(PHILOSOPHY 730 401 01) Rutgers University, New Brunswick Fall 2010 MW 2:50-4:10 PM Location: SC 104, College Ave.

Instructor: Matthew Walker E-mail: [email protected] Office hours: Monday, 4:15 PM-5:15 PM; Wednesday, by appointment Office: Seminary 3, Rm. 301

This course will be devoted to careful readings of four Platonic dialogues that focus on the twin themes of erôs (“sexual” love, erotic desire) and philia (friendship, “friendly” love): the Alcibiades, the , the , and the . Some of the main questions we shall consider: What is love, and what are its benefits and dangers? How is love linked to philosophy and what role does it play in the happy life? What is a friend, and why are friends valuable? Is it possible to love a friend for his own sake, or is all friendship essentially instrumental? While exploring these questions, we shall also examine what these dialogues have to say about the nature of beauty, persistence and personal identity, rhetoric, moral psychology, and self-knowledge.

Book Plato on Love Ed. C.D.C. Reeve. Hackett Publishing. $13.95.

A Note on Translations Plato on Love includes the following translations: Alcibiades (trans. D.S. Hutchinson); Symposium (trans. Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff); Phaedrus (trans. Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff); Lysis (trans. Stanley Lombardo). Since we’ll be reading Plato together closely, and since these are good translations, these translations are required for this course.

These translations also appear in Plato: Complete Works, ed. John M. Cooper (also published by Hackett). Hence, if you already happen to own Plato: Complete Works, there is no need to buy Plato on Love. I shall refer to Platonic passages by the standard Stephanus pagination, which all (decent) editions of Plato include.

Reading Assignments Plato’s dialogues make peculiar demands. They require readers (i) to follow perplexing philosophical arguments and debates while (ii) remaining attuned to the significance of literary details (such as characterization, dramatic setting, etc.). Thus, this course seeks to develop the skills of close, methodical reading. Assignments will be relatively short, but will require slow reading and re-reading.

Hence, you will find this course frustrating if you skip assignments, or read the assignment only once, right before class. Moreover, since these dialogues include some of the most beautiful writing not only in Plato, but in all of philosophy, you’ll be missing out.

Assessment You will be graded on two (5-7 page) essays, and one take-home final exam. Each assignment is worth one-third of your final grade.

Regular, thoughtful contribution to discussion will be factored into consideration in final grading, and can bump up your grade—especially if you’re on the borderline between two grades. Conversely, repeated absences can bump down your grade in similar circumstances.

Written Assignments Essays will be due on (i) either the Alcibiades or Symposium and (ii) either the Phaedrus or Lysis.

Paper due dates Paper 1 (on the Alcibiades): Monday, 10/4 Paper 2 (on the Symposium): Wednesday, 10/27 Paper 3 (on the Phaedrus): Monday, 11/22 Paper 4 (on the Lysis): Monday, 12/13

I shall grade your essays on the basis of both content (how well you argue for and defend your thesis) and style (mechanics, spelling and grammar, clarity, concision in writing). I shall have more to say in due course about how to submit your paper. Note: if you submit your essay late, your essay grade will be immediately docked one step, and your essay grade will be lowered an additional every 24 hours that the paper is late. (Papers submitted on the due date, but after class, count as one day late.) Any paper received one week late receives a grade of F. Since you’ll have flexible opportunities to write papers, I cannot offer extensions.

Final exams turned in after the deadline (without prior approval) will not be accepted. Late final exams will receive a grade of F.

Courtesy Please turn off your cell phone/iPhone/Blackberry. Since laptops tend to be used for e-mail and Facebook, I kindly request that no laptops be used.

Academic Integrity It is your responsibility to understand Rutgers’s guidelines concerning cheating and plagiarism. If I suspect any cases of cheating or plagiarism, I shall immediately refer them to the Office of Judicial Affairs. I shall also devote class time to reviewing the nature of plagiarism: therefore, you will have no excuses for plagiarized material. If you are unclear whether you’re citing material properly, please feel free to ask me.

SCHEDULE Wednesday, 9/1: An Introduction to Plato on Love and Friendship.

Monday, 9/6: LABOR DAY: NO CLASS

UNIT I: ALCIBIADES Wednesday, 9/8: The Question of Authenticity. Setting and Opening. (103a1-109c12)

Monday, 9/13: Self-Ignorance (109d1-119c5)

Wednesday, 9/15: The Royal Tale (119c6-124b6)

Monday, 9/20: Self-Cultivation (124b7-129b4)

Wednesday, 9/22: Self-Knowledge (129b5-135e8)

UNIT II: SYMPOSIUM Monday, 9/27: Apollodorus, Aristodemus, and the Arrival at Agathon’s (172a-178a5)

Wednesday, 9/29: Phaedrus and Pausanias (178a6-185c3)

Monday, 10/4: Eryximachus and Aristophanes (185c4-193e1)

Wednesday, 10/6: Agathon and Socrates (193e2-204a9)

Monday, 10/11: Socrates and Diotima, Part I (204b1-209e4)

Wednesday, 10/13: Socrates and Diotima, Part II (209e5-212c3)

Monday, 10/18: Alcibiades (212c4-223d12)

INTERLUDE: Wednesday, 10/20: Erôs and Tyranny (IX.571a-576b)

UNIT III: PHAEDRUS Monday, 10/25: Introduction and Opening (227a-230e)

Wednesday, 10/27: The Speech of Lysias (230e-235d)

Monday, 11/1: Socrates’ First Speech (235e-242a5)

Wednesday, 11/3: The Palinode (242a6-250a)

Monday, 11/8: The Palinode, Continued (250b-259d)

Wednesday, 11/10: The Art of Rhetoric (259e-274b)

Monday, 11/15: The Problem of Writing (274c-279c). Passage from Plato [?], Seventh Letter.

UNIT IV: LYSIS Wednesday, 11/17: Introduction and Opening (203a1-207b7)

Monday, 11/22: Socrates and Lysis (207b8-210d8)

Wednesday, 11/24: THANKSGIVING BREAK: NO CLASS

Monday, 11/29: Socrates and (210e1-213c9)

Wednesday, 12/1: Likeness and Intermediacy (213d1-220e5)

Monday, 12/6: Impasse and Conclusion (220e6-223e7)

WRAPPING UP Wednesday, 12/8: Aristotle’s Response to the Lysis: Nicomachean Ethics IX.9.

Monday, 12/13: A Criticism of Plato: Gregory Vlastos, “The Individual as Object of Love in Plato.” A Reply to Vlastos: L.A. Kosman, “Platonic Love.”