sign in sign up
<<
Home , Henri Estienne, Hippias Minor, On Justice

PHILO 380(W) Dr. V. Adluri Sec. 001 [4921] Office: Hunter West, 12th floor, Room 1242 Spring 2009 Telephone: 973 216 7874 Prof. Adluri Email: [email protected] Monday/Wednesday, 4:10-5:25pm Office hours: Wednesdays, 6:00 – 7:00 P.M and by appointment DESCRIPTION: This course on Plato provides an in-depth account of this seminal thinker’s . Major themes such as the nature of knowledge, soul, universe, city, God, language, love, and art will be discussed based on selections from all of his dialogues. Plato’s relationship to Pre- Socratic philosophy, especially and Heraclitus will be discussed. We will pay special attention to Plato’s use of the dialogic form and its main protagonist: . In the second half of the course, we will read the in detail, with special attention to the legacy of Plato’s thought in the history of Western Philosophy.

Required Text: Plato. Complete Works. Edited by John Cooper. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997. $54. All textbooks are on order at Shakespeare & Co. Booksellers (939 Lexington Avenue between 68th and 69th streets; 212 570 0201). Shakespeare & Co. also has a limited number of used copies available at lower prices.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: This course is intended to give students a basic familiarity with the Platonic corpus and an in-depth knowledge of the Republic. In the first half of the course, students will gain a basic familiarity with Platonic philosophy, including its method of argumentation, its ultimate aims, and its wider political and literary context. We will then apply these insights to a close- reading of the Republic. We will also consider modern critiques of ‘’ and Plato’s legacy in the Neo-Platonic and Augustinian traditions. In addition, the course will teach basic analytic and critical skills, especially how to read texts carefully paying attention to literary form, structure, context, and nuance. Students will learn how to interpret texts rigorously, to research secondary sources, and to reconstruct an argument in their own language. Opportunities for class participation will allow students to develop the ability to formulate and discuss ideas, objections, and their own solutions to problems. Regular writing assignments will give students the opportunity to train their expository writing skills, i.e., organization, clarity, precision, and fluidity of expression. This is a writing-intensive course.

GRADES AND REQUIREMENTS: 1. All students are responsible for a mid-term paper and a final paper (both 15 pages min.). 2. The mid-term paper focuses on one Platonic dialogue of the student’s choosing. The aim of this paper is to summarize the dialogue to show its unity, structure, and argument. 3. The final paper examines one theme from the Platonic corpus. Students must compare their chosen dialogue from the mid-term paper with another Platonic dialogue. This

1 of 4 comparison is to demonstrate an understanding of one of the following themes: Plato’s epistemology, psychology, ethics, logic, political theory, or cosmology. 4. The final paper is due two weeks before the end of the semester and will be returned with your grade in the final week; you will have the option of rewriting your paper for a better grade if you hand it in on time. 5. Regular attendance is required; any student who misses more than two classes without notice will have to see me before he/she can continue attending.

SPECIAL NEEDS: In compliance with the American Disability Act of 1990 (ADA) and with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Hunter College is committed to ensuring educational parity and accommodations for all students with documented disabilities and/or medical conditions. It is recommended that all students with documented disabilities (emotional, medical, physical and/ or learning) consult the Office of AccessABILITY located in Room E1124 to secure necessary academic accommodations. For further information and assistance please call (212- 772- 4857)/TTY (212- 650- 3230).

ACADEMIC HONESTY: Hunter College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism, cheating on examinations, obtaining unfair advantage, and falsification of records and official documents) as serious offenses against the values of intellectual honesty. The College is committed to enforcing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of academic dishonesty according to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Procedures. A detailed statement about plagiarism is posted on Blackboard and will be distributed before papers are submitted.

CLASS SCHEDULE AND REQUIRED READING: This course is designed to fit 25 lectures. These do not exactly correspond to the calendar as discussion may extend beyond one class into the next. It is the student’s responsibility to attend every single class to note the necessary reading material for the next class. In case a student is absent, it is the student’s responsibility to find out what the assigned reading for the next class is. The course consists of two parts: the first is thematic and will present selections from various dialogues; in the second, we will read one Platonic dialogue in depth—the Republic. In addition to the classroom sessions, students are expected to read one other dialogue (other than the Republic) on which they will write their mid-term paper. Each student is required to meet me during office hours at least once so that I can advise on the choice of dialogue as well as the proper argument to reconstitute from the dialogue. The following dialogues are not suitable for students to write their paper on: Parmenides, , .

SECONDARY SOURCES: Secondary sources for each dialogue and each theme will be provided as needed. In general, I emphasize close reading of the primary Platonic texts. When you write your papers, you will be required to provide a brief bibliography comprising at least two monographs pertaining to your dialogue and a minimum of five relevant articles. I will provide guidance on this portion of your research.

2 of 4 CITING PLATO: Plato is traditionally cited according to a scheme known as the Stephanus numbers. You are not expected to memorize the numbers, but you should read the attached handout on citing Plato and know how to refer to relevant portions of the text using the Stephanus numbers, or, if given the Stephanus numbers in class, know how to look up the relevant section.

Session Topic Required reading No. 1. Introduction: Socrates, Plato, influence of Pre-Socratic None philosophy (Homer, Parmenides, Heraclitus), relevant background of ancient Greek history 2. Being and Becoming Parmenides and Heraclitus 3. Socrates’ defense: historical and political considerations of the trial, the Socratic question, discussion of piety 4. Socrates’ defense: the city vs. the philosopher Apology 5. Philosopher and the law 6. Plato’s psychology: philosophy as preparation for death, death as separation of body and soul, myth of after-life 7. Plato’s psychology: argument for the immortality of the soul Phaedo 8. Plato’s theory of recollection 9. Plato’s epistemology (selections)

10. Plato’s epistemology: know thyself Alcibiades I 11. Plato’s aesthetics: Homer, the bard, Athenian education 12. Plato on love: two speeches on love 13. Plato on love: Socrates as Eros, Alcibiades’ speech 14. Plato on love: Plato on the problem of the body and desire, Symposium Aristophanes’ and Eryximachus’ speeches 15. Introduction to the structure of the Republic, its relevance to Republic 1 contemporary political theory, and the argument ‘might is right’. 16. The story of the and the analogy of city and soul Republic 2 17. Education of the Guardians Republic 3 18. Divisions and virtues of the city and soul Republic 4 19. Philosophy, wisdom, and knowledge Republic 5 20. The Idea of the Good, divided line Republic 6 21. and the limits of the city Republic 7

3 of 4 22. Decline of the best city: timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, tyranny Republic 8 23. The capacity for discrimination: true and false pleasures Republic 9 24. Plato’s eschatology: Republic 10 25. Conclusion: and Neo-Platonism None

4 of 4 HOW TO CITE PLATO

Background: Why Stephanus numbers? The figures and letters used almost universally to quote Plato refer to a Renaissance edition of his works published in Geneva in 1578 by a famed printer and humanist of the time named (1528-1598), also known by the Latinized version of his name: Stephanus. This complete edition of Plato's works was in three volumes, whose page were continuously numbered from beginning to end of each volume. Each page of this edition is split in two columns, the inner one providing the Greek text and the outer one a Latin translation (by Jean de Serres). In between the two columns are printed letters from A to E dividing the column into five sections includes pictures of some of its pages, thus alowing a more visual understanding of this disposition).

It is common practice to cite Plato by the name of the dialogue (plus the book number for Republic and ), the page number in the Stephanus edition followed by the letter of the section including the first word of the quotation. No volume number needs to be provided because no dialogue splits over two volumes, and thus, the dialogue name suffices to make the reference unambiguous. Thus, quotations take the form Sophist, 247d (the “provisional” definition of being) or Republic, V, 473c (the principle of the philosopher-king). Quotations are usually given with reference to the start and end point of the quoted section. If the end point is in the same page as the start point, only the end section letter is added, and the quotation takes the form Sophist, 247d-e. If the end point is in a different page, the end page number and section letter are provided too, and the quotation takes the form Apology, 29e- 30a (the summary of Socrates’ “mission” at the center of the Apology).

Because these numbers are printed in every modern Greek edition and in different translations of Plato’s work, they enable precise reference to Plato, even for someone using a different edition. This is why the page numbers of your textbook are not the appropriate form of reference. Obviously, with translations, the changes of sections are only approximate, due to the fact that a translation never faithfully follows the order of the words in the original language.

In some instances, as when refering to a single word or a short sequence of words, a line number is added after the section letter (this is obviously the case with a “word index”, such as Leonard Brandwood’s “Word Index to Plato”, a book listing in alphabetical order all Greek words appearing in Plato’s works with Stephanus references for all occurrences). Unfortunately, accurate line numbering for such references is much harder to get and is almost never reproduced in modern editions of the Greek text (obviously, this line numbering could only be approximate in translations, even more so than section changes). The reference edition used for line numbering is usually the Oxford Classical Texts (OCT) edition of Plato’s works in five volumes. It is not necessary for you to count the line numbers.

Note that Stephanus, unlike Bekker, did not number his edition continously. Therefore, it is not sufficient to give just the Stephanus numbers, as these repeat. You must, therefore, also give the dialogue name, unless it is clear from the discussion. An example of correct citation

(A) “And so, , his story was saved and not lost; and it would save us, too, if we were persuaded by it, since we should safely cross the river Lethe with our souls undefiled. But if we are persuaded by me, we will believe that the soul is immortal and able to endure every evil and also every good, and always hold to the upward path, practicing justice with wisdom every way we can, so that we will be friends to ourselves and to the gods, both while we remain here on Earth and when we receive the rewards of justice, and go around like victors in the games collecting prizes; and so both in this life and on the thousand-year journey we have described, we will fare well.” (Pl. Resp. X. 621b-d, trans. Reeve).

Compare how this passage appears on p. 326 of Plato, Republic, translated from the New Standard Text, with Introduction, by C.D.C. Reeve (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2004). Let’s look carefully at each part of the reference:

Pl. Rep. X. 621b-d, trans. Reeve

(1) author abbreviation, (2) title of dialogue (either abbreviated or in full), (3) chapter reference, (4) Stephanus numbers, (5) translator’s name

1. If you are referring to primary texts by several authors, you need to indicate the author first. In this course, you will usually not need this, because you will have already made it clear that you are writing about what Plato says in his texts!

2. The abbreviation of the title is italicized (because it’s a book title). The standard abbreviations for Platonic dialogues are:!Apol. (Apology), Charm. (), Epist (e.g. VII) (for Plato’s letters), Euthyphr. (), Gorg. (), Hipp. mai. ( major), Hipp. min. (), Crat. (Cratylus), Crit. (Crito), Lach. (), Leg. (Laws), Lys. (Lysias), Men. (Meno), Parm. (Parmenides), Phaid. (Phaedo), Phaidr. (Phaedrus), Phil. (), Polit. (), Prot. (), Rep. (Republic), Soph. (Sophist), Symp. (Symposium), Theait. (), Tim. (Timaeus). This can sometimes be omitted after the first reference if it is very clear you continue to discuss only the single work.

3. Roman numeral for chapter number, followed by a period or comma.

4. Stephanus numbers, with no spaces.

5. Translator’s name (found on the work’s title page). This can be omitted after the first reference to the work.

The distribution of dialogues across the three volumes of the Stephanus edition is as provided in the table below, with start and end reference of each dialogue.

Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3

Euthyphro 2a 16a Philebus 11a 67b Timæus 17a 92c Apology 17a 42a Meno 70a 100b 106a 121c Crito 43a 54e Alcibiades 103a 135e Parmenides 126a 166c Phædo 57a 118a 2nd Alcibiades 138a 151c Symposium 172a 223d 121a 131a Charmides 153a 176d Phædrus 227a 279c 132a 139a Laches 178a 201c 281a 304e Theætetus 142a 210d 203a 223b Letter I 309a 310b Sophist 216a 268b Hipparquus 225a 232c Letter II 310b 315a 271a 307c 234a 249e Letter III 315a 319e Protagoras 309a 362a Statesman 257a 311c Letter IV 320a 321c Hippias minor 363a 376c 313a 321d Letter V 321c 322c Cratylus 383a 440e Republic I 327a 354c Letter VI 322c 323d Gorgias 447a 527e Republic II 357a 383c Letter VII 323d 352a Ion 530a 542b Republic III 386a 417b Letter VIII 352b 357d Republic IV 419a 445e Letter IX 357d 358b Republic V 449a 480a Letter X 358b 358c Republic VI 484a 511e Letter XI 358d 359c Republic VII 514a 541b Letter XII 359c 359e Republic VIII 543a 569c Letter XIII 360a 363e Republic IX 571a 592b Axiochus 364a 372a Republic X 595a 621d 372a 375d Laws I 624a 650b 376a 379d Laws II 652a 674c 380a 386b Laws III 676a 702e 387b 391d Laws IV 704a 724b Eryxias 392a 406a Laws V 726a 747e 406a 410e Laws VI 751a 785b 411a 416a Laws VII 788a 824a Laws VIII 828a 850c Laws IX 853a 882c Laws X 884a 910d Laws XI 913a 938c Laws XII 941a 969d 973a 992e

Created by Vishwa Adluri, based on a document by Tarik Wareh (“How to cite Aristotle” at http://www1.union.edu/wareht/aristotle/how_to_cite_aristotle.pdf). Text excerpted from Bernard Suzanne (“Quoting Plato: Stephanus references” at http://plato- dialogues.org/faq/faq007.htm). The abbreviations are those recommended by the International Plato Society (http://nd.edu/~plato/plato2issue/contents2.htm)