PL 179: Socrates and Athens
James Barrett Office Hours: MW 3:45-4:30
Miller 213/ext. 5293 or by appointment
email: jbarrett
The Course
Plato takes up the challenge of defining just what philosophy is, and he does this most often through the figure of Socrates. In Plato's view, doing philosophy has a great deal to do with how one lives, and Socrates is a model of how to live a philosophical life. This life, of course, ended when Socrates was tried, convicted, and put to death by his fellow citizens. Nonetheless, this model philosopher was in many ways characteristically Athenian. We will investigate the continuities and discontinuities between the philosophical life of Plato's Socrates and the lives of ordinary Athenians, as we ask just how Greek, and how Athenian, Plato's notion of the philosophical life really was. We will consider: how Socratic philosophical practice drew from key elements of Athenian democratic life; what Socrates' religious ideas owe to traditional beliefs and how they seek to upend them; what familiar Greek notions of 'human nature' have to do with Socrates' own 'human wisdom'; how Socrates' ideas about Athenian law both depend upon and challenge normal practices of Athenian civic life; and how Socrates' ideas about Eros reproduce and/or revise earlier, conventional notions.
Requirements
The in-class work will consist of short lectures and frequent discussions. Your first responsibility is to come to class having done the assigned reading, prepared to discuss it. Everything said in-class will be considered common property and available for use in papers without attribution. Your own active participation in these discussions will enhance your understanding of the material and result in better papers. There will be three general categories of written work: 1) Commentaries; 2) Forum postings; and 3) Response papers. There will also be a take-home final exam. The Commentaries and forum postings should be considered informal opportunities to work with and through some of the ideas raised by the readings and by class discussions. Commentaries (1-2 pages) will address the assignned reading, prompted by a question I pose by email. A Forum posting will be due by Noon each Friday. This Forum posting may take any form you like, provided that it is relevant to the week's work. It may take up/extend/revise: 1) what you have previously written; 2) what someone else has written or said in class; 3) an idea from a secondary source. The Forum is INFORMAL: Questions are fine. The Forum is designed to facilitate 'conversation' about course material: I encourage you to use it often. The required weekly posting is a minimum. There will be three Response papers--one for each Section of the course; these will be formal papers, 4-5 pages in length, responding to a question I provide. Details on and due dates for the assignments will go out via email: make sure to check yours regularly.
Written Work
All written work (aside from Forum postings) must be typed and handed in on paper. Standard font, font size, spacing, and margins must be used. Good choices are: Times New Roman, 12 pt, double-spaced, 1" margins all around. Electronic submission is not acceptable.
Required Texts (available at the bookstore)
Davidson, Courtesans and Fishcakes, HarperCollins
Euripides, Bacchae, trans. Woodruff. Hackett
Euripides, Hippolytus, trans. Halleran, Focus
Hesiod, Works & Days, Theogony, trans. Lombardo, Hackett
Plato, Complete Works, ed. Cooper, Hackett
Sophocles, Antigone, trans. Woodruff, Hackett
Readings on Reserve
J. Peter Euben, “Plato's Apology"
J. Peter Euben, “Gorgias"
J. Gould, "Making Sense of Greek Religion"
Herodotus, selections Book 1
Homer, Odyssey, Book 11
M. McPherran, "Socratic Piety in the Euthyphro"
M. Morgan, Platonic Piety
A. W. Nightingale, Spectacles of Truth
J. Ober, "Living Freely as a Slave of the Law"
Sappho
Thucydides, "Funeral Oration of Pericles"
J.-P. Vernant, "At Man's Table"
Xenophanes
Grading/Attendance
Class participation--10%
Forum postings--10%
Commentaries--20%
Response papers--35%
Final Exam--25%
Attendance at all class meetings is required. Only absences with official explanation will be excused. Excessive absence may result in a lower final grade.
Course Schedule
W Sept. 6 Introduction
Section 1 The Cosmos, Mortals, & Immortals
M Sept. 11 Hesiod, Theogony, with "Introduction" (pp. 12-16)
W Sept. 13 Hesiod, Works and Days; Vernant, "At Man's Table"*
M Sept. 18 Euripides, Bacchae; Gould "On Making Sense"*; Xenophanes*
W Sept. 20 Plato, Euthyphro
M Sept. 25 Plato, Apology; Herodotus*
W Sept. 27 Plato, Apology
M Oct. 2 Morgan, Platonic Piety, ch. 1*
W Oct. 4 McPherran, "Socratic Piety in the Euthyphro"*
Section 2 Democracy & Law
M Oct. 9 Sophocles, Antigone; Thucydides, "Pericles' Funeral Oration"*
W Oct. 11 Plato, Crito
M Oct. 16 FALL BREAK. NO CLASS
W Oct. 18 Euben, "Apology"*; Ober, "Living Freely..."*
M Oct. 22 Plato, Gorgias
W Oct. 25 Euben, "Gorgias"
Section 3 Eros
M Oct. 30 Davidson, Courtesans/Fishcakes xv-xxvi; 36-108;
W Nov. 1 Euripides, Hippolytus; Sappho*
M Nov. 6 Plato, Symposium
W Nov. 8 Plato, Symposium
M Nov. 13 Halperin, "Why is Diotima a Woman?"*
W Nov. 15 tba
M Nov. 20 Discussion
W Nov. 22 THANKSGIVING . NO CLASS
Death, the Afterlife, Philosophy
M Nov. 27 Homer, Odyssey, Book 11; Plato, Phaedo
W Nov. 29 Plato, Phaedo
M Dec. 4 Plato, Republic, 5.473-7
W Dec. 6 Nightingale, Spectacles of Truth