HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY
A294-001
Class Time: MWF 10:30-11:20
Instructor: Dr. Danielle A. Layne
Classroom: Mercy 201 Office Location: Bobet 448a
E-mail: dalayne1@loyno.edu Office Hours: T/TH 9a.m-3.pm.
Texts: Primary: Long, A.A. Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics. University of California
Course Description: Surprisingly there is more to ancient philosophy than just Plato and Aristotle. In fact while often neglected Hellenistic, Middle Platonic and Neo-Platonic schools of thought have far reaching consequences on the history of philosophy. All of these traditions from Cynicism to Stoicism, Epicureanism to Skepticism as well as Neo-Platonism and early Christian philosophy remain relevant for any student of philosophy. What may be peculiar to the schools of late antiquity is its insistence that philosophy was not simply a discipline or a science to be studied. Unlike the current methods of philosophy, for the ancients philosophy was a training or way of life, meant to purify and cleanse individuals from the anxieties that cause misery. In some sense it can be described as a therapy for the soul and thus to be an Epicurean was wholly different from being a Kantian. To be an Epicurean meant you dedicated your entire life to the practices that manifested your philosophy. Here, philosophy was always at the service of life and thus as we shall see over the coming weeks Hellenistic philosophy can be seen as both an ethical and spiritual movement which still (in)forms the question of how best to live.
COURSE GRADES
Course grades will be determined by participation, written assignments and 1 presentation.
· Participation (25%): Determined by 1) class discussion and 2) the class blog at http://hellenisticphilosophy.blogspot.com/
1) Class Discussion: Each day sections of the text will be assigned and I expect that all of you will read each text with great joy and enthusiasm. However, just in case you ever feel deterred from such splendid activity, the incentive becomes the threat of having to actively answer questions related to the text in class each day. If you have not done the reading assignment, then your ignorance of the text will become obvious to both me and your fellow classmates. How humiliating, I say! Thus to ensure that you read, participate and avoid horrible embarrassment, in each class students will be given 1 question to answer, helping navigate and focus the assigned reading. Your answer must be at least three sentences long and written well.
o EVERYONE MUST COME TO CLASS WITH THEIR ANSWER. I will then call on one person during the lecture and ask them to read their answer before the class. Example Question: Can we call Medea a hero? Why or why not? Example Answer: Since Medea’s actions arise from a simple desire to get revenge, one might recoil from deeming her a hero. In fact when she murders her own children, many immediately associate her with villainy. Yet, regardless of this, Medea was victimized by Jason and by refusing to be passive to his betrayal she expresses a strength of mind and courage to act that is worthy of admiration.
2) Class Blog: EVERY WEEK YOU MUST POST 1 BLOG about the material of the class and how it relates to current events, your life or any other issue that you feel relates to the course. That is, you are more than welcome to post comments on the movies or tv shows you watch, the politics you follow, the job you have ANYTHING just so long as it “fits” the current theme of the class. For example when we are reading the Apology you can simply blog on your reaction to Socrates. Also, say you come across an article about a person being unfairly put on trail, you may wish to post the article and tell the class about it relates to the material. You may also earn points by commenting on others blogs, i.e. debate about the issues, ask questions etc. When I discover a particularly good blog or debate I will read/discuss it in class.
· Writing Assignments (30%): There will be 1 class synopsis paper and 2 short papers essays assigned in the semester.
1) Class Synopsis Paper: Today there is a sign up sheet going around the class. Here, you are putting your name next to a particular date. On that date you become the class secretary and you must take the best notes of your life and then write a one page summary of the day’s lecture, discussions and questions. You will then be required to post this summary on the blog before the next class. At the beginning of the next class you will need to turn in a hard copy to me and I will also ask you to remind the class of the major points of the previous lecture.
2) Short Paper Essays: The topics of the papers will be discussed in class but the nuts and bolts are that these papers must be 3 full pages and written in Times New Roman 12pt Font. You will be graded on spelling/grammar, ability to explain the argument, and proper citations. ALL STUDENTS are urged to SUBMIT ROUGH DRAFTS OF THEIR PAPERS TO THE WAC LAB, located on the first floor of Bobet HALL. I will be given an evaluation of your work from the tutors there and will take their comments into consideration when I grade the final versions. Final papers must be UPLOADED TO THE BLACKBOARD ASSIGNMENT AREA!!!
· Pop Quizzes (20%): 10 quizzes (roughly one a week) on the reading assignments throughout the semester
· Final Exam or Paper (25%): This exam will be in a short essay format. We will review prior to the exam and I will provide study questions to aid your preparation. In lieu of the exam you may choose to write a 6 page paper on an approved topic (perhaps combining your 2 short paper essays).
Blackboard and BLOG: Many of the readings are only available on blackboard. Moreover, you are all required to post on the class BLOG at http://hellenisticphilosophy.blogspot.com. In light of this, all of you must familiarize yourself with using online tools. To get started with BLACKBOARD go to http://www.loyno.edu/ and click on the Blackboard icon located in the upper right hand of the screen. Your Blackboard username is the same as your Loyola e-mail username. If your Loyola e-mail address is iggy@loyno.edu, your Blackboard username is just iggy (in lowercase letters). If you do not know your Loyola e-mail address, you can find it under the "Personal Info" section of your LORA account. Password: Your password will be 6 characters long, consisting of the first two letters of your first name, lowercase, followed by the last four digits of your SSN. e.g. Mary Smith SSN xxx-xx-3456 the PIN will be ma3456 (lower case) If you have questions about Blackboard, you may: Visit the Learning Commons desk at the Monroe Library or call the 24/7 Blackboard assistance numbers at 1-866-562-7278. To get started on the CLASS BLOG go to blogspot.com and create an account. You should have received an invitation in your loyno.edu account to join the blog. If you do not have a google account, it will demand that you sign up for one. Sign up for a GOOGLE account using your loyno.edu address and be sure to make your username your real name so that I know who is posting. If you already have a google account under a different name, please create a new one with your loyno.edu account so that I may be able to identify you.
WAC Lab: WAC administers a writing center and electronic classroom in Room 100 Bobet Hall where students can conduct Internet research, draft papers, consult with writing tutors, and revise their work. The writing center makes available a library of print and online resources for writers, including discipline-specific guides to college writing, dictionaries, handbooks, grammar guides, style and citation guides, and other resources. For more information about WAC and WAC services, contact Robert Bell at rcbell@loyno.edu.
Disability Services: A student with a disability that qualifies for accommodations should contact Sarah Mead Smith, Director of Disability Services at 865-2990 (Academic Resource Center
Academic Dishonesty: Your written work must be your own. I have absolutely no tolerance for any kind of cheating and/or plagiarism and, to be sure, I am constantly fiddling on the internet and checking up on all my students’ work so if you cheat you will be caught. Also to be clear, the Loyola University Bulletin follows Alexander Lindley and defines plagiarism as “the false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another person’s mind, and presenting it as one’s own” (Plagiarism and Originality). They also turn to the MLA Handbook and similarly define it as “Plagiarism may take the form of repeating another’s sentences as your own, adopting a particularly apt phrase as your own, paraphrasing someone else’s argument as your own, or even presenting someone else’s line of thinking in the development of a thesis as though it were your own.” The Philosophy Department’s Policy requires that every case of plagiarism receive all three of the following sanctions: 1) A report of the incident to the Department Chair and the Associate Dean; 2) A zero on the particular assignment; 3) A failing grade in the course.
Late Assignments: Late assignments will not be accepted unless you receive concrete permission from myself. If you are unable to hand in an assignment and you know in advance, then you must contact me at least 24 hours prior to the deadline.
Emergency Evacuation Procedures: It is Loyola University
General Policies:
- Your attendance is expected in all classes as class participation is 1/5 of your grade. Every time you are absent you are hurting not only this grade but your overall average. MORE THAN 5 ABSENCES WILL RESULT IN A COMPLETE LETTER SCORE DROP. For example if you have an A- and were absent 6 times you will receive a B-.
- The lectures will be based on the assigned readings, therefore you are expected to have read the material. Come to class prepared to take notes and ready to answer and ask questions.
- Laptops in class are to be used for note-taking purposes only. If I catch you doing anything else with them (e.g. surfing the web, updating your Facebook profile), I will ask you to leave class.
- Turn off your cell phones when in class. NO TEXTING!
- Lastly and perhaps most silly of me, I expect that everyone come ON TIME, READY (NOT HALF ASLEEP), and dressed appropriately (NO PYJAMAS or BUNNY SLIPPERS). If you cannot do this, then do not come at all!
If you are falling behind in the course, or are earning a below average grade, I strongly encourage you to stop by my office to discuss your work in the class. I will be happy to address any questions concerning the material and I always love helping students. I am good at it. So even if you think it is impossible, just come and we can figure things out.
I LOVE OFFERING EXTRA CREDIT SO COME TALK TO ME IF YOU NEED HELP!
COURSE AGENDA (THIS AGENDA IS TENTATIVE, I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR ADAPT THIS PROGRAM AT MY WILL!)
PART I: Introduction and the PLATONIC/ARISTOTELIAN TRADITION
Week 1 : What is Philosophy in Late Antiquity
1/10 M Introduction to the Course and Discussion of “Why Study Ancient Philosophy?”
1/12 W Themes: Happiness, Philosophy and Learning How to Live
1/14 F The Figure of Socrates
Week 2: Plato
1/17 M HOLIDAY NO CLASS
1/19 W Plato and the Academy
1/21 F Plato and the Destruction of the “Second Voyage”
Week 3: Aristotle
1/24 M Plato and Aristotle.
1/26 W Aristotle
1/28 F Aristotle and the Peripatos
PART II: HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY
Week 4: Cynicism
1/31 M Diogenes the “Dog”: Parrhesia, Autarcheia and Apatheia
2/2 W NO CLASS
2/4 F Dostoyevsky, A Contemporary Cynic?
Week 5: Epicureanism
2/7 M Epicuras, the Founding of the Garden, and the Revival of Atomism
2/9 W Ethical Pleasure?
2/11 F Epicurean Virtue and Friendship
Week 6: Roman Epicureanism
2/14 M Philodemus, Lucretius and the fact that Death is Nothing to Us
2/16 W The Truth which eases Pain: Rejection of Caring Gods
2/18 F Epicureanism through the Ages: Newton , Jefferson and Dawkins
Week 7: Stoicism
2/21 M Zeno, Foundation of the Stoa and the Tripartition of Philosophy
2/23 W The Logic and Physics of the Stoa
2/25 F The Ethics of the Stoa and how it relates to Data on Star Trek
Week 8: When in Rome
2/28 M Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius
3/2 W Marcus Aurelius
3/4 F Contemporary Stoicism: From Spinoza to the Gladiator to AA!
Week 9: Mardi Gras
PART III: SKEPTICISM, ECLECTISM and NEO-PLATONISM
Week 10: Skepticism
3/ 14 Pyrrhonian Skepticism
3/16 Academic Skepticism
3/18 Contemporary Skepticism: From the Doubt of Hume to the slippery slops of relativism/nihilism in Nietzsche
Week 11: Eclectics and Middle Platonism
3/21 Panaetius and Posidonius
3/23 Philo of Larissa to Antiochus
3/25 Cicero
Week 12: Neo-Platonism
3/28: Plotinus and The Second Second Sailing
3/30: Plotinus and the Soul
4/1: Plotinus and Happiness
Week 13: Proclus
4/4 Differences and History
4/6 Double Ignorance
4/8 Reading a Text: Neo-Platonic Hermeneutics
PART IV: CHRISTIANITY meets PAGAN PHILOSOPHY
Week 14: Philosophy and Early Christianity
4/11 The Apologists: Justin Martyr (Optional Reading
4/13 The Apologists: Tertullian (Optional Reading
4/15 Augustine (Reading
Week 15: Holiday
Week 16
4/25 M Holiday
4/27 W Augustine (Reading
4/29 The Decline of Philosophy as a Way of Life
Final Friday May 6 2011 11:30-1:30pm
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