Ancient-Medieval, Phil 3113 Fall 07 207 Hanner Hall; 744-9241 T 2-3:30 & W 3:30-5; and by appt. Syllabus Texts.

Prof. Rebecca Bensen-Cain bensen.cain@okstate.edu

Greek Philosophy, Thales to Aristotle, ed. R. E. Allen, New York: The Free Press, 1991. Aquinas: A Summary of Philosophy, ed. R. J. Regan, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2003. Medieval Philosophy, An Introduction, F. C. Copleston, New York: Dover Books, 2001. Content. This is a historically-based introductory course on the Pre-Socratics, the Sophists, Socrates and Plato, Aristotle and Aquinas, with selections from other medieval philosophers. Format. Class meetings will be interactive discussion with some informal lecturing. Please bring the appropriate primary source text, e.g. the anthology, ed. Allen, to class with you. Aim. The aim is to learn ancient/medieval philosophy by doing philosophy in the classroom. This translates as improving your reading, speaking, writing, and critical reasoning skills. Grades. Your grade for the course is determined by averaging the five components as noted below. Standard scale is used: 100-90 (A); 89-80 (B); 79-70 (C); 69-60 (D); 59-50 (F). Requirements. All requirements must be satisfied to complete the course. a. Take-Home quiz on the Pre-Socratics (2-4 pages) (15%) b. Paper on Plato (4-6 pages) (30%). Note: Academic dishonesty may result in an F. c. Quiz based on Coplestons book on the Medievals (15%). d. Final essay exam in class on Aristotle and Aquinas (30%). e. Attendance/Participation (10%). Late paper policy. Late papers which have my approval in advance will be accepted without penalty. All other late papers will receive an automatic five-point penalty with or without an excuse. This policy is set up to be fair to students who turn in their work on time. Participation involves having an alert mental attitude, using the text in class, asking or answering questions, making critical comments, and engaging in dialogue with others. Negative participation includes routine sleeping, coming late, leaving early, doing other work Attendance. I will take attendance regularly but there is no official policy. Any student who rarely comes to class should expect to receive a very low score in the attendance category. Academic Integrity. Any form of academic dishonesty may result in an F for the course. The OSU syllabus attachment (see below) provides a link to university policies and procedures which describes the meaning of academic integrity and violations of it. Fall Syllabus Attachment: go to http://philosophy.okstate.edu/076syllabusattachment.pdf

Readings from Greek Philosophy, Thales to Aristotle (some changes are to be expected) Part I. Pre-Socratics and Sophists Week One Week Two 8/21 8/23 8/28 8/30 Introduction (pp. 1-21); the Milesians (pp. 27-34) Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism (35-39) Heraclitus (40-42) and Parmenides (43-46) Parmenides (43-46); Zeno (46-48) (the Eleatics) The Pluralists (49-54) The Sophists: Protagoras and Gorgias (handouts)

Week Three 9/4 9/6

** Take-home quiz due on Friday, September 6 Part II: Socrates and Plato Week Four Week Five Week Six 9/11 9/13 9/18 9/20 9/25 9/27 Euthyphro (57-73) Apology (74-91) Meno (110-141) Socrates speech in the Symposium (142-154) Excerpt from Phaedo: Socrates as Student of Natural Science to the end (180-196) Selection from Phaedrus: (246-256) Selections from the Republic Books IV and V excerpts (197-216) Books VI and VII excerpts (217-245)

Week Seven 10/2 10/4

** Paper on Plato due on Tuesday, October 4 Fall Break Part III. Aristotle Week Eight 10/9 Week Nine 10/16 10/18 Categories (285-291) Metaphysics Bk. I, Chaps. 1-3 (in Chap. 3, you may skip the history of the Presocratics 311-317) Metaphysics Bk. I. (resume with Chap. 6, 317-320)