Topics in Ancient Philosophy

Topics in Ancient Philosophy

TOPICS IN ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY

2016/17 syllabus

Anthony Price

This year the topic will be Plato and Aristotle on pleasure. This broadly falls within ethics, but also within moral psychology and philosophy of mind.

We shall start with Plato’s Republic (Book IX), continue with his Philebus, and proceed to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (Books VII & X).

Preparatory reading:

Primary

Plato, Republic IX 580d-588a (many good translations, use whatever you have); Philebus, tr. & com. Dorothea Frede (Hackett – the translation, but not notes or introduction, which are really needed for this difficult dialogue, comes in the Cooper Hackett compilation).

Aristotle, Nicomachean EthicsVII chs 11-14, X chs 1-6 (tr. Ross/Brown, in Oxford WorldClassics; or in Barnes/Kenny Aristotle’s Ethics, Princeton, with no notes but a useful index).

Secondary

Dorothea Frede, introduction to Hackett Philebus;‘Disintegration and Restoration: Pleasure and Pain in the Philebus’, in R. Kraut (ed.), Cambridge Companion to Plato (CUP 1992), 425-63.

The relevant chapter of any introduction to the Nicomachean Ethics (Jim Urmson, Blackwell’s; David Bostock, OUP; Gerald Hughes, Routledge; Michael Pakaluk, CUP); also Bostock, ‘Pleasure and Activity in Aristotle's Ethics’,Phronesis 33(1988): 251-272.

Assessment: assessment will be by a single essay of c. 3,000 words (max 3,200 words) for BA students, c. 3,500 words (max 3,700 words) for MA students.

Provisional Schedule (including primary texts, but not secondary reading)

Week 1: Background: the good life in Plato’s Republic - the challenge to justice in Rep I-II - sketch of the argument of the Republic (as relevant for pleasure) - tripartite soul (Bk IV) - philosophers vs non-philosophers (end of Bk V through to end of Bk VII) - the psychology of the philosopher vs that of the tyrant (Bks VIII-IX). Plato, Republic 327a-368c, focus on 357ff.

Week 2: Plato Republic IX: second proof for maximum pleasure: 580d-583a - what are pleasures? - why are there kinds of pleasures? Plato, Republic 580d-583a.

Week 3: Plato Republic IX: Olympian proof: 583b-588a - nature of pleasure (filling: process, state, activity) - value of pleasure (being and truth of pleasures). Plato, Republic 583b-588a.

Week 4: Plato Philebus: restoration theory (nature of pleasure) - the possibility of hedonism - kinetic pleasures and representation. Philebus 11a-14b, 20b-23b, 31b-55c.

Week 5: Plato Philebus: pure pleasures and knowledge (value of pleasure) - pleasure as genesis - pleasure and content.Philebus 53c-55c; 55c-67b.

Week 6: Aristotle: NE VII.11-12 - against pleasure as process: pleasure as activity. Nicomachean Ethics 1152b1-1153b35.

Week 7: Aristotle: NE VII.13-14 - Aristotle’s “hedonism” and the limits of pleasure. Nicomachean Ethics 1153b1-1154b34.

Week 8: Aristotle: NE X.1-3 - endoxa: the value of pleasure - Eudoxus’ hedonism.Nicomachean Ethics 1172a19-1174a12.

Week 9: Aristotle: NE X.4-5 - the nature and value of pleasure reconsidered - pleasure and activity.Nicomachean Ethics 1174a13-176a29.

Week 10: Comparisons: Plato vs NE VII.11-14 vs NE X.1-5 - the nature of pleasure - the value of pleasure - the place of pleasure in the good life.