 6. At one point in the Euthyphro the discussion turns to an analysis of piety as “the part of the just that is concerned with the care of the gods.” Why does Socrates think this definition will not work? Is there any way to circumvent Socrates’ objection, such that the definition can be saved?

3) Due Oct. 13. For his crimes, Socrates believes he should be sentenced to free meals at public expense in the town hall for the rest of his days. This comment has been taken by scholars as pure irony, but in fact he is just repeating a statement made by a famous Pre-Socratic philosopher who seems to have held the position quite seriously. Who is Socrates quoting here, and what’s the justification for the statement? How does Socrates then update the argument over its previous incarnation?

4) Due Oct. 20. In the Crito, Socrates states that he must obey the command of the jury and await his punishment in jail. Yet in the Apology, he says directly to the jury that if they command him to stop practicing philosophy, he will not obey them. How can Socrates be behaving consistently in this sequence of events?

5) Due Nov. 12. In the Lysis, Socrates comes to the position that it is ultimately the Good that we are friend to. But this is a perverse understanding of the word “friend”, which we ordinarily use to refer to an actual person. What possible role can a person play in this conception of friendship? Given the reasoning in the Lysis, what would we mean then when we call some person a friend?

C: A final essay on Plato, answering the following question:

How does the theory of Forms provide the grounding for Plato’s resolution to the problem of Socrates?

In order to answer this question, students must explain in detail the nature of the problem of Socrates, the theory of Forms, and Plato’s handling of this problem. Students are also expected to provide some justified opinion concerning whether the solution is viable or not. The paper should be roughly 10 pages in length (~2000 words), and will be worth 40% of the final grade. The paper is due on the last day of class.

D: A mark for participation. The mark will be worth 10% of the final grade.

Technical Considerations for Written Assignments:

1) All written assignments must be typed (black ink, please) and double-spaced on pages with at most 1 inch margins. No extra line spaces between paragraphs. Indent the first line of a paragraph. Printing on both sides of a sheet of paper is quite acceptable.

2) Please no title pages. Also no “Works Cited” or “Bibliography” pages referring to one work; do bibliographic references in a footnote if you must. No enormously large-fonted things like titles, names, dates, course numbers, student numbers, phone numbers, or due dates that take up half a page of space. Your title, name, and student number at the top of the first page is quite sufficient. Please visibly number any multiple-page assignments. If for some reason you must hand in the assignment to the office, please include my name at the top of the assignment as well.

3) No duo-tangs, folders, binders, or paperclips. Please staple the pages of your work together. Do not hand in loose sheets of paper.

4) Under no circumstances will emailed assignments be accepted. Please hand in your assignments at the start of class on the day they are due.

5) For help on writing humanities papers, please consult the website

htpp://princeton.edu/~jimpryor/general/writing.html

This site gives an excellent overview on what a philosophy paper is all about and how to write it.

6) The final page of this outline is the evaluation form that will be used in the assessment of your writing. This evaluation form provides the clearest explanation of my requirements for an essay. Please, study it carefully before you write your work.

7) Many of the above requirements are arbitrary demands on my part, but they really do facilitate the assessment of your work. If you do not follow these guidelines, YOUR MARK FOR ORGANIZATION ON THE EVALUATION FORM WILL SUFFER DRASTICALLY.

8) Plagiarism is completely unacceptable. If you make use of an idea that is not of your own devising, you must cite the source of that idea.

9) My late policy is a 3% reduction per day late. You will have known the due dates for your assignments since the start of the semester, thus providing you with ample time to complete your work, so last minute excuses will be met with some skepticism.

10) Students are obliged to keep a spare copy of their completed assignments for themselves.

EVALUATION FORM

(Late assignments will receive no comments)

Style:

Grammar: Are the sentences understandable? Are there any spelling mistakes? Is the diction clear and

concise? Can the thought behind each sentence easily be grasped?

/10

Organization: Do the ideas logically follow each other, or were they haphazardly strewn together? Do the ideas flow from each other, with explicit premises deductively producing conclusions? Are the

arguments connected at all, showing a chain of reasoning?

/10

Content:

Thesis: Do the assignment give an answer to a question or problem put forward? Is the answer more

than a simple “yes” or “no”? Is the answer insightful, being an interpretive idea itself? Is the

thesis explicitly stated?

/10

Arguments: Are there arguments presented in the paper? Are the arguments interesting or banal?

Are the arguments incisive or superficial? Do the arguments explicitly outline broad premises

that act as guides to understanding and reveal the unquestioned perspectives adopted in the paper?

/30

Originality: Does the student provide input into the conceptual debates the text engages in? Is there evidence

of insight on the student’s part into the topic? Are there any new ideas being explored in the

assignment? Is the student able to go beyond ideas raised in class discussion?

/20

Evaluation: Does the student give a fair summation of the ideas contained in the texts used?

Does the use of these ideas meaningfully contribute to the thesis of the essay, or is the use of

material a mere addenda to the main arguments of the paper?

/20

TOTAL /100

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