LA 1001B Freedom Is to Learn
University of Winchester
MLA Semester 2, 2014-15
Thursdays 12.00pm
Medecroft 107
LA 1001b Freedom is to Learn
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will observe the observers?
Motion
Week 1 (15th Jan)
Cosmic beginnings with no beginning
Plato, (1997) Phaedrus, in Plato Complete Works, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing, p524 (§ 245).
Aristotle, (1984) The Complete Works of Aristotle volume 2, ed. J. Barnes, Princeton: Princeton University Press; Metaphysics pp. 1694-5 (§1071b-1072b).
Aristotle (vol. 1) Physics, I.1. 184a10-15 (p. 315); III.4. 203b6-11 (p. 347); VII.1. 242a50-4 p. 408; VIII.5. 256a12-256b3 pp. 428-9.
Hawking, S (1988) A Brief History of Time, London, Bantam, Introduction by Carl Sagan.
Wright, M.R. (1995) Cosmology in Antiquity, New York: Routledge, pp. 3-6.
Aristotle, (1984) On The Heavens, in Complete Works volume 1, Princeton: Princeton University Press, p. 448.
Hawking, S. (1988) A Brief History of Time, London Bantam, pp. 2-3.
Lindberg, D. (2007) The Beginnings of Western Science, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, pp. 52-6.
Ptolemy, (1952) The Almagest, Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc, pp. 5, 6-9, 270.
Week 2 (22nd Jan)
Nothing is
Plato, (1987) Theaetetus, London, Penguin, § 152a-157c – nothing ‘is’; 152d-153c & 179e-183b – all is motion; 152a-c & 161c-162 – everything is relative; 156a-c, 201e-202e, & 205d-e – all is mediation
Plato, (1970) The Laws, London: Penguin, pp. 424-7.
Plato, (1997) Sophist, in Plato Complete Works, ed. J.M. Cooper, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing, §249, pp. 270-1.
Plutarch, (1936) ‘The E at Delphi’ in Moralia, vol. V. trans. FC Babbitt, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, §§ 392c-393b, pp. 241-245.
Week 3 (29th Jan)
Know Thyself in Plato
Plato, Alcibiades I, from Taylor, T. (2011) Know Thyself, Westbury, The Prometheus Trust, §128e – 135e (pp. 55-68).
Plato, Charmides in Plato, (1997) Plato Complete Works, ed. J. Cooper, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Co., §164d – 167a (pp.651-653).
Plato, Phaedrus, in Plato (1997), §230a (p. 510).
Plato, Philebus, in Plato (1997), 48c – 48e (p. 438).
Wider reading
Taylor, T. (2011) Know Thyself, Westbury, The Prometheus Trust.
Westerink LG & O’Neill W. (2011) Proclus Commentary on the First Alcibiades, Westbury, The Prometheus Trust.
Wilkins, EG, ((1917/2013) ‘Know Thyself’ in Greek and Latin Literature, New Delhi, Isha Books.
Wilkins, EG, (2014) Delphic Maxims in Literature, Kessinger Publishing.
Booth, E. (1977) ‘St Augustine’s “notitia sui” related to Aristotle and the Early Neo-Platonists,’ Augustiniana, vol. 27, pp. 381-389.
Week 4 (5th Feb)
Go with the flow and be at peace
Marcus Aurelius, (1964) Meditations, Harmondsworth: Penguin, Books II and IV, and pp. 86, 93, 108, 132.
Seneca, (1997) On the Shortness of Life, London: Penguin, pp. 73, 85-93; also (on motion) 41-4, 92-3.
Epictetus, (2004) Discourses, pp. 28-9, 82, 90.
Epicurus, (1994) The Epicurus Reader, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, pp. 30-1.
Sextus Empiricus, (2000) Outlines of Scepticism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3-11, 51-2, 57-8, 72.
At peace
Plotinus, (1991) The Enneads, London: Penguin, VI. 9, pp. 535-49
Pseudo-Dionysius, (1987) Pseudo-Dionysius The Complete Works, New Jersey, Paulist Press, pp. 104-5, 108-9.
Augustine, (1972) City of God, Harmondsworth: Penguin, pp. 566-7, 590-1, 870-4;
Week 5 (12th Feb)
The medieval Christian, Islamic and Jewish cosmos
Lactantius, (c. 250 – c. 325) Divine Institutes, Book III (Of the False Wisdom of Philosophers)
Dante Alighieri, (2008) Convivio (The Banquet), chapters XIII & XIV, trans AS Kline, found at:
Masood, E. (2009) Science and Islam, London, Icon Books, pp. 125-38.
Corbin, H. (1988) Avicenna and the Visionary Recital, Princeton, Princeton University Press, pp. 18-28, 60-2.
Avicenna, (2005) The Metaphysics of The Healing, Utah, Brigham Young UP, pp. 299, 325, 327, 330-1.
Netton, IR, (1994) Allah Transcendent, Richmond, Curzon Press, pp. 162-5.
Maimonides, M. (1956) The Guide for the Perplexed, trans. M Friedländer, New York, Dover Publications, pp. 156-9.
Jacobs, L. (1975) ‘Jewish Cosmology’ in Ancient Cosmologies, Ed. Carmen Blacker & Michael Loewe, London, Allen & Unwin, pp. 66-86.
Wider reading
Wagner, D.L. (1983) The Seven Liberal Arts in the Middle Ages, Bloomington: Indiana Press, chapter 9.
Dreyer, JLE, (1953) A History of Astronomy from Thales to Kepler, New York, Dover Publications, chapters X and XI.
Macrobius, (1990) Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, trans. WH Stahl, New York, Columbia UP, pp. 133-184.
Isidore, (2005) Etymologies, trans. Priscilla Throop, Charlotte, Vermont, Medieval MS, Book III.
Martianus Capella, (1977) The Marriage of Philology and Mercury, eds. W.H. Stahl and E.L. Burge, New York, Columbia University Press, Book VIII.
Halevi, J. (1964) The Kuzari, New York, Schocken Books.
C Bamford, (1990) ‘Esotericism Today: the example of Henry Corbin’ in Corbin, H. The Voyage and the Messenger, Berkeley, North Atlantic Books, pp. xiv-lx.
Corbin, H. (1988) Avicenna and the Visionary Recital, Princeton, Princeton University Press, pp. 93-101.
Week 6 (19th Feb)
In motion
Copernicus, (2002) On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres, Philadelphia: Running Press, pp. xi-xvi, 1-6.
Kepler, (1995) Epitome of Copernican Astronomy, New York: Prometheus Books, pp. 12-13, 21.
Galileo, (2002) Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences, Philadelphia: Running Press, pp. xi-xvii.
Finocchiaro, (2008) The Essential Galileo, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, pp. 116-7, 292-4.
Du Bois, W.E.B. (2001) ‘Galileo Galilei’ (1908) in The Education of Black People, New York, Monthly Review Press, pp. 33-48
History of Fisk University: http://www.fisk.edu/about/history
This lecture by Jim al-Khalili throws into relief the Eastern contribution:
Week 7 (26th Feb)
Revel and repose
Kant, I. (1968) Critique of Pure Reason (London, Macmillan), pp. 22-3, 93, 194.
Hegel, (1977) Phenomenology of Spirit, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 27 and 49-51.
Week 8 (5th March)
Space and time
Cox and Forshaw (2009) why does E=mc2? Cambridge: Da Capo Press, chapter 1
Aristotle, (1984a) On The Heavens, III.2. 300a 27 – 300b 2. (p. 492).
Galileo, (1967) Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, University of California Press, pp. 186-7.
Newton, I. (2002) Principia, Philadelphia: Running Press, p. xvi.
Newton, I. (1953) Newton’s Philosophy of Nature, New York: Dover Publications, pp. 42-5.
Smolin, L. (1997) The Life of the Cosmos Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 230.
Additional
Feynman, R. (2011) Six Easy Pieces, The fundamentals of physics explained, London, Penguin, chapter 5.
Eddington, A. (1933) The Nature of the Physical World, Cambridge UP,
Chapter VIII.
Motion
Newton’s three laws of motion
Newton’s third law…
Relativity: from Aristotle to Newton via relative speed and frame of reference (from 50sec to 3min 47sec)
Week 9 (12th March)
Marx and the movement of History
Tucker, R.C. (1978) The Marx-Engels Reader, London, Norton, pp. 3-5, 473-483, 500, 160, 192-3, 154-5, 172, 218, 530-1, 70-9, 84-7.
You can find Marx’s works at
Additional
Bottomore, T. And Rubel, M. (1961) Karl Marx: selected writings in sociology and social philosophy, Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Bottomore, T. And Nisbet, R. (eds.) (1978) A History of Sociological Analysis, London: Heinemann.
Carver, T. (ed.) (1991) The Cambridge Companion to Marx, Cambridge University Press.
Carver, T. (1998) The Postmodern Marx, Manchester University Press.
Connerton, P. (ed.) (1976) Critical Sociology, Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Craib, I. (1997) Classical Social Theory, Oxford University Press.
Fromm, E. (1976) Marx's Concept of Man, New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing.
McLellan, D. (1977) Karl Marx: Selected Writings, Oxford University Press.
Morrison, K. (1995) Marx, Durkheim, Weber, London: Sage.
Singer, P. (1980) Marx, Oxford University Press.
Wheen, F. ((1999) Karl Marx, London: Fourth Estate
Week 10 (19th March)
Special relativity
Cox and Forshaw (2009) why does E=mc2? Chapter 3.
Hawking (2005) A Briefer History of Time, pp. 28-37, 44-9.
Einstein, (1996) Out of my Later Years, New York: Wings Books, pp. 39-44, 47-51.
Hawking, (2001) The Universe in a Nutshell, London: Bantam Press, pp. 4-26.
Additional
Feynman, R. (2011) Six Easy Pieces, The fundamentals of physics explained, London, Penguin, chapter 5.
Eddington, A. (1933) The Nature of the Physical World, Cambridge UP,
p. 21
chapter 3
week 11 (26th March)
quantum madness
Heisenberg (1958) Physics and Philosophy, London: Penguin, chapter 3, pp. 126-7
Hawking, S. (1988) A Brief History of Time, pp. 60-1.
Heisenberg, W. (1962) The Physicist’s Conception of Nature, London: Scientific Book Guild, pp. 14-15, 40-1.
Al-Khalili, J. (2008) Quantum, London: Phoenix, pp. 12-23.
Additional
Barad, K. (2007) Meeting the Universe Halfway, Durham, Duke UP, pp. 74-83, 102-6, 278
Feynman, R. (2011) Six Easy Pieces, The fundamentals of physics explained, London, Penguin, chapters 2 & 6
Schrodinger, E. (1967) What is Life, Mind and Matter, and Autobiographical Sketches, Cambridge, Cambridge UP, pp. 125-7.
Eddington, A. (1949) The Philosophy of Physical Science, Cambridge UP, pp. 85-8.
Barad, K. (2007) Meeting the Universe Halfway, Durham, Duke UP, p. 156, 233
Rosenblum, B. and Kuttner, F. (2011) Quantum Enigma, Oxford UP, pp. 88-9, 128-37, 145-8, 269.
Plotnitsky, (2004), ‘In Principle Observable: Werner Heisenberg’s Discovery of Quantum Mechanics and Romantic Imagination’, Parallax, 10:3, 20-35; pp. 25-6.
Assessments
Two essays
- Using selected material from weeks 2-4, explore the relation between motion, first principles, and self knowing (1750-2000 words; deadline Thursday, Feb 12th, week 5, (nb same week as Film and Philosophy, so plan carefully) given to Catherine in the Office by 3.30pm).
- Describe the implications of movement on space and time, and observations on objects, from resources in weeks 6, 7, 8, 10 & 11. (1750-2000 words; deadline Thursday 2nd April, week 12).
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