Greek 205: Greek Philosophers
Syllabus
Professor Jacques A. Bailly
Classics Dept.
481 Main St., Room 300
656-0993
jbailly@zoo.uvm.edu Classics Home
This syllabus is posted on the web at:
http://www.uvm.edu/~jbailly/courses/grk205phil/grk205syllabus.html
If additions or modifications to it become necessary in the course
of the class, they will be found there.
Attendance: Required.
Texts:
- We will work from photocopies, library copies, electronic
copies, and department copies of texts.
Substance: We will begin with the Parmenidean challenge,
following which we will explore Plato's "Theory of Forms" and
various criticisms or alternatives to it.
Grades: 91-100%=A, 81-90%=B, 71-80%=C, 61-70%=D, 60% or
lower fails. Plus and minus will be given for the top three and
bottom three points of each range respectively.
| Graded Elements of this Course |
Final and Midterm
|
20% each |
2 Papers
|
40% |
| Evidence of engagement with the class* |
20% |
*Such evidence includes:
1. attendance, participation in class, contacts outside of
class, enthusiasm, and attitude, as well as "Daily Comments,"
which should be serious interesting/interested comments about class
material and I will collect every session from each person. These
may only be handed in during class in person: you may miss a week's
worth without penalty. Writing something trivial such as "I was
here" or "Honestly cannot think of anything today" will count as
absence. In other words, it includes whether or not it is obvious to
me that you are engaged: of course, knowing you all rather well, I
can't imagine any problems here. Worth 5% of your grade.
2. Leading discussion about articles on Wednesdays: worth 5%
of your grade.
3. Asking and answering questions about the Greek: we
will have a Google document set up that we will all participate on:
your task is to ask and answer questions. Some of you will have more
questions and some of you will have answers. You must post at least
twice per class session: put your initials and date after the post
you write to get credit. This is meant to be about the GREEK. Worth
5% of your grade.
4. Asking and answering questions about the philosophical
content: we will have another Google document about the
philosophical content of what we read. You must post one question
and one answer per week. A question should be carefully thought out
and specific enough that it doesn't basically ask for a vague and
unfocused thing. An answer should be well thought out and carefully
written, but can be exploratory and speculative: it needn't have
footnotes and references to secondary literature and all the things
a paper should have. Answers should be at least a couple paragraphs
worth. Worth 5% of your grade.
Papers:
- Audience for the papers: yourselves. Assume you are writing to
your fellow class members, but with a professor looking over
your shoulder to make sure you are thinking hard and well and
are following proper standard guidelines for formal writing,
such as citations, footnotes, punctuation, etc.
- Survey of three scholarly articles about Plato's Theory of
Forms: there are many articles about the "theory of
forms." For this paper, you will find and synthesize three such
articles: explain their basic approach, what their major
contribution to the topic is, and how they differ from each
other. In other words, it's not three separate treatments, but
one paper that discusses three different approaches.
- The "theory of forms" must be central to the article, and it
must be an article that is attempting to make an original
contribution to scholarship about the topic.
- In other words, the articles cannot be essays that
introduces and explains the theory for people who are not
familiar with it in the manner that, say, a chapter in a
book attempting to cover all the basic contributions of
Plato to philosophy would.
- Your paper should introduce the theory and explain it to
your fellow class members: assume that people have read a
good deal and know quite a lot, but have not read these
particular articles.
- The articles should not be by the same person or express
basically the same idea and have no interesting differences.
- It would be a good idea to focus on one Platonic text
passage, but this is not required. Doing so would give your
paper a great deal of ready-made focus, which is always
desirable.
- Length: 6 pages or more of double space, 12 point, Times
font, normal margin pages (not with just a few lines on P.6,
the first page with a huge title, and lots of redundancy and a
long intro: 6 solid on-topic careful and interesting pages).
- You will be asked to lead discussion of articles during the
semester: it might make sense to take advantage of that and
combine it with your paper. Many of the articles we discuss in
class will fit the bill for this paper.
- A philosophical commentary on a passage of the Phaedo
that is central to the "theory of forms."
- This should cover a discrete chunk of Greek text (i.e. one
that is somehow complete and doesn't stop mid-passage)
- You should use Greek text (accompanied by translation in
parentheses if necessary)
- Length: hard to say, but it should be obvious that it took a
lot of work: if it smells as if it was written over the course
of a single long night and could use a good deal of polish,
then it doesn't smell right.
Contacting me: E-mail is fine. You can also try dropping
by my office. If it is not during office hours and I am there, I
might be busy, so be ready to make an appointment for later. My
home phone is 859-9253, but I am mostly in my office or out and
about during the day.
Procedure:
Mondays: read Greek!
Wednesdays: discuss articles!
Fridays: read more Greek!
Assignments: we will be reading passages in Greek from
long dialogues: your assignment is to prepare the passage in Greek
AND read the rest of the dialogue in English.
Education is not preparation for life; education is
life itself.
(John Dewey, UVM 1879)